We are going to small town America for Laura Brigg's novel, Sugar and Spice at the Pumpkin Corner Cafe.
The perfect new cozy-up-with-a-pumpkin-spice-latte read
that’s meant for fans of Laurie Gilmore and Rebecca Raisin
Professional pastry chef Blaire Reese is blindsided when her
beloved Aunt Rachel dies, leaving her the Sugar and Spice Pastry Cafe in Willow
Grove. Returning to her hometown, Blaire discovers her beloved family business
is in trouble, and—to make things worse—its most-cherished recipe is missing.
Her first love and former summer crush, Evan Hadley, is also
back in town, having traded a corporate career to help manage his family’s
Heath Acre Farm, famous for its autumn Hay Daze corn maze. Grown up – and with
rugged good looks – he’s only charming when he wants to be. Like when he's not
tangling with someone over business matters, the way he is with Blaire after
she cancels a large order for organic pumpkins.
Her sunshine is disappearing under his grumpy storm clouds,
until he accidentally learns the truth about her situation. Now, he offers to
help save her aunt's legacy and her family’s pastry cafe. As they work together
in secret, the ingredients for a very different recipe develop— one simmering
with romance—but an unexpected turn of events melts their growing attraction
into a mess.
Will Blaire save the beloved cafe and find the lost recipe
that means so much to the pastry café’s customers? And can she save this last
chance at love with the first boy she ever kissed?
Sugar and Spice at the Pumpkin Corner Café invites readers
to dive into its cozy autumn escape this fall—for fans of grumpy x sunshine,
small town romance, Gilmore Girls, pumpkin lattes, sugar and spice and
everything else that's nice about this magical season!
My Thoughts
When Blaire returns home at the beginning of the story, it is because her beloved Aunt Rachel has died. Blaire has been left her aunt's cafe which is a huge part of daily life in Willow Grove. Blaire has taken her love of baking from her aunt and feels torn at the thought that her aunt's legacy would be lost if she was to return to New York and sell the cafe. In trying to keep both the cafe and her city catering career goingm, Blaire feels all the pressure of expectation of the community as her aunt's bakes were so much part of their daily life.
When Blaire's path crosses again with Evan who she had a crush on as a teenager, she finds herself at odds with him at first. Both Evan's family and Blaire herself realise that they may have forgotten common civility in the pressure of business. As their friendship develops, Blaire appreciates the close knit Hadley family. She shows her calm and considerate side and seems to have a lovely way of relating to young people. In reconnecting with her childhood friends, Blaire is comforted by their warmth and friendship, such a contrast to the grey, corporate city life. Set in Autumn, the story is full of the sights and sounds of the season and has a cozy reassuring feel.
In short: love and friendship blooms in the community
About the Author
Laura Briggs is the author of several feel-good romance
reads, including the Top 100 Amazon UK seller 'A Wedding in Cornwall'. She has
a fondness for vintage style dresses (especially ones with polka dots), and
reads everything from Jane Austen to modern day mysteries. When she's not
writing, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, caring for her pets,
gardening, and seeing the occasional movie or play.
Book links
Thanks to Laura Briggs and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources
for a copy of the book and a place on the event.
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