Title: The Gingerbread Bakery
Author: Laurie Gilmore
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Romance, New Adult
Pages: 358
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤

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The Gingerbread Bakery

Annie and Mac have a history together, but now they’re enemies. Annie doesn’t know that Mac is still in love with her. So when they both end up organizing the wedding for Jeanie and Logan, they’re forced to spend a lot more time together. They promise the bride and groom that they’ll be civil so they don’t ruin the wedding vibes. Mac is constantly trying to apologize for what happened and wants to explain himself—but will he get the chance to win Annie back?

The Gingerbread Bakery

This is book number five in the series. I bought this book during English Book Week in the Netherlands so I could also get The Apple Pie Ice Cream Parlor as a free gift back in October. I decided to save this one for December because the cover looked very Christmassy.

This book has the enemies-to-lovers trope, and I love that trope. It might actually be one of my favorite romance tropes. I love how the tension between the main characters keeps building until it finally explodes and they kiss. However, this time I found myself a bit annoyed with Annie. She didn’t even give Mac a chance to apologize or explain himself. I get that she’s angry, but after all those years, you’d think she would act a bit more like an adult.

Annie may not have been my favorite character, but I really liked Mac. I thought he was a true gentleman and the moment he basically adopted two kittens, I was completely sold. That’s when I decided he was the perfect man.

I also loved that this book had two storylines: one set in the past, when they were together, and one in the present, where they’re enemies.

Overall, this was another book I enjoyed. Honestly, I’m really loving the entire Dream Harbor series so far. It feels like I’m living in Dream Harbor and am part of the town. It is giving a lot of cozy vibes. This is the perfect series to read on a cold/rainy day. That said, I don’t think this was my favorite book in the series. The Strawberry Patch Pancake House is still my favorite, but I still enjoyed reading this one, even if Annie was a bit annoying.

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Title: The Apple Pie Ice Cream Parlor
Author: Laurie Gilmore
Publisher: Van Ditmar
Genre: Romance
Pages: 90
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤

Goodreads page

The Apple Pie Ice Cream Parlor

Charlie and Leo are really good friends, but one morning they kissed — and now they can’t stop thinking about it. Suddenly the whole vibe between them shifts, and they have no idea how to act around each other. Torn between preserving their friendship and exploring their undeniable chemistry, will Charlie and Leo realize that love can be easy if you’re willing to open your heart?

Review

It feels a little strange to write a review for a book that hasn’t even been released in most of the world yet. The international release is planned for 2026, but I live in the Netherlands and every year we have an English Book Week. During that week, English books are promoted, and one author writes a special edition you receive for free. And honestly, I’m so lucky, all I had to do was buy one English book, and I got The Apple Pie Ice Cream Parlor for free.

This book is very short, only 90 pages. Laurie wrote it specifically for English Book Week, so it’s meant to be a small gift, but I still enjoyed it. Charlie and Leo work together at a school, and they’ve always liked each other. They’re close friends, but after that kiss, everything changes. They suddenly have no idea how to act around one another, and everyone around them can sense that something happened.

I liked the characters. It’s a little hard to form a deep opinion since the story is so short, but the main characters are definitely not unlikeable. Leo is also a firefighter, so he’s basically a hero and apparently Dream Harbor has several handsome fire fighters walking around. Sounds like every woman’s dream, right? Characters from previous Dream Harbor books are also mentioned, which I loved.

Overall, it was a cute read. I adore the Dream Harbor books, so when I heard Laurie Gilmore was writing the 2025 book-week gift, I had to get it. And the fact that it’s only 90 pages was actually perfect, because I’m trying to hit my reading goal for 2025. My only tiny complaint is that this book isn’t the same size as the other books in the series, so it looks a bit off on my bookshelf. But honestly, I can’t complain because I didn’t even pay for it.

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Title: Cinnamon Bun Bookstore
Author: Laurie Gilmore
Publisher: One More Chapter
Pages: 385
Genre: Romance
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤

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Cinnamon Bun Bookstore

Hazel works in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore in Dream Harbor and one day when she is working she finds a secret message hidden in a book. This message makes Hazel think that she has always been good and had never done anything wild or crazy. But now she is turning thirty very soon and she is ready to be a little crazy and fun this summer. She immediately wants to follow the trail of clues, because she sees this as a sign. At the same time, she finds this message, Noah is also at the bookstore. And now he wants to help her with the clues.

Review

The first book in the Dream Harbor book series was the Pumpkin Spice Café and that book gave me the cozy fall vibes and even a little bit of Gilmore Girls vibes. I wouldn’t say I got the same vibes from this book though. The cover of this book is definitely giving fall and it is so pretty, I have to admit that. However, it is still summer in this book because Hazel wants to have a fun summer before she turns thirty. So the cover was very misleading.

I have something in common with Hazel, we both love books and fall. I think we are also very similar in the sense that we like our own comfy comfort zone. Hazel wants to do fun things that are definitely out of her comfort zone. And I think that is great. I’ve been doing that lately as well and I think it is a good thing to try new things. She was also struggling with turning thirty and I remember I was feeling the same thing before I turned thirty. Why do we put so much pressure on turning thirty?

Noah left home years ago and he was feeling like a failure. Now he has his own boat and he organizes tours for mostly tourists and has new ideas for his business. But he doesn’t stop feeling like a failure, because he dropped out of school and he did not want to work for their family business. It was just not for him.

I was a little bit disappointed when I found out that this was set during the summer. I was expecting cozy vibes from this book. However, the bookstore was giving me cozy vibes. But I still prefer the first book in the series. It was still cute and good, but it did not leave a lasting impression. I would be surprised if I remembered this book at the end of the year. However, the covers of this book series are so pretty. And I still want to read the next book in this book series. And if the cover of that book is not misleading, it will take place during winter. So I will probably put that on my list of the books I want to read during my vacation in December

This book was very easy to read. It is a very light read as well. The main characters weren’t dealing with deep issues whatsoever. I also liked that in this book the woman was 5 years older than the male main character. That doesn’t happen very often. Most of the time the guy is older. So that kind of refreshing. But please, don’t expect the same cozy fall vibes as you probably get from the first book. I would also recommend reading these books in order. The characters from book one will also appear in this book because Dream Harbor is a small town. And I always think it is smarter to read books in order. But if you really want, I think you could still read this as a stand-alone.

The post Cinnamon Bun Bookstore – Laurie Gilmore | Book Review first appeared on A happy life.

Title: The pumpkin Spice Café
Author: Laurie Gilmore
Publisher: One More Chapter
Genre: Romance
Pages: 286
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤

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The Pumpkin Spice Café

Jeanie’s aunt owns the pumpkin spice café, but one day her aunt decides to stop working and she leaves her café to Jeanie. Jeanie of course does not know how to run a café, but this is a welcome change in her life. Recently she had found her boss dead at his desk at the office and that woke her up. She was always working and feeling stressed, but she didn’t want to end up like her boss. She needs a different lifestyle. So she starts running the café. But weird noises and things are happening. One night, she hears noises and she almost hits Logan with a bat. Logan was delivering pumpkins for the café and almost got hit by a very beautiful woman. Logan is usually the guy who hates social activities and town meetings, but since jeanie arrived in this small town, he is suddenly interested.

Review

As soon as it got a little bit colder, I decided it was time to read this book. I’ve been looking forward reading books for weeks or months even. I was expecting the perfect book with perfect fall vibes and honestly it did not let me down at all. This book definitely has a lot of perfect fall vibes. But what else would you expect with this book title?

In the beginning of this book, I was also getting a little bit of Gilmore Girls vibes. They have town meetings and those town meetings were my favorite parts of Gilmore Girls. Logan also reminded me of Luke (Gilmore Girls’ character). They are both grumpy, hate town meetings and social activities. But just like Luka in Gilmore Girls, Logan suddenly starts going to those town meetings because the woman he is in love with, is also going. And I also don’t think it is a coincidence that the author’s pen name is Gilmore.

The love story was okay in this book. I have read better and cuter love stories maybe. But I was mostly reading this book for the fall vibes, so I did not mind. And I still gave this book 4 out of 5 hearts, which is insanely good. It is above average. It was super easy to read, never got boring. And this book just made me happy. I don’t have anything negative to write about this book honestly.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It has the perfect combination of small town romance with fall vibes. This is the kind of book you want to read on a rainy day. And I can highly recommend it.

I am also pretty excited because there are more books in this series and yes of course, I also have to read those. The second book is already out and has fall vibes. The third book is coming soon and takes place in winter, around Christmas. Book number four isn’t coming out before 2025, but I have a feeling it is going to be released in spring or early summer because the cover is giving my spring/summer vibes. The Pumpkin spice café is the perfect book for everyone who loves fall and romance.

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