The Pumpkin Spice Café is the first novel in the Dream Harbor book series by Laurie Gilmore. It’s the perfect autumnal, small-town romance story after Jeanie moves away from the big city to take over her aunt’s café, only to be confronted with some ghost-like behaviour. Below is my full Goodreads review.
In this post, I wanted to speak a bit more about season roman books. Laurie Gilmore is a pen name for the author Melissa McTernan (who usually writes more fantasy/paranormal books). A lot of successful authors end up having books published under different names because of the success of one series. I assume it is the desire of the publisher to ensure that the author targets a clear audience. Especially if trying a new genre, they wouldn’t want the author’s successful name to be tarnished with an unsuccessful book.
Rebecca Yarros is the exception to this rule after she released Fourth Wing. Fourth Wing was her first fantasy romance (which I am a huge fan of), but she kept the same name. That then allowed me to find her other works really easily and read them.
However, with The Pumpkin Spice Café, it’s clear that the author wanted to delve into something that’s more of a cozy read. Clearly, it’s successful as it’s the first book of five! I think the book only came out last year. The thing is, the majority of readers will occasionally (if not often) enjoy books like this. We want to unwind when reading and just enjoy the story. It’s one of the reasons that rom-com films are so successful. Okay, the plot doesn’t have to be entirely original, but we can still enjoy the story, the characters and the chemistry.
Normally, I’m not a fan of seasonal stories as there’s a pressure to read them at a certain time. However, I started with summer books and then last year ventured to Christmas stories and now into an autumnal book. I made sure it read it in October so that I could fully immerse myself.
The reviews for The Pumpkin Spice Café were mixed, hence why it took me a year to getting around to reading it. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to. There are so many contemporary romances, some steamier than others, that the plot of the story can be mediocre. I’m pleased to say that this one took me by surprise.
I truly thought, because of the name, that it’d mostly centre around the café and them there’d be a small-town romance. But having a mystery thrown into the middle of it was great. Especially because it crops up twice in the novel, meaning that at one point, the mystery is solved but then it emerges that it isn’t yet actually solved.
There is one main criticism I have of a book like this. It felt too much like a book introducing characters. Again, it feels very forced by the publishers/marketing team coupled up with the change of pen name. Rather than focusing on the actual story, you can see very clearly the set up for all the different books. Something that I experienced with Ana Huang’s Kings of Sin series.
As I said, many of us enjoy a cozy romance read, especially one that is seasonal as we feel like a part of it. When you watch a Christmas film when your house if sully decorated, you’re more likely to enjoy it rather than watching a Christmas film at the start of spring. However, it’d be nice if published authors are allowed to write a stand alone book without having to plan the next five.
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