Whether you're heading to Florida for vacation or just want to feel like you're in Florida, these 10 books will give you a great picture of the Sunshine State.
(Amazon links are used for your convenience. If a purchase is made through one of my links, I will be minimally compensated at no expense to you.)
Books Mentioned in this episode:
1. A Suite Deal by Kay Sisk - Romantic Comedy/ Orlando
It's not enough that the perky redhead has been in his way from Dallas to Orlando, but now a hotel suite mix-up has David White sharing a living room with her, her mother and her niece. How's a man supposed to conduct business at the convenience store convention and still have time to prep for a job interview with WOTs-New-Now's president? Somehow wanting to jump ship from his dead-end job has him jumping through hoops for her instead.
2. Paper Towns by John Green - Realistic Fiction/ Christmas, FL
When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo.
After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.
3. Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard - Noir Crime / West Palm Beach & Miami
This book is set about a not-altogether-blameless flight attendant on the run from her vicious gun-running sometimes employer who sees her as a troublesome loose end.
This book was adapted for the big screen in Jackie Brown, which was directed by Quentin Tarantino and starred Pam Grier, Robert DeNiro, and Samuel L Jackson! But, if you’ve seen the movie, be prepared because there are some big differences between the book & the movie!
The second book in a two-book series. The first is called The Switch about a kidnapping that went wrong.
4. Beyond Risk by Connie Mann - Romantic Suspense / Ocala Forest
Former Fish & Wildlife Officer Charlotte "Charlee" Tanner still carries the guilt of a tragic drowning accident that occurred on her watch. She hoped moving back home to the wilds of central Florida would provide a safe haven-until she learns the death was no accident, and she's the intended target.
Tough and decisive, Lieutenant Hunter Boudreau loves his new job as a law enforcement officer with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. Charlee is his best friend, so when she comes under fire, he's not letting her out of his sight until the killer is caught. But Charlee won't sit by and let anyone else die for her.
As danger closes in and Charlee and Hunter's attraction threatens to consume them, Charlee has to decide if she can trust Hunter. And to save Charlee, Hunter will have to trust her, too.
5. Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen - PI/Mystery - Miami
The first sign of trouble is a Shriner's fez washed up on a Miami beach. The next is a suitcase containing the almost-legless body of the local chamber of commerce president found floating in a canal...
The locals are desperate to keep the murders under wraps and the tourist money flowing. But it will take a reporter-turned–private eye to make sense of a caper that mixes football players, politicians, and one very hungry crocodile in this classic mystery.
6. A Secret in the Keys by Hope Holloway - women’s fiction / Coconut Key
The last thing Beck Foster wants to do is attend a party for her estranged aunt in the Florida Keys. One month earlier, Beck’s seemingly ideal existence imploded when her husband of thirty-four years announced he was leaving her. Now, she has to sell her house, get a job, and somehow put her broken heart and life back together. She can’t do all that if she runs off to visit a woman she barely remembers.
Or can she?
Accompanied by her grown daughter who also longs for an escape, Beck heads to Coconut Key, where she’d lived the earl
