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
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 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
"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! ...
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
* 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...
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 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 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
Sands, Lynsay.
Paper Book
When Vampires Go On Vacation . . . Escaping a horrible marriage, Carolyn Connor has no desire to think about men--a vow she's determined to keep while on vacation in St. Lucia. She'll take the Caribbean sun and sea and plenty of tropical drinks with those cute umbrellas...
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 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...
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
Years ago, a man disappeared from the yellow house on Surprise Island. Why? The Aldens have found a clue to the mystery! Adapted from Gertrude Chandler Warner's story of the same name, this early reader allows children to start reading with a Boxcar Children classic.
The geography of bliss : one grump's search for the happiest places in the world
Weiner, Eric
Paper Book
Now a new series on Peacock with Rainn Wilson, THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS is part travel memoir, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide that takes the viewer across the globe to investigate not what happiness is, but WHERE it is. Are people in Switzerland happier...
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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