17 Vacation Books So Good, You’ll Forget What You Paid for That Flight

Summer in the City is especially perfect if you have a trip to the big city on the horizon. Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. But she’s had writer’s block for months. New York is the perfect place to write her screenplay…until she realizes her new neighbor is tech “Billionaire Bachelor” Parker Warren, her hookup from two years ago. He needs to fake a buzzy relationship during his company’s precarious acquisition. She needs to write a movie around a list of NYC locations. It’s all pretend…until it isn’t.

If you’re headed to the mountains this summer, what better way to make a thriller even creepier than reading it in a similar setting? When the cofounder of a trendy London-based tech start-up, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other. But a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one.

All Fours isn’t a traditional road trip story, but it definitely takes you on a wild ride, and i’s just the entertainment you need if you have hours on the road ahead of you. A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey to reinvent her sexual, romantic, and domestic life and find a new kind of freedom.

Wedding season is here, and this book is the perfect read between your bridesmaid duties. When Phoebe Stone arrives at the Cornwall Inn, she’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years with her husband, only now she’s alone at rock bottom. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail except for Phoebe―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

If you’re tackling a solo trip this year, this book might just be better than any human companion. When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. To make matters worse, she is faced with embarking on their planned mother-daughter trip to Positano alone. But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her.

Head back to camp, or romanticize your actual camping trip with Wildfire by Hannah Grace. Russ Callaghan and Aurora Roberts cross paths at a party, where a drinking game results in them having a passionate one-night stand. Imagine their surprise when they bump into each other on the first day of the summer camp where they are both counselors, hoping to escape their complicated home lives by spending the summer working. Will the two learn to peacefully coexist? Or did their one night together start a fire they can’t put out?

If you’re headed to a White Lotus-esque resort, this book is a must-read. After he is dramatically forced to leave a high-profile job under mysterious circumstances, Ro Krishna decides it’s time to check in for some much-needed R&R at Samsara, a world-class spa for the global cosmopolitan elite. The colorful cast of characters Ro meets harbors a murderer among them. Maybe more than one. As the death toll rises, Ro, a lawyer by training, becomes embroiled in a vicious world where nothing is quite what it seems . . . including Ro himself.

If you’ve read so many thrillers that it’s hard to find truly thrilling ones anymore, pair this read with a backpacking trip of your own. Burned-out by both her marriage and work, Liz is desperate for an escape. So, when she plans a vacation with her three best friends, she persuades them to spend four nights camping in the stunning mountains of Norway. But as they stride farther from civilization, it becomes clear that the women are not the only ones looking to lose themselves in the mountains. If they’re not careful . . . not all of them will return.

Enjoy that vacation getaway feeling with Carley Fortune’s newest novel! Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. But it’s the eve of Frankie’s wedding weekend, and she doesn’t know if George will even show up. In walks George, and for one glorious evening, Frankie’s life is finally perfect—until her fiancé dumps her the next morning. George has a plan—he wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him. Frankie agrees, seeing the trip as one last chance to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long buried feelings neither knows how to handle.

Tapping into your coastal grandma energy this summer? Try The Shampoo Effect. When Caroline arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she falls head-over-heels for Van Whittaker, a kayak enthusiast with long hair and the personality of a Border collie. Born and raised in this picturesque coastal village, Van runs with the same crowd he did as a child. But when his ex discovers that she is pregnant with Van’s baby, the delicate balance of the group’s friendship is thrown off. Soon Caroline is cast out of the circle and what she does next exposes long-held secrets and works the entire town of Greenhead into a lather.

This Emily Henry novel is perfect if you’re looking for dreamy island vibes. Alice and Hayden are both on Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—Margaret Ives, daughter of one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century. Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story. But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad… depending on who’s telling it.

If you’re dreaming of boat days this summer, you’ll love this story. In this twisty, uproarious debut, a pop culture obsessive uses her reality TV expertise to investigate a suspicious disappearance aboard a yacht… while falling for a hot deckhand and avoiding confronting her best friend’s untimely passing—perfect for fans of The Wedding People and Traitors.

This cabin thriller is the perfect read for a camping or mountain trip. 12 years ago, Faye broke Henry’s heart. Now, Faye is one half of a power-producing duo with her Hollywood husband. Henry is a married father running the family business. Both of their lives have essentially gone to plan—until Faye and Henry find themselves back on campus for a professor’s funeral. Henry is one of a kind—the kind who drugs and kidnaps her. When Faye comes to in Henry’s remote mountain cabin, she’s beside herself. As her week of captivity unfolds, Henry’s demands intensify, and a years-old mystery begins to take shape—one that will reveal an astounding, cataclysmic truth.

If your summer itinerary is packed full of flights, you’ll love this sky-high romance. On a flight to Paris for work, Sasha’s seated next to a broodingly attractive man, and sparks fly—but they never exchange contact information. Convinced she’s lost out on her soulmate, Sasha emails her work friend for help, but accidentally writes to the entire company worldwide. The international manhunt to find Seat F begins. Meanwhile, Sasha hires a smoldering detective she knew in another lifetime—who complicates matters in unforeseen (and irresistible) ways.

If you’re hitting Vegas for a vacation soon (or just another adventurous vacation), you’ll love this read. Three years ago, scientist Emery got married to Luca—the charming landscaper she met on one blistering night in Vegas. But now, Emery is consumed by her research, missing dinners, forgetting anniversaries, and promising herself Luca will understand once her cutting-edge discoveries come to light. Until the unthinkable happens: A tragic accident takes Luca from her. Desperate not to lose him, Emery breaks every rule, using the classified technology she’s developed to bring him back to life. And Luca would probably thank her for it, if only he could remember her.

This historic read is perfect for setting the tone for a mountain or camping vacation! On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and the task is not an easy one. The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is unexpectedly sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás, and how is Liam, aged only 10, going to finish the mapping and get them both home?

Calling all the Nancy Meyers fans! When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love with the land and the quirky staff.  And then, the door appears. It leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more.