Antonia Bernardin

Book number 53 for this year was The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore by Laurie Gilmore, the second book in the Dream Harbour series.

You can read my review of the first book The Pumpkin Spice Cafe here

An attempt at summarising

This book follows Hazel, the manager of the Cinnamon Bun book store, on the lead up to her 30th birthday, which she is in the midst of full blown crisis about. She likes her life but Hazel feels like she never really took an risks, did anything wild, or traveled much and with her thirties approaching she feels like the door is closing on trying to do those things. So when someone starts leaving mysterious coded messages inside the books at her store, Hazel only thinks of one person to help her follow the trail, completing the activities the messages point to, and to help her have a wild summer – the very good looking, never had a serious relationship Noah.

Except, Noah has been trying to find a way to spend time with Hazel for months, had even developed a pretty serious reading hobby as an excuse to talk to her. He knows right from the start of following the clues that he wants something more with Hazel but since she picked him for her ‘summer of fun’, he decides to be content with the pieces of her she’ll give. He’s a screwup so he expects nothing less when he thinks she doesn’t see things going any further with him.

Only problem is, they both catch feelings pretty quickly but are so certain the other only wants a short-term thing, plus, all they both signed up for was one wild summer…

My thoughts

Look, these books are relatively low stakes, they are cosy romances, with open door but fairly vague terminology spicy scenes. This book is exactly as advertised. I’ve seen a few too many ‘hot takes’ that ‘booktok has lied to people’ about this series. Yes we have some character progression, yes there are some things at stake, but mostly we’re here for a fluffy, easy good time.

I liked the characters in this one, Hazel being introverted, nerdy and big black cat-ish energy, against Noah and his golden retriever, outgoing energy. I liked how Hazel concludes that she’s exactly where she’s meant to be, that she’s being made to feel like she ‘missed out’ by society and it’s okay if she’s content working in the same place she always has, in the same town, with the same friends. She likes her life and that is okay. Especially with the addition of Noah and just a little bit more adventure to push her out of her comfort zone sometimes.

It was cute story and felt to me like a mildly accurate version of a low-key quarter life crisis. I bought the whole series off Vinted to read on my holiday so you’ll be seeing more reviews of them soon!