Small town hearts by Lillie Vale

Thank you to Lillie, Macmillan/swoon reads and Netgalley for E-arc in exchange for an honest review. 5 ⭐️

This book is one of the best books I have read in the past few years. It’s so beautifully written, every aspect of the story is precious, just simply adorable in every way. The Bi representation in this book is AMAZING! It’s just there, woven perfectly in the to story.

We have Babe; she can’t wait for the best summer of her life with two of her closets friends, Chad and Penny, who happen to be dating. Babe is bisexual, but Chad and Penny are the only ones who knew about Eloide, babes ex girlfriend who left for college, packed her stuff and left it all behind her without a second thought.

One rule babe has always followed is never fall in love with a tourist, Until one day when a handsome young man walks into Busy’s, the cafe babe works at and everything babe thought she knew started to change for her.

Will babe get the summer of her dreams with her best friends or will she get her Prince Charming?

I HIGHLY recommend this book to, well everyone. Especially if you love contemporaries that capture you into the setting and the story written on the pages. Lillie did an amazing job with writing this book! ❤️

I enjoyed the setting of the book, but I felt as if this was more of a screenplay for a movie rather than a book. I couldn't quite get into it, and felt myself asking more questions than I wanted to. It's cute and light, but I still felt confused

I enjoyed the setting of the book, but I felt as if this was more of a screenplay for a movie rather than a book. I couldn't quite get into it, and felt myself asking more questions than I wanted to. It's cute and light, but I still felt confused

This book was cute! That’s the main word that pops into my head when I think about it.

The plot line felt a little repetitive as if the main cast of characters ran in circles while trying to figure their lives out. It still held my attention enough to enjoy the light read to the end.

The characters were lovable but I never felt like we really got to know them enough to fall utterly in love. Sure, as a reader I related to some of the issues (like going to college in the fall) but not much deeper. It felt like standing at the edge of the beach, the water just reaching me. I wanted more depth.

The one thing I didn’t like is that there were toxic friendships that never really got resolved and, to me, felt ignored.

Ultimately, this was a great read while I was on a long airplane ride and I wish there was more weight, but overall enjoyable!

A cute, but largely forgettable contemporary YA. I'm always gonna be thrilled to have more queer YA on the market, so I recommend it for that if nothing else. It's essentially a bog standard coffee shop AU fanfic in pro pubbed form. It has some pacing and characterization issues that aren't shocking in a debut, but considering the number of raves about the original incarnation on WattPad I was a little surprised the final product wasn't a little bit more polished.

Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale is an adorable book that had me hooked from the start. Babe Vogel is a refreshing main character that everyone will fall in love with. This is a must read!!

Overview: Babe lives in Oar's Rest, an idyllic Maine tourist town. She works at the Busy Bean, which she loves, and she's ready for an epic summer with her best friends Chad and Penny who will both be going to college in town at the end of the summer. Nothing has to change. And then it does. Babe's ex-girlfriend that no one knew about comes back to town after ghosting her all year, Penny and Chad, who have a love story for the ages, break up for no reason, and a hot new boy starts renting Babe's mom's house. She doesn't know what to do with so much change, and the thought that her future is so uncertain does not help. Overall: 4

Characters: 4 Babe really faces a lot of shocking things at once. She's out of the school system for the first time, and suddenly the rug gets pulled out from under her. I think that readers will really identify with Babe's fear of change and the way that she hangs on to negative people in her life because she doesn't know what she'll do without them.
Lucy was probably my favorite character. She works with Babe at the Busy Bean, and she's always been on the outside of all the high school social groups. I love how she befriends Babe and works to remind her that the friends she once had aren't the only friends she can have.
I guess my main issue with these characters is that they don't quite pop with the full dimension that I was craving. It was missing just a little fleshing out that would have helped me understand all the characters and their motivations better. I get not wanting to face change, but Penny never seemed like a good friend to begin with.

Plot: 3.5 I love a lot of parts of this book. Living in a resort town myself, I loved hearing about another girl watching the tourists flood into town and finding all the little gems that just belong to the locals. I also really enjoyed experiencing Oar's Rest, and all the scenes in the coffee shops were just delicious. For some reason, I go crazy for characters who work in restaurants. The problem, though, is that the book tried to go in every single direction. Nothing was reduced to a subplot, so, sadly, many of the different angles wound up a bit half baked.

Writing: 4 The themes confronted in the book make this read. While there were moments that got a bit bogged down by a bit of overwriting, Vale shines when she talks about the setting. Even though I was sitting in my house, watching the snow fall, I could smell the ocean and feel the costal sun on my face. I had a great time learning about Oar's Rest, the coffee shop, and the cool houses that all the different characters live in. If the plot was a bit more focused, I would have been all over this book.
I do really appreciate that Vale wrote the characters post senior year. It has a very YA voice, but it has old enough characters to set it in the older YA group. It's wonderful to see the questions about adulthood hitting you in the face explored on the page. I can't wait to see the What's Next? explored more in the future.

*Disclaimer: An e-copy of this title was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. However, that did not influence this review in any way. All thoughts, quotes, and opinions will be of this version and not of the published edition.

Bordering on meh, but the core issues I had with it could easily be fixed. My main gripe is that there was repetitive dialogue, inner monologue, and “drama” that seemed to keep the storyline in a constant one-step-forward-two-steps-back kind of trajectory. I got her reservations about dating a “summer boy” when she was a local, but for someone claiming to be “an open book” and a person who “didn’t like playing mind games,” the heroine certainly likes to keep her secrets and the reader/hero in a repeat guessing game.

All that said, it had an almost compulsory readability quality that made this a one-sitting read for me. I only wish I had loved it as much as I thought I was going to. It had the potential to be really good which is why I settled on three stars instead of the two/two and one-half my head was telling me to use.

♥ A very special thanks to Swoon Reads and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this title.

This book was very interesting from the start. It reads similar to other books published by SwoonReads publishing. I like how the main character was bisexual - something for younger readers to relate to. It reads like a high school book, but the main character is 19 and out of high school. I thought the storyline went up and down - some parts I flew by reading, other parts were a bit slow. I think those that are looking for a YA "swoony" romance, with friendship drama set in a beach town would enjoy this book.

I'd like to start by saying this are the most adult teens I've ever encountered! Babe lives alone in a lighthouse and works at a cafe that she wants to own - and guess what?! It's like a real possibility! I didn't even own a car at her age! Levi, is a well-known artist who travels to a small town for inspiration and can apparently pick and choose whether to stay or not without parental advisement. True, these are 18-19 year olds we're talking about but still.

If you love small towns where everyone knows each other and are happy about it, Small Town Hearts is that cute novel you've been looking for. If you're a fan of Gilmore Girls, read this book. It's a cute, coming of age novel that talks about what can happen to friendships when relationships and college get in the way.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the ARC!
X's and O's
Bernice the Bibliophile

This was all pretty good except for one major thing. I'm sure there are plenty of people this wouldn't be an issue too, but as someone who has dealt with toxic friends and the repercussions of toxic friendship, it was really hard to read about Babe's friendship with Penny. The fact that Babe kept apologizing, and Penny's behavior was never called out as wrong, really bothered me. This would have been a great book otherwise, but I just had a hard time getting past that aspect. The bi rep was really good though.

With high school at an end, Babe isn’t sure what the future will hold. Her life on the Maine coast is lovely (she lives in a lighthouse!), but with her two best friends and favorite couple, Penny and Chad, heading to college in the fall, she can feel things changing. And things do change, dramatically, when Babe abruptly breaks up with Chad, and he – with lightning speed – transfers his affections to her. Meanwhile, a new boy in town is enticing but forbidden (“never fall for a summer boy” is Babe’s mantra), and with her ex-girlfriend back in town stirring up old hurts, there is a lot of emotion swirling around. There is a lot to love about this book: Babe’s bisexuality, Levi, Babe’s steadfast decision to avoid higher education, the very real teen melodrama, because a lot of it is very much how teenagers behave. (“Get out of my house!”) But the melodrama is also kind of the problem, since the source of most of it, Penny, is just THE WORST PERSON ALIVE and it is difficult to understand why Babe has put up with her for so long. But then, we have all had toxic friendships—and Babe is far from perfect. Indeed, if this book were told from Penny’s perspective, Babe would probably take on the worst person mantle. A conundrum, this book – involving, but also kind of infuriating. Levi and Babe’s matter-of-fact bi-ness overcome much, however. – Rachel Hyland

This review appears in Romantic Intentions Quarterly #4.

Babe (yes, that's actually what she's called) is a fairly typical 19 year old girl. She works at a coffee shop, lives on her own for the first time, is fiercely loyal to the ones she loves, and is still smarting from a bad breakup when someone new comes into the picture.

Levi is a summer boy, an artist, and an all around catch. But Babe knows better than to fall for a summer boy. Or does she?

This book was definitely not a life changer. I didn't read with bated breath wondering how things were going to turn out. That's just not the kind of book this is. What it is is a casual summer read for those times when you have had enough of the news and just want to escape the real world for a bit. This book won't transform you but it will give you a little vacation in someone else's mostly idyllic life.

I was given an ARC of this book by the author so that more bisexual teenagers could read it. All of these opinions are strictly my own!

I really wanted to give this book 5 stars. I did. But I just couldn’t do it. There were enough things I had issues with, that I had to knock it down to four.
Now, don’t let my issues with the book deter you from reading this. It truly is amazing and I highly enjoyed it. So, let’s get into this.

The good -
• The bi rep. While at times it felt like Babe must be living in some dream world where everybody accepted everyone, her ex not being prepared to come out and Babe discussing how other guys she dated treated her sexuality helped make it feel more real.
• The town! Oar’s Rest is the perfect picturesque small beach town that everyone dreams about. I want to move in tomorrow.
• The fact that Babe lives in a legit lighthouse. HOW COOL IS THAT.
• Lucy and Lorcan. We don’t deserve them.
• Tom and the Busy Bean.
• The fact that Babe doesn’t want to go to college. It’s rare to read books that don’t include some type of higher education, and it was refreshing to meet a character that had such big plans without more schooling.
• Levi.

The bad -
• Penny. Oh my god, Penny. I can’t STAND her. She reminded me too much of past toxic best friendships I’ve had. Reading about her, Babe, and Chad’s relationship made me cringe, because Penny’s behavior and actions towards them made the relationships seem extremely unhealthy. Everything revolves around her, no one else matters. She, and the fact that Babe continuously tries to win her friendship back throughout the book, are a large part of why I couldn’t give this book 5 stars.
• Babe’s indecisiveness. She’d say one thing on one page, and on the next she’d change her mind. I got really frustrated with her, which made the book hard to get through.

Overall, this is the perfect summer read that I recommend you pick up ASAP (well, that is, as soon as it comes out)!

This book was such a bittersweet read! It was beautiful and at times a little sad. There was so much truth in this novel. You read what its like to grow up and realize that the world is different than the rose colored glasses you wear as a kid. You have to see rather to break out and break free on your own or stay behind to a life you've only ever known. I highly recommend this beautiful read!

The small town Maine setting was very vivid, but the book was ultimately very Sarah Dessen lite. Props for diversity in relationships.

Small Town Hearts is a bittersweet, beautifully written book that perfectly captures the in between of growing up and childhood, of moving forward or staying in place. The story follows 19-year-old Babe, who works and lives in the small Maine town of Oar's Rest. Babe is happy to stay in town after graduation and pursue her love of baking and coffee, and plans on spending the summer with Penny & Chad, her best friends who also happen to be dating. Babe herself hasn't dated since her ex girlfriend left for college, and she certainly doesn't plan on pursuing the cute, mysterious "summer boy" Levi who is in town for a summer art program. But Babe's summer gets complicated real fast and nothing turns out quite as she plans.

It was nice to read a story with a bisexual heroine whose coming out isn't the focus of the story, but instead her sexuality is just already a fact about who she is. The writing is really evocative and the setting makes you wish this town was real. Although there are quite a few dramatic moments between friends and exes, I thought that was very authentic given the age of the characters. Babe's story really rang true for me, and I would definitely recommend this to readers who love small town settings, realistic angst, and complicated friendships and relationships. Also, it will make you really hungry so make sure you have coffee and a baked good while you're reading!

This was read. I loved the coffee shop background and the crazy adventure the characters go on is hilarious. Babe is such a fun character and her dialogue and banter with everyone around her is one of my favorite parts of this sweet story, would recommend.

Based on the summary of the book, it sounded pretty interesting. The writing was a bit of a chore to get through. For readers who struggle with visualizing, this would be a great text since it provided tons and tons of details. More sophisticated readers may be a bit disappointed since so much of the work has been done for them.

Small Town Hearts is a charming book featuring a bisexual baker who has to believe in finding love in the most unlikely places. It's a book about friendship, change, and self-discovery. Babe has to figure out who she is - the local baker, the third part of their trio, or the broken hearted ex-gf, or something new entirely.

What I loved about Small Town Hearts is the way Vale seamlessly incorporates all these various elements - heartbreak, friendship, fears of the future - all into one story in a way that just works together. Babe's journey from heartbroken about her relationship, left on the outside of the trio, and hesitant about love is one I'd read all over again.

Vale has a way with writing which pulls at your heartstrings. It lays bare on the page emotions you've been struggling with, and words you couldn't string together. There's a forwardness, a genuine honesty, and an emotional pull that runs through the pages.

Not to mention, the plot keeps you guessing. All of these marbles are set into motion, down a winding track of hills, valleys, and cliffs. Until you're on the edge of your seat wondering, "will they make it through summer?" It follows Babe and her journey. Her mistakes made out of nostalgia, out of the moments that collapse into a roar. And it follows her attempts to strike a new path.