Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme/feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is: Top Ten Books Set in X Location. So, I decided to go with my top ten books set in Europe. I’ve never been to Europe, but I’ve always wanted to. Naturally, I love reading books that are set in Europe. And by Europe, I don’t mean books set in a fantasy location inspired by a European country, but one actually set there.
Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
I really enjoyed this book, though I did have a few problems with it. It takes place in Italy, mainly Tuscany. This is the first book I’ve read that’s primarily set in Italy, and I loved every bit of it! I really enjoyed the parts when Lina was out exploring the city.
Anna and the French by Kiss Stephanie Perkins
One of my all time favorite series. This book takes place at a boarding school in Paris. If I could switch lives with Anna to go to that school, I would in a heartbeat. While a lot of this takes place at the school, a lot of it is also just Anna being shown around the city and exploring.
Isla and the Happily by Ever after Stephanie Perkins
This book is also set in Paris, like Anna and the French Kiss, but also takes place in New York and Barcelona. I wish more of it was set in Barcelona though, I absolutely loved reading the parts there.
The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
A lot of this book was set in Rome, which I really enjoyed. There were lots of other settings, but Rome was the main one, at least from what I remember. I loved the setting in this one because it is all based on mythology, so most of the setting descriptions are on ancient ruins and monuments, if that makes any sense.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
How could I not include this book? Yes, it’s set in the Wizarding World, but it’s still in the UK so it counts. Not much is set in “muggle” towns and cities, mostly at Hogwarts, but it’s still one of my favorite books so I had to include it.
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
I don’t think I’ve talked about this book enough on here yet. It’s set in World War II in Prussia, which is a setting and time period I don’t normally read from or really enjoy reading about all that much. I loved this book though.
The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
The Dark Days Club is set in Regency London in 1912. I really enjoyed this book overall, and loved the setting and time period. Alison Goodman is a great historical fiction writer, no info dumps, just the perfect amount of information.
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Another historical fiction that takes place in the UK mainly, My Lady Jane is a retelling of Lady Jane Grey. This book is one of my new favorites, if you haven’t noticed already from me including it in early every list. Whoops. I loved the setting and time period of this book though.
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
This is the last historical fiction I’m going to mention. Clockwork Angel takes place in Victorian London (and other places around the UK, but mainly London) in the 1870s. This is one of my favorite time periods, so naturally I loved this book.
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Scarlet partially takes place in a futuristic France, but I’m including it anyways. This is probably my least favorite of the series, but I still loved it. Part of it takes place in Asia, but a lot does take place in France, mainly the small farm town Scarlet lives in and Paris.
What are your favorite books that are set in Europe? Make sure to link your Top Ten Tuesday post as well!
I just traveled to Europe for the first time last summer, so I really love this topic! And aside from Harry Potter, I haven’t read any of these yet so will definitely be adding them all to my TBR list 🙂
I’m so jealous! Where in Europe did you go? These are really great books, so I recommend you read them whenever you get the chance. 🙂
ahh I loved so many of these books, Anna and the French Kiss and Isla are so wonderful (as is Harry Potter of course…) I really want to read Love and Gelato, it sounds like such a lovely, summery read! Great post. 🙂
There such good books, some of my favorites! <3 Love and Gelato is such a fun sweet summery read,it's actually the perfect summer contemporary book to read. I hope you get a chance to read it soon!
I’m so glad you included My Lady Jane on this list! I just read it like two weeks ago, and I love it so much! And I really want to go to Europe again (I went to Spain for a week in high school), so this post is giving me wanderlust.
I’m so jealous, Spain would be so fun! My Lady Jane was an amazing book as well, I loved every bit of it. Just writing this post gave me wanderlust, I seriously want to travel to all these places (and time periods) so badly!
Love your choice of topic! I love both Anna and Isla, especially Isla though, the stories are so sweet and I agree with you, we should have more scenes in Barcelona, it was magical! <3 I also have Love & Gelato on my TBR because the cover is just so cute! 😉 I'd also include Wanderlost by Jen Malone, it is set all over Europe and so cute! Great list 😀
Thank you! <3 Stephanie Perkins just writes the most adorable books with the most amazing settings. My favorite will always be Barcelona in Isla though, for sure. Love and Gelato has such a cute cover, and it was a super cute story as well. I also had no clue Wanderlost was set in Europe. Now I really want to read it. I just knew it was a roadtrip book and that was all.
So many of these books are my favorites! Scarlet, Love & Gelato, Clockwork Angel, Salt to the Sea…there are so many amazing books set in Europe! I haven’t read My Lady Jane, but I’ve heard so many amazing things about it that I think I’m going to have to read it soon.
There’s so many, yet I wish there were so many more. I’m glad to see you enjoyed them all as well, and My Lady Jane is wonderful. I wasn’t so sure about ti at first, but now it’s one of my favorite books. I hope you have a chance to get to it soon!
I’ve actually read a decent number of these, which is surprising! I know I was going to read Love & Gelato specifically because of it’s setting, but then it just never happened. Salt to the Sea is one of my favorites. I would read anything that was set during WWII and Germany/Prussia 🙂
Salt to the Sea is one of the few WWII books I’ve actually read. I don’t know, I think i just have a hard time reading about that time period. The setting in Love and Gelato was amazing. We need more books set in Italy, for sure! I’ll read basically anything that is set in Europe though, ha!
I think Scarlet was my least favorite in the Lunar Chronicles too, but it did make me want to live a small farm town in Europe! I haven’t read My Lady Jane yet, but it looks like it’s really good! I loved the Barcelona parts of Isla, and it’s one of my favorite books, along with HP and Anna. Great list!
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one, it seems that everyone else loves Scarlet, but it wasn’t the best in my opinion. Growing up and living in a small European town would be the best! Isla is the only book I’ve read partially set in Barcelona, and now I totally want to visit. Thanks for stopping by!
Great list, Adalyn! Love and Gelato is on my TBR and it’s good to hear that you enjoyed every bit of it – that cover is so cute, and I actually have no idea what to expect from the book at all since I have no clue what the blurb was.
And My Lady Jane was super hilarious. <3
Thank you, and thanks for stopping by! The only problem I had with Love and Gelato was that it was total insta-love, but it was still such a good book. I hope you get a chance to read it, and the amazing setting totally makes up for the insta-love. My Lady Jane is one of my favorites as well. 🙂
Yet another reminder that I need to read the Lunar Chronicles… 😉
I know people tend to prefer PJO to HoO, but I REALLY LIKED HoO because of the travelling aspect…and also because Nico got POV chapters, and without HoO we’d never have met Reyna.
Yes, you so need to. It’s one of my favorites <3 I liked both PJO and HoO but I agree, I loved the whole traveling aspect. I'm not a huge fan of Nico to be honest, but I LOVE Reyna. She's awesome. Thanks for stopping by!