I started reading this book and I got half way through, however I didn’t have an attachment to the characters so I just stopped reading it. I had planned to continue reading but I had no want to continue.

This was a nice seasonal read, I was craving some pumpkin pie and a mug of pumpkin spice latte the whole time I was reading it! The characters were likeable, the obstacles that stood in Nicki and Carter's way were issues I'm sure we have experienced at some point in our lives, so I could relate to their story. The supporting characters, like Rachel and Fred, were also endearing and made the small town setting come to life. The romance was very slow burn despite the characters' immediate attraction, and some more spice in that department would have made this pumpkin even more delicious.

Nicki cares for no one more than her little neice, so when she demands they go to the local pumpkin patch she can't resist... especially when she notices there is a sexy, new woman working at the venue. Carter is back home, working at her family's farm, and can't help but be charmed by the sweet, awkward Nicki... who seems to keep finding reasons to return back to their pumpkin patch.

Read if you love:
- PSLs duh
- WLW romance
- Fall festivities
- Realistic chemistry & meet cutes

Highly recommend, this book was super cute!

*Gifted by Netgalley & Bold Strokes Books - thank you! All opinions are my own.

A very sweet Hallmark style romance, set in a small town during Halloween to Thanksgiving.

Carter is back in town to help her parents run their pumpkin patch farm and she is just the type of woman Nicki has been looking for.

I really enjoyed this although I wish Nicki had been a bit less self doubting. It started to feel like every line which I understand but it felt like that was her only personality at times. I loved Carter. A fun romance romp that I will revisit every pumpkin spice season.

Pumpkin Spice is an LGBTQ+ romance between Nicki, who is organizing the Halloween festival for her niece's school and Carter, who works at the pumpkin farm where the festival is being held. The two work begin working together to bring the festival together and fall in love along the way.

This book delivered on the cozy autumnal vibes and I loved the inclusion of classic autumn activities such as going to the pumpkin patch, drinking pumpkin spice lattes and chopping firewood. I really enjoyed the setting of Bucks Mill and felt that the small town in the mountains really added to the atmosphere. The family relationships explored throughout the book felt very realistic and there were some really heartwarming moments particularly between Nicki and her niece Lily. This felt like the book equivalent of an autumnal Hallmark movie so was fluffy and a bit cheesy.

However I felt that the actual romance fell a bit flat. For me there was a lack of chemistry between the two protagonists and throughout we seemed to be told how strong their feelings were towards each other rather than having scenes where they demonstrate their love for each through actions. The two main characters were supposed to be in the 40s however they acted like teenagers and were terrible at communicating which I found slightly annoying. The third act break up felt very forced and came too late so that the resolution felt extremely rushed. In general I think this was maybe too low stakes to the point that I found that there wasn't enough going on to keep me interested and I found myself getting bored.

Overall, this book is perfect if you want a cozy, autumnal read but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you're purely interested in reading a romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this e-arc. I loved this so much, I couldn't put this book down.

When you sit down to read any of Tagan Shepard’s books, it’s safe to say you’re going to be left feeling content and left feeling warm inside. I did enjoy pumpkin spice, I love a seasonal story, that always ‘picks’ you up at the start of the colder months to come. The characters, as usual, are liable and relatable. The story itself is lovely, set in a small town, which in my case is always a bonus to read about.

I’ve given a pumpkin spice a 3.9 out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for this ARC! The title caught my eye, as an autumn girlie who loves a pumpkin spice latte in October, it immediately had me interested.

Nicki is a self-conscious overthinker, who I could very much see myself in! She hasn't dated anyone in a long time since her last relationship ended really badly. She thinks she's happy - and then she meets Carter, the daughter of the local pumpkin farmer, who's come to Virginia from California to help out for the season, and Nicki is immediately smitten.

I really enjoyed seeing them becoming friends and their relationship evolve - even though I find autumn to be a magical time of year, the juxtaposition of the season where everything is dying or going dormant and their relationship blooming was lovely. I loved how they respected each other, they way they talked about their thoughts and feelings, the worry that they'd overstepped each others' boundaries.

It's Sunday, in writing moment, and I started this book on Monday, on the bus on my way to work. During the work week, I made it 35% into the book. Saturday night, I picked it back up and got to 75% by the early hour of Sunday morning - I couldn't put it down!! Read the final 25% after breakfast today, and absolutely loved it! This book made me giddy and I could completely understand Nicki and Carter falling for each other - I was falling for them as well!!

Without a doubt, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 from me!!

This is an enjoyable cozy sapphic fall romance, perfect for sweater season.. Low on angst and slow burn, this is perfect for readers looking for a Hallmark-esque read.

A very cute autumnal romance, complete with pumpkins, haunted houses, and pumpkin spice lattes. Whilst this was a cute, relatively bog standard wlw romance, I felt it was a tad too slow and there was a lot of details of mundanities eg "I woke up three minutes before my alarm went off. This was a change because it was usually five minutes before the alarm, but I’d been so tired from my usual Thursday evening house cleaning that it didn’t surprise me to be sleeping in." Like, I'm sorry but that's just so boring?

Additionally, I found the plot line of Nikki trying to guess Carter's first name really icky, and I'm glad Rachel called Nikki out, but I wish this happened earlier or it was at least not mentioned in every interaction, especially for a queer book (I don't know if Rachel calling her out was too little too late? I may be biased about this though).

Thank you to net galley for the arc.

I have had the hardest time finding Sapphic fall reads. This one finally fit the bill. This is definitely a cozy autumn read with a sweet slow romance and lots of pumpkins. I enjoyed that the characters were over 30 and that Nicki liked living in a small town. It is mostly low stakes but poor communication is generally a sticking point for me. I would expect women of this age to be a bit better about discussing things. The main characters got real close to getting on my nerves there at the end but it works out. Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wish this book ended after 80%
Until that point it was a cute cosy romance between two women in their late 30s/40 that don’t use their words! Miscommunication trope can get in the bin
But it was sweet and I bought the romance
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book, these opinions are entirely my own

Pumpkin Spice is just as cozy as its title. The vibe sun this book are sapphic Hallmark set in the fall. The characters were lovable, the setting with sweet, and the romance was too! The MC was wonderful, and as this book is told in first person, it was good being in her head! The setting of the small town, pumpkin farm, cozy cafe and cabin made me feel like it was time to drink my own pumpkin spiced latte! The side characters were lovely too and I loved the sister dynamic. The love interest was so dreamy too! It really felt like a perfect fall read. Great for fans of In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae. Really fabulous fall read highly recommend!

This lovely little romance takes place in a small town during Halloween season. Nicki who is a bit of an insecure introverted woman takes her auntie job seriously as any woman should. So when her niece needs her to be her pumpkin hero, she steps up. Cue the hot butch who works at the pumpkin farm.

It was cute how flustered Nicki got around Carter however her insecurities just hit a little too close to home for me to fully enjoy their journey. Carter and Nicki have cute banter and great chemistry but for me there was a bit of a strain on it all to really enjoy it. Maybe Nicki was too much in her head about it all but it left me wanting something more. What, I'm not sure.

Honorary mention for Rachel as she is the sister we all need/have/want in our life and Lily the niece who will be going paces I am sure.

An ARC was provided to me via Netgalley in return of an honest review.

A very, very sweet romance between a hot butch and a clumsy introvert. This book packed in the autumn, halloween-y feels, which was a novelty for me as I'm based in the southern hemisphere. This book is purely a romance and I really enjoyed the first 80% but then struggled with the last part of the novel.

Regardless, Pumpkin Spice is still a cute read.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Possible Spoilers!

Pumpkin Spice… am I right in saying that the word just makes Autumn feel slightly more cosy! I’m obsessed with Pumpkin Spice so to have a book that surrounds itself with the word just made me feel warm inside.

Nicki… now there was something about her character that though annoyed me, I could actually understand why they did what they did . Being the only representative to turn up to set up for the Halloween festival just screamed something will happen! Though the clumsiness and the obsession to know Carters real name was what made me notice her character for sure. Have to say “accidentally” falling in someone’s arms is genius 😂

Carter was definitely written in the correct way and I don’t think I would’ve changed her one bit. She’s family oriented and works in a Pumpkin Farm and isn’t there to look for love due to heartbreak. Yet somehow just by being with Nicki, it seemed to make everything a little better.

Their relationship went from a slow burn (for like a day 😂) to very fast paced and everything happened all at once. Which I actually thought was cute because it shows you that you should follow how you feel and there’s no shame to anything.

The small town vibe around Autumn time is what made this book for me. I feel it’s nice to read and feel cosy at the same time. That being said, this book in paperback form is not only short, but faced paced as well. So if you’re still feeling Autumnal, then this is for you 🫶🏻

Thank you netgalley for sending me this Arc. All opinions are my own.

I sadly am going to dnf this one :( I was very excited, I love lesbian romance and fall so obviously I thought this would be perfect. It defiantly gave me fall vibes, and what a cozy Halloween as a kid felt like (to me), but I think there is too much text of her thoughts. It felt like it would take me 2-3 pages just to read all of her thoughts when I just went in for the romance, and it slowly made me loose interest in the book. If that's your thing, I would recommend this book for the cozy fall vibes.

This was a perfect wrap to October. So sweet. Laugh out loud funny and two girls just perfectly imperfect. The banter and chemistry was exactly what I needed. This book is like a warm hug. Or maybe a warm cup of coffee.

As far as pumpkin spice goes, I think it should be available year round! This is one of the reasons I requested this book - because of the title!
The main characters are Nicki and Carter. Nicki is an uncordinated accountant whose niece is a Halloween fanatic. She goes with her niece, nephew and sister to the local pumpkin patch. This is where she meets Carter, working at her family's pumpkin patch farm. Sparks fly immediately and now NIcki is trying to find out where Carter hangs out when she is not working a the farm.
The two start hanging out at the local bakery over coffee and coffee leads to other things eventually.
I would recommend.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an easy cute read however it took me a long time for Carter to grow on me. I found the little amount of information we knew about her a bit odd and it took far too long to find anything out about her. Once she finally opened up it made sense why she was so secretive but I do wish it came about sooner so we could follow their actual relationship story sooner.