The Pumpkin Spice Cafe

“Maybe she could be cheerful and dark, messy and competent, sunshine and rain, New Jeanie and Old Jeanie mixed together.”
― Laurie Gilmore, The Pumpkin Spice Café

Summary: The Pumpkin Spice Cafe follows Jeanie and Logan in the small town of Dream Harbor as they endeavor to find out what the strange happenings are around the cafe. Logan is a local farmer trying to stay out of the nosy eye of the community he grew up in. Jeanie is a big city girl turned cafe owner when she experiences a shock in the workplace and decides to turn her life around.

Trigger Warnings: Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Moderate: (Nothing on the page, but discussed/described as part of backstories) Death, Death of parent, Minor: Vomit, Alcohol

Pumpkin Spice Cafe is the perfect fall read for someone looking for a small town romance over the course of the fall season. If you aren’t really into the spooky or scary vibes that come with the month of October than this is the perfect alternative for you! I had so much fun reading this book and found myself not wanting to put it down while reading it. I got pulled into the story by the characters almost immediately and found myself rooting for everyone to find love. The Pumpkin Spice Cafe is the first in a new series and it looks like the books are going to be released seasonally and I can’t wait to read the next one this summer!

The characters are what made me love this story! Jeanie was interesting and it was intriguing to watch her finding herself throughout the story. Jeanie starts off extremely unsure of herself and her decision to move to Dream Harbor but grows in confidence as the story continues. Jeanie questions everything when she receives a shock in her corporate workplace and jumps at the chance to discover her joy again when she takes over her Aunt’s cafe. With her Aunt out of the country and only a few employees to help her figure things out Jeanie finds herself scared by the odd sounds and events happening around the cafe. Jeanie finds herself investigating an odd sound when Logan arrives on her doorstep with a squash delivery for the cafe. Logan was also a really fun character. I loved that he had funny names for all the animals on the farm and that Hazel and Annie were his best friends. You could feel the love and care everyone had for everyone else in the text.

The town itself lent so much to the story. I found myself becoming attached to the town of Dream Harbor and wishing I could move there. I grew up in the big town amongst the small towns so small town gossip and politics is very well known to me. Living in a small town can be complicated because everyone knows you, knows about you because of your last name, or knows your family members. There isn’t much you can do in a small town that won’t get back to someone else at some point. That being said living in a small town can be a comfort as much as it can be frustrating at times. When a town or a community is there for one of it’s own, it’s a beautiful thing. I don’t live in my home town anymore and recent events in my life have proved that yet again. The town in Dream Harbor felt overly optimistic which was a breath of fresh air making me feel a bit nostalgic. I loved that the town was diverse, beautiful, and nosy and can’t wait to see more of the community pop up in future books.

Overall this story was the perfect fall read! It has the grumpy/sunshine trope and is set in a small town during the fall so it’s not a huge surprise that I loved it! I’m happy I read it when I did and it will be a series I return to when the next books are released! I highly recommend to anyone needing a fall read. There is adult content since this is a romance book but it has an adorable happily ever after so I’m not complaining!