If I had my druthers, I would do a lot more international travelling than I manage to do in reality. My mom and dad took a six month trip around the world when my dad finished his PhD and I grew up listening to stories of the places they visited, the things they saw, and the people they met. I’d flip through their pictures and beg to be allowed to look at their slides on my dad’s light box. Something about seeing the world called to me.
In fact, the plan was for my husband and I to do a mini-version of their trip when I finished my PhD. It wasn’t feasible to take six months, but we were planning for two. I’d researched the tickets and was plotting out our itinerary. Then we got a call asking if we wanted to adopt a little boy who was due to be born soon.
There was no question! Trip plans were shelved and nursery decorating commenced.
But I still dream of traveling.
That’s the beauty of books though. I can still get away whenever I want. And even if I have to pay full price, a book is a lot less than airfare. So as I’m sitting here looking at the summer stretching out in front of me with no vacation in the schedule for various and sundry reasons, I thought I’d revisit some of my favorite books that transport me to places I’d love to visit.
Australia and New Zealand are high on my list of places I want to go in real life (even though the more I read about Australia, the more convinced I am that everything there wants to kill you. And I’m not certain it’s a fantastic place for someone who is absolutely terrified of snakes to visit. Even still, I can’t seem to stop myself from making plans for someday.) It’s one of the reasons I love Narelle Atkins’ books. I think my favorite is The Bridesmaid’s Hero, because it’s not set on a glamorous beach or Sydney – but it’s got the small town feel that makes CCR so lovely but with enough that’s unique that you know you’re not in the US.
And of course there’s Kara Isaac’s books. My hands-down favorite of hers is Then There Was You. I read this one sometimes three or four times a year. It has everything you could want – a sassy heroine, a hunky hero, misunderstandings and mixed signals galore. And then a glorious, hilarious, but also happy-sigh-inducing ending that has, more than once, had me flipping back to the first page as soon as I’m finished with the last. Bonus? I get to travel to Australia and New Zealand when I read it. Two destinations for the price of one!
A little closer to home, just across the northern border in Canada, are Valerie Comer’s Riverbend Novellas. These books of hers are some that I don’t see mentioned very often, but they’re some of my favorites. They combine small town with Canadian winters (they’re not all in winter, but a couple are), and fun outdoorsy things that, at least here in the DC area, we don’t do a lot of.
And while Canada isn’t super different from the US, there are little things to catch that make me smile and realize that I’ve skipped over a border to someplace new.
Bonus? One of the bad guys shares my last name – it’s not every day the villain is named after you. (It makes me chuckle.)
Feel like heading a little farther afield? Why not scoot off to London with Autumn Macarthur’s Love in Store series. I adore this whole series, and the spinoff that heads north into Scotland. I was trying, for the sake of this post, to choose a favorite and I guess I lean a little toward Forget Paris, but they’re all so delightful and well worth your time.
Clare Revell is another whose books are set in England and leave you with a happy feeling of having traveled beyond your immediate environs. Not all of her books are straight CCR (she writes more romantic suspense, I think, than just romance) but I highly recommend both Married by Easter and Zara’s Folly if you’re looking for a quick trip to England and you’ve already read Autumn’s books.
Marion Ueckermann is an obvious go-to for armchair travels. She has books set in so many places I’d love to go. My favorites are Orphaned Hearts for a quick trip to an elephant sanctuary in Zambia and Helsinki Sunrise (set in Finland). With an honorary mention to Poles Apart, because it doesn’t seem right to leave it off the list.
Finally, because I have had the opportunity to travel here and there, I ended up writing a book set in Ireland myself. Kinsale Kisses is my offering to, hopefully, encourage readers to branch out and see what life is like away from the US. It has a lot of my favorite things about Ireland in it.
So who did I miss? Do you have a favorite author (or title) for when you want contemporary Christian romance that’s outside the usual US-based setting? Have you read all of the above? If not, what strikes your fancy? Is there a place you’d like to visit? Have you read any CCR set there?
Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace on their way to their own romantic happily ever after.
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for sharing your bucket list. I have been blessed to travel to 9 foreign countries, many on my bucket list. Several provinces in Canada, Germany, Austria, England, The Netherlands, France, Poland, and the two on my bucket list Switzerland and Japan. My favorite CcR series is Tuscan Legacy written by many talented Inspy Romance authors and I traveled the globe – no jet lag or passport required. Enjoy your weekend.
What a great list of places you’ve been! I did leave off the Tuscan Legacy set only because I felt like it’d been getting a lot of mention lately and I didn’t want to beat a dead horse, but I did also enjoy that set for sure!
Hi, Liz! I have read all of those and love to arm chair travel too!!❤️
Ha – I had the sneaking suspicion that most of our regular readers probably have read all of these, but maybe we’ll get some folks who are newish who haven’t. I dug around for a good bit looking for new International books to add to my pile (and this post) and came up empty, it was sad.
I’ve read some but not all the ones you listed. It is fun to travel via books. I would like to visit Paris one day. I’d also like to visit Hawaii.
Hi, Elizabeth! I’m like you, I’d like to travel, but reading books set in different places is so much cheaper!! I’m going to have to check out Kara Isaac’s book!! I have a niece who went to New Zealand, ended up meeting Mr. Right, and decided to stay!! She was only to be there a year!! Now, they have to little ones, the youngest of whom I’ve only “met” in pictures!!
Loved your story….thanks for sharing! At my age, I do armchair travel….love to read.
Have a great weekend!
I would love to go to Hawaii! It’s absolutely on my someday list.
I love that she met her husband there! What a fun story. :)
Thanks! Hope you have a great weekend too :)
Thankful and blessed for the mention, Beth! So glad you enjoy my books. LOL, for me, armchair travel involves books set in the US, and the research I do for my own!
I hope you get to make that trip someday! Maybe when the boys are grown up?
Ha! I imagine all the places I consider commonplace are exciting for the people who don’t live there :)
We will probably see most of the places on the list, just one spot at a time as the kids grow.
I feel fortunate that I’ve been able to travel to all fifty states in the US, but there is still a lot I would love to see here. I’ve visited 35 plus foreign countries, and there are still so many more places to see. We started doing a lot of travel when my hubby began to wind down his business. He was able to work from anywhere thanks to the internet and cell phones. We decided to do a lot of foreign trips while we are still healthy, since we are getting older. Our last big trip was to Australia and New Zealand. We were gone a month and still didn’t see it all, but what we saw was fabulous and unforgettable. When I was younger, I did do a lot of arm chair traveling while I read books set in different places, but there’s nothing like actually going to those places, especially when I look back on my experiences like riding a camel in Morocco.
I will admit I follow your photos from all the places you go with a tiny bit of drool at the corner of my mouth.
I loved Autumn Macarthur’s books that were located in London and Edinburgh, as I visited that area back in 2013, so some of the places were familiar to me. I enjoyed going online to the specific areas mentioned in order to remind me of where they were located. Such fun!
Carla Laureano has some great books set in the Isle of Skye and England.
Aren’t they just the most fun? I need to revisit those books soon I think.
Oh! Yes!! I’d forgotten those and Five Days in Skye is one I’ve re-read several times.
Being an Aussie most other places are overseas. I read Janette Oke’s When Calls the Heart and it made me have to go to Canada. I did get to go and loved it.
I also read Robin Jones Gunn’s Sister Chicks do the Hula and I said when I finished I HAVE to go to Hawaii and got a slap down from my mother. (she said you are not going anywhere) I did go and it was so good actually seeing some of the places. One of her other books I read just after I had been to Hawaii and it mentioned lots of the places I had seen.
I have read a few books about national parks in America and I saw one and still want to go to another one. I love learning facts about other places and several books make me want to visit places.
Hi Elizabeth, I live in New Zealand my family were early settles (we have been here 130 years now). If you get the chance to visit one day please let me know I have a long list of places for you to visit and I would love to show you round my town :).
I love visiting all countries but my favourites are anywhere in the UK or Europe as I just love the history and castles. I can’t get enough of castles!
Hi Elizabeth, Thanks for mentioning my Aussie books. I need to get the other Snowgum Creek books connected to The Bridesmaid’s Hero back into print. And yes, you should visit Australia, and you’ll likely only see a snake at the zoo, lol. In winter they hibernate, and even in summer you can often bush walk and not see any snakes. Where I live you’re more likely to see a kangaroo in the wild! :)
I’m so glad you got to go to Canada! I do love our national parks – in fact, we met a man yesterday who was taking a year off and driving coast to coast to visit them all. He was down to six remaining.
Oh wow! I’ll definitely reach out when we get to our planning phase. I have another friend in NZ who I would love to meet in person as well, so it is a high on my list destination.
You’re welcome! And haha – yes you do :) I would like to read them.
Good to know about the snakes! And I don’t know that I’d mind seeing a kangaroo in the wild – although I think I’ve heard they can also be mean?
Kangaroos are usually fine as long as you don’t approach them. When the joeys are young, the parents are more likely to be aggressive, but it’s unusual for them to attack people unless they feel threatened.
I don’t know if Elizabeth Musser qualifies as CCR, but she’s got some great books set in France, Austria (The Long Highway Home), and then there’s her historical series set in Algeria…
Then there’s Kristy Cambron’s Lost Castle series, that weaves modern day with history.
I also enjoyed Sandra Byrd’s French Twist series that has lots of action in France.
Oh! I’ve read the French Twist books. They were super fun. I’ll have to check out the others