I was very excited to read this book but I hadn't been able to get around to it due to some personal stuff, As much as I want to read it now, I am not in the right headspace to do so, so I am DNF'ing the book.
Thanks to the publisher for the copy.

Great story and loved the romance. Loved the cast of characters and how the story came to be. Great story and I would read this author again.

An adorable summer bisexual romance. I loved that the mc is 19 and graduated, so it’s kinda new adult ish! I love that the mc lives in a lighthouse and works at a bakery. Such a warm, aesthetic book with lots of swoons.

I was thinking again about this title a few days ago and realized I never posted a review on here. Summer immediately comes to mind when I think of Small Town Hearts. I loved the cozy beach setting and the yummy treats that the MC prepared. Genuine, warm and inviting—and sprinkled with big decisions and teen angst—STH is a great summer read!

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

This was so adorable! I really loved Lillie’s writing, it was a very enjoyable read. I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

This book was mixed for me. I ultimately didn’t read the very end because I realized I just wasn’t emotionally invested and was only looking forward to reading the next book on my list. Don’t get me wrong there were definitely things that I liked though! I loved the small town vibe and I enjoyed the exploration of being a young adult that doesn’t want to do the biggest things to be happy. I liked some of the relationship complexities between the friends and the ex, but ultimately I just felt like basically nothing was happening. I think for such a quiet, character driven book there needs to be enough depth and emotion to make the readers really attached to the characters, which is where I feel like this story fell flat. I do think there are many people who will probably enjoy this book much more than I did.

The first three times reading this book I didn't continue reading it. This time I around I finished it in less then 48 hours. I gave this a four out of five stars. I really enjoyed it. In the beginning I really didn't like Penny and Chad, and I didn't like them for most of the book. I'm not even sure I liked them in the end. I hope they work on being a good friend towards Babe. I felt like Lucy was being a better friend to Babe. I really like the chemistry and connection between Babe and Levi. I liked their story. I loved the atmosphere and vibe of the small sea side town in Maine. It made me want to live somewhere like that. It seemed like the perfect place.

I really enjoyed this book! Babe was relatable, interesting, and funny, and she felt like a real person. I found myself honestly rooting for her in a way that I don’t often root for a character, where I genuinely wanted her to be happy, not just so that the book would wrap up. The writing was good and the story flowed really well!

Why You Should Be Reading: Small town goodness with a side of cafe tropes and a bisexual girl dealing with a summer fling while her ex is back in town. Come for the tropes, stay for the bisexual realness!
Full Summary: Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad.

And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had – to never fall for a summer boy?

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This was a cute summer read taking place in Maine, that had just enough drama to keep me interested.  There was some unrealistic aspects but the setting was breezy and beautiful with a simple, satisfying, story.

Aw dang, I wasn't able to finish this before the archive date! I really enjoyed what I read, though!

In this sweet coming-of-age romance, Babe is on the cusp of adulthood, facing a possible future without her lifelong friends, still suffering from a broken relationship with her closeted ex-girlfriend, and wondering if she should break her own rule and fall for “summer boy” and artist-in-residence Levi. As high school ends and Babe looks forward to a last summer on their small island in Maine, something happens that rocks her world and forces her to evaluate what it means to be a true friend. Although Vale uses the predictable trope of the main character losing (in some way) everyone she’s ever loved, she carefully handles the slow-building, but precious relationship between Levi and Babe who fears that he is “just another memory waiting to happen.” The fact that he doesn’t react to the news that she’s bisexual is a relief, but her lies of omission threaten to destroy everything. The scenery as seen through an artist’s eyes is central to the story, and Vale does an outstanding job of drawing readers in and making them root for a happy ending. Highly recommended for libraries serving teens, especially those interested in art.


I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Swoon Reads through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Rule #1 – Never fall for a summer boy.

Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad.

And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had – to never fall for a summer boy?

Goodreads
I received an eARC of Small Town Hearts from Xpresso Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Small Town Hearts needs trigger warnings for friend breakups, underage drinking, and accidental overdose.

Oar’s Rest is the perfect fictional sea-side town with the ridiculous traditions that you only ever hear of in romance novels, but I loved it. The sandcastle competition was absolutely adorable and a great barometer for Babe’s feelings about her town and her friends.

I loved that the main conflict of this book was between Babe and her friends. Dealing with friend breakups is so hard, especially when you’ve been friends since you were small like they were. I thought Vale handled this really well, given the small town they lived in. Lucy calling her out on basically being in a bubble with her trio was awesome and I was happy to see it.

My friend Laura created a bomb ass playlist for this book as part of another blog tour, so check it out!

I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading more of Vale’s work in the future. You can pick up a copy of Small Town Hearts for yourself on Amazon!

Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale is the kind of book that makes you feel warm inside. It is a cute book set in a picturesque beach town, and the main character is realistic.

This book tells the story of Babe, a girl who haas just graduated high school and is spending her summer working and contemplating the changes that will occur in the fall. However, she finds herself falling for a tourist, which she knows will come to an end at the end of the season. The story is filled with adorable summer vibes, and I loved reading about the cozy beach town setting. I mean, the main character lives in a lighthouse and there are annual sandcastle building contests. I found the book to be realistic, and I liked how it shows that there are more pathways than going straight to university after high school.

Babe is such an interesting character, and she is very mature. She knows exactly what she wants and sets goals to obtain it. She also works in a coffee shop, which I adored. I’m here for any book with food/cafes. As well, I enjoyed how Babe’s voice is realistic for her age and how her mistakes make her believable. She has a bit of a rough summer, but doesn’t complain very much, which I appreciated.

I received a digital ARC fromMacmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Swoon Reads via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warnings: manipulative friendship, mention of casual drug usage (weed, not shown on the page), alcohol consumption (on page), alcohol abuse 

I absolutely adored this book, for many reasons. First of all, the setting was absolutely perfect. Our main character Babe lives in a tiny seaside town called Oar's Rest, and it was perfect. I lived in Bermuda for most of my life, which is basically the epitome of small seaside town. I have to assume that the author has lived in a small town, because everything was so accurate. The tourists, the way that businesses operate, the way that everyone becomes a little bit different in the summertime. It felt like Oar's Rest was a character itself. 

I also loved Babe. She is a complicated character who has equally complicated relationships with her mother and her friends. She has ambitions, but not to go to university. Instead, she wants to take over her local coffee shop, the Busy Bean. She wants to stay in her home town, even while her peers are leaving. I thought she was such a refreshing change from most main characters in YA. 

Babe is also one of the few bisexual female characters in a book who ends up in a relationship with a man. This is exactly my own experience, so it was great to see! It was also really nice that the majority (if not all) of the other characters are 100% accepting of her sexuality. However, I didn't think that this acceptance made the book unrealistic. Babe's ex-girlfriend kept their relationship a secret because she was afraid to come out to her parents, for fear that they wouldn't accept her. This is definitely a situation that I've seen happen in real life. 

I wish that I had waited to read Small Town Hearts during summer, though! It was such a summer-y book, and the fact that the romance took place over summer was such an important plot point. If you can, wait until it gets warm to read it! I was also not particularly interested in the love interest, Levi, but I liked Babe and the rest of the book enough that this didn't matter to me too much. 

All in all? Small Town Hearts might be one of my new favourite books. I can't wait to read Lillie Vale's next book!

What drew me to this was the cover. As a self-proclaimed "foodie," when I saw this cover I knew it would contains elements I really liked: romance, food, and an interesting story on how the two came together. And let me tell you, that's exactly what I got.

     Babe's number one rule is to never fall for a summer boy. It hasn't been hard to stick to that rule. She's happy with her best friends Penny and Chad, her lighthouse house, and the community of Oar Rest. But then comes Levi, the new guy who turns up and starts challenging all the answers Babe thought she already had. 

     The number one best thing about this book is the setting. Period. Point blank. Everytime I picked up this book I was transported to Oar's Rest. And the best part about it was the homey feeling it gave me. I'm from Galveston, Texas, where I went to the beach most of my young life and we did many of the activities mentioned in this book. It reminded me so much of home! The fresh seafood, the salt smell in the air.... Just everything. I'm not sure if Lillie Vale is from Maine, but this place was either well-researched or just about real experiences. 

       The food in this book was also enough to make me wish for them all. (Especially the chowder and tea shortbreads!!! And I don't even like tea....) In other words, do not read this book on an empty stomach. It will make you hungry and when you can't have what they have, you will get mad like me. 

     As for the writing style, I enjoyed it for the most part, but there were sometimes it felt a bit jumpy. I believe it could have been the fact that I read an e-ARC, but I'm not sure. It just seemed that it jumped in certain spaces without a cut in the scenes. It was a bit confusing and at times I found I had to go back and re-read certain parts that I fly right over.

     Lastly the characters. I liked Babe and most of her friends and all the community. But I'm not sure why Penny and Chad just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't like the way they treated her and acted towards her the whole of the book. Penny seemed like a POS friend and Chad too for just going along to make her happy. I found myself secretly telling Babe to let them go. that Lucy and Lorcan were way better friends anyways. 

       This book was a surprise for me. Although it has all the things I love in a book, it wasn't high on my radar until I heard it was a summer loving story. Pair that with everything else and I knew I had to read it. This book is for all those waiting on the perfect beachy reads and the perfect beachy weather.

I was a bit disappointed with this one, to be honest. I enjoyed it, sure, but it just didn’t have that extra that would make it amazing. As it was, it was okay. I liked the plot, and I loved the settings, but the characters just… didn’t resonate with me.

Babe was… okay. She’s definitely relatable and realistic. She’s terrified of change, scared that any change will make her lose the people she loves, and I think many teens will relate to that fear of change, and that worry about the future, what happens after high school. (Not me, because I’m just weird and have known since I started high school what I wanted to do with my life.) What disappointed me about her wasn’t that she was flawed, but rather the lack of character development. There was so much potential, and when she didn’t really grow at all, I felt the ending was very unsatisfying.

I didn’t really like Babe’s friends, either, with the exception of Lucy. Penny and Chad just didn’t feel like that great friends to me. Especially Penny. It annoyed me so much how she just used Babe, used her fear of losing her friends. Lucy was great, though. Now there’s a good friend. 

The plot was good. It was well-paced and interesting, and the setting added so much to it. Oar’s Rest is just such an idyllic place, and the descriptions really made me want to visit the place. It seems like such a cute place. The plot and the settings, along with the writing, which made it feel so real, is what kept me reading despite my lack of interest in Babe.

The ending was really unsatisfying, to be honest. Mostly because it felt kind of anticlimactic to me. The fact that Babe was, ultimately, the same after everything, that there wasn’t any character growth, really annoyed me. And I really wish something would’ve happened to force her out of her comfort zone. Something a little less predictable.

Overall, Small Town Hearts was a sweet, romantic read. It’s the perfect holiday read, especially considering the settings. The characters were relatable, I just couldn’t really bring myself to care about them, but I think a lot of teens will like them more than me. I’d recommend this book to people looking for a quick, sweet romance.

Rule #1 - Never fall for a summer boy....forget that! You should grab fun, love and memories while you can and that's exactly what Babe Vogel does.....with time of course!

Although a young adult book the issues very much touch all ages. We may grow and mature but we all have the same feelings and insecurities with regards to relationships. Small Town Hearts just reminds me of that.

Babe is lovely, she's easy to warm to as she is a typical girl, whether that's how she is with her friends or with Levi (the summer boy).

Babe is definitely my favourite character.  I like how she uses baking to help her work through things and she tries to stay loyal no matter what the cost to herself.

I have to say, I'm jealous of her baking skills.....her cookies and cakes sound amazing! (Maybe we could convince Lillie Vale to write a recipe book....please!)

If I have to pick a character that I dislike  I'd definitely say Penny. She's not my first choice for a best friend, which I'm sure you'll find as you get to know the characters. Although I kind of understand why she is the way she is, it doesn't mean that I like it. Chad would come a close second to Penny, he just gets on my nerves a bit.

I love how descriptive this book is. The colours, sounds and smells come to life. It makes me want to move to a coastal town, work in a coffee shop, bake and head to the beach everyday.

Kind of a slow burn book with beautiful imagery.

Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale is a sweet romance with an exploration of friendships and growing up. This is not my typical read, but I enjoyed the pace and the story as well as the diversity among the characters, both in sexuality and ethnicity. I think that it has an interesting take on the dynamics of growing and leaving, or not leaving a small town and as such will be easy to relate to for people in similar situations.

The story
Babe is having a rough start to her summer vacation. With no plans to go to college and her two best friends breaking up, she is really unsure where her head is and where to go from here. When a ‘summer boy’ shows an interest in her, Babe is hesitant to fall after her ex-girlfriend left her the summer earlier. However, in an idyllic seaside town with sandcastle making competitions and incredible seafood, how could anybody resist the pull of those heartstrings?

My thoughts…
Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale is very sweet and romantic, with an excellent sense of place and setting. The stunning Maine landscape painted is enough to make you want to drop everything and run off to live there and build sandcastles for the rest of your days. Babe is a nice character who knows what she wants and has her head screwed on properly, but I preferred supporting character Lucy who takes a real interest in Babe and wants to see her happy more than anything.
Out of the other characters, Levi came across as a romantic soul but didn’t enthral me as he could have done because he fell for Babe almost too easily and was too eager to please. Penny and Chad are just awful people, especially Penny, and they definitely had me revisiting my teenage years with toxic friendships turned bullies. Elodie did not get painted in the best light, but I felt the most for her. Feeling unable to come out to her family, she is torn and displays it in erratic ways. I would love to see a follow-up story from her perspective, as we didn’t get to see her happy in this one.
I will say that the bisexual element was not strong enough for me here. It felt too predictable, with Babe and Levi having a typical straight relationship, while Babe avoided her past with Elodie so much that we never got to see it properly explored. I personally think that Babe is too harsh on Elodie, who is clearly scared and confused.

Overall, this is a 3.5* read. The plot is a bit simple, with Babe’s melodramatic rants encompassing a lot of the narrative. I enjoyed reading this, though and feel that a lot of people would relate to this if they grew up questioning sexuality, or had a diverse friendship group that is not explored in similar young adult fiction. Thank you, Lillie Vale for my e-proof copy of Small Town Hearts in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, this book blew me away. It was an amazing read and it is definitely one of my favourites of the year. With the writing paints every scene in the hues of summer and the plot pulling me further and further into the book, it was impossible to put down. I definitely recommend this for anyone who wants a book that they cannot put down and a book that will fly by. Thank you so much to Xpresso Tours for providing me with a copy of this book!