I am a homebody. I typically have little desire to jet set around the world and travel to exotic locations. I’d much rather curl up on the sofa with my family and a good movie or roast s’mores out back by the fireplace.
Enter books.
Here’s a collection of books that will inspire wanderlust and take you places without ever leaving your home!
You’ll find links to my Amazon and Bookshop affiliate stores below. Thanks for your bookish support!
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone. But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is go back home. But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This is not a book I’d normally gravitate toward. I read this as part of a personal challenge to read books that would take me to another time and place without leaving the comfort of my own home. This book certainly fits the bill. The novel begins with Noemi, a young debutante, leaving her home in Mexico City to check on her cousin who has written a strange letter asking for help in her new home with her new husband. What starts as a rescue mission slowly becomes something much more terrifying as Noemi learns the hidden secrets of the house and suddenly finds it literally impossible to leave. I was hooked at the beginning, a tad frightened in the middle and reading with my eyes half closed at the end. The writing was beautiful and literally entranced me in the story, but I’m not sure I want to experience it again, at least for a while. I need a rom-com to recover.
Hope Is Our Only Wing by Rutendo Tavengerwei
For fifteen-year-old Shamiso, struggling with grief and bewilderment following her father’s death, hope is nothing but a leap into darkness. For Tanyaradzwa, whose life has been turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis, hope is the only reason to keep fighting. At a time of national upheaval in Zimbabwe, an unlikely friendship illuminates the power of hope and the possibility to heal–in the face of tragedies beyond any teen’s control.
Metropolis by B. A. Shapiro
In Metropolis we meet six unforgettable characters who never would have met if not for their rental units at Metropolis Storage Warehouse. When a harrowing accident—or is it an accident?—occurs in the building, each character is forced to consider their life circumstances.
The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
Everyone journeys to Key West searching for something. For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler’s legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person’s paradise can be another’s prison, and Key West-native Helen Berner yearns to escape.
Honolulu: A Novel by Alan Brennert
Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young “picture bride” who journeys to Hawai’i in 1914 in search of a better life. With its passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawai’i far off the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship.
Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika Moulite
When a school presentation goes very wrong, Alaine Beauparlant finds herself suspended, shipped off to Haiti and writing the report of a lifetime. You might ask the obvious question: What do I, a seventeen-year-old Haitian American from Miami with way too little life experience, have to say about anything Actually, a lot.
