Eighty Days to Elsewhere

Ramona Keene, known as Romy, has lived in New York City all her life. She dreams of photography school and a trip to Paris, but she spends her days in her uncles' small bookstore, where the tea keeps coming and the adventures are all in secondhand books.

Then a new landlord arrives with his nephew and announces he will triple the rent. Her uncles cannot pay it. Romy applies to ExLibris Expeditions, a company that re-creates literary journeys, hoping to earn the money to keep the shop open.

Her internship is an odd one. She must retrace Phileas Fogg's route from Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days and plan a modern trip for a client. The original route rules out commercial aircraft, and she has far fewer than eighty days. Romy also has to get past her fear of leaving home.

She soon learns she is not alone on the route. Her rival is Dominic Madison, the nephew of her family's worst enemy, and he is annoyingly attractive. The book is a romantic race around the globe with a competition at its centre.

Romy needs to win and get back in time to save the bookstore. The closer she gets to Dominic, though, the more he may cost her the very thing she is racing for.