If your budget won’t let you take a trip to Europe this summer, try one of these summer reads and get away to Scotland, Oxford, Paris and even the wine country in Burgundy.
If you like your summers drenched in sunshine, but with a light sweater, check out Jenny Colgan’s The Endless Beach. In it, Flora MacKenzie trades London for the Scottish island of Mure.
She never dreamed that Joel—her difficult, adorable boss—would follow. Yet now, not only has Flora been reunited with her family and opened a charming café by the sea, but she and Joel are taking their first faltering steps into romance.
With Joel away on business in New York, Flora is preparing for the next stage in her life. And that would be…? Love? She’s feeling it. Security? In Joel’s arms, sure. Marriage? Not open to discussion.
In the meanwhile, Flora is finding pleasure in a magnificent sight: whales breaking waves off the beaches of Mure. But it also signals something less joyful. According to local superstition, it’s an omen—and a warning that Flora’s future could be as fleeting as the sea-spray…
A bracing season on the shore sets the stage for Jenny Colgan’s delightful novel that’s as funny, heartwarming, and unpredictable as love itself. The Endless Beach is a follow on to Cafe by the Sea, but Jenny Colgan catches you up in her author’s note, if you haven’t read the first book. The Endless Beach is available now.
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It’s been 10 years since Rachael West made the fateful decision to care for her seriously ill mother, while her childhood sweetheart went on to university. After putting her life on hold, the man she once loved is marrying someone else — in Paris. It’s an all expenses paid trip, so Rachael and her best friend head to the wedding and it’s not long before the City of Lights puts a handsome photojournalist in her path. The Paris Wedding hits shelves June 21.
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If a year studying abroad is more your style, try out My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan. American Ella Durran is a Rhodes scholar set to spend a year in Oxford. She’s a bit of a fish out of water as she arrives in Oxford, and nearly gets run down by a playboy in an Aston Martin. After a (not so) meet cute in a fish and chip shop, he turns out to be Jamie Davenport, a Tennyson scholar and lecturer for one her classes. As they spend time together, something more develops, but Jamie’s been keeping a secret. It’s a charming tale in the tradition of some of the best American + Brit rom-coms. My Oxford Year is available now. Read our full review.
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Fancy a bottle of wine, a good book and some family intrigue? The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah may be your Euro getaway. Kate’s been building a career in wine and after two failed attempts at the Master of Wine exam, she has one last shot at it. She’s carefully avoided Burgundian wines, but relents and heads back to her family’s vineyards in France to help with the harvest. She stumbles on a valuable secret stash in a hidden room. It spurs her to dig into her family history back to World War II. She discovers an aunt she never knew about and questions who her family might have sided with during the war. The Lost Vintage releases on June 19. This one’s on my TBR for the summer.
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