Wanderlust


 
 
 
 Advance Praise for Wanderlust
 
 
 
 “From the first page, I was all in for this thoughtful, thrilling, and romantic trip around the world. Everhart’s writing is both light and cinematic, tying the reader’s heartbeat to every moment of Dylan and Jack’s love story.”
 —Annabel Monaghan, author of Nora Goes Off Script and Same Time Next Summer
 “Wanderlust is an absolutely stunning rom-com debut! Elle Everhart masterfully crafts a heartfelt and adorable love story while also delving into complex family relationships and seriously relatable real-life issues. On top of characters I immediately fell in love with, the book takes us on a gorgeous trip around the world—I was left with major travel envy! This romance had me smiling the entire time, even through my tears. Elle Everhart is a writer to watch!”
 —Falon Ballard, author of Lease on Love and Just My Type
 “Elle Everhart more than delivers with a sparkling voice, mastery of craft, and character chemistry that sizzles off the page, all while unpacking the timely and critical topic of reproductive justice. Carefree yet complex Dylan and adorably uptight cinnamon roll Jack stole my heart and swept me around the world in this cinematic, immersive, steamy dream of a ride!”
 —Courtney Kae, author of In the Event of Love
 “Elle Everhart’s debut is laugh-out-loud funny, sizzling hot, and full of heart. Jack and Dylan are undeniable proof that opposites do attract, and following them around the world is the great escape we all need right now!”
 —Jenny L. Howe, author of The Make-Up Test
 “Wanderlust is perfect for anyone who’s longed to travel the globe seeking love, adventure, and even themselves. This is a soaring escapist romance that unpacks timely real-life issues and reminds us that trusting your own heart can lead to destinations unknown and unforgettable, that going away means coming back, and that the best journeys are in memories, not miles. Wanderlust is a book to be whisked away and enjoyed in a sun-drenched somewhere.”
 —Lillie Vale, author of The Shaadi Set-Up and The Decoy Girlfriend
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 G. P. Putnam’s Sons
 Publishers Since 1838
 An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
 penguinrandomhouse.com
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Elle Everhart
 Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.
 Ebook ISBN: 9780593545096
 Cover design and illustration: Sandra Chiu
 Cover images: (cities) Tettygreen
 Book design by Elke Sigal, adapted for ebook by Maggie Hunt
 Title page art: Suitcases © Tomacco / Shutterstock.com
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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 To Emmet, who makes the whole world brighter, and to everyone who needs a reminder to be brave x
 
 
 
 
 Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.
 —Anthony Bourdain
 
 
 
 Chapter 1
 
 
 
 Dylan Coughlan was having an absolutely shit day.
 The Northern line was delayed fourteen minutes (just long enough to piss her off and one minute less than she needed to get the journey refunded), and when it finally arrived, every carriage was completely packed, so she spent the duration of her commute tucked into a stranger’s armpit, which, while less offensive than it would have been on a blistering-hot day, was still not the ideal way to spend the first twenty-five minutes of her morning. That would’ve been bad enough—should’ve been bad enough—but some arsehole in a suit slammed into her the moment she walked out of the station and sent her £5 emergency splurge coffee flying into the window of the Hard Rock Cafe. Then, of course, Chantel, her editor, had shouted at her in no fewer than six separate emails before nine thirty, and now, she was sitting at her desk, dangerously under-caffeinated, drafting another pointless quiz.
 A task that was next to impossible because, on top of everything else that had gone wrong today, her parents were now blowing up her WhatsApp. And, worse, they showed no signs of stopping.
 Even her brother, Sean, though well-intentioned, was starting to grate on her nerves. He was using every bit of his training as a therapist to keep them all from going nuclear on one another (again), but it was making Dylan wish she could go home and crawl under her duvet for the next month and a half.
 A solution that wouldn’t be effective anyway, because—apparently—hiding from your problems didn’t do anything in the way of solving them.
 Dylan wouldn’t say she planned on getting into rows with her parents, but if she even so much as breathed in their direction these days, they ended up arguing. Today’s fight had started with the annual so what are we doing for Christmas conversation, which, in an impressive seven messages, devolved into her parents berating Dylan for having the audacity to make decisions they disagreed with.
 Though she supposed “disagreed with” was putting it lightly.
 Dylan locked her phone and flipped it over with a bit more force than was probably necessary. At the hard clack of the screen against her desktop, her deskmate, Afua, looked up, eyes wide with surprise.
 “Everything alright?”
 “Yeah, sorry.” Dylan was lying through her teeth,