How to Vacation Like ‘My Killer Vacation’ Author Tessa Bailey

Tessa Bailey is hanging out by the pool when a fellow member on our trip comes by with a stack of books. It’s not the place that you would expect the New York Times bestselling author to start an impromptu book signing, but anything can happen in the Bahamas, as evidenced by what would unfold over the next few days with Tessa and our fellow book lovers.We’re all at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar located in Nassau, Bahamas. On the way here, I spotted a star from That ’70s Show who was also heading to the resort with her kids. Several teenagers and their families would be around, likely celebrating the end of the school year and graduations before several of them head off to college. A three-day wedding took place with an all-white party that made me wonder if the whole resort was there. And then there was us: a group of some of the biggest BookTokers, a few journalists, and one of the most popular authors in the world.Despite the total vacation vibes, it was still work after all as I took in the resort and Tessa—whose recent book, My Killer Vacation, was the spark of the trip—later revealed that she brought her laptop with her to still write while enjoying paradise.“I was waking up working before we met. I was going back to the room and working like during our breaks,” Tessa told me via Zoom soon after our trip. “I couldn't stop. I was enjoying what I was writing.”She also recorded a special episode of the Book Besties podcast alongside influencers @AymansBooks, @EdensArchivess, @newlynovabooks, @its.amandas.bookshelf, and @thebohobookblogger.That doesn’t mean that we still couldn’t enjoy all the amenities and features that the resort offered. An art class that is offered to all hotel guests was set to be switched up so we could create bookmarks instead of giant canvases using local flora from around the resort. However, a bit of miscommunication kept us from being able to create anything actually bookmark-sized for our reads. Still, that didn’t keep us from getting messy with some ink and having a good time.Other activities also matched along with other titles from Avon, Tessa’s publisher. In honor of Grace Reilly’s Yes, Chef, we took a cooking class that featured a dish with local lobster and traditional Bahamian peas ’n’ rice. A pickleball and tennis lesson was paired with sapphic enemies-to-lovers sports romance Set Point by Meg Jones.Eventually, we would end up by some body of water, where we managed to get some major reading done. Prior to the trip, all attendees received a get-ready package that included a Kobo Libra Colour e-reader, which allowed for easy page turning thanks to its side buttons and the fact that it is largely waterproof, making them perfect for the pool. It featured copies of the previously mentioned books as well as an e-ARC of her upcoming title, Broken Rival. But that didn’t stop Tessa from praising another fellow Avon author.“100% Tropesick by Lauren Okie,” Tessa said when asked about her favorite beach reads at the moment. “I'm reading it right now. I'm absolutely loving it. I think it's the most fun love letter to romance that you can be reading.”Other favorites this summer include Christina Lauren’s The Romance Revival and Tia Williams’s The Missed Connection, which Tessa named her “favorite book that I’ve read the last couple of months.”Add Cosmopolitan as a preferred source in your Google search results.Use your Google account to add this to your settings.I couldn’t help but dig into Tessa’s upcoming release, especially after hearing from her firsthand how different it is from anything else she has written. While she’s often writing contemporary romances, this time, she’s giving science fiction a try.“It’s such a departure for me. The main thing I was hoping to do is try to offer something that I wasn't something that I had read before.”The time-travel romance added some new challenges to the longtime author who already has over 65 books in her bibliography. She noted that creating a new universe, particularly one affected by time and all its potentials, added some complexities.“The possibilities of time travel are so endless that I worry that I’m not exploring it enough or I’m exploring it too much. I have to sit down with myself and go, You’re just writing a story. Focus on the romance. That’s where your comfort zone is,” she said. “It's still so me. You're gonna still see my sense of humor and there'll still be mad steam. It's just me in a different universe.”Even weeks after the trip, Tessa and I cannot stop thinking about the food, so much so that the topic takes up the majority of our interview. She admits that “Pool or beachside drinks, they’re tropical. I can only have one, but a Moscow mule is refreshing and has a little bite to it.” However, what really became her signature was a Manhattan.“I have like one at the end of the day. My husband's a former bartender, so he's a really good drink maker. It's just kind of like a reward for the end of the day,” she revealed.It paired particularly well with the Tuna Tataki Maki at Cinko, an Asian Latino fusion restaurant on the property that immediately became Tessa’s favorite. “I ate it, and I was like, Everybody has to eat this.” Other favorites included Marcus Fish + Chop House (“The meat was incredible!”) and Leola by Scott Conant.After spending dinner chatting about all things pop culture—Breaking Bad was especially a hot topic—Tessa ended her nights doing one of her favorite things ever: playing poker.“I definitely was at the three-card poker table a couple of times. That's definitely like my go-to post-dinner activity of choice,” she said. “If it's just me on vacation, I want to go gamble.”Sadly, I did not face off against the author during our trip, but it certainly added a new activity to my bucket list if we ever end up in paradise again.Video producer: Carlos Rosario.