Whether the pandemic has you stuck at home or you’re wishing to get away from the winter cold, these vacation books are perfect for a mental escape.
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I don’t know about you, but I’m not a huge traveler so my form of escape is through books.
Especially in the winter, when it’s cold and dreary (good ol’ Minnesota), there’s nothing like cozying up with a book that can take me on a mental getaway to somewhere warm.
So if you’re looking for the best vacation books to take you away, check out the list below. Your next vacation is just one book away!
21 Vacation Books To Escape With
Whether you’re looking to escape to a warm sunny beach with your arch-nemesis or visit a small European town while visiting family, this list of vacation books has a little something for everyone.
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man…
Shop “The Unhoneymooners” here >>
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together…
Shop “People We Meet on Vacation” here >>
The Vacationers by Emma Straub
For the Posts, a two-week trip to the Balearic island of Mallorca with their extended family and friends is a celebration: Franny and Jim are observing their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Sylvia, has graduated from high school. The sunlit island, its mountains and beaches, its tapas and tennis courts, also promise an escape from the tensions simmering at home in Manhattan…
Shop “The Vacationers” here >>
Shipped by Angie Hockman
Between taking night classes for her MBA and her demanding day job at a cruise line, marketing manager Henley Evans barely has time for herself, let alone family, friends, or dating. But when she’s shortlisted for the promotion of her dreams, all her sacrifices finally seem worth it.
Float Plan (Beck Sisters #1) by Trish Doller
Since the loss of her fiancé, Anna has been shipwrecked by grief—until a reminder goes off about a trip they were supposed to take together. Impulsively, Anna goes to sea in their sailboat, intending to complete the voyage alone…
The Simple Wild (The Simple Wild #1) by K.A. Tucker
Calla Fletcher wasn’t even two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when Calla learns that Wren’s days may be numbered, she knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born…
Shop “The Simple Wild” here >>
Meet Me in Paradise by Libby Hubscher
Ever since her journalist mother died on assignment, Marin has played it safe, refusing to set foot outside the state of Tennessee. Her wild-child younger sister, Sadie, has trotted the globe as a photographer, living off of art and adrenaline.
When Sadie returns from a tough assignment abroad and looks a little worse for wear, Marin reluctantly agrees to a sisters’ spa weekend on the tropical island of Saba. But her lifelong fear of travel is affirmed when Sadie misses the flight, Marin’s luggage gets mixed up with another passenger’s, and an episode of turbulence sends her hurtling into the lap of Lucas Tsai, the handsome stranger who stole her sister’s seat…
Shop “Meet Me in Paradise” here >>
Summer at Oyster Bay by Jenny Hale
They say falling in love is easy. But what if you know it’ll break your heart?
For Emily Tate, returning to her charming childhood home Oyster Bay is like coming up for air after the fast pace of her city life. At the farm her grandfather built, surrounded by sister Rachel’s chatter, Gram’s buttermilk biscuits, and the soft, white sand, Emily is reminded of exactly who she is and what she holds most dear…
Shop “Summer at Oyster Bay” here >>
The Holiday Cruise by Victoria Cooke
As if it weren’t enough to be cheated on by her husband of ten years, Yorkshire lass Hannah Davis is losing her beauty salon business too. Luckily, her big sister is there to pick up the pieces, but Hannah is determined to find some independence…
Shop “The Holiday Cruise” here >>
The Highland Fling by Meghan Quinn
Freshly fired from her third job in a row, Bonnie St. James has lost her way. So when she and her best friend stumble upon a “help wanted” post to run a coffee shop in the Scottish Highlands, they apply on a whim. Who knows? Maybe traveling to a new place is just what she needs to figure out her next move.
Shop “The Highland Fling” here >>
Royal Holiday (The Wedding Date #4) by Jasmine Guillory
Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can’t refuse. She’s excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn’t expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain private secretary, his charming accent, and unyielding formality…
The Summer House in Santorini by Samantha Parks
Anna’s running away. From a failed relationship, her ruined career and her complicated family life.
On the island of Santorini, with its picturesque villas and blue-tiled roofs, and the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean washing away her sadness, Anna has never felt more alive.
And then there is gorgeous, mysterious Niko. Will Anna lose her heart in more ways than one?
Shop “The Summer House in Santorini” here >>
Island in the Sun by Janice Horton
When successful jewellery designer Isla Ashton unexpectedly inherits her eccentric Aunt Kate’s Caribbean island, she is obligated to return to the place she associates with heartache and regret. To where she grew up and fell in love with her childhood friend, Leo Fernandez. Fully intent on selling the island and finally putting the past behind her, Isla is soon compelled to put together the pieces of what really happened on a fateful night ten-years before…
Shop “Island in the Sun” here >>
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
Since the day Filomena Fontana cast a curse upon her sister more than two hundred years ago, not one second-born Fontana daughter has found lasting love. Some, like second-born Emilia, the happily-single baker at her grandfather’s Brooklyn deli, claim it’s an odd coincidence. Others, like her sexy, desperate-for-love cousin Lucy, insist it’s a true hex. But both are bewildered when their great-aunt calls with an astounding proposition: If they accompany her to her homeland of Italy, Aunt Poppy vows she’ll meet the love of her life on the steps of the Ravello Cathedral on her eightieth birthday, and break the Fontana Second-Daughter Curse once and for all…
Shop “The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany” here >>
A Holiday to Remember by Susanne O’Leary
Until a few weeks ago, Leanne was a thirty-something who lived with her mother. And yes, she still slept under her Barbie bedspread.
Until recently, best friend Maddy was married to a man whose golf club got more action than she did.
But not anymore.
Leanne convinced Maddy enough was enough. They packed their bags, and their miniature poodle, and bid goodbye to their dreary lives for the summer…
Shop “A Holiday to Remember” here >>
Island Affair (Keys to Love #1) by Priscilla Oliveras
Sought-after social media influencer Sara Vance, in recovery from an eating disorder, is coming into her own, with a potential career expansion on the horizon. Despite the good news, her successful siblings (and their perfect spouses) have a way of making her feel like the odd one out. So, when her unreliable boyfriend is a no-show for a Florida family vacation, Sara recruits Luis Navarro—a firefighter paramedic and dive captain willing to play the part of her smitten fiancé…
Escape to the Hummingbird Hotel by Daisy James
Welcome to the Hummingbird Hotel!
When florist-to-the-stars Abbie Coleman catches a glimpse of her boyfriend through the window of Tiffany’s, she couldn’t be more excited. Keen to share her happiness, she organizes a huge surprise party for all their family and friends… except things don’t quite work out as she expected, and instead of planning a flower-filled wedding, she finds herself single, and fired from a job she loves…
Shop “Escape to the Hummingbird Hotel” here >>
Pretending in Paradise by M. Ullrich
When travelwisdom.com assigns PR specialist Caroline Beckett and travel blogger Emma Morgan to cover a hot new couples retreat, they’re forced to fake a relationship to secure a reservation. Ten days in paradise would be a dream assignment if only they’d stop arguing long enough to enjoy it…
Shop “Pretending in Paradise” here >>
Our Italian Summer by Jennifer Probst
Workaholic, career-obsessed Francesca is fiercely independent and successful in all areas of life except one: family. She struggles to make time for her relationship with her teenage daughter, Allegra, and the two have become practically strangers to each other. When Allegra hangs out with a new crowd and is arrested for drug possession, Francesca gives in to her mother’s wish that they take one epic summer vacation to trace their family roots in Italy. What she never expected was to be faced with the choice of a lifetime…
Shop “Our Italian Summer” here >>
The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplin
For travel blogger Fiona, Japan has always been top of her bucket list so when she wins an all-expenses-paid trip, it looks like her dreams of the Far East are coming true.
Until she arrives in vibrant, neon-drenched Tokyo and comes face-to-face with the man who broke her heart ten years ago, gorgeous photographer Gabe…
Shop “The Little Teashop in Tokyo” here >>
She Likes Piña Coladas by Brittanee Nicole
Wanted: Hot Stranger For Vacation
It started with a simple message from the man known as Pina Coladas: Message me and Escape. After dumping my apartment-stealing boyfriend and rooming with my best friend’s dog, the promise of fruity drinks, dancing in the rain, and maybe even a midnight romp, leaves me singing a familiar tune, excited to travel to the Azores with the stranger who answered my wanted ad…
Shop “She Likes Piña Coladas” here >>
Share Your Vacation Book Recs
I’d love to know what some of your favorite vacation books are. Leave a comment and let me know so we can all escape together!
