Vacation Reading; Or, What's on My Tablet

Do you read when you're on vacation? I always have high hopes of quiet evenings or relaxing afternoons with my books, but in fact, I rarely read at all when I'm on an adventure.

Nevertheless, I simply cannot travel without a book or two (or twenty). Because, well, you never know, and I kind of panic at the thought of being stuck without something to read!

Truth is, I usually manage an audiobook or two when in the car or on a train. But even then my mind is not solidly on my book. After all, there are new things to see out the window.

Airplanes are a safer bet for audio or print reading, especially when traveling alone. I always hope a book, earbuds, or tablet tells the stranger sitting next to me to simply leave me alone. Alas, it doesn't always work.

In the old days, I would carefully choose two or three paperbacks, judging their weight and resigning myself to leaving them behind after I finished reading. Now, thanks to eBooks, smartphones, and tablets, I don't have to make those painful decisions. I can take ALL.THE.BOOKS!

So, even though I know I probably won't read a page, I downloaded a bunch of August and September eGalleys to my tablet. Because, yeah, I can't travel without a gazillion books! *insert hysterical laughter here*

Here's a peek at a few of the books I'm "packing" for vacation. I also have literary fiction and nonfiction on my tablet, but let's face it, I'm probably going to turn to escape reading.

Historical Fiction

• The Air You Breath by Frances De Pointes Peebles (Riverhead, August): Set in Brazil and then America, starting in the 1930. The story of a childhood friendship that remains strong as the girls mature into women.
• The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White (William Morrow, August): Set in the modern times and 1915. The story of three women and their link to the ill-fated RMS Lusitania.
• The Last Hours by Minette Walters (Mira, August): Set in Dorsetshire in the mid-1300s. The story of a noble woman trying to protect her people from both the plague and the all-too-human murderer in their mist.
• The Lost Carousel of Provence by Juliet Blackwell (Berkley, September): Set in modern times and about 100 years ago in France. A freelance photography delves into the history of a fallen family and their once great estate.

Mysteries & Thrillers

• Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger (Atria, September): Set in Minnesota; part of a series. In the latest Cork O'Connor mystery, the detective and his son investigate the circumstances that caused a private plane to crash, killing a U.S. Senator.
• Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia (Emily Bestler, September): Set in Minnesota; a standalone. A language specialist at a psychiatric hospital is charged helping a new uncommunicative patient. A decade earlier the patient had disappeared with his father into the Boundary Waters; can she learn what happened?
• Our House by Louise Candlish (Berkley, August): Set in London; a standalone. When a woman pulls up to the house she shares with her ex-husband, a new family is moving in. Her husband and children have disappeared and she is left alone to face the past and the secrets they so carefully kept.
• A Willing Murder by Jude Deveraux (Mira, September): Set in Florida; a debut mystery from a romance author. A writer, her housemate, and her niece team together to solve a 20-year-old murder of a local mother and daughter. Could be the start of a new cozy series.

Speculative Fiction

• Melmoth by Sarah Perry (Custom House, October): A Gothic tale, set throughout the 20th century and across the globe, following a robed figure of fairy tales and legends who dooms all those who cross her path.
• Rule by Ellen Goodlett (Little, Brown BYR, September): First in a duology. Three illegitimate daughters of a dying king are brought to court and told one will be heir to the throne. Each has secrets and different strengths, and only one can rule.
• The Sea Queen by Linnea Hartsuyker (Harper, August): Set 6 years after The Half-Drowned King, we revisit the violent Viking world and Harald's continued quest to unit the Norsemen under his rule. Not technically a fantasy, but prophecies, tales, and gods abound.
• The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner (Redhook, September): Set in Ukraine and based on folk legends. Two sisters have a happy childhood until passing travelers seem to awaken dark forces. Magic, shape-shifting, and family secrets.