Play 2026 Book Bingo
Books Set in Orchards or Vineyards
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.Whether you dream of contemporary apple picking or want to read historical fiction about vineyards during WWII, these novels will transport you into the world of fruit growing and harvesting in the US and abroad. We’ve started the list with orchards, but if you’re specifically looking for a vineyard setting, you can use the table of contents below this image to jump right to those titles.
Novels Set in Orchards
Book Summary
The Fitch family apple orchard reaches a pivotal moment in 1927 after a late spring frost decimated the harvest. Jesse, the pragmatic son, prepares to leave the orchard behind and find a better life for his wife and young son. But Jesse’s twin, Silas, is more stubborn and refuses to abandon the land they grew up on.
Before Jesse can leave town, a tragedy uncovers a long-buried secret that binds the twins together. Soon, the brothers are in a quiet war, held together by only the most fragile threads.
Go As a River
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This novel transports you to 1940s rural Colorado and the home of teenager Victoria Nash. Despite her young age, she runs the household as the sole female in a family of troubled men. One day, she meets Wilson Moon, a mysterious young drifter who has been displaced from his tribal land. Their sudden and passionate connection is full of danger and secrets.
Victoria ends up fleeing to the harsh mountain wilderness in a small hut, where she struggles against impossible conditions. As the Gunnison River rises and threatens her homeland, she begins a quest to fight for all she has lost.
Thoughts on This Book
This is a great pick if you enjoy deep and descriptive, character-driven reads. While much of the book is slower-paced, the final chapters are said to be the best.
Book Club Guide Available
Don’t miss our entire book club guide for Go As a River, which includes discussion questions, food ideas, and so much more!
Under the Orchard’s Spell
Book Summary
After her fiancé and best friend leave her, and she learns that the pear orchard she inherited from her uncle is drowning in debt, Ali begins to wonder if she is cursed. Now, the picking season is looming, and she has no way to harvest all the fruit on her own before it rots on the branches.
In desperation, she turns to Logan, her first kiss, who she left behind fourteen years earlier. He agrees to move in and help, even though he was trying to avoid memories of the property.
As they harvest, old feelings are rekindled, but it’s hard to focus on their relationship when the orchard is becoming increasingly bizarre. Between unnatural storms, jewel-colored rabbits, and crystallizing pears, Ali and Logan are drawn into getting to the bottom of the orchard’s mysterious secrets.
About the Book
Readers say this perfect autumn book blends mystery, romance, and magical realism in a rich setting. One reviewer said she “laughed, smiled, and cried,” which sounds like a win to us. Additionally, we loved learning that the setting is based on the real pear orchard in Hood River, Oregon, where the author’s mother-in-law grew up.
The publication date is 10/6/26, so you may be able to be the first to snag it from the library on that day.
Tom Lake
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
89% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Set during the summer of 2020, Lara’s three adult daughters have returned home to quarantine at the family’s northern Michigan cherry orchard. As they pick cherries and go about running the family business in isolation, the sisters beg their mother to tell them the story of her long-ago romance with celebrity Peter Duke. When Lara was in her early 20s, she and Peter shared the stage during a Michigan summer stock theater run of the play Our Town.
Lara begins the story with her very first experience on stage in high school and works her way forward through her brief but eventful theater career. As the girls learn more about their mother’s life, they are forced to reconsider everything they thought they knew about her and their father.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
This beautiful novel captures the ways in which our past shapes who we become, how certain moments and experiences stay with us forever, and how certain relationships – no matter how brief – leave lasting imprints on our souls.
Ann Patchett has had some amazing narrators for her audiobooks over the years (Tom Hanks reading The Dutch House, for example), and this book is no exception. Meryl Streep’s narration is phenomenal and definitely adds to the experience of reading the book.
For a fun, light-hearted look at the cherry culture of northern Michigan, we also recommend Viola Shipman’s 2023 novel, Famous in a Small Town.
The Honeycrisp Orchard Inn
Book Summary
Ellie thought her career as a high-end event planner was going perfectly, until she hit the worst twelve-hour period of her life. One night, her live-in boyfriend breaks up with her out of nowhere, and then the next morning, her boss fires her. Before she can begin to decide on next steps, she gets a call from her mom asking if she’d be willing to come home and help plan their upcoming Harvest Festival. Her mom is shocked, but thrilled, when Ellie agrees.
She grew up at her parents’ inn, which is located on their friend’s idyllic apple orchard. The whole place is magical in the autumn, so the Harvest Festival is a great idea. But what Ellie didn’t know is that her childhood friend, Aiden, would be involved. And somehow her mom never mentioned that grown-up Aiden is VERY attractive.
What to Expect in This Book
Melissa already read and enjoyed this small-town romance, which brings fall vibes on nearly every page.
While the first 75% of the novel is a PG-rated Hallmark escape to the perfect town, there is an extended, steamy, open-door scene after that point.
The Cider House Rules
Book Summary
In rural Maine, Dr. Wilbur Larch is a saint and obstetrician, founder and director of the orphanage in the desolate town of St. Cloud, a former logging camp. He also performs safe abortions, which is not a legal practice.
This is also the story of Dr. Larch’s favorite orphan, Homer, who lives in some interesting foster situations as he grows up. But Homer is never adopted and instead follows in Dr. Larch’s footsteps with one distinction: he refuses to perform abortions.
Thoughts on This Book
This 1985 classic is a longer read, at over 600 pages. Readers tend to love or hate Irving’s style, which is very slow-moving but with rich imagery and some zany characters mixed in.
Peaches and Scream
Book Summary
As a teenager in a small Georgia town, Nola had the reputation of being a bit wild. After school, she left the area and has been traveling the world for work. Now, it’s time to return home to help her parents with the peach orchard.
Unfortunately, a poor harvest and rising costs are threatening the farm. Even those big problems feel small when Nola stumbles on a dead body among the trees. She has to change gears and narrow down the list of suspects before she is the next victim.
Thoughts on This Book
This cozy mystery includes recipes, so if you need to make a delicious peach dish to go with your Georgia reading, you’ll be all set!
The House in the Olive Grove
Book Summary
Maria, a chef, runs a cooking school in her hometown of Petalidi, Greece. She also maintains and grows her own food and keeps bees. It’s the perfect escape from her past. Kayla is an English food journalist headed to Petalidi for work, but has recently discovered that her whole life has been based on a lie. And Alessandra is a Roman jewelry-maker who just received terrible news.
These three women are very different, but an unlikely friendship blooms at a house in a picturesque olive grove. Will the new bonds and delicious flavors of Greece help them come to terms with their situations outside the grove?
Reader Thoughts on This Book
Readers say this book truly transports you to coastal mainland Greece and that food lovers will enjoy the vivid descriptions of their cooking lessons and meals. There is also a hint of magical realism involving the bees, which provide their alternate versions of events at some points throughout the story.
Candy Apple Kisses
Book Summary
Emily left her quaint hometown years ago and headed to the city to pursue her artistic dreams. She never expected to return home to Splendid Lake, but when her childhood best friend Jake calls asking for help saving his family orchard, she can’t say no. She’s surprised how quickly the town feels like home again, and how it breathes new life into her art.
A corporate giant wants to buy the orchard and modernize the farming practices, but for Jake, the orchard is about much more than the money. He views the orchard as a living legacy, and the family responsibility to protect it weighs heavily on his shoulders.
Working side-by-side brings back the easy friendship that Jake and Emily once shared, but it also makes Emily question whether their connection might have grown into something more. But things are complicated by his ex, Claire, always hovering nearby.
As the autumn season unfolds, the two are drawn into preparations for the community’s fall festivities, complete with pumpkin patches, hayrides, apple cider, and candy apples.
Genre Notes
Although Amy Clipston is well known for Christian and Amish fiction, readers say that faith is not explicitly mentioned in this fall romance book. It’s a clean and wholesome contemporary romance, but there are no specific religious messages in the story.
The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season
Book Summary
Cherries are a big business in Michigan, and Peg has lived in the Orchard House her whole life. It’s her family’s northern Michigan estate, but at this point, it’s seen better days. When Peg’s niece, Hope, and Hope’s ten-year-old daughter arrive unexpectedly, she tells Hope she can stay if she will help with the cherry harvest.
As they harvest alongside a kind man Hope finds increasingly difficult to ignore, she starts to see a new life for herself at the Orchard House. However, mistakes from the past can be hard to escape.
What to Expect in This Book
This contemporary fiction novel includes both family drama and romance, though readers find the family relationships stronger than the romance. The story is told from three perspectives – Peg, Hope, and Hope’s pre-teen daughter, Tink, who arrives at the farm angry and non-verbal.
The Orchard
Book Summary
Hayley was once one of the world’s most renowned translators of poetry from China’s Tang dynasty, but she left her career and drug-addicted husband to raise her daughter, Frith, in a rustic cabin in the foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains. Along with their Bernese mountain mutt, Bear, Hayley and precocious seven-year-old Frith survive on their earnings from the property’s overgrown apple orchard and syrup maples.
After several seasons of living as just mother, daughter, and dog, an artist named Rose arrives at the door and offers an unexpected friendship and lighter outlook on life.
Thoughts on This Book
While Peter Heller usually focuses on male main characters, several reviewers noted being impressed by how well he captured the female perspectives in this novel. The writing is described as poetic, with reviewers noting that most of the novel is a quiet, character-driven coming-of-age story that slowly builds to an emotional climax.
This novel was originally published in 2019, then had a wider re-release on December 2, 2025.
The Orchard
Book Summary
Best friends Anya and Milka are teenagers coming of age in the USSR in the 1980s. Their parents’ generation is still talking about WWII and the hardships they have endured while Anya and Milka envision a free and joyful future for themselves. They spend their summers in the orchard of Anya’s family cottage outside of Moscow listening to music and fantasizing about the lives of American teenagers.
By the time Anya and Milka are 15, the Soviet Empire is on the verge of collapse, and the two spend time with their classmates Trifonov and Lopatin. The four become inseparable, sharing secrets, arguing about history, and discussing forbidden books. But their time together is cut short by tragedy. They will lose their country and one another.
Years later, after building a life for herself in the US, Anya returns to Russia, where she is reunited with Lopatin, now a businessman who wants to purchase her parents’ cottage and cut down the orchard.
About the Author
Author Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry is a Russian-Armenian émigré who moved to the United States in 1995 after having witnessed perestroika and the fall of the Iron Curtain. She wrote The Orchard in English, which is her second language.
The Recipe Box
Book Summary
Samantha grew up in her family’s northern Michigan orchard and pie shop. She left the idyllic setting to make her own mark on the culinary world in New York City. However, her dream life isn’t a dream after all. Instead, she’s overworked and undervalued at a bakery owned by a reality star.
After suffering a final embarrassment by the chef, Sam returns home to spend the summer working on her family’s orchard and baking with her mother and grandmother. One recipe at a time, she learns more about her family’s history and passion for food as they work through a treasured recipe box together. Each chapter starts with a delicious recipe for you to make along with the family.
Another Book to Consider
Viola Shipman has also written a novel about the Michigan cherry industry titled Famous in a Small Town, but the focus is on the retail side versus an orchard as the main character tries to plan her retirement from the Very Cherry General Store in a way that protects it from developers.
Book Summary
Lenore returns home from Manhattan to Vermont to spend one final fall season on her family’s historic apple orchard before it’s sold. She always felt that her dreams were too big for her small hometown, but she’s finding it difficult to say goodbye to the place where she grew up, especially because it’s the same place that inspired her art. Reading entries from her late grandmother’s journal refreshes Lenore’s childhood memories, including her crush on the groundskeeper’s son.
Callan has always known exactly what his life would look like. He was raised in Whitbury, Vermont, with the clear expectation that he would take over for his father as the groundskeeper of French Hill Farm. But now that the orchard is about to be sold, his future is suddenly up in the air. The last thing he needs is the distraction of his best friend’s little sister showing back up in town. Lenore looks even better than he remembered, but she’s always been off limits.
What to Expect in This Book
This novel has all the cozy vibes you could ask for in a fall romance, from changing leaves in a nostalgic hometown to misty mornings and hot apple cider. Nonetheless, keep in mind that this book is more than just a light romance. It also deals with issues of generational trauma, grief, and self-worth.
Black River Orchard
Book Summary
Dan Paxson is scraping to keep his family’s apple orchard alive, hoping to redeem his late father’s failed legacy and prove himself to the town’s smug social elite. Dan’s fortunes finally turn when seven strange grafted trees begin producing a new kind of apple with skin so red it’s nearly black and flesh perfectly balanced between tart and sweet. His daughter Calla names them Ruby Slippers, and soon the whole town can’t get enough. One bite, and you crave another as they make you feel stronger, more vital, and more yourself.
But the apples take as much as they give. As the harvest ripens, so does something ancient and hungry rooted beneath the orchard, and the people of Harrow begin to change. Appetites sharpen into cruelty, and their small resentments swell into something monstrous. Dan will have to decide how much he’s willing to sacrifice for the success he’s always wanted, and whether the thing his family has been feeding was ever really an apple at all.
Award Nominations
Black River Orchard was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Horror, and the RUSA CODES Reading List for Horror.
One Bad Apple
Book Summary
The twelve-book Orchard Mystery series begins with One Bad Apple, where we meet Meg, who has returned to rural Massachusetts from Boston to help sell the deteriorating colonial home and apple orchard her mother had inherited. After being downsized from her financial position, it was the perfect opportunity to help her parents fix up the house and then split the profits.
After arriving, Meg learns that the town wants to acquire the property for a new mall, which is being developed by a Boston bank. Unfortunately, Meg’s ex-boyfriend works for the bank, and even more unfortunately, he turns up dead in the septic tank. Meg is the perfect suspect, and knows she has to solve the mystery before she is charged. Thankfully, she has an ally in the town plumber, Seth.
Perfect for Foodies
This cozy mystery includes recipes, so be sure to have some apples on hand in case you’re inspired to put down the book and pick up the mixing bowls.
Book Summary
Fifth-generation cider-maker Sanna is devoted to her family’s struggling orchard. However, her brother is pushing their father to sell the land.
Single dad Isaac packed up his son Sebastian and headed across the country to keep him safe. When chance leads him to Sanna’s orchard, his help with the apple trees becomes essential and it feels more like fate that he arrived when he did.
However, Isaac and Sebastian’s arrival also complicates Sanna’s life, especially when an outside threat comes to the farm.
About the Genre
This contemporary romance includes a dash of magical realism.
Novels Set in Vineyards
Only the Beautiful
Book Summary
Sixteen-year-old Rosanne has grown up living on a vineyard as the daughter of the vinedresser. When her parents are lost in an accident in 1938, the vineyard owners, Celine and Truman, take her into their spacious home. But the couple doesn’t know about Rosanne’s special ability to see colors when she hears sound. She promised her mother she’d never share her little-understood synesthesia with anyone else, but in a moment of grief, she not only breaks that vow, but she also lets down her guard and becomes pregnant. Although she is banished by the Calverts, she treasures the idea of having a family again. But the place she is sent is far worse than she could have imagined.
In 1947 Austria, Truman’s sister Helen is ready to return to America after witnessing firsthand Adolf Hitler’s brutal pursuit of hereditary purity, especially with regard to “different children.” But when she arrives at her brother’s vineyard, she is shocked to learn what happened to the vinedresser’s daughter nine years prior.
Thoughts on This Book
Only the Beautiful has an incredibly high 4.45 rating on Goodreads with over 50,000 reviews and we’re surprised it has escaped our radar until now. Readers say that it not only highlights the horrors and wrongs of the eugenics programs both under Hitler’s orders and on the home front, but it also provides balance by sharing the beautiful goodness and kindness of others.
HEADS UP: This book contains many difficult topics, including rape, so consider checking trigger warnings if needed.
These Tangled Vines
Book Summary
Fiona has long kept her late mother’s secret – the man raising her was not her biological father. She knows her mother had an affair in Tuscany, but has no idea that she was named in the will of her secret Italian father. In addition to the considerable surprise inheritance, Fiona also learns about her two half-siblings.
When she travels to Italy, the family is as shocked about her existence as she was about the will. This leads to tricky family interactions and new rivalries as Fiona tries to learn more about her mother’s summer in Italy and the father she never had a chance to meet.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Although we haven’t read this one yet, Melissa’s mom read and loved it!
Our Ex’s Wedding
Book Summary
Ani had big plans for business and expected to be the Bay Area’s premier Armenian wedding planner by now. After a major setback, she has a chance to redeem herself with the biggest job of her career. The wedding is for an indie movie star and will be set at a stunning Armenian-owned winery.
When she meets the vineyard’s owner, Raffi, she quickly sees that he is undeniably hot, but also insufferably smug. Things take another turn when she meets the bride. The actress’s fiancée is none other than Ani’s ex-girlfriend, Kami. That would be bad enough, but it turns out Raffi dated Kami too!
Despite all the awkwardness of dealing with a mutual ex, Raffi and Ani need to work together to ensure the wedding goes perfectly. Can they ignore their own building chemistry long enough to get the job done?
About the Author
The author is an Armenian-American writer who grew up in the Bay Area, bringing authenticity to the cultural references, traditions, and rich setting represented throughout this book.
Reviews describe this book as having early-2000s rom-com energy, with lots of banter and physical comedy as the characters find themselves in wacky situations.
The Winemaker’s Wife
Book Summary
In Champagne, France, Michel has the perfect storage space in the Champagne House, Maison Chauveau, to assist the Resistance by hiding munitions. His new wife fears they’ll be caught, but the risk is even higher for the half-Jewish wife of their head winemaker.
In 2019, New York City, Liv is surprised by a visit from her grandmother and her insistence that they travel to France together. Her grandmother is ready to share her tragic wartime history, and eventually, they end up in the cellars of Maison Chauveau.
More Books to Consider
Several other Kristin Harmel books also feature Resistance work, and they are all extremely highly rated.
The Vineyard at Painted Moon
Book Summary
At 37, Mackenzie has a successful career as a winemaker at the family vineyard, but despite her beautiful home and close friends, there is still a problem. It’s not her family’s business; it’s her husband’s, and everything in her life is tied to him.
Their home is on the family compound, his sister is her best friend, and his mom is more of a mother than she’s ever had. So when they admit the marriage is over, Mackenzie is on the brink of losing everything. While staying at the winery as an employee is an option, she could also surrender and build her own legacy. But is she brave enough to take that risk?
The Vineyards of Champagne
Book Summary
During World War I, an underground city was formed in the wine cellars under the rolling vineyards of the Champagne region. Within the caves, hospitals, cafés, schools, even concerts existed as German bombardment made life above ground not only dangerous, but impossible. The bravest inhabitants of this underground life emerged during harvest to pick grapes.
In the present day, Rosalyn is finding life a challenge after the loss of her young husband. But despite her lack of interest in champagne (or France), her Napa Valley employer needs her to travel to the region to select vintages. Her trip becomes much more interesting when she reads WWI-era letters about those who lived underground during the war. And her mission to solve a mystery that has been hidden for decades might be just what she needed to feel alive again.
Inspiration for This Novel
This dual-timeline novel is based on the real historical backdrop of the vineyards of Champagne, France during WWI. The author was inspired to write the novel after tagging along with her wine-importer boyfriend. Like Rosalyn, she’s not actually a big fan of bubbly herself, but Blackwell was fascinated when she discovered the limestone caves that became the heart of the book.
The Lost Vintage
Book Summary
Kate is struggling to pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine Exam. As she studies for her third attempt, she decides to travel to Burgundy to spend the fall working at the vineyard estate that has been in her family for generations.
While helping her cousin clean out the basement, she first comes upon boxes of family memorabilia, including a diary of an unknown relative. She then discovers a secret passage that leads to a hidden room filled with WWII Resistance pamphlets and hundreds of bottles of extremely valuable wine.
Against her uncle’s wishes, she begins digging into the family history, hoping to uncover the truth about the diary keeper—her great-aunt, who was a teenager during the German occupation. As the story unfolds, the line between Resistance and Collaboration blurs.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Angela enjoyed reading this dual-timeline WWII historical fiction and learning about the role of the Burgundy region near the Demarcation Line in WWII. Additionally, she enjoyed learning more about wine and winemaking.
Aged for Murder
Book Summary
This seven-book, vineyard-set series begins when 34-year-old Olivia concocts an ad for cheap wine. While the work leads to the offer of a promotion, she’s still ashamed by it. The difference in how she feels internally compared to the outside praise makes her realize that she has ended up in a life much different than she hoped for. At the same time, Olivia discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her, which pushes her to make a big change.
When a long-time friend messages her about a Tuscan cottage that is available, she can’t help but wonder if fate is helping her chase her real dream of starting a vineyard. She has no idea that life has another twist in mind and she’ll soon be helping solve a murder.
The Winemakers
Book Summary
Mother-daughter winemakers Ava and Caterina are as skilled at guarding different family secrets as they are at running the family vineyard. In the 1950s, Caterina’s secret illegitimate child could ruin her chances for a normal life. But when she receives an inheritance from her grandmother in Italy, she has an opportunity for a new start.
While she’s in Italy, she meets extended family members and begins to unravel mysteries of the past.
What to Expect in This Book
This family drama is also part romance and part mystery. Readers are split on how much they enjoyed the detailed descriptions of the characters’ clothing. If you’re a fashion lover, this is a great bonus!
Eight Hundred Grapes
Book Summary
Georgia grew up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard and learned some important secrets along the way. For example, it takes eight hundred grapes to make one bottle of wine. But some secrets are less fun, like the one her beloved fiancé has been hiding.
Just a week before her wedding, Georgia returns to the family vineyard, hoping to find the comfort of her long-married parents. But it turns out that her fiancé wasn’t the only person with a secret.
Reader Thoughts on This Book
Our friend, Amy from the MomAdvice Book Club, rated this novel 4 stars and said, “This story is part storytelling of how these relationships began, part understanding how wine is really made, and part family drama. It was a fun little escape and I really enjoyed the audiobook of this one.”
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