When school lets out for the semester, the clock starts ticking on making the most of your free time. Don’t get us wrong. The perfect summer adventure is not about having the most Instagramable vacation or going to the most expensive or fancy place. Finding the best way to spend your summer requires knowing what you want to get out of it. Build relaxation routines, travel to places that inspire you to think or create, and find activities that challenge you!
Summer vacation is all about extremes. How relaxed, productive, adventurous, lazy, fashionable, silly, active, can you be? It can change from day to day! You can do all of this intentionally, but sometimes these extremes find you.
In her contemporary romance debut, Wandering Wild, Lynette Noni takes readers on an adventure where everything seems to be out of her protagonist’s control. Charlie Hart finds herself in a reality TV survival situation with recently disgraced Hollywood star Zander Rune. Charlie is not a fan, and helping Zander rebuild his image isn’t on her summer bucket list, but when they end up stranded in the Australian wilderness far from their survival guide and the cameras, they’ll have to work together to get along and make it out.
While most of us will not face a reality TV adventure (or getting lost in the wilderness!), adventures like these are a special kind of getaway, and the scenes we see and books can lead us to real-life experiences. We caught up with Lynette, someone who gets to live in the real world and create new worlds on the page, to explore her thoughts on what makes a summer vacation meaningful.
Showstopper Magazine Online: Do you think the best adventures are planned or spontaneous?
Lynette Noni: Both can be fun, but in my experience, it’s usually the spontaneous adventures (and misadventures) that are the most memorable! (For better or for worse!)
SMO: How do you find your own summer adventures?
Lynette: I’ll admit, when I’m home, I aim for more of a relax-at-the-beach-with-a-good-book vibe, which means my adventures are found in the fictional worlds I read about while soaking up the sun and listening to the crashing waves. That’s summer bliss to me!
SMO: What makes a great destination for a summer adventure?
Lynette: To me, summer means beaches and books and colourful drinks with little umbrellas in them. It means relaxing and sunshine and time spent with family and friends. It means exploring and learning new things about the world and my place in it (and, of course, eating a whollllllle heap of ice cream). Any destination that offers these things has the promise of a great summer in my mind!
SMO: What would be your advice for making the most of summer 2025?
Lynette: I live in Australia, so I’m actually coming into winter (alas!), so as someone recently coming out of summer, I’d say to live it up and enjoy every second. Channel your inner reptile and soak up that gorgeous summer sun, splash around in the water without caring how you look, put your phone down and spend time with your loved ones, and read alllllll the books!
SMO: Would you be willing to go on a survival TV show with your least favorite celebrity?
Lynette: I don’t even go camping, so this is a firm no for me, regardless of who I’m with. Seriously, nature hates me. If there’s anything that bites or stings within a hundred miles, it’ll come straight for me. Unlike my characters in Wandering Wild, I wouldn’t last a day out in the wilderness. I probably wouldn’t even last an hour! (Ooof, it’s sad, but true!)
Wandering Wild is out May 20, 2025, just in time to add it to your summer bucket list.
