5 Audiobooks for Summer Road Trips

by Donna Huber

Are you hitting the road this summer? I won't be taking my annual trip to the Smoky Mountains this summer, but I do have a series of day trips planned for that week. So I will need some good reads to listen to and I thought it would be fun to listen to books featuring a road trip or journey of some sort. Here's a list of audiobooks that I have listened to or am considering for my own trip.

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Famous in a Small Town by Viola Shipman

I'm listening to this book now - it took forever for the audiobook to be available at Libby when I wasn't already listening to something else. Famous in a Small Town would be great for a road trip with your girlfriends. It features two female friends who are roadtripping from St. Louis to Michigan. I'm a third of the way through it, and I'm loving the book. 

Becky Thatcher came to Good Hart with her ride-or-die BFF to forget that she’s just turned forty with nothing to show for it. Ending up at the general store with Mary is admittedly not the beach vacation she expected, but the more the feisty octogenarian talks about destiny, the stronger Becky’s memories of her own childhood holidays become, and the strange visions over the lake she was never sure were real. As she works under Mary’s wing for the summer and finds she fits into this quirky community of locals, she starts to believe that destiny could be real, and that it might have something very special in mind for Becky… (Goodreads)

Check out Susan's review.

Buy Famous in a Small Town at Amazon

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

I found this book while looking for what I might listen to on my day trip vacation this summer. I won't be hiking the Appalachian Trail, but I do have a mountain hike planned, and the summit has views of the trail. The trips I have planned are focused on nature (I have 3 hikes and a garden ramble planned) so this might be a good book to listen to while I travel around that week.

The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America—majestic mountains, silent forests, sparkling lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way—and a couple of bears. (Goodreads)

Buy A Walk in the Woods at Amazon

Tough Luck by Sandra Dallas

Are you traveling out west? Tough Luck is set in 1863 Colorado, and two orphaned children are looking for their father, who left several years before in search of gold in Colorado. Though Haidie is a kid, she seems older (in a totally believable way, in which hardship makes a kid grow up fast). From my review last year, "Crossing the prairie in the 1860s often meant running across colorful characters, and there are plenty of colorful characters in the book. They had some really witty dialogue, and I found myself laughing out loud several times." This is a book that would be enjoyed by adults and older teens.

Patience is not one of Haidie’s virtues, and soon she and her brother make a break for it. Boots and Haidie, disguised as a boy, embark on a dangerous journey deep into Western territory. Along the way, Haidie learns fast not only how to handle mules, oxen, and greedy men, but also that you are better off in a community. Hers includes a card shark, independent “spinster” sisters, and a very fierce dog. Once she arrives in Colorado and finds out the truth about her father, Haidie will need all her new friends for a get-even plot worthy of The Sting. (Goodreads)

For another opinion, check out Susan's review.

Buy Tough Luck at Amazon

Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews

What better book for a road trip than a book with Road Trip as the title? Of course, you can't go wrong with a Mary Kay Andrews summer book. It comes out Tuesday, so unless you are leaving today or tomorrow, you can include it with all your other road trip purchases. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Maeve and Therese Dunigan are sisters—but the two have been estranged for years. They could not be more Maeve, a rule-follower and Therese, a rebel. But when their mother's death brings the family back together, the two find that they have inherited a painting—one that could be worth millions and could save each of them from their respective wolves at the door. The only issue is, the painting might be a fake and the only way the can solve the problem is to find the original. This means a road trip—to Ireland, to their family roots, and to a mysterious crime that occurred years ago. With tensions simmering, the two hit the road and find themselves on twisty lanes, in colorful villages, at local pubs, and with handsome men whose gift of the gab is surpassed only by their charm. Can Maeve and Therese find the real painting, remove a family curse, solve a cold case, and actually survive without killing each other? (Goodreads)

Buy Road Trip at Amazon

Detour by Jeff Rake and Rob Hart

Want a futuristic road trip? This thrilling journey will take you to space and back. This book is pure entertainment and would be great for a long road trip.

A devoted family man, Ryan is reluctant to leave on this two-year expedition, yet with the encouragement of his loving wife—and an exorbitant paycheck guaranteeing lifetime care for their disabled son—he crews up and ventures into a new frontier.

But as the ship is circling Titan, it is rocked by an unexplained series of explosions. The crew works together to get back on course, and they return to Earth as heroes.

When the fanfare dies down, Ryan and his fellow astronauts notice that things are different. Some changes are good, such as lavish upgrades to their homes, but others are more disconcerting. Before the group can connect, mysterious figures start tailing them, and their communications are scrambled. (Goodreaads)

Read my review and MK's review.

Buy Detour at Amazon

If you need more recommendations, check out the 11 audiobooks I recommended last summer.

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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