Open Books Challenge 2025: Book Set During or About a Vacation

Updated December 31, 2024
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Summers at the Saint
Andrews, Mary Kay
Paper Book
"Andrews perfectly balances the second chance-romance with the twisty mystery against a beachy backdrop that will please any armchair traveler." --Publishers Weekly "A fun, heart-warming, and intriguing summer read. For readers who'd enjoy a blend of friendships (old and new),...
Hemlock Island
Armstrong, Kelley
Paper Book
A standalone horror novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong. Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it's the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the...
The power couple
Berenson, Alex
Paper Book
From #1 New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award winner Alex Berenson comes a supercharged thriller about marriage and the dangerous secrets spouses keep. Rebecca and Brian Unsworth appear to have it all. A nice house in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Two well...
The Penderwicks : a summer tale of four sisters, two rabbits, and a very interesting boy
Birdsall, Jeanne.
Paper Book
With over one million copies sold, this series of modern classics about the charming Penderwick family from National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller Jeanne Birdsall is perfect for fans of Noel Streatfeild and Edward Eager. A PARADE BEST KIDS BOOK OF ALL...
World travel : an irreverent guide
Bourdain, Anthony
Paper Book
A guide to some of the world's most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain Anthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York...
A Walk in the Woods Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Bryson, Bill.
Ebook
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The classic chronicle of a "terribly misguided and terribly funny" (The Washington Post) hike of the Appalachian Trail, from the author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Body  ...
Death on the Nile
Christie, Agatha
Paper Book
A walk in the park : the true story of a spectacular misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller * Winner of the 2024 National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature * Winner of the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, Air...
Airplane mode : an irreverent history of travel
Habib, Shahnaz
Ebook
Winter in paradise : a novel
Hilderbrand, Elin
Paper Book
A husband's secret life, a wife's new beginning: escape to the Caribbean with #1 New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand. Irene Steele shares her idyllic life in a beautiful Iowa City Victorian house with a husband who loves her to sky-writing...
Summer on the bluffs : a novel
Hostin, Sunny
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller! The View cohost and New York Times bestselling author Sunny Hostin dazzles with this brilliant novel about a life-changing summer along the beaches of Martha's Vineyard. Welcome to Oak Bluffs, the most exclusive Black beach community in the country. Known...
Displacement
Hughes, Kiku
Paper Book
A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother's experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps in Displacement, a historical graphic novel from Kiku Hughes. Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the...
The spare man
Kowal, Mary Robinette
Paper Book
Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in space with her talent for creating glittering high-society in this stylish SF mystery, The Spare Man. A 2023 Hugo Award Finalist!A 2022 Locus...
We were liars
Lockhart, E.
Paper Book
COMING SOON AS THE ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES WE WERE LIARS #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE CENTURY * The modern, sophisticated suspense novel that became a runaway smash hit on TikTok and introduced the world to a...
Every time I go on vacation, someone dies
Mack, Catherine
Paper Book
A USA Today Bestseller #1 Toronto Star Bestseller in Canadian FictionA Globe and Mail Bestseller in Canadian Fiction A Vancouver Sun Bestseller in New Releases An Indie Next List Pick (May 2024) An...
One by one
McFadden, Freida
Paper Book
A heart pounding, twisting thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid and The Coworker! One by one, they will get what they deserve... Claire Matchett needs this trip. It will be a break from work and raising children. A chance to repair her damaged...
The notations of Cooper Cameron
O'Reilly, Jane H.
Paper Book
Eleven-year-old Cooper Cameron likes things to be in order. When he eats, he chews every bite three times on each side. Sometimes he washes his hands in the air with invisible water. He invented these rituals after the death of his beloved grandfather to protect others he loves from terrible harm...
Tent for Seven: A Camping Adventure Gone South Out West
Ohlhaut, Marty
Audiobook
The little Italian hotel
Patrick, Phaedra
Paper Book
The colour of magic
Pratchett, Terry
Paper Book
On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course...
You Shouldn't Have Come Here
Rose, Jeneva.
Ebook
The Caliph's house
Shah, Tahir.
Paper Book
In the tradition ofA Year in ProvenceandUnder the Tuscan Sun, acclaimed English travel writer Tahir Shah shares a highly entertaining account of making an exotic dream come true. By turns hilarious and harrowing, here is the story of his family’s move from the gray skies of...
Cabin fever : the harrowing journey of a cruise ship at the dawn of a pandemic
Smith, Michael (Journalist)
Paper Book
The true story of the Holland America cruise ship Zaandam, which set sail with a deadly and little-understood stowaway--COVID-19--days before the world shut down in March 2020. This riveting narrative thriller takes readers behind the scenes with passengers and crew who were...
This one summer
Tamaki, Mariko
Paper Book
Every summer, Rose goes with her mom and dad to a lake house in Awago Beach. It's their getaway, their refuge. Rosie's friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had. But this summer is different. Rose's mom and dad won't stop fighting, and when Rose and Windy seek a...
French braid
Tyler, Anne
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Spool of Blue Thread--a funny, joyful, brilliantly perceptive journey deep into one Baltimore family's foibles, from a boyfriend with a red Chevy in the 1950s up to a longed-for reunion with a grandchild...
The woman in cabin 10
Ware, Ruth.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF IN A DARK, DARK WOOD Featured in TheSkimm An Entertainment Weekly "Summer Must List" Pick A New York Post "Summer Must-Read" Pick ...
The yellow house mystery
Warner, Gertrude Chandler
Paper Book
Four brave siblings were searching for a home - and found a life of adventure! Join the Boxcar Children as they investigate the mystery of the yellow house in the third book in this illustrated chapter book series beloved by generations of readers. A mystery surrounds the old...
Zero stars do not recommend : a novel
Wassmer, M J
Paper Book
"Worst Vacation Ever--Five Stars, Would Recommend." -- Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House White Lotus meets Kevin Wilson in this whip-smart social satire about a man who finds himself trapped on an island resort after the sun explodes, and...
The geography of bliss : one grump's search for the happiest places in the world
Weiner, Eric
Paper Book
Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes us from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness. Using a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor, Eric Weiner investigates not what happiness is, but where it is....
The summer place : a novel
Weiner, Jennifer
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTELLER From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of That Summer comes another heartfelt and unputdownable novel of family, secrets, and the ties that bind. When her twenty-two-year-old stepdaughter announces her...
The ruins
Wynne, Phoebe
Paper Book
A suspenseful, contemporary Gothic coming-of-age tale with shades of Patricia Highsmith and Atonement, pitched against the sun-soaked backdrop of the French Riviera. The most dazzling summer casts the darkest shadows. Welcome to the Chateau des Sètes, a...

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