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
Book your summer escape with a "mesmerizing mix of mystery and romance" (Publishers Weekly, starred) from the New York Times bestselling author of The Homewreckers and The Newcomer.Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even...
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 only thing she owns after a...
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 [sound recording (CD)] /
Berenson, Alex.
Audiobook
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-behaved,...
The Penderwicks The Penderwicks Series, Book 1
Birdsall, Jeanne.
Ebook
With over one million copies sold, this series of modern classics about the charming Penderwick family from National Book Award winner andnbsp;New York Timesnbsp;bestseller Jeanne Birdsall is perfect for fans of Noel Streatfeild and Edward Eager. This summer the Penderwick...
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
Bryson, Bill
Paper Book
God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath--The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the...
Death on the Nile.
Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976
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 feeling...
Island time : a novel
Clark, Georgia
Paper Book
"A delicious escape." --People Love is in the salty sea air in this smart and steamy ensemble romantic comedy set in a tropical paradise, from the author of the "sparkly and entertaining" (Oprah Daily) It Had to Be You. This is one island you won't want to...
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
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.
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.
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
Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself "stuck" back in time. Living...
The spare man.
Kowal, Mary Robinette, 1969-
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
A New York Times Bestseller "Haunting, sophisticated . . . a novel so twisty and well-told that it will appeal to older readers as well as to adolescents."--Wall Street Journal "A rich, stunning summer mystery with a sharp twist that will...
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
One by one, they will get what they deserve... "I stayed up all night reading this book and loved it!" --Amazon A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation. She thought this would be a break from the...
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...
The little Italian hotel.
Patrick, Phaedra
Paper Book
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 colour of magic.
Pratchett, Terry
Paper Book
NAMED AS ONE OF THE BBC'S 100 MOST INSPIRING NOVELS 'It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination . . .' Somewhere between thought and reality exists...
You Shouldn't Have Come Here
Rose, Jeneva.
Ebook
Under a vampire moon
Sands, Lynsay.
Paper Book
"Lynsay Sands writes books that keep readers coming back for more." --Katie MacAlister, USA Today bestselling author of Sex, Lies, and Vampires Lynsay Sands, the nationally bestselling author of the Argeneau/Rogue Hunter vampire series, is one of the superstars...
The Caliph's house /
Shah, Tahir
Paper Book
In the tradition of A Year in Provence and Under 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 London...
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. [graphic novel]
Tamaki, Mariko
Paper Book
Winner of the Governor General's Award for Children's Illustration Rose and Windy are summer friends whose families have visited Awago Beach for as long as they can remember. But this year is different, and they soon find themselves tangled in teen love and family crisis. From the creators...
French braid. [large print]
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
From New York Times bestselling author of the "twisty-mystery" (Vulture) novel In a Dark, Dark Wood, comes The Woman in Cabin 10, an equally suspenseful and haunting novel from Ruth Ware--this time, set at sea. In this tightly wound, enthralling story...
The yellow house mystery
Warner, Gertrude Chandler
Paper Book
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.
Weiner, Jennifer
Paper Book
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 engagement to her pandemic boyfriend, Sarah Danhauser is...
Never vacation with your ex. [online electronic book]
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Ebook
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,...
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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