5 Romance Reads to Fill Your Travel Void This Holiday Season
By: Karen Cheng
Tags: Travel, Romance Novels, Book Recommendations, Books, Christmas

1. Love and Gelato Series by Jenna Evans Welch

Tuscany. Ireland. Santorini. Pick your destination of choice, because you can’t go wrong with any book in this series. These contemporaries have deceptively cute covers but explore surprisingly dark themes of personal growth and deep-rooted family issues. Love and Olives is the most recent of the releases and arguably the best of the trilogy yet. Be transported to the pristine white and blue clifftops of Oia, Santorini and the mystical world of Atlantis. A flirty, slow burn romance intertwined with lots of personal growth and some serious mental health issues. Major props goes to Welch for doing what one can only imagine is copious amounts of research on the island’s most popular myth. Love and Gelato is the book that started it all. It offers an escape to Italy, discovery of family secrets, a charming romance and as promised lots of gelato. If you need a change of scenery from the sunny Mediterranean, Love and Luck is set in the lush, emerald cliffs of Ireland. We follow the protagonist along on a thought-provoking roadtrip, lots of castles and a very real and relatable sibling rift.

2. Wanderlost by Jen Malone

For fellow fans of The Sound of Music. Have you, too, always dreamed of running out into the Austrian Alps bursting into song? Imagining nuns singing about your problems? Well Wanderlost is for you. Our main character, Audree is thrown into the deep end when she accidentally lands up taking over her sister’s job as a tour guide through Europe along with the company’s owner’s super cute son, Sam. Sounds like an awful time, yeah? This book features Amsterdam, Austria, copious amounts of the aforementioned timeless classic and a tour bus of elderly people. You really can’t get much sweeter than that.

3. The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker

Alaska might not currently be at the top of your travel list, but after reading this it will at least, without a doubt, be making an honorary appearance. The Simple Wild isn’t an overtly obvious ‘travel book’, rather it tells the story in a way which allows the setting to naturally shine. You are transported to the world of Alaska. Not one with rapid sight seeing and crowded glacier cruises. The real Alaska. See it through the eyes of city girl Calla Fletcher as she navigates day-to-day local life in both the harshness and tranquil beauty of the landscape. It’s a fish-out-of-water story, a hate-to-love romance, just everything you need to curl up with a mug of hot chocolate in sweats and dive right in. And the sequel is just as good.

4. If You Could Go Anywhere by Paige Toon

This is a two-in-one destinations package deal; Coober Pedy, Australia and Rome, Italy. Two incredibly different settings, but equally as fascinating. If You Could Go Anywhere, makes you want to take a deep dive look into Australia’s small town mining communities. If acres of orange-red dirt and dugouts aren’t really your thing, don’t worry, the story is mainly set in the vibrant streets of Rome. It’ll be sure to take you back to that one Italian summer you spent walking up and down the chaotic streets, almost getting sideswiped by vespas and wondering how on earth they built such incredible buildings. Plus you’ll get to follow the protagonist, Angie, as she moves there to get to know her long-lost father by working in his family-run restaurant while falling for a passionately moody Italian.

5. Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Just One Day is not merely a lighthearted read to quench your travel thirst. Forman has written a stunningly profound book which has the capacity to have a resonating impact on your outlook on life. What do you really travel for? How do you choose to spend your time and live your life? Are you going to let your parents dictate it for you or say screw it, pack up your bags and go? It’s Paris, but done in the best way. Trying to pull your suitcase over cobbled streets. Tiny cafes. Youth hostels. Meeting random people at said hostels. A tragically fleeting romance. It captures the raw thrill of travelling. Walking alone in a foreign city with your anxieties long forgotten and embracing the possibility that truly, anything can happen.