End of summer blues? Here are 9 novels from every genre set in gorgeous getaways to bring the sunshine back!
By Katie Ginger · · 5 min read
If you’re feeling down with the impending end of the summer holidays and want to squeeze in one more trip, check out these fabulous books set in dreamy destinations for a final getaway before school, work and autumn arrive.
Romance
Under the Lemon Tree
by Emma Cowell
Can one Greek summer heal the secrets of the past?
Kat is lost in grief after the death of her twin, but when she inherits a house on the breathtaking Greek island of Agistri from a mysterious uncle she’s never met, she escapes. Among the white-washed houses and warm, welcoming locals, she begins to feel her heart heal. But as she unearths her family’s buried past, Kat must also confront her own fears of belonging, forgiveness — and the possibility of rediscovering happiness in the shadow of heartbreak…
What Happens in Paradise
by Olivia Sprint
Under the sultry Jamaican sun, can Jasmine keep her feelings for sous chef Alejandro under wraps? Keeping it strictly professional becomes impossible when romance is literally all around them! So they agree a (secret) holiday fling may help satisfy their desires and then they can move on. After all, what happens in paradise stays in paradise… right?
Slow Burn Summer
by Josie Silver
Sometimes pretending to be someone else helps you figure out who you really are…
Freshly divorced and in need of a job – Kate Elliot’s life needs a rewrite. So when she unearths an old letter from her ex-talent agent, Jojo Francisco – she takes it as a sign from the universe to brush off her old acting skills and become someone else entirely. But as the summer heat ups and her lies get bigger and bigger, can she stick to her lines or will she go off-script?
Crime
Murder on an Italian Island
by T A Williams
Gorgeous Tuscany, a gripping murder mystery featuring a retired DCI and his loyal companion, Oscar.???? It really is murder in paradise!
When private investigator, Dan Armstrong, and his girlfriend, Anna, are invited to the gorgeous island of Elba for a much-needed break, he jumps at the chance. But the calm shatters with a sinister encounter and a sudden, suspicious death…
Death and Boules
by Ian Moore
Saint-Sauver, home to Richard Ainsworth and Valérie d’Orçay’s detective agency, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its town twinning with Anglethorp Spa in Lincolnshire. Events are planned, a huge brocante, street parties and the centrepiece, an exhibition boules tournament between the two towns and a team of international boules all-stars.
Everything is going well, until the mayor turns up dead in an antique dresser having apparently been killed twice. Inevitably Richard and Valérie have very different views on the subject and engage in their own battle, who will solve the crime first.
Thriller
The Second Honeymoon
by McGarvey Black
It’s our tenth wedding anniversary . . . and my husband is planning to kill me. He’s organized the perfect cruise — and the perfect murder.
Our luxury cruise ship departs from Florida. Its destination — paradise. A surprise gift from Andre. Our first proper vacation in five years. A second honeymoon. He’s bought me the perfect outfit. The champagne is flowing. Everything’s going to plan. Andre’s plan. He thinks he’ll get away with it.
But he doesn’t know what I’m capable of. Not yet.
The Honeymoon
by Jane E James
White beaches, endless cocktails . . . and murder.
Samantha: ‘Nathan hired me as his children’s nanny. Now I’m the third Mrs Price. He collects wives like he collects designer suits . . . and tires of them just as quickly. Whatever happens, he must never find out my secret.’
Angelika: ‘My handsome new husband worships the ground I walk on. And he’s accepted my past. But no one else on the island can know what I used to do for a living.’
Timothy: ‘I love our son — but I wish we hadn’t brought him on our honeymoon. His tantrums are ruining everything. What my husband doesn’t know is that I’ve been here before.’
Welcome to Honeymoon Island. Where secrets come to die . . .
Historical Fiction
Glorious Exploits
by Ferdia Lennon
Ancient Sicily. Enter GELON: visionary, dreamer, theatre lover. Enter LAMPO: lovesick, jobless, in need of a distraction.
Imprisoned in the quarries of Syracuse, thousands of defeated Athenians hang on by the thinnest of threads. They’re fading in the baking heat, but not everything is lost: they can still recite lines from Greek tragedy when tempted by Lampo and Gelon with goatskins of wine and scraps of food.
And so an idea is born. Because, after all, you can hate the invaders but still love their poetry.
It’s audacious. It might even be dangerous. But like all the best things in life – love, friendship, art itself – it will reveal the very worst, and the very best, of what humans are capable of.
Loot
by Tania James
An epic historical novel of plundered treasure and lasting love
A hero’s quest, a love story, an exuberant heist novel that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across the world, Loot is a dazzling, wildly inventive and irresistible feat of storytelling.
New Book by Katie Ginger: The Floating Amsterdam Flower Shop
