I loved the descriptions of food and coffee in the story! As for the plot, I have plenty of students who enjoy reading romances on Wattpad, and they would enjoy this novel. It has much of what faithful teenage romance readers want in a book!

I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All quotes are taken from the ARC, and all opinions are my own.

Overall: 5/5 Stars
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Plot and Themes: 5/5
Awesomeness Factor: 5/5
Review in a Nutshell: Small Town Hearts is a fantastic read, with something for everyone, from an adorable romance to a great portrayal of the ups and downs of friendships.


"This was the summer that everything had come undone, unspooling our lives like the wickedest of storms. Now there was only the calm, the after.

"We get to come back from our mistakes. We have to believe that’s possible.”

- Premise -

Small Town Hearts follows Babe, who lives in the lighthouse of her small town that attracts a fair share of tourists and visitors during the summer months. When she meets Levi, an artist, she must remind herself of a very important rule: never fall for a summer boy. But when she finds her friendship with her two best friends crumbling, and her ex-girlfriend back in town, falling for the wrong boy may just save her summer.

"Oar’s Rest held on to memories. Every first kiss, every last kiss. Every tragedy, every miracle. It was greedy for them.”

- Writing & Setting - 

Lillie Vale’s writing style is amazing. Her voice is the perfect blend of the humor and wit that’s now a must for lighthearted contemporary romance, and the elegant prose of heavier, sometimes denser reads. It sets the tone for this fun, adorable, yet grounded story. It also helps to vividly portray the town of Oars Rest, which is probably one of my favorite aspects of this book. I grew up in a small beach town that can get touristy, and the entire time I was reading this book, I kept seeing my hometown. Lillie Vale’s portrayal of Oars Rest made me remember why I love my town so much.

"I could be the captain and get us through these rough waves.”

- Plot -

There are a lot of things going on in this book, but it never feels heavy. There is constant action, angst, and drama stirred by the various relationships (romantic, platonic, and familial) and the unique events of an Oars Rest summer. No moment is dull, there is always something interesting happening, and always something you’re waiting for, dreading, or anticipating.

"Whatever was good about us, we’re choking it to death. Our roots are too tangled. We need to have space to breathe.”

- Characters - 

Not only was the setting crazy relatable for me, but also the characters. Babe is such a fascinating protagonist, with flaws that hit home a little too hard, and so many great strengths. Her character growth over the course of this book is amazing! Meanwhile, her best friend, Penny, was equally grounded. I want to go on about her more but I don’t want to give anything away, but let’s just say she struck a nerve with me. That was one thing I really adored with this book. There were no cliche mean girls in this book, which is something that you see in YA contemporary too often. Instead, you’re given down-to-earth, scarily realistic characters that will remind you of people you know in your life, both for better and worse. 
The romance in this book is absolutely adorable, and Levi is such a great love interest. Also, I was so happy to see a bi main character fall in love with someone of the opposite gender and no one calls her straight or minimizes her sexuality! Honestly, everything with the LGBTQ+ rep in this book was amazing. I was so happy with how her ex-girlfriend was handled. She was still in the closet while they dated and broke up, and I loved that she was never blamed for not wanting to come out, and that Babe respected her privacy and protected her secret even if led to more issues for her. It was just really great.

"We were beginnings and middles, but we weren’t endings. They were still up there in the clouds somewhere, waiting for us to catch up.”

- Conclusion -
Pros- Great LGBTQ+ representation, amazing setting, relatable and realistic characters
Cons- ??? 
Overall- 5/5 stars. 
Small Town Hearts should be added to everyone’s TBR. It’s adorable, fun, yet full of heart and depth. This is a book you can’t miss!

"Because the strength of a lighthouse is from its being alone. From being a beacon of light in the darkness, a finger showing you which way is home.”

I usually do not read books like this but the description made me want to read it. The author did a good job with this story. I thought the emotion, the characters, the connection between the characters was great. This was a fast paced book that was easy to read. Thank you NetGalley.

Small Town Hearts could have been an outstanding YA romance but it ends up being predictable and forgettable. It's a real shame because I was so excited to read a ya featuring a bisexual heroine. As there's just so little out there, I'd hesitantly recommend this one--it's an easy read and lacks staying power, but at least it's a story that speaks to teens who are often overlooked in ya.

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!

This is a beautifully-written debut, with characters that seem to jump off the page. I couldn’t put it down! The setting and descriptions were so detailed and real, and I love that the story incorporated friendships that change and evolve and not just a romance plot. I think anyone looking for a cozy, sweet contemporary will adore this book.