Novel Destinations, Second Edition by Shannon McKenna Schmidt & Joni Rendon, 2017

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on National Geographic 

Follow in the footsteps of much-loved authors, including Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, Jane Austen, and many more. For vacationers who crave meaningful trips and unusual locales, cue National Geographic's Novel Destinations a guide for bibliophiles to more than 500 literary sites across the United States and Europe. Check into Hemingway's favorite hotel in Sun Valley, or stroll about Bath's Royal Crescent while entertaining fantasies of Lizzie Bennett and her Mr. Darcy. The fully revised second edition includes all of the previous sites with updated locations plus color images and an expanded section on all things Bronte. The book begins with thematic chapters covering author houses and museums, literary festivals and walking tours. Then, in-depth explorations of authors and places take readers roaming Franz Kafka's Prague, James Joyce's Dublin, Louisa May Alcott's New England, and other locales. Peppered with great reading suggestions and little-known tales of literary gossip, Novel Destinations is a unique travel guide, an attractive gift book, and the ultimate bibliophile's delight.

(392 pages)

This book is amazing.

I mean it. It's a travel guide for bookworms! How perfect is that? As a book lover who loves to travel and will be moving to Scotland to attend college next year, I love everything about Novel Destinations.

I didn't read every single page, of course, because it's so big and detailed that doing so would basically be like read an encyclopedia cover to cover. I did flip through the entire thing, though, and I read quite a few of the entries. And it is so cool.

Setting my own feelings toward the book aside, let's focus on the nitty gritty. First, the book actually looks nothing like that cover suggests. It's a very nice light blue, not the weird greenish color it appears to have above, and it's more . . . I don't know how to put it. Boxlike? It's not square, but it's shaped kind of like an old classic tome. Hmm, maybe they did that on purpose. Anyway, the book is sorted into two main parts. The first, "Travel by the Book," discusses destinations by sorting them into five categories: author houses/museums, the sites connected to artists who traveled the world, literary festivals/tours/etc., and literary restaurants and hotels. The second part, "Journeys Between the Pages," offers more detailed biographies of some of the most famous authors that include detailed must-see spots when describing their hometowns. Some of the authors featured include Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The back of the book includes an index by locale, for finding cool sites near a specific travel destination, as well as a general index for hunting down certain sites.

Honestly, what more could a bookworm want from a guide book? The only thing I can think of is some modern authors–the book deals pretty much exclusively with old, classic writers. It would have been nice to have, say, some discussion of J.K. Rowling's haunts in Edinburgh, but I can understand why the authors chose to stick with the past: classic authors are more accepted, familiar, and beloved in much of the literary world than any newcomer could ever be. If books are blankets, then the classic authors' books are the soft, broken-in, cosy blankets that almost everyone can agree are the best.

Hmm, that's a strange analogy. Anyway, suffice it to say that I really love Novel Destinations and I'll definitely keep it to plan my own future travels. According to the book, there will be no shortage of cool Scottish literary sites for me to check out!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to participate in a TLC tour.

The Wonder of Us by Kim Culbertson, 2017

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on Goodreads 

Riya and Abby are:
Best friends.
Complete opposites.
Living on different continents.
Currently mad at each other.
About to travel around Europe.

Riya moved to Berlin, Germany, with her family for junior year, while Abby stayed behind in their small California town. They thought it would be easy to keep up their friendship-it's only a year and they've been best friends since preschool. But instead, they ended up fighting and not being there for the other. So Riya proposes an epic adventure to fix their friendship. Two weeks, six countries, unimaginable fun. But two small catches:

They haven't talked in weeks.
They've both been keeping secrets.

Can Riya and Abby find their way back to each other among lush countrysides and dazzling cities, or does growing up mean growing apart?

(336 pages)

Oh, gosh. This book is like heroin for travel addicts.

I mean it. I got such a high from reading the descriptions of all the different places Riya and Abby visited. I've actually been to three of the cities they visit (well, two if you only count ones I was old enough to remember), and the details were so perfect that they took me back to my own travels. It's clear that Culbertson is a fellow travel lover, and that she spent a good amount of time in the countries her characters visit. I love it. And also, now I want to visit all of the other countries she described.

The gorgeous town of
St. Andrews, Scotland

Because seriously, I am addicted to traveling. So much so that there's an 85% chance (barring a sudden onset of nerves) that I will be moving to Scotland next year to do my undergrad at the University of St. Andrews. It's 600 years old and stunningly gorgeous. Check out a picture of it on the left and wish me luck.

Anyway, moving on from the traveling, let's talk characters. Basically, I related to both of them. I can understand Abby's love for the comfortable and familiar of her hometown, and her obsession with history. I can also relate to Riya's travel bug and her itch for adventure. I understand the struggle to balance so many factors in deciding what to do after high school. That said, I do think Riya was kind of a jerk at times.

Sorry, can't elaborate on that for spoiler reasons. Suffice it to say that I don't really like how she did things. Anyway, I also adore Riya's cousin Neel. He seems like a straight-up trope at first, but over the course of the book he really develops into a believable character. I love his push-pull relationship with Riya, where they basically annoy each other constantly but love each other underneath it all. His burgeoning friendship with Abby is even cuter, though it becomes a bit heavy by the end–but again, I can't say much for fear of spoilers. He makes the perfect third party in their traveling trio, though, and I'm glad he was there.

Basically, I loved The Wonder of Us because it's a story about people just like me, facing problems like growing up and moving away and making big college decisions, who get to hash out their friendship problems while traveling around Europe. While I might not like every single choice they make on the way (they seem much more relaxed about kissing new acquaintances than I would be!), I heartily enjoyed reading it. I'll be keeping ahold of my copy for a while, because I know I'll want to revisit the characters as well as the stunning settings. If you like to travel and read about the struggles of growing up, then you might enjoy The Wonder of Us, too. If you do decide to read it, let us know what you think in the comments section down below!

Disclaimer: I received an unsolicited copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.