All the Deets of My Bookish Vacay

The Idea Of You by Robinne Lee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — the perfect steamy beach romance.

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — a fast-paced domestic thriller.

The Celebrants by Steven Rowley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — a tear-jerking book about friendship.

Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — a vacation romance that goes from paradise to real life.

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (out Aug. 8) —unputdownable serial killer thriller.

The trip

I feel the need to write a few things about my trip, which was dreamy but also hella affordable. We booked it all on Expedia for about $700 per person for three nights at an all-inclusive resort and included flights. We stayed at the Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun, and it was pretty dang great for its sticker price. Some things about the resort:

• It’s only 15 minutes from the airport. I’d say most resorts average around 30 minutes, so I loved discovering how close we were!
• The resort was big without being overwhelming. It was actually kind of tough finding a prime spot on the pool deck depending on the time of day. We found that people like to *reserve* their own chairs…. with the same towels everyone at the resort has. So you’re kind of like, is this an abandoned towel or is someone laying here? Kind of annoying, but the beach was surprisingly easy to grab spots — most people stayed poolside.
• There are tons of restaurants, and they all have all-inclusive options (and some have pricey upgrades). Something we had to learn the hard way was that the dinner-only restaurants require reservations. They hold the spots for 15 minutes, so you could maybe snag a spot if there are no-shows, but it was annoying to be turned away from places that were basically empty. I loved the seafood tacos at lunch, the Mexican spot for dinner, and the Thai spot. PSA. you make reservations on a secret online portal and can only do so once you log in. (We should have asked the front desk day 1, tbh)
• There’s also a map on this secret site! Which would have been helpful.
• All-inclusive to me means free but tip!! I noticed some did not feel the same way, and I felt bad because we had such great service. We probably tipped a hundred bucks or so for all of our dining and drinking and our airport shuttles.
• June in Cancun means 90s, humid, but no mosquitoes! Drown yourself in sunscreen though, which is overpriced but available in the gift shop. Don’t expect AC inside. Only some spots have it, but the others are open to the gorgeous beach breeze.
• The beach access is pretty small and the waves can be rough. There’s also a lot of seaweed but my oh my was that water absolutely gorgeous!

10/10 recommend

I loved every second of this trip — even when we were turned away for dinner, when we got beaten up by the waves, when we wandered around trying to find lounge chairs, and, yes, even when we found out at 5 am that our 9:30 am flight was canceled. (we problem solved and got home earlier!).

We ate, we drank (and drank), and we went hours without saying a dang thing to each other because we were reading so much. 2 girls, 2 days, 9 books. Unbeatable.