Authors' fave vacay books: 'Shanna,' 'The Red Bikini,' 'Ain't She Sweet?'
We asked three Montlake Romance authors, Catherine Bybee, Anna DeStefano and Terri Osburn: What are your favorite vacation spots, and which book you should read to "transport" you there?
Catherine Bybee, author of Seduced by Sunday
My personal favorite vacation spots are anything surrounded by water. So yeah, tropical islands get my vote for relaxation and rejuvenation for the soul. The Hawaiian islands and those quiet Caribbean beaches with gentle waves lapping up on the shore have me pining for fruity drinks with tiny umbrellas and a good-looking man volunteering to rub my back with suntan lotion. I have also been known to slip onto a cruise ship and stop wherever the floating city takes me. The ocean has a way of resetting my clock.
As for the book that should be read to transport you there … Well, certainly, Seduced by Sunday fits the bill. But an old favorite, Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss, will whisk you away to a place and time you'll never forget.
About Seduced by Sunday:
Meg Rosenthal: Matchmaker by day, realist by night, Meg is not about to get swept away by a charming, darkly handsome businessman in a designer suit. She's come to a beautiful secluded resort to evaluate the private island's potential for her agency, not to ogle its owner. But there's something about the magnetic man that's hard to resist, even for a woman who refuses to fall in love.
Valentino Masini: A successful and drop-dead sexy businessman, Valentino is used to having the finer things in life. Yet he's never wanted someone the way he wants Meg, who's stirring up a hurricane of trouble in his heart. But just as he decides to convince her to stay, someone else decides it might be time to get Meg off the island…permanently.
Anna DeStefano, author of Let Me Love You Again
My favorite vacay spots are spectacular, natural places. Every chance I get, I spend hours and hours outdoors — usually near water. Oceans. Waterfalls. High mountain lakes. Hiking and wandering and looking for the next photograph I can take, so I can bring something of it back with me.
As much as I HEART shopping and sightseeing and getting my history-loving tourist on, discovering new landscapes is my Zen. Both when I travel and when I create story. I think that's why readers are drawn to the sense of place and community they find in my Echoes of the Heart novels. The town of Chandlerville has taken on a life of its own. I keep hearing how real the people and places and relationships are. Each character has a unique way of looking at the world. When I travel, I'm scoping for that same kind of authentic escape. I long to immerse myself. I want to see and feel something I've never experienced before.
What book would I take? It's a toss-up.
Romance? Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Read it, and you'll know what it's like being born and raised in the South.
Classics? Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. A Gothic masterpiece. Can you say atmosphere?
Childhood favorite? From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It still makes me want to sneak into New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and live there for a few days.
My novels? Let Me Love You Again. I'm drawn into the beautiful love story and heart-warming family dynamics over and over again …
About Let Me Love You Again:
Can their second-chance love be a dream come true?
Selena Rosenthal left behind her high school sweetheart, the love of her life, seven years ago.
Now, she and the once-rebellious Oliver Bowman are back in Chandlerville—after his foster father's heart attack and Selena's contentious divorce—to deal with her secrets, the recklessness that caused their breakup, and the almost-strangers they've become to each other and their families.
As soon as his father is stronger, Oliver must return to the successful career that helps support a new generation of foster kids. But he's falling for Selena again, her daughter has a hold on his heart, and he can't imagine leaving behind his brothers and sisters now.
More attached by the day to their charming hometown and families, Selena and Oliver fall in love for the second time.
Has fate brought Chandlerville's prodigal children together again…this time forever?
From the Echoes of the Heart series, a heartwarming series about love, family and the magic of small town life.
Terri Osburn, author of His First and Last
I've been fortunate to do more traveling in the last few years, and there are some destinations where I arrive and think, "I could totally live here." Anaheim, Calif., is one of those places for me. I've been there twice since 2012, done Disneyland both times, and long to go back. Until that happens, I have The Red Bikini by Lauren Christopher to take me there. A professional surfer hero and slightly older, newly divorced, single-mom heroine that I can so relate to. But even better, the beautiful setting that Christopher brings alive, adding sun and sand to every page.
In the category of places on my to-get-to list, we have Aspen, Colo., and the desire to visit grew stronger after reading Colette Auclair's Thrown, the first in her Aspen Valley Series. I find the combination of a big city with beautiful open landscapes intriguing, and Auclair's setting of a beautiful ranch that includes glorious jumping horses makes you feel as if you're clinging to the fence enjoying the landscape, as well as both the two-legged and four-legged athletes before you. The movie star hero isn't so bad either.
And in complete contrast, there's the Okefenokee Swamp, a wetland that straddles the Georgia-Florida line. This is the ultimate version of getting back to nature, mixing history and untouched wilderness to take a person back in time. There are few places left in the U.S. that are exactly as they were hundreds of years ago, and this is one of them. However, if you'd rather skip the heat and bugs and visit from the comfort of your living room, you can check out Nancy Northcott's The Light Mage Wars series that starts with the book Warrior.
Though Northcott includes paranormal elements, this entire series reads as gritty contemporaries that just happen to include magic, but what she does really well is bring the setting to life. Don't be surprised if you're reading along and swat the air around you as you're sucked into the swamp through the pages of these fabulous stories.
I'll end with a suggestion to visit one of my favorite places, Nashville. My new Ardent Springs Series, which debuts this month with His First and Last, is set in a fictional small town north of the city and I'm sure my love for the area comes through.
About His First and Last:
Lorelei and Spencer are high school sweethearts getting a second chance at love, but only if Spencer can convince the woman he loves that everything she needs is right here in their hometown of Ardent Springs. Lorelei isn't the easiest woman to convince, so it's a good thing her hero doesn't give up easily.
Warm, sexy, and laugh-out-loud funny, His First and Last is an irresistible story of first love and second chances.