Book Recommendations: 6 Books to Bring on Vacation

What’s your ideal vacation? No matter where I go, I’m always searching for book recommendations to grab during travel and downtime on the trip!

I’m typically not a beach girl. And if you find me at the pool, I’m most likely there to get some sun and enjoy the poolside vibe than I am to splash around or take a dip.

Right now, I’m planning my next European adventure but there are so many places in the States I still want to see. Arizona, Houston/Dallas/San Antonio, New Mexico, Seattle. The list goes on! The perfect vacation destination for me will have great food, solid public transportation or walkability, weather that won’t kill me (I’d always rather it be too cold), and of course, great bookstores!

Because this is the time of year that many of us are trading office views for beachy sunsets, I wanted to send you off with a few solid vacation reading recs.

You guys know I take book recommendations very seriously. There are a few requirements I usually have for traveling books:

• Paperback preferred to not weigh down luggage
• Under 400 pages (for space saving…because when do I not buy another book in the airport)
• A quick read/page turner so I can finish it before I’m home

What kind of books do you prefer to travel with? I hope one of these book recommendations is your next favorite read!

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren are my favorite romance author duo of the moment. I honestly could have recommended any number of their books! This one is actually set on vacation –an unhoneymoon! We follow Olive and Ethan, who have disliked each other since they met. Olive’s twin sister marries Ethan’s brother, and everyone at the wedding ends up getting terrible food poisoning. Everyone except Olive and Ethan. They each take their sibling’s place on their would-be honeymoon, and romance ensues from there. This was the perfect hate to love build up and such a solid read.

The Big Life by Ann Shoket

I know, a self help book on vacation doesn’t sound very relaxing, right? Ehh, I disagree! I’ve already reviewed this book and praised it for being a great little digest of tips to really enhance your life. If your vacation is more of an eat.pray.love trip, I think this book would be the perfect companion. Ann gives tips to really take the reigns in your career and your life. I tabbed so many sections and pick it up often to reflect on. It’s short, easy to unpack and leaves you feeling ready to take on the world.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book is ideal for a long-ish flight that you don’t plan to sleep on. Because you’re going to want to keep turning pages without room for distraction. This book is on the thick side, but I still read it in two days! It’s the ultimate page turner and one of my favorite books of all time. Evelyn Hugo was a Cuban actress during the days of old Hollywood movies. She was best known for her amazing looks and her seven husbands, but her life was so much more! Monique, a journalists who’s life and career aren’t exactly thriving, is asked to interview Evelyn and write her memoir. From there, we go on the best deep dive of Evelyn’s life. By the end of this book, you’ll be sad that you can’t spend hours on Evelyn Hugo wikipedia.

Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Yes, another TJR book, because she’s one of my favorite authors and I’ll read and recommend anything she writes! My favorite part of this book is that it doesn’t just focus on romance, but also the importance of female friendships. We follow Hannah, who’s basically in the midst of a quarter life crisis. After a night out with her best friend, Hannah has two options: go home with her high school sweetheart or leave with her best friend and focus on getting her life together. The book goes back and forth between two parallels: one where she leaves with her friend, and one where she leaves with the boy. This was one of my favorite TJR books and I think it’s the perfect travel companion!

Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

This book is another long-time fave! Claudia and Ben are the perfect couple. They each have great careers and know for a fact that neither wants to have kids. Until one day, one of them has a change of heart and decides that becoming a parent is a non-negotiable. This book is full of wit, charm and is a super emotional journey through this couples struggles. It’s so well written and you really feel like you’re a third member of the couple!

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

This book is such a fun read! It’s a companion novel to The Wedding Date, which I also loved! It follows Nikole, who’s a successful freelance writer and not really into serious relationships. When her boyfriend at the time proposes in front of a full baseball stadium, she says no and tries to make a run for it. Carlos comes to her rescue and get’s her out of there before she’s swarmed by camera crews. The two of them end up hooking up, but neither wants anything serious…or do they? It was so cute, so good, and I couldn’t get enough of these characters.

***

I hope these book recommendations were helpful! Let me know which books you end up packing on your next trip (and tell me where you’re headed!). Happy reading! And if you need even more book recommendations, join my book club!