Reads that inspire Team Bookends’ holiday planning!

It’s (unfortunately) still February, but Team Bookends are dreaming of sun and sand, and we might have already started planning our summer holidays to get us through the rest of this dreary Winter…
Here are our recommendations for books to help you plan your summer break:
Hannah
This year I’ve got a bit of a thing about France – like most sane people I’m obsessed with French food, so I’ve been planning a trip there in my head for as long as I can remember. I’ve been to Paris a few times but am desperate to travel a little further afield, perhaps to a small remote village in the countryside. To give me some inspiration I’ve been reading Rosanna Ley’s new novel Her Mother’s Secret – set on the magical island of Belle-Île-en-Mer in Southern Brittany this is the perfect read to get you in the mood for a trip to small-town France. It’s full of old family secrets and drama, but still gives you that quaint feeling – especially the parts where Colette takes over her mother’s flower shop. It’s not out until June (but available to pre-order now ) so if you can’t wait that long, try her last novel The Little Theatre by the Sea, which takes place in sunny Sardinia – I’m dreaming of pasta already!

Aimee
I’m not much of a beach person, so if I’m going to be inspired by a book, it’s either going to be set in a bustling city or a wild and moody terrain. Despite the doom and gloom, reading Wuthering Heights always makes me yearn for the Yorkshire Moors. Breakfast at Tiffany’s makes me wish I were in New York City. Whilst reading Sarah Maine’s Beyond the Wild River I could picture myself making the trip from the Scottish Borders to the wild and rugged Canadian landscape. I’m at adventurer at heart and I need to do activities when on holiday, otherwise I get so restless!

Alice
Victoria Hislops’s novels always always make me want to go to Greece on holiday. You can feel the sun on your face as you read, even if it’s in gloomy February. I haven’t made it there yet, but there’s always this year!

Helena
Now we’re almost at the end of February I’m craving some sunshine. Whenever I finish a Jo Thomas book it always has me desperate to head for the sun and her latest book Sunset Over The Cherry Orchard does not disappoint. Set in southern Spain there’s sangria, sunshine, romance and a LOT of flamenco. This book will have you channelling your inner dancing girl emoji!