The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore

Read this if you… love a cozy, fictional small town romance with medium spice.

Why does this beguile? Okay, I judged this book by its cover. I thought it looked ‘too cutesy’ and then I saw the BookTok award for 2024 and went… ehhhh, this could be good or it could crash and burn. BookTok books are either really good or really, extraordinarily bad. There’s no in between for me.

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe is really good. It’s very cutesy but in all the right ways. It’s sweet and fast-paced, but not fake or cheesy. The book leans into its camp and Dream Harbor is truly a quintessential New England small town that I’d love to inhabit (if it were real).

What it's about: Big-city assistant-to-the-CEO Jeanie moves to a small New England town when she inherits The Pumpkin Spice Cafe from her aunt (who left to go adventuring). When Jeanie thinks the townsfolk are messing with her and keeping her up at night, she inadvertently enlists local farmer, Logan, to help solve the mystery. Together, Logan shows Jeanie the magic that is Dream Harbor (just go with it - it works) and make a bit of magic themselves.