My Five Holiday Must Haves ft. Chrissie Manby, Ruth Hogan, Daisy Buchanan, Natalie Meg Evans and Talulah Riley

Whether it’s suncream, a pile of books or a pre holiday beauty blitz – find out some of our authors five holiday must haves…

Chrissie Manby, author of The Worst Case Scenario Cookery Club – pre order now for just £1.99!

The perfect holiday for me should always include:

Sparkling blue sea-water.

Icing sugar sand.

A spot of shade in which to read.

A beautiful sunset.

And an Aperol Spritz.

Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things – delve into this beautiful book for just £1.99 in eBook

A good book (or five!)

My ipod

A little blue velvet bag which contains some secret lucky charms that I can’t be without when I’m away from home (embarrassing to admit, but I’m completely OCD about it!)

A camera

A notebook and pen (I’m counting that as one item!)

Daisy Buchanan, author of How To Be A Grown-Up

Sunglasses

You say ‘Let’s go on holiday’, I say ‘Let’s pretend to be Elton John for a fortnight!’ My name is Daisy, and I am a sunglasses addict. I like to take at least three pairs on holiday – something painfully trendy for the airport, in the extremely unlikely event that I will be mistaken for a celebrity and be upgraded – or at least, given free Speedy Boarding. Then something dinner plate sized for the beach, with lenses that can be seen from space. Then a third option for when I’m feeling indecisive, and/ or have inevitably left options one and two behind in the bar. I have classic Rayban Wayfarers, I have my beloved bright red Moschino sunnies (twenty quid at TK Maxx) and I’m a lottery win away from owning the golden Linda Farrow frames that Taylor Swift wore for the Blank Space video. One day…

Book(s)

I decided to marry my husband purely because we like to read similar things, and it meant that I could nick his books and double down on beach reads without doubling my baggage allowance. I try to mix it up with a range of sweet, silly and serious (I learned this the half way after taking Donna Tart’s The Little Friend on holiday one year and being plagued by dreams of snakes. I needed a light chaser.) I’m especially into Jill Mansell, Eva Woods and Lucy Vine’s new book Hot Mess. Also, if there is any Jilly Cooper where I’m staying I will read it, even if I already know if off by heart.

Hawaiian Tropic After Sun body butter

It feels like butter. It smells like Summer Roberts’ bathroom after she’s prepped for a party. It makes me think that I could snog Ryan Attwood. And Ryan Gosling. And Ryan Reynolds. AND ALL THE HOT RYANS. And it costs five pounds.

A pre-holiday beauty blitz

Before I go away, I want to be waxed, sprayed and painted, like a car. Well, no-one wants to be waxed, let’s be real, but I do feel like Holiday Princess Barbie after a spray tan and a gel mani-pedi. It makes total sense that all of the Strictly contestants get a spray tan before they get to put the sequins on. My natural skin tone is that of a bit of ham that’s been sat out at a buffet for too long, but when I’m bronzed and glowing I want to twist and shimmy all over the place. Also, for me, the gels are non negotiable. I’m the clumsiest person in the world, and I can chip a manicure by reading a newspaper. Hooray for shiny neon unbreakable holiday nails!

Snacks

The best part of traveling is having the chance to experience the local cuisine. Seafood, rare steaks and posh pasta are all well and good, but I’m mostly interested in checking out the local off brand Doritos. Give me a massive slab of slightly squidgy chocolate with a surprising addition – a different layer of squidgy chocolate, or perhaps a salty Ritz cracker – and I’m in heaven. If it costs less than a euro and contains my salt allowance for the entire week, I will take ten. That’s my beach body – a belly full of crisps with a smear of chocolate just above my right knee.

Natalie Meg Evans, author of The Wardrobe Mistress – lose yourself in 1940s London for just 99p in eBook

Friends. I’ve done holidays alone and it isn’t the same. It’s fine to split off and do your own thing but at the day’s end, you want a like-souls to meet up with and share the wine.

Sun block. I’m scarred by the memory of my first Spanish holiday when I flopped out on the sand for five hours. I went to see a film later that evening – James Bond, subtitled – and when it was over, I literally could not get up. My sunburn had engulfed me like a lobster-pink wetsuit. Ever since, I’ve been hyper careful. Factor 50 is where I start.

A rectangular piece of fresh air in my suitcase where a laptop would fit. Laptops on holiday? Almost as bad as taking your to-be-completed tax return along with you.

A companion, preferably charming and irrationally in love with me, who knows the names of the constellations in the zodiac. I only know two, Orion and the Great Bear. I’d love to walk along a beach in the velvet dark with a voice beside me saying, ‘Ah, that would be Ursa Minor.’ Brian Cox is where I’m heading.

Books. A liberal supply, and NOT book group reads, or research, or anything I’m meant to be critiquing or editing. Just the books that have been piling up for a year or more.

Talulah Riley, author of Acts of Love – load it on to your eReader for just 99p!

Sunscreen

A good novel

A good non-fiction book

Stout walking shoes

An interesting companion.

Don”t leave the #BookendsBeachParty just yet! Find out more of our authors holiday must-haves here