Sloth Goes Places - Minnesota

 

Sloth Goes Places is a feature where I share books I have tracked from the Literary Escapes and Read Around the USA reading challenges. 

Today we are looking at books set in ....

Minnesota

Minnesota is a state I have never visited though I am intrigued to see this land of lakes. Not sure I would want to experience their winters, but spring and summer could be nice. I have no difficulty checking this state off each year. Abby Jimenez is fairly dependable for using this setting, and Ellie Palmer has also set both her books in her home state. This was a surprise from Painter who has set many of her books in Nebraska, but I welcomed the change. 

---

Anywhere With You by Ellie Palmer
Published by G.P. Putman's Sons on August 5, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 
Goodreads

From the beloved author of Four Weekends and a Funeral, a nostalgic, heartwarming romance about a Type-A woman who road trips through the Minnesotan woods with her non-committal childhood best friend . . . only for their long-suppressed sparks to burn like wildfire.

Twenty-nine year old Charley Beekman is thriving. Is she financially strapped, languishing in her legal career, and very likely the youngest divorcee at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse on a Friday night? Yes. But, now that she's accepted the inherent flaws that lie in all romantic relationships, she finally has life all figured out! She's definitely due for an upswing.

So when her free-spirited sister announces her plan to elope with her messy on-again-off-again childhood sweetheart, Charley knows she has to stop the wedding, even if it means road-tripping into the northern woods of Minnesota in a camper van with her childhood best friend, Ethan, who’s as gorgeous as he is chronically unreliable.

But when their cozy journey ignites a spark she's tried to ignore for years, Charley tries to write off her feelings as fleeting. Because after failing at marriage so spectacularly with the most responsible man she's ever known, Charley definitely shouldn't risk it all for her non-committal, nomadic, musician best friend . . . right?

[review]

---

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
Published by Forever on April 1, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Goodreads

There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.

[review]

---

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
Published by Simon & Schuster on September 30, 2025
Age/Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 
Goodreads

From the no. 1 international bestselling author of Better than the Movies, childhood sweethearts reunite in a hockey-loving town where romance is about to heat up the ice. *Pre-order now!*

From play dates on the playground to sneaking into movie theatres, Dani and Alec were inseparable as kids. Until Dani moved away. Years later, Dani is back in Minnesota, and exited to reconnect with the nerdy and comforting Alec. But teenage Alec is NOTHING like the boy she remembers. He's the hockey STAR in a town where hockey players are worshipped as gods – and he loves it.

When one thing leads to another and Dani and Alec find themselves thrown together and playing the role of boyfriend and girlfriend, “complicated” becomes an understatement. In this Minnesota town, hockey may rule, but romance is about to take its place.

A swoony, boy-next-door fake dating romance from the New York Times bestseller, Lynn Painter.

Have you read any books set in Minnesota?
Let us know in the comments!