Thanks you Netgally for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a really a fun read. Great characters.

This was so damn cute!!!
It’s just a shortstory with under 100 pages and I think it’s very hard to put much into such a short story and make you feel anything...well this one didn’t disappoint a bit!
I absolutely loved the queer friend group, every single character was so well elaborated and individual, I could 100% see them right before my eyes.
I loved the flashbacks the most, they have us an actual background story and made me completely fall in love with Owen and Toma...and of course ship them very hard.
Owen was super funny (and the misdirected messages of course! So much secondhand embarrassment!), Toma was super sweet, I loved them together. I felt so sorry for Owen, was was hurting after his accident in the past and also because he was so embarrassed in the present.
It made me so happy how Owen and his nerdy friendgroup stuck together through all of it.
I would have definitely read a whole novel about them!
I need to get my hands on the other books in this series!

Such a fun little novella!
It has less than 100 pages but managed to package a lit of feelings in them. I loved the queer group of friends with their coffee dates and game nights, and how easily they took Owen under their wing when they saw him struggling after his car accident.

The april fools prank was horrible, though. I don't like these kinds of jokes. Yeah, of course it was going to end up okay because it could've easily been disastrous. Not cool, Felix!

The characters are so adorably nerdy and likeable and you want to know more about their lives. And I found out I can find out more since there are two novellas dedicated to two of Owen's three new friends!

It might have been short but I kind of liked it exactly like this. It leaves much to the imagination and it left me also with a big grin on my face.

firstly let me say that i read this book at probably the best time i possibly could: on april fools’ day. i am talking about this because one part of the book takes place exactly on this date and because of that i was even more excited to engage in it, especially since it was not intentional to start reading exactly on that day.

village fool follows the story of owen, who’s friend (because of april fools’ day) decides to make a joke that eventually leads to a little awkward situation between owen himself and toma, his crush and ex-trainer. it’s a short story, i think about 150 pages so i read it in one sitting and it was a really well-spent time. both owen and toma were very likeable characters and i would love to read more about them. their relationship was super cute and sweet and some of their scenes were truly hilarious. besides, owen’s friendgroup was amazing, i really enjoyed reading their interactions and i’m glad this story focused on friendships too.

i also heard that the author is queer as well which makes me like this book even more. dont get me wrong, its great to see that there are more books about queer characters on the market but when the author is queer as well, it’s a little different. so i’m really happy i discovered this story and got a chance to read and review it. i will definitely be checking out other books by ’nathan burgoine.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly don't have a lot to say about this book except that I really enjoyed it and got exactly what I expected. It's a very sweet and short read that checks all my boxes. I wouldn't have minded reading from Toma's POV for a chapter but with short stories a dual POV is a little tricky so I'm not mad about it.

A cute story with misunderstandings at its core and a prank gone wrong. A very quick read - would have loved more story and interactions with friends - but the back and forth timeline worked really well and kept a great pace. Doesn’t feel too rushed and Owen is super relatable if you’ve ever struggled to get your own thoughts across to someone.

As far as lgbtq romance goes, it was a cute idea. I enjoyed it, but I would have liked to have seen the story and characters expanded upon. I wish it was longer than a novella length story. The bones for a good contemporary romance were there, and there definitely need to be more in the lgbtq community, but this was Luke warm. The trope was common, which was be fun and enjoyable, but it didn’t take the time to flesh it out. I like that the conflict wasn’t centered around their sexuality, which is a trope that is becoming outdated.

This was so short and sweet. I loved the banter and funny conversations. I also loved the chaotic nervous energy and the happy ending! So cute. Looking into more.

I have never read an April Fools’ Day romance before, but this novella is short, sweet, and satisfying. It’s more about the couple getting together than the romance developing, but I loved watching their interactions and how they built to the end of the story. I also really liked Owen’s friends. This made me want to read more stories about them. If you want something flirty and sweet, you should enjoy this quick, fun read.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher and Net Galley in return for a fair review.

Reading ‘Village Fool’ was like stepping into a room lit by a fireplace - cozy and heartwarming. ‘Nathan Burgoine so easily captures the friendship, the fun, the anxiety and the shyness that comes with dating!

‘Village Fool’ is a novella that is a part of the ‘Village Series’, and I did not quite realise that it was a novella but I had absolutely no trouble following along with the characters, the friendships and the setting. Burgoine is masterful in his ability to weave in information (such as relationships, setting, character backgrounds, etc) within the narrative almost seamlessly, and does not at all fall into ‘information dump’ territory.

Owen is such an interesting character. I do believe that if I read the previous books in the series, I would know much more detail pertaining to Owen’s character and personality - but just from this novella, I found that I felt like I still knew him. I enjoyed reading the snippets that were given about his backstory, his recovery from his accident and his friendships with the other men. I enjoyed his character.

Toma’s character was a bit difficult. As this novella was from the perspective of Owen only, we really didn’t get enough information about Toma himself. I didn’t connect with Toma at all - he was not very flushed out as a character. However, this was a novella and it makes sense that Toma was a character that was not given depth as there was not enough page time for it!

The relationship between Owen and Toma is adorable. I think the use of flashbacks was necessary as it demonstrated the lead-up to their relationship as well as giving the reader a bit of backstory. It was adorable.

As it was a novella, there wasn’t much in terms of the plot but it was a fast-paced, fun ride that I recommend to readers who enjoy such fun, contemporary romance.

What a little literary romance amuse-bouche. Village Fool is such a tease. I don't want more. I NEED more!

Owen is a socially awkward RPG-loving "nerd" that only truly comes out of his awkwardness when gaming or in his role as an IT specialist. After an unfortunate car accident on an icy road, he finds himself injured and in need of a physiotherapist to help him regain the use of his arm. Enter, Toma the delicious and very adept physiotherapist. After months of rehab, Owen has done the work and is medically released. Only, now that he's no longer Toma's client, he can't quite get up the nerve to ask the handsome PT out. When a friend pulls an April Fool's Day prank, it's Owen that finds himself as the butt of the joke... and inadvertently made his biggest dreams come true.

Village Fool is a short little novella proving that socially awkward, RPG-playing "nerds" can win the hunky cubcake (love that term by the way), in the end. I love, love, loved Toma. He good-naturedly took the whole texting thing very well and say the bright side of what was happening. I seriously *felt* for Owen when the whole SNAFU was discovered. I was mortified with him. And while I loved this, I seriously NEED so much more. More kissing, more texts, more dates, MORE, MORE MORE! Seriously. This was such a tease!

Villiage Fool is all the things I look for in a romance. Fun, flirty, good banter, and a delicious amount of steam. Mr. Burgoine, if you wrote this to tease me into reading your whole darned backlog... well, mission accomplished. I am absolutely on the hook for more!

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I put this down at 45% of the way through. Not because I don’t like it, because I absolutely adore it. But I’ve gotten into a major reading slump and I don’t know when I’ll be in the mood to pick this back up.

So far these are my thoughts on this book:
I absolutely adore the friendships Owen has, and I’m so into this romance. It’s all just so adorable and low-key makes me jealous of Owen. This is the first book I’ve ever read by this author and I’ll definitely be picking up more of their books, especially this series. I’m so glad I picked this book up because even though it’s not the first book in the series it’s like a standalone and I have a feeling that when I pick up the series I’m going to love the characters even more.

Owen's friend Felix switches his contact names as an April Fool's joke, so who is he texting about his crush on his former physiotherapist Toma?

I loved this. It's a cute and short meet-cute, with minimal angst. I liked the friendship group, to be honest I liked every character.

On the other hand, I did feel that this was pretty rushed - and it could have been longer, there was a lot of potential and I was only slightly disappointed.

Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review

Despite me giving the book 3 stars I did enjoy the book. Let's not get that twisted. Owen seemed like your every day person so he was very easy to relate to. Plus, I have been in his position before with rehab (minus the hunky physio) so I did appreciate moments of "This is what I went through, this is the process of rehab, this is what I still deal with even after rehab." Because that is a big thing in peoples lives.

Owen's friend group was fun and I loved them all as well.

My main problem is the story had so much potential but it felt was missing quite a bit. Owen's current state after his crash is mentioned at the beginning as something that affects his life quite a bit still, but doesn't really get mentioned much again. I also didn't get a real feel for Toma. In the end the romance was good but I felt like since I didn't get to know Toma as an individual (mainly just from Owen's perspective of him) he didn't feel quite real to me. Cute romance. Would have appreciated more time with Toma and his own thoughts.

Thank you netgalley for the e-arc

I absolutely adore the Little Village novellas, they’re short and sweet in all the best ways. Village Fool is no exception. Nathan Burgoine has once again lured me in and kept me hooked for the less than 200 pages it takes to tell his stories.

I love the dual timeline of Owen meeting Toma after his injury in need of physical therapy, and Owen off on his own reconnecting with his old physical therapist. Their dynamic is so adorable, Owen’s constant tongue-tiedness around Toma is painfully cute.

I’m not usually a massive fan of books centered around holidays but I think I’d be willing to read more April Fools books after finishing this one. Honestly is there anything better than the wrong-text-wrong-person trope leading into the friends-to-lovers? I don’t think so to be honest.

I really enjoyed this, and I’d highly recommend it! Make sure to check out the rest of the series as well.

If you’ve read either of ‘Nathan Burgoine’s other “Little Village” romance novellas (Handmade Holidays and Faux Ho Ho) you will not be surprised at how endearing Village Fool is nor how relatable the main characters are. If this is your first “Little Village” romance, you’re in for a treat. Yes, this is the third book in a series if we look at them in release order, but each “Little Village” novella stands alone so you can jump right into this one without having read the previous two (and maybe it will inspire you to read the others!).

Like its predecessors, Village Fool is a holiday romance, but instead of the usual Christmas or New Year’s setting we get April Fool’s Day. Now, I don’t know about you, but April Fool’s Day is not one of my favorite holidays, having involved more bullying than humor in my childhood. But I don’t dislike the holiday enough to write off a romance with April Fools pranks at the core unread, especially when that book is written by one of my favorite authors (overall, and specifically of gay romance). Unlike its predecessors, where the holiday itself is not just the set-up but a key component of the plot, Village Fool really could have taken place at any time of year. Friends play pranks on friends all the time. But setting it on the holiday keeps the “Little Village” holiday theme going, and it works just fine.

I identified heavily with Owen, the novella’s POV character. Like him, I am far smoother and more personable when I’m on the job (corporate trainer in my case, IT support for Owen) or when I’m among very, very close friends (the Bittersweets Club and D&D circle for Owen) than when I have to make conversation with a guy I find interesting/attractive (my current ongoing crush is also a total “cubcake” like Toma, but he works in the food industry not as a physiotherapist). Like Owen, my friends tease me about my crush and I get a little angsty about why I can’t seem to formulate complete sentences around him. Also like Owen, I would be devastatingly embarrassed if my friends pulled a stunt like Felix does at the start of Village Fool to force the “just ask him out already” issue. (Unlike Owen, I still have no idea if my crush might be even remotely into guys, but that’s a topic for my therapist and not a book review…) The TL;DR of this paragraph is: Owen is recognizable, relatable, and very easy to like.

And even though we don’t get any scenes directly from Toma’s POV to see inside his head, we can tell that he’s also relatable and likeable. His every interaction with Owen is supportive, friendly, eventually flirty. He’s not happy that the date he thought he was finally going on was a misunderstanding and he’s not willing to let Felix completely or easily off the hook. But Toma also understands why Owen is so much more upset about the situation than he is and he’s willing to back off and give Owen space if that’s what Owen wants.

In the hands of other authors, this misunderstanding would garner a novel’s worth of anger and angst before the situation gets resolved, with both characters second-guessing their own feelings as well as the other character’s motivations and responses. Burgoine threads that needle expertly: Owen’s reactions, borne out of humiliation, are a bit more histrionic (without being soap-opera scenery-chewing) while Toma’s are more grounded (without being dismissive of Owen’s feelings), and both men’s reactions are totally in character.

The alternating chapters of present-day and flashbacks format works as well in Village Fool as it did in Faux Ho Ho, adding nice levels of tension and release. Again, it’s a style that not every author is fully effective with, but Burgoine is a master.

There’s also just the right amount of interference from Owen’s circle of friends in both the present and the past to help nudge things towards a Happily Ever After ending (although in Felix’s case the “nudging” is what creates the drama in the first place). The alternating flashback chapters fill us in not just on how Owen came to know Toma, but also how he met Silas, Ru, and Felix and started to feel like maybe the Village was someplace he belongs. The prank and its aftermath don’t occur in a bubble; we get glimpses of a well-developed group of friends without those glimpses being winky-nudgy-youshouldhavereadtheotherbooks distractions. I was happy to see Silas and Dino (from Faux Ho Ho) and Ru and Fiona (from Handmade Holidays) in varying-sized supporting roles along with mentions of other residents and businesses in the Little Village district.

I don’t think I will ever get tired of stories set amongst the group of friends we’ve met in these three novellas, and I hope the “Little Village” series goes on for a long time regardless of whether the “holiday” theme continues. If you like stories that include awkward meet-cutes, friends who are family, and happily-ever-after gay romance, pick up Village Fool and the other Little Village novellas.

Burgoine presents a quirky and fun romance in "Village Fool." Our protagonist Owen has just recently finished physical therapy for a recent injury. This is great news on many levels. The most pertinent is that he is no longer the client of the local "cubcake" Tomas; his caring PT. In alternating chapters between the beginning and end of his journey to regaining strength and sanity, we get to find out all the tea that's bringing these two together. There's a supporting cast of characters in Owen's gaming group, who all feel primed for their own spin-offs/sequels. We know where it's heading, yet the twists along the way allow for some solid page-turning delights.

Village Fool was my first Nathan Burgoine book - it’s a short and super sweet novella, one of several set in Burgoine’s fictional Ottawa town ‘The Village’.

It’s a sweet, simple meet-cute story told partly in flashback, about Owen - who’s new in town and recovering from a car accident, and Toma, Owen’s very fit, very attractive physiotherapist.

Village Fool is more of a lighthearted friendship than a romance, with Owen’s friends being more prominent in the story than Toma, but I’m 100% here for all the queer stories and it was a fun, quick read.

I didn’t realise Village Fool was part of series - it probably would’ve been sensible if I’d read them in order, as although the story stands alone, we’re introduced to a lot of side characters who all feature in other books. I’ll definitely be reading the others as I’m curious to learn more about the Bittersweets Club.

Thankyou to NetGalley for the eARC.

A quick read, I thoroughly enjoyed Village Fool. I've found holiday-themed books to be fairly contrived in the past and didn't have high hopes for an April Fools Day-related novella. I am very happy to be wrong in this instance.

Sugary-sweet, in both the plot and the desserts, I enjoyed Owen and his clumsy flirting (and not-so-clumsy texting). The events played out believably and everyone's reactions made sense, two things that rarely occur in holiday fiction, which has a minefield of predictable tropes. Owen's group of friends is great and I loved their nerdy banter; I will definitely be looking into more of the Little Village novellas if I get to read more about them.

Moral of the story: friends should not have unsupervised access to your phone. Or maybe they should?

Fun, quick and enjoyable. A breath of fresh air. The characters are lovable and believable. The tale begins with a bang and ends with a tender kiss. Just pleasant and readable. Short but sweet. A hug from this author.