Pumpkin Spice Isn’t The Only One In Laurie Gilmore’s Novel
It’s hot hot hot…
Jeanie Ellis has an upbeat personality but has a rough start in her new home, Dream Harbour. Putting her old life and the memory of her dead, overworked boss in Boston behind, her focus is on one thing and one thing only.
To get the Pumpkin Spice Café up and running.
The café is a gift from her laidback, hippie aunt Dot and she can’t wait to start her new life. A life in a small town where everyone knows everyone and nothing ever remains a secret.
There is one problem only, she’d never run a café before. And the scratching noises that keep her awake at night aren’t helping to settle her nerves.
Her frustration peaks when someone knocks on her door at the crack of dawn. She approaches the possible “murderer” with a bat as a weapon ready to strike.
Little does she know that the man on her doorstep is as innocent as a lamb. He only delivered a crate of pumpkins. And he’s about to change her life.
So the story begins.
This small-town romance is as cozy as it gets
Who doesn’t like the setting of a café, a community of friendly folks, and pumpkin spice lattes? Throw some love and dramas in there and you have the perfect mix for an enjoyable read.
Yes, even if you aren’t a romance fan.
The characters are quirky and likable
This might be a light-hearted read, but the characters are well-thought-out. They all have things to work on. And the contrast between city girl Jeanie and Logan the quiet farmer creates the perfect level of tension.
She wants him and he wants her. But underneath the flannel shirt, Logan hides a baggage. A burden from the past that’s bound to build a wall between them.
Thank God they have friends who want them to take risks, surrender to their feelings, and simply be happy.
But I have some grievances
Like cringeworthy sentences and adjectives that wanted to make me cry.
Who describes a man as “adorable”? Gilmore does. And she did that without a second thought. I winced when I read it and it wasn’t the only time.
While the simplistic language makes it an easy read and wants you to turn the pages fast, in some instances the style — I felt — left a lot to be desired.
“Logan couldn’t give a sh**t” and “grabbed her a*s” could’ve been expressed in a — artistically speaking- more poetic way. But maybe that’s her style.
And maybe that’s what some readers want.
You’re constantly reminded that the central characters do not care about the chemistry between them
But of course they do. And, it’s all they want. To get a room, that is. We don’t need to be perpetually told the opposite when sexual tension sparks from the pages as soon as you open the book.
They may attempt to fight it but their stubbornness is predictably doomed from the beginning. We’re teased to insanity, which is of course the goal of any author who ever wrote a book worth reading.
Forget discreet sex scenes, this is hot hot hot
I was surprised by the detail Gilmore had put into describing the “romantic scenes”.
So much so that I looked up the genre of this book. The Pumpkin Spice Café — based on Goodread’s definition — is said to be a contemporary-romance but I’ve also found descriptions such as; erotica.
And there’s a lot of that in there.
It’s not your usual novel where Joe slips his hands under Hazel’s skirts and feels the warmth of her thighs.
The author is not shy to let you in on the details and the sexual tension built over the pages earlier is finally released to a rather graphic extent.
Oops! But isn’t it what we want?
Sex is the most intimate connection two people can have and readers want to see the characters thrive. Before their next hurdle anyway.
I can see why this novel is so popular
It’s got the elements of the most primal human feelings. Friendships, connections, love, hurt, fears, and sex. Who can’t relate to these?
Gilmore’s writing is simplistic, yet concise allowing the reader to be in the character’s head, thinking and feeling like them.
What more can we possibly want from a book?
As long as it transports us to a different world, and makes us turn the pages fast the job is done.
And The Pumpkin Spice Café is a job well done.
