I started writing my debut novel Kismet during the 2020 covid lockdown. I was quarantining in my small NYC apartment and, like many, wishing I could be anywhere else. Enter: the power of books. Iāve always loved reading for how it transports you around the world. My novel takes place in the eponymous sun-soaked beach town of Kismet, Fire Island, and writing it offered an escape. It reminded me of how reading books like below felt like embarking on my very own magical getaway, from Positano or London, to Alaska or Palm Springs, all from the comfort of home. I hope you find similar adventure in these novelsā pages.
Iāve never read a book that so perfectly captured the taste of travel until I read One Italian Summerby Rebecca Serle.
The food passages alone can pick you up and plop you down at a pasta restaurant of your dreams, but itās the sense of reflection that only can come with travel that makes One Italian Summer shine.
Serleās prose sparkles with her signature touch of magic in this novel about a woman traveling to Italy in the aftermath of her motherās death. A story of self-discovery, grief, hope, and love, this book made me want to hang up and immediately call my mom.
āRebecca Serle is a maestro of love in all its forms.ā āGabrielle Zevin, New York Times bestselling author
The New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years returns with a powerful novel about the transformational love between mothers and daughters set on the breathtaking Amalfi Coast.
When Katyās mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasnāt just Katyās mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse,ā¦
I read Sarah Jioās latest novel, With Love from London,during the height of the covid lockdown, but it truly felt like I had transported from my NYC apartment to the charming streets of Londonās Primrose Hill.
Alternating between dual timelines, we follow the story of a woman inheriting her estranged motherās bookstore, punctuated by flashbacks with what inspired her mother to open the bookstore in the first place.
It is a story of love, family, destiny, and the duty we have not only to ourselves but also to each other. Filled with book-lover flair and London quirks, Jio paints a moving portrait of complicated family dynamics, offering ultimately a way to find our way back to love.
It left my cheeks wet and my heart yearning for a trip to London.
When librarian Valentina Baker was a teenager, her mother, Eloise, unexpectedly fled to her native London, leaving Val and her father on their own. Now in her thirties and fresh out of a failed marriage, Val feels a nagging disenchantment with her life ā and knows she is still heartbroken over her motherās abandonment.
Seeker: As societies grow increasingly fragmented, hopelessness, nihilism, division, and despair are on the rise. But there is another wayāa way of mystery and magic, of wholeness and transformation. Do you dare take the first step? Our path is not for the faint-hearted, but for seekers of ancient truths...
The Guncleis one of those books that made me want to reread the book immediately after finishing it, just to spend more time with the characters. (It also made me immediately look up Palm Springs real estate on Zillow ā a girl can dream!)
Steven Rowleyās is as hilarious as it is heartfelt about actor Patrick, or āGUP ā Gay Uncle Patrickā and the summer he spends with his young niece and nephew when they come to visit him in the gorgeous and opulent Palm Springs.
At first, Patrick and his āniblingsā seem to have little common ground, but as summer evolves, so does their relationship, ultimately blossoming into a wonderful and witty story about family, parenting, love, and loss.
National Bestseller ā¢ Wall Street Journal Bestseller ā¢ USA Today Bestseller An NPR Book of the Year Semi-finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor Finalist for the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards
From the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor comes a warm and deeply funny novel about a once-famous gay sitcom star whose unexpected family tragedy leaves him with his niece and nephew for the summer.
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come outā¦
If youāve ever wanted to take an Alaskan cruise, The Unsinkable Greta Jamesis the perfect book for you.
The sights are breathtaking, the cruise culture is endearingly infectious, but itās with the characters where this novel truly sings. And I donāt only mean that metaphorically speaking: the titular protagonist Greta James is a famous indie musician who has followed her career to great success, despite her fatherās discouragement of the unstable path.
When Gretaās mother unexpectedly passes away, she decides to take her momās spot on the Alaskan cruise that her parents had booked to celebrate their anniversary. Over the course of the trip, Greta and her father must reconcile their differences, grieve their aching loss, and find a way back to each other.
An indie musician reeling from tragedy and a public breakdown reconnects with her father on a weeklong cruise in āa pitch-perfect story about the ways we recover love in the strangest placesā (Rebecca Serle, bestselling author of In Five Years)
āThe characters are drawn with a generosity that allows them to be wrong but also right, loving but also prone to missteps, and ultimately deserving of a resolution thatās full of hope.āāLinda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author of Flying Solo
Right after the sudden death of her motherāher first and most devoted fanāand just before the launch of herā¦
Return to Hope Creek is a second-chance rural romance set in Australia.
Stella Simpson's career and engagement are over. She returns to the rural community of Hope Creek to heal, unaware her high school and college sweetheart, Mitchell Scott, has also moved back to town to do some healing ofā¦
This is one of those books that I started and couldnāt stop until I finished reading.
Itās a charming, romantic, jet-setting story about two strangers who win a radio contest for a trip around the world. The only problem? The two couldnāt be more different.
With all the favorite elements of a second chance (and forced proximity) romance story, set against the international and every-changing backdrops (from Sydney to Mexico City to Mumbai and more!), readers fall head-over-heels for Dylan and Jackās relationship.
Heartfelt and deeply moving, Wanderlust made me yearn for a chance to travel the world (and maybe start entering more radio contests!).
People We Meet on Vacation meets The Unhoneymooners in this sparkling debut romantic comedy about two near strangersāand complete oppositesāwho win a radio contest for a trip around the world.
Love's about to take flight.
Feeling stuck at work and tired of Londonās dreary weather, magazine writer Dylan Coughlan impulsively rings a radio station one day only to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world. The catch? Her travel partner must be a contact randomly selected on her phone. And of course this stressful game of contact roulette lands on a number listed only as Jack the Posho, an uptight,ā¦
Kismet is a sunset-soaked debut novel about love, sisterhood, and destiny. Set in the gorgeous beach town of Kismet, Fire Island, it is an ode to the people and places that shape us most. The novel follows twin sisters on the cusp of turning thirty, and the drama and secrets that unfold over the course of a wedding week at their family beach town.
The Pianist's Only Daughter
by
Kathryn Betts Adams,
ThePianist's Only Daughter is a frank, humorous, and heartbreaking exploration of aging in an aging expert's own family.
Social worker and gerontologist Kathryn Betts Adams spent decades negotiating evolving family dynamics with her colorful and talented parents: her mother, an English scholar and poet, and her father, a pianistā¦