Book Review :: The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore by Laurie Gilmore

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore
ISBN: 0008641579
Series: Dream Harbor #2
Also in this series: The Pumpkin Spice Café, The Strawberry Patch Pancake House, The Gingerbread Bakery
Published by One More Chapter
on 29 August 2024
Genres: Romance
Pages: 385
Goodreads

When a secret message turns up hidden in a book in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, Hazel can't understand it. As more secret codes appear between the pages, she decides to follow the trail of clues… she just need someone to help her out.

Gorgeous and outgoing fisherman, Noah, is always up for an adventure. And a scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. Even better that the cute bookseller he's been crushing on for months is the one who wants his help!

Hazel didn’t go looking for romance, but as the treasure hunt leads her and Noah around Dream Harbor, their undeniable chemistry might be just as hot as the fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns the bookstore sells…

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What is The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore by Laurie Gilmore about?

The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore by Laurie Gilmore is, simply put, the story of Hazel and Noah. When Hazel discovers a secret message hidden in a book at the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore in Dream Harbor, she’s intrigued but completely stumped. As more coded clues pop up between the pages, she realizes she’s in over her head and needs someone to help her crack the code.

“Not that Hazel understood that line of reasoning. She always wanted to be browsing the shelves of a bookstore.”

Enter Noah, the charming and adventurous fisherman who has always been ready for a thrill. He’s been crushing on Hazel for months, so when she asks for his help with a scavenger hunt, he jumps at the chance—especially since it means spending more time with her.

My thoughts on The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore by Laurie Gilmore

In the fall/autumn of 2023, I read The Pumpkin Spice Cafe and thought it was a really sweet autumnal romance read. So when I saw that Laurie Gilmore had another fall-esque book set in the same town, with overlapping characters, I was in. In fact, there’s a whole Dream Harbor book series now!

As the synopsis and my recap mention, Hazel discovers a clue in one of the books in her bookstore, which leads to her teaming up with Noah to go and ‘do’ the clues, essentially. They’re not clues that would lead to another clue, that would lead to another, and so on and so forth. They’re more like suggestions or hints at activities that Hazel could go out and do in this time before turning 30 and trying to have a ‘fun’ summer.

While I liked this concept, and it was giving Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares at the start, and it was cute how someone was leaving Hazel notes in her books (although stressful! Those are new books!), I was hoping it would be more of what I just described: clues that lead to other clues. And when it’s eventually released who it is leaving the clues, it was a bit  … meh.

It did also happen really quickly – I wasn’t expecting the clues to come into play until maybe a few chapters in, but right there are the beginning we are BAM ready to go. But that aside, it was a fun way for the story to play out.

“He was summer and she was fall. He was adventure and she was comfort. But right now, on the cusp between the two seasons, in this liminal space they’d carved out for themselves, they fit just right.”

Hazel and Noah were cute as an adventuring couple, though they definitely weren’t as cute as Jeanie and Logan in Pumpkin Spice. They were also more spicey throughout the book, more friends-with-benefits, as Hazel lives it up in her last days of being in her 20s, which I think made them less sweet and cute as a pair.

So while I think I enjoyed Pumpkin Spice more, it was still a sweet romance read for the season.

What do you reckon? Have you read The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore by Laurie Gilmore? Let me know in the comments!