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

Updated December 31, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Murder in the book lover's loft
Adams, Ellery
Paper Book
For bibliophiles who love Rita Mae Brown and Alexander McCall Smith, New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams is sure to delight with her newest novel set at Virginia's book-themed resort, Storyton Hall. It's the perfect getaway for book lovers, but when resort manager Jane Steward...
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...
Love unwritten
Asher, Lauren
Paper Book
Rafael Ellie Sinclair is a hopeless romantic who writes love songs. I'm a struggling workaholic who could inspire a hundred breakup albums. On paper, we have nothing in common except for my son. For eight months, I avoid her until our summer trip. Fourteen days....
The power couple
Berenson, Alex
Paper Book
Rebecca and Brian Unsworth appear to have it all. A nice house in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Two well-behaved, healthy teenage children. Important government jobs -- Rebecca working in counterterrorism for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Brian serving as a coder for the National Security...
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.
Paper Book
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 : a Hercule Poirot mystery
Christie, Agatha
Paper Book
"A top-notch literary brainteaser." -New York Times Soon to be a major motion picture sequel to Murder on the Orient Express with a screenplay by Michael Green, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh alongside Gal Gadot--coming Feb 11, 2022! ...
A walk in the park : the true story of a spectacular misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paper Book
* 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 Mail, Smithsonian Magazine, and Financial Times ...
The breakup vacation
Gracia, Anna
Paper Book
Airplane mode : an irreverent history of travel
Habib, Shahnaz
Paper Book
Winner of the New American Voices Award Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals of Excellence This witty personal and cultural history of travel from the perspective of a Third World-raised woman of color, Airplane Mode, asks: what does it mean to be a joyous traveler...
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, sentimental...
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
NOW AVAILABLE AS THE ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES WE WERE LIARS--AND LOOK FOR E. LOCKHART'S NEW NOVEL IN THE WE WERE LIARS UNIVERSE, WE FELL APART, COMING NOVEMBER 4, 2025 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE CENTURY *...
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 catch me if you can : one woman's journey to every country in the world
Nabongo, Jessica
Paper Book
In this inspiring travelogue, celebrated traveler and photographer Jessica Nabongo―the first Black woman on record to visit all 195 countries in the world―shares her journey around the globe with fascinating stories of adventure, culture, travel musts, and human connections. ...
Here not there : 100 unexpected travel destinations around the globe
Nelson, Andrew (Writer)
Paper Book
Design a truly unique vacation with 100 intriguing alternatives to more predictable, expensive, and overcrowded destinations. Let's face it. These days, many of the world's most beloved places have become expensive and overcrowded, making their celebrated allure that much harder...
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
Paper Book
Marty Ohlhaut takes off for the Canadian Rockies with his wife and five children for what they expect to be another fun camping trip. But everything goes wrong from the start, from minor annoyances to a tragic accident. Through candor and wit reminiscent of Bill Bryson, Tent for Seven captures both...
The little Italian hotel
Patrick, Phaedra
Paper Book
The color of magic : a Discworld novel
Pratchett, Terry.
Paper Book
"A master of laugh-out-loud fiction . . . Pratchett has created an alternate universe full of trolls, dwarfs, wizards, and other fantasy elements, and he uses that universe to reflect our own culture with entertaining and gloriously funny results. . . . Nothing short of magical." --Chicago...
You shouldn't have come here
Rose, Jeneva
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Everything I want in a thriller. Sexy, shocking, and tense with an ending I never saw coming. Jeneva Rose is the queen of twists."--Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author The highly anticipated new thriller from the New York Times...
Under a vampire moon : an Argeneau novel
Sands, Lynsay.
Paper Book
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
A New York Times bestseller A 2015 Caldecott Honor Book A 2015 Michael L. Printz Honor Book An Eisner Award Winner Rose is always excited for summer. It means the lake house with her parents, but most importantly, it means she gets to spend the summer with...
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
This was meant to be the perfect trip. The Northern Lights. A luxury press launch on a boutique cruise ship. A chance for travel journalist Lo Blackwood to recover from a traumatic break-in that has left her on the verge of collapse, and to work out what she wants from her relationship.Except things...
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 the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of un-unhappiness.
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...
Never vacation with your ex
Wibberley, Emily
Paper Book
The Summer I Turned Pretty meets People We Meet on Vacation in a YA second chance romance where the rules for getting over an ex turn out to be more complicated than they seem. Seventeen-year-old volleyball star Kaylee Jordan lives a life of player rankings,...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.