This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
I've written about locations in novels before and how some authors just manage to capture the magic of a place, transporting you hundreds of miles across the world in a few sentences. They can also make you wishful and research places you've never been, like I did most recently with Liz Fenwick's The Cornish House. I've often felt this way with locations and books, finding out more about a place I've read about in fiction, then also, with some, I've recaptured the feelings from when I was last there.
1. The Disengagement Ring by Clodagh Murphy – A novel located in one of my wishlist locations, Tuscany. Kate has accepted a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Brian, even though her family don't approve. Kate's mum, Grace, is determined to stop the engagement and enlists everyone to help including Will, the manager of a rock band, and Kate is hired as a cook for the group whilst they work on their new album in Tuscany.
2. Wish You Were Here by Victoria Connelly – I've not had a 'proper' holiday for a couple of years now, it seems a house move and owning chickens can get in the way. But another chicken owner, Victoria Connelly, has written a novel based on a tiny Greek island. The cover itself is like stepping off the plane or boat straight into the Mediterranean. I've been to Greece and seen how blue the sea can be and what it's like sitting in a taverna, greek music playing, sea lapping on the sand and stars twinkling in the sky. In Wish You Were Here the normally shy Alice meets Milo and suddenly feels confident and alluring.
3. Chloe by Freya North – Like Maeve Binchy with Ireland, Freya made me want to visit Northern Ireland. Specifically the Giants Causeway, and a few years ago we did. It was beautiful (if rather busy with tourists). On the instructions of Chloe's recently deceased godmother, she gives up her dead end job and dead end boyfriend to visit Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England. Freya writes about locations (and food!) with such passion it's hard not to imagine yourself there with Chloe as she visits the four corners of the UK.
4. Emma Hearts LA by Keris Stainton – This is actually a young adult book about Emma, an English girl who has moved to LA. I had to include it because of the attention to detail the author, Keris, included about Los Angeles. LA is another one of the locations I'd like to visit in the future, such as the areas Keris mentioned (and where Emma lived) like the Venice Canals. (You can read Keris's blog posts about her research trip to LA starting here.)
5. Lucy in the Sky by Paige Toon – I adored this book and part of the reason was because it was set in Sydney which is where I spent part of my honeymoon. As I was reading it I could smell the place, picture myself back there (and I will go back there again) and felt almost homesick which is, quite frankly, ridiculous. But it just goes to show how well Paige captured the feel of the place. Lucy is on the aeroplane to Australia where she is going for her friend's wedding – then she receives a text from a woman claiming to have slept with her boyfriend.