The summer of 2020 will go down in history as one of the strangest for a long time. Everyone’s travel plans have transformed into “staycations” with exotic travels in “Balconya” or “Costa del Window,” perhaps even “Garden Riviera” for the more adventurous. The next best thing is to take a virtual trip, and what better way than to curl up with a book that takes you on a European vacation!
Anna's Dance: A Balkan Odyssey by Michele Levy
Anna’s Dance: A Balkan Odyssey (Black Rose Writing 2020)
by Michele Levy
It’s 1968. The world is in turmoil. So is 23-year-old Anna Rossi who questions everything about her life from her mostly Jewish heritage to her fear of intimacy. Summer in Europe with a childhood friend offers a perfect way to escape her demons. When her friend abandons her in Italy, Anna makes the rash decision to travel on with strangers. Her journey takes a perilous turn, leading her into conflict in Eastern Europe and into the heart of the Balkans.
A Summer in Europe by Marilyn Brant
A Summer in Europe (Kensington 2011)
by Marilyn Brant
On her 30th birthday, Gwendolyn Reese receives an unexpected present from her widowed Aunt Bea: a grand tour of Europe in the company of Bea’s Sudoku and Mahjongg Club. The prospect isn’t entirely appealing, but amid the bougainvillea and stunning vistas of southern Italy something changes. She begins to live in the moment — skipping down stone staircases in Capri, running her fingers over a glacier in view of the Matterhorn, racing through the Louvre and taste-testing pastries at a Marseilles cafe. Reveling in every new experience — especially her attraction to a charismatic British physics professor — Gwen discovers that the ancient wonders around her are nothing compared to the renaissance unfolding within.
Bella Toscana by Nanette Littlestone
Bella Toscana (Words of Passion 2018)
by Nanette Littlestone
On the night of her 50th birthday, the comfortable ride of Toscana’s life takes an alarming plunge. Haunted by seductive visions, she tries to push aside the desire and focus on the husband who adores her. Then she falls for Flynn, a younger man with an eye for adventure and a heart full of romance, who leaves her doubting everything she’s believed about love and passion.
In Atlanta, Rome and the lush scenery of Tuscany, Toscana searches for answers to the mysteries of her life while she faces her biggest question: If she listens to her feelings, will she lose everything she holds dear, or does her heart hold the key to love and joy?
The Renaissance Club by Rachel Dacus
The Renaissance Club (2018)
by Rachel Dacus
If young, ambitious art historian May Gold could talk to one person about her life, she’d ask Italian sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini, “If I were trapped in stone, how would you chisel me free?” At 26, May is trapped in a dead-end college teaching job and a failing love affair. She yearns for freedom and to soar with creative wings, like one of Bernini’s marble angels. When the floor beneath the gilded dome of St. Peter’s basilica rocks under her feet, May finds herself in the year 1624, staring straight into Gianlorenzo’s eyes. Their immediate attraction grows each time she meets him during her tour, and the passion for the artist shakes her to the core. History says they have no future, but would she give up everything, even the time in which she lives, to be with her soulmate?
The Stone Manor by Terri Hale
The Stone Manor (2013)
by Terri Hale
A broken heart is not the end of all things. It can, if mixed with a hint of magic and a large amount of fate, lead to a life beyond ordinary dreams. Kathryn Trent leaves her failed marriage behind in Texas and escapes to Scotland in search of ancestors and an elusive stone manor. The wild and rugged landscape of the Isle of Skye is the perfect backdrop for Kathryn’s quest.
Woven through this modern-day tale is the story of young Mairi MacDonald, who lived on Skye near the Fairy Glen in the 1700s. Kathryn soon discovers the tie that binds her with Mairi in a tapestry woven by Fate. Through a portrait and a promise, the magic of Kathryn’s ancestor illuminates her future. Once revealed, she must decide to take hold of it or walk away.
Rehoming Pigeon by Joanne Simon Tailele
Rehoming Pigeon (2016)
by Joanne Simon Tailele
Cecile Boudreaux’s ultimate desire is to be a mother, but when she and her husband, Armand, adopt six-year-old Natalia from Russia, things don’t go as planned. Natalia desperately wants to return to her brother, Nikolai.
Rehoming Pigeon takes an intimate look at international adoption and all the extenuating circumstances that go wrong while trying to find love, deal with loss and discover the many faces of family.
Friendship Makes the Heart Grow Fonder by isa Verge Higgins
Friendship Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (2013)
by Lisa Verge Higgins
TOP THREE REASONS TO VISIT EUROPE:
1. Explore foreign cultures
2. Sample outstanding food
3. Desperately flee impending personal crisis
Before cancer took his life, Lenny left his wife a bucket list of things they’d dreamed of doing together. Whisking her friends away on adventures from London to Paris, from Monaco to Milan, she is determined to follow the bucket list to the letter — until one eventful evening knocks the three friends off the beaten path. Caught up in adventures of their own making, they begin to understand that sometimes getting lost is the only way to find what you’re really looking for.
A Symphony of Rivals by Roma Calatayud-Stocks
A Symphony of Rivals (Calumet Editions 2018)
by Roma Calatayud-Stocks
A Symphony of Rivals, the second book in a trilogy, is a compelling historical novel set in 1930s Germany, Austria, Italy and the United States. Alejandra Stanford Morrison pursues her dream of becoming a symphonic conductor at an unfortunate time when culture and the arts are falling under the influence of Nazism, but through her devotion to music and Beethoven’s legacy, she finds a measure of hope and strength. While attempting to maintain her integrity, Alejandra’s musical talent is a double-edged sword that places her at the center of a dangerous political world, where she attracts the unwanted attention of a high-ranking German officer.
What a fabulous variety of interesting books. Thanks for the info!