Fictional Vacations: A Book List

Whether or not you’re going on a vacation this summer, you can take a fictional one with these titles!

Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews

The Family Beach House by Holly Chamberlain

“Some houses have a personality of their own. Larchmere is that kind of place–a splendid, sprawling home with breathtaking views that open to briny Atlantic air and seabirds’ calls. It’s the place where Tilda McQueen O’Connell grew up and now vacations each year, and where she and her three siblings–Adam, Hannah, and Craig–have gathered to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their mother’s passing.

But instead of the bittersweet but relaxing reunion Tilda expected, she finds chaos. Her father’s plan to marry a younger woman has thrown the fate of the beach house into uncertainty. For Tilda, the stakes seem the highest. Alone and vulnerable two years after her husband’s death, she sees Larchmere as not just a cherished part of her history, but her eventual refuge from the world. Faced with losing that legacy, Tilda must embrace an unknown future. And all the McQueens must reconcile their shared, sometimes painful past–and learn how to love one another even when it means forging a life apart. . .”

Summer at Seaside Cove by Jacquie D’Alessandro

Cutting Teeth by Julia Fiero

“The parents include: –Nicole: the beach house is her parents’. She’s made sure to be there for the weekend, terrified by internet rumors that something big and bad is going to happen in New York City that week. –Susanna and Allie: the enviable two-mommy couple with twins, they’ve tied the knot the day they drove out to Long Island; it’s easy to reduce them to a modern urban cliche but nobody sees the reality of their struggles. –Rip: the sole dad in the playgroup, desperate to have a second child, but his take-no-prisoners wife Grace isn’t on board; after all, they had to use a sperm donor for Hank, so why does Rip even care? –Tiffany: beyond comfortable with her (amazing) body, she wasn’t born into the upper middle class world all the others were; she propelled herself from a chaotic childhood to land a nice life; will what she brings to this weekend blow it all up? –Leigh: has hired the magic nanny everyone wants, and has rubbed that in the other parents’ faces by bringing Tenzin along. Tenzin, however, whose own children live thousands of miles away in India, sees the parents from a different perspective. As the weekend unfolds and conflicts intensify, painful truths surface. Friendships crack. Two days together in Eden will change the group forever.”

The Red House by Mark Haddon

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand

Summer People by Elin Hilderbrand

Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

September Girls by Bennett Madison

“When Sam’s dad whisks him and his brother off to a remote beach town for the summer, he’s all for it– at first. Sam soon realizes, though, that this place is anything but ordinary. Time seems to slow down around here, and everywhere he looks, there are beautiful blond girls. Girls who seem inexplicably drawn to him.

Then Sam meets DeeDee, one of the Girls, and she’s different from the others. Just as he starts to fall for her, she pulls away, leaving him more confused than ever. He knows that if he’s going to get her back, he’ll have to uncover the secret of this beach and the girls who live here.”

Us by David Nicholls

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

 

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