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

Updated December 31, 2024
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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 The Penderwicks Series, Book 1
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
A laugh-out-loud account of an outrageously rugged hike--by the beloved comic author of Lost Continent and Notes from a Small Island. Published in the 75th anniversary year of the Appalachian Trail. Father's Day merchandising.
Death on the Nile : a Hercule Poirot mystery
Christie, Agatha
Paper Book
Linnet Doyle is young, beautiful, and rich. She's the girl who has everything—including the man her best friend loves. Linnet and her new husband take a cruise on the Nile, where they meet the brilliant detective Hercule Poirot. It should be an idyllic trip, yet Poirot has a vague, uneasy...
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 ...
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...
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...
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 little Italian hotel
Patrick, Phaedra
Ebook
When a relationship expert's own marriage falls apart, she invites four strangers to Italy for a vacation of healing and second chances in this uplifting new novel from the author of The Messy Lives of Book People. Ginny Splinter, acclaimed radio host and...
The Color of Magic: A Discworld Novel
Pratchett, Terry
Ebook
"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.
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
In early 2020, the world was on edge. An ominous virus was spreading on different continents, and no one knew what the coming weeks would bring. Far from the hot spots, the cruise ship Zaandam, owned by Holland America, was preparing to sail from Buenos Aires, Argentina, loaded with 1,200...
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
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 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,...

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