Summer Travel Reads

 Summer is the time for family travel, and even if you can't go to exotic places you can read about them.  One of my favorite trips, a bike ride from Venice to Florence, was inspired by one of my son's school projects. He had to write about Italy from many perspectives including famous sites to visit.  Four new young adult novels focus on travel in Rome, Alaska, Paris, and the Appalachian Trail in the US. In All Roads Lead to Rome by Sabrina Edel, Astoria Herriot poses as a tour guide for a Scottish influencer, who is trying to hide his affair with a pop star. Many sites in Rome are described in great detail as they attempt to avoid the paparazzi. Hearts Overboard by Becky Dean finds Savannah Moore on an Alaskan cruise with her high school nemesis and his family. Having taken an Alaskan cruise myself, I was impressed by the accuracy of her experiences. Love Requires Chocolate by Ravynn Stringfield, introduces Black American Whitney Curry, who is studying in Paris at an international arts school, hoping to finish her one woman play about the legendary Black songstress Josephine Baker. Wild About You by Kaitlin Hill focuses on a reality TV show which challenges selected teens to complete various tasks while hiking the Appalachian Trail. Having just returned from the Smokey Mountains, this book appealed to me on many different levels.  

All Roads Lead to Rome is an homage to the movie Roman Holiday. Loner Astoria "Story" Herriot, attends an American School in Rome.  She runs into Luca Kinnaird as he is attempting to escape from the paparazzi who are chasing him and Jasmine, an international pop star. Story has on the same color dress as Jasmine, so Luca grabs her and has her pretend that she is his tour guide.  In exchange for posing as his girlfriend/tour guide, he promises to fund a memorial scholarship for recovering addicts in the name of her late father, who died of an overdose. As Story and Luca attend many society events and tourist attractions, their opposites-attract chemistry kicks in. Story takes Luca to many of her favorite places in Rome and the surrounding countryside, and ultimately ends up accompanying him to Scotland, where she finds out there is more to Luca than meets the eye.  

Hearts Overboard opens with Savannah Moore being dumped  in front of most of the senior class by her boyfriend Caleb, who says she's boring and set in her ways.  Headed for an Alaskan cruise with her parents, their best friends, and their son Tanner, Savannah enlists Tanner's help, despite his being her nemesis at school.  He volunteers to take photos that they can share on social media of all their risk-taking adventures, including zip-lining, dogsledding, hiking the bear-infested Alaskan wilderness, singing late night karaoke, and taking a polar plunge, showing Caleb what he's missing.  Along the way she and Tanner clear the air about their antagonism toward each other, which stems from mistaken perceptions. After spending so much time with Tanner, Savannah wonders if Caleb is the one she really wants. 

Love Requires Chocolate is set in Paris where Black American drama student Whitney Curry is attending an international arts high school, where she hopes to complete her one-woman show about Josephine Baker.  She has a "Parisian Bucket List" for research she hopes will help her finish her play.  Her French tutor, is a caustic black athlete, Thierry Magnon, who is doing community service for a racially charged fight during his team's soccer match. When she gets lost in Montmartre and calls him to rescue her, she offers him a good review as a tutor, which will end his team suspension, in exchange for his being her Paris tour guide.  The first-person narration chronicles her introduction to the city of love, including making chocolate at Thierry's family chocolate shop, as well as insight into the global Black culture. 

In Wild About You anxiety ridden Natalie Hart loses her college merit scholarship and decides to enter the teen version of Wild Adventures, a reality TV show with a grand prize of a $100,000 scholarship. The challenge is to hike the Appalachian trail, while completing various tasks with a complete stranger.  She is paired with Finn Markum, who resents Natalie's brash perky personality and lack of outdoors experience. He is grieving his father's death, as he had hoped to do Wild Adventures as a father/son duo. Natalie with her complex beauty routines seems like a thorn in his side.  As they complete one task after another, he finds Natalie has skills he hadn't counted on needing and realizes they make a good team. This slow burning romance explores mental health issues and grieving, as well as how to trust oneself when the going gets tough.