Piper Nuelle

It’s spring come summer 2025 and I’m sat reading a book which has big fall come autumnal vibes going on… But I can’t help it, I’ve wanted this book for so long! I spotted it last year but with a house move I couldn’t justify buying more books that I would just have to pack away and carry to a new home. So, I waited till we moved and then went on a book shopping spree and purchased all four books in this series which is ‘The Dream Harbour’ series by Laurie Gilmore.

The reason I desperately wanted this book and the series as a whole was the beautiful and totally cute front covers. The sweet little café backdrop with pumpkins, fall leaves, wreaths on the doors and a cute little white cat in the doorway just had me in love at first sight with ‘The Pumpkin Spice Café‘. And let’s just say the inside of the book didn’t disappoint and very much lived up to it’s cover.

The story starts with Jeanie who has inherited the café, her aunt has gone travelling in retirement and Jeanie who has struggled with being a workaholic and work slave to her previous boss who… Unfortunately perished at his desk… has decided to take her aunt up on the offer of taking over the café for a different pace of life.

She soon meets Logan, the local grumpy farmer who after growing up in Dream Harbour and having his previous relationship on display and under scrutiny is not interested in looking for love… Or so he thought but he cannot keep Jeanie or her Pumpkin Spice Lattes out of his mind.

After a scary encounter at her café Logan is nominated at the town meeting to help find out what is happening, and as they spend more time together he finds he cannot keep his heart from falling for her, but he has a demon in his hale bale… In the form of his ex who shattered his heart to pieces very publicly before they split, but can he over come these fears and inner demons to finally let Jeanie know how he truly feels. And as for Jeanie, the pull of the big city seems tempting after someone seems to want her out of the café and her apartment when things are vandalised and smashed, and with being warned off from Logan by his over protective friends and towns folk, Jeanie is worried she has bitten off more than she can chew with the sexy farmer and the weird little town where everyone knows each others business.

But… What blossoms is a beautiful, loving relationship and some new friendships… Friendships that may also blossom into love in other books in the series too… Oh, I just love a happy ending, and Jeanie and Logan do eventually find it, but there is definitely cold feet and obstacles along the way.

I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I don’t usually read Romance, I’m normally more of a horror and fantasy reader but… I do actually dabble and I kind of read anything going if I’m honest. Fantasy, horror, auto-biographies etc… You name it I will probably give it a go if I think I will like it.

I was a little worried as I began to read this book that this might become a little too… ‘Saucy‘ for me. I’m not a prude, but I am British (Hope that says enough) But I was pleasantly surprised. There was quite a few sexy time scenes in it that were indeed very detailed for my very British brain, but it wasn’t to overpowering, or unrealistic. I guess that’s what I have found difficult with some books in the Romance department before, they can give unrealistic hopes to the opposite sex, especially when it comes to say certain positions and things that are unattainable in the average relationship and how the body can bend. (I once read a book where a woman slept with two men at the same time and somehow she managed to put both their…things… at the same time… Like how… How do you even open your legs wide enough for that… Madam. And then there was how long it lasted… Like… Hours!!! Yeah unrealistic… It’s good to have a nice time together, for a reasonable length of time but mate, I’m sure her fanny would have combusted into flames and his ding dong would have fallen off or worn away eventually lol) But this story wasn’t like that, it was true to life.

The problems the characters faced were normal true to life problems, the sexy time was normal, attainable and believable and something you would see a normal couple getting up to while dating each other. It was sensual and not sick or twisted, it was just… sex between two humans that was true to life and I appreciate that.

Along with the sexy time there was also a storyline. Yes it wasn’t the storyline of a fantasy adventure where say Hobbits go to the ends of the Earth to destroy a ring… But it had a storyline that gave depth to the characters, made it so you could see them, or you might even know people like them walking down your street or be friends with people like them. They were realistic and so was their story and that made me love this book and the story so much. It very much fell in keeping with the cover and had a very autumnal, fall love vibe.

I would highly recommend this book and I’m about to move onto book 2 in the series ‘The Cinnamon Bun Book Store’, which is based on other characters in the series but is set in the same world and also see’s the previous books characters make an appearance too! So, I will of course keep you updated on that book too and whether or not it is any good and worth me moving on to read all four / five when the newest one is released later this year.

For now take care, and if you get a chance to read this beauty of a book then please do. And let me know what you think of it. Did you love it just as much as me?

Xo Piper Xo