Releasing on July 30^th, One Year Ago in Spain takes you on a tour of the best parts of Madrid, while also following a beautiful love story about second chances, found family, and being appreciated for exactly who you are.

It’s summer and vacation envy is at its peak! I’m not actually going anywhere, but I’m happy to let books take me away.

I was inspired to set One Year Ago in Spain in Madrid after my trip there a couple years ago. Writing the book immersed me once again in the gorgeous plazas and outdoor cafes, the delight of discovering new tapas and indulging in churros dipped in warm, melted chocolate. And most of all, the people and the beautiful language and culture of Spain.

So here are some of my favorite reads that can take you there, and then continue your bookish tour through more of Europe. Happy reading!

SPAIN

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

While One Year Ago in Spain will whisk you off to Madrid, The Vacationers by Emma Straub takes you to Mallorca on the Spanish islands. This one is not a love story, but a book about family—the tensions that quiver among them and the bonds that keep them together, despite growing apart over the years.

I enjoyed going “on vacation” with this family, especially when Straub highlights people’s very different vacation philosophies—matriarch Franny is anxious to control every aspect of the trip to make sure it’s perfect for everyone, 18-year-old Sylvia just wants to lounge by the pool and not spend the summer taking Spanish lessons, and then there’s everyone else who arrives with their own literal and emotional baggage, which lead to… complications. We’ve all been on a trip with personalities that don’t quite mesh. But don’t worry, this isn’t your family, and you can read about their Spanish vacation mishaps from the comfy distance of your pool lounge chair.

FRANCE

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

I was in Paris earlier this year, speaking and autographing books at le Festival du Livre de Paris, and I wish I could have spent more than a week there. Never fear, though, because The Paris Novel came out just in time to take me back (but without the Olympics crowds).

I’ve been a huge fan of food writer Ruth Reichl’s work for a long time, dating back to Garlic and Sapphires, her memoir about being a food critic in disguise. So I was thrilled when Reichl recently published The Paris Novel, a mouthwatering novel set in 1980s Paris that’s full of the sort of delicious food details I adore.

If you’re a foodie and book lover like me, The Paris Novel is tailor made for you. Main character Stella rediscovers herself as she first stumbles—then strides—through the City of Lights, from decadent meals to vintage fashion shops to the revered steps of the beloved bookstore, Shakespeare & Co.

ITALY

Still Life by Sarah Winman

This is the kind of book I love to savor and take my time with. Still Life is historical fiction, and while I don’t normally read historical fiction when I’m at the pool, this one is different. Winman paints such a loving image of Italy that it doesn’t matter whether it’s Tuscany in 1944 or now—it reminds me of how much I love that country and its rich history.

The characters in this book are what really make it. There is so much attention and care paid to each of them—the façades they first present, the depths they sometimes try to hide, and the genuine, poignant friendships they build among themselves. Still Life is a book that has a permanent place on my “favorites” shelf; I will be reading this one again and again.

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

When asked whose books mine most resemble, Rebecca Serle is the name that always pops up first. Just like in One Year Ago in Spain, her novel One Italian Summer is grounded solidly in the real, modern world—except for one little surreal detail, where the main character sees a loved one from the past, but here in the present.

This novel set on the Amalfi Coast reunites Katy with her mother, who has recently passed away but who reappears to her in Italy—a younger version of herself, who does not yet know who Katy is, and instead, becomes a friend to vacation with. One Italian Summer is a beautiful story about learning about your parents as more than just your parents. When you’re finished with this one, maybe you’ll also want to raise a glass of limoncello to the younger adult version of your own mother.

GREECE

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

In her Hades x Persephone series, romantasy queen Scarlett St. Clair has created a lush alternative version of Greece called “New Greece.” The story begins in New Athens where Persephone—who sadly has little talent as a goddess of spring—tries to reinvent herself as an ordinary mortal and journalist. But of course, this is not the fate that Hades has in store for her.

If you’re craving a mythological retelling with a spicy romance twist, this one belongs in your beach bag for sure.

ENGLAND

Just Haven’t Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens

What if you picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport, and it turned out to belong to the man of your dreams? And what if that suitcase also takes you to a part of England you’ve never visited, far from the hustle and bustle of London and the tourist crowds?

I love Sophie Cousens books because her protagonists are always women I feel I can identify with. They are independent yet still finding their way in the world.

Just Haven’t Met You Yet has the added bonus of taking you to the Channel Islands, which I had never actually heard of before (being from California, I thought at first that the book was set on our Channel Islands in the Pacific Ocean.) I fell in love with the characters and the countryside charm of the British Channel Islands. It’s a perfect read for when you want a book that feels like a warm hug.

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

Being a huge fan of Crazy Rich Asians, I’m always thrilled whenever Kevin Kwan has a new book out. We’ve all come to expect over-the-top backdrops, juicy gossip, and characters with more money than Bernard Arnault, and Kwan doesn’t disappoint with Lies and Weddings.

While this story is set in part in England, its jetsetting crowd also takes you around the globe from Hawaii to Marrakech. Sure, I started this reading list with the idea of going to Europe, but if a Kevin Kwan character is paying for my first class ticket, I’m game to travel anywhere they want to go!

The post Evelyn Skye’s Favourite Books To Whisk You Away To A European Vacation appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Tell us in the comments below if you will be reading any of these books!

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry | Goodreads
There is one version of my story that everyone knows. And then there is the truth. How I went from being Peter Pan’s first—and favourite—lost boy to his greatest enemy. Peter brought me to his island because there were no rules and no grownups to make us mind. He brought boys from the Other Place to join in the fun, but Peter’s idea of fun is sharper than a pirate’s sword. Because it’s never been all fun and games on the island. Our neighbours are pirates and monsters. Peter promised we would all be young and happy forever.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig | Goodreads
Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover – working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he teaches kids about wars and witch hunts as if he’d never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him.

The Color Project by Sierra Abrams | Goodreads
Bernice Aurora Wescott has one thing she doesn’t want anyone to know her name, until she meets Levi. But while Levi is everything she never knew she needed, giving up her name would feel like a stamp on forever. When unexpected news of an illness in the family occurs, she is pushed to the breaking point. She loses herself in a charity organization called The Color Project, but Bee must hold together her family, but to do that, she needs Levi. She’ll have to give up her name and let him in completely or lose the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

Ten Dead Comedians by Fred Van Lente | Goodreads
As the story opens, nine comedians of various acclaim are summoned to the island retreat of legendary Hollywood funnyman Dustin Walker. The group includes a former late-night TV host, a washed-up improv instructor, a ridiculously wealthy “blue collar” comic, and a past-her-prime Vegas icon. All nine arrive via boat to find that every building on the island is completely deserted. Marooned without cell phone service or wifi signals, they soon find themselves being murdered one by one. But who is doing the killing, and why?

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell | Goodreads
In modern day New York, magic is all but extinct and the Mageus, the remaining few who have an affinity for magic, live in the shadows. Esta is a talented thief, and she’s been raised to steal magical artifacts from the sinister Order. With her innate ability to manipulate time, Esta pilfers from the past collecting these artifacts. And all of Esta’s training has been for one final job: traveling back to 1902 to steal an ancient book containing the secrets of the Order before the Magician can destroy it and doom the Mageus to a hopeless future.

Tin Man by Sarah Winman | Goodreads
This is almost a love story. Ellis and Michael are twelve when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more. But then we fast forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question, what happened in the years between? This is almost a love story. But it’s not as simple as that.

Final Girls by Riley Sager | Goodreads
Ten years ago, Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. She became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Quincy is doing well until one of the Girls is found dead and another Girl appears on Quincy’s doorstep. She’s intent on making Quincy relive the past and when new details about Lisa’s death come to light, Quincy’s life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam’s truths from her lies, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.

The Atlas of Forgotten Places by Jenny D. Williams | Goodreads
After a long career as an aid worker, Sabine Hardt has retreated to her native Germany for a quieter life. But when her American niece Lily disappears while volunteering in Uganda, Sabine must return to places and memories she once thought buried in order to find her. In Uganda, Rose Akulu—haunted by a troubled past with the Lord’s Resistance Army—becomes distressed when her lover Ocen vanishes without a trace. Side by side, Sabine and Rose must unravel the tangled threads that tie Lily and Ocen’s lives together—ultimately discovering that the truth of their loved ones’ disappearance is inescapably entwined to the secrets the two women carry.

Nights of the Living Dead: Anthology by Jonathan Maberry and George Romero | Goodreads
In 1968 the world experienced a brand new kind of terror with the debut of George A. Romero’s landmark movie Night of the Living Dead. The novel returns to that night, to the outbreak, to where it all began with a collection of all new tales set during the 48 hours of that legendary outbreak. Nights of the Living Dead includes stories by some of today’s most important writers: Brian Keene, Carrie Ryan, Chuck Wendig, Craig Engler, David J. Schow and David Wellington plus original stories by Romero and Maberry!

Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton | Goodreads
Adam has just been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He sees and hears people who aren’t there: Rebecca, a beautiful girl who understands him; the Mob Boss, who harasses him; and Jason, the naked guy who’s unfailingly polite. It should be easy to separate the real from the not real, but he can’t. As Adam starts fresh, he begins a drug trial that helps him ignore his visions and when he meets Maya, he wants to be the great guy that she thinks he is. But the miracle drug begins to fail, and Adam will do anything to keep Maya from discovering his secret.

The Fifth Doll by Charlie N. Holmberg | Goodreads
Matrona’s life is centered on pleasing her parents. But a visit to Slava, the local tradesman, threatens to upend it. She discovers a strange collection of painted nesting dolls—one for every villager and opens the doll with her father’s face which causes him to act strangely. When Slave learns what she’s done, he gives Matrona stewardship over the dolls—whether she wants it or not. Forced to open one of her own dolls, she falls deeper into the grim power of Slava’s creations. But nothing can prepare her for the profound secret hiding inside the fifth doll.

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine | Goodreads
Gina Royal is the definition of average, but when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor.  Although she’s still the target of stalkers and Internet trolls who think she had something to do with her husband’s crimes, Gwen dares to think her kids can finally grow up in peace. But a body turns up in the lake—and threatening letters start arriving from an all-too-familiar address. Gwen Proctor must keep friends close and enemies at bay to avoid being exposed.

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