archer is a world renown chef, he moves to a small town to open a pancake restaurant, he hires Iris as his nanny. very sweet read.

This story follows Iris and Archer - two inhabitants of small town Dream Harbor - when they both find themselves in need of a job. Dream Harbor needs a new chef and Iris needs to make rent. When Iris learns of single dad, Archer, she is presented with the perfect opportunity to help them both. Archer never planned on leaving his chef dreams in Paris, but when he finds himself with a daughter in Dream Harbor, he discovers his dreams lie elsewhere.

I loved being back in quirky Dream Harbor and reading Iris and Archer’s story. I usually don’t like the single dad and pregnancy trope, but Laurie did an amazing job with their story. I finished this book in one sitting and actually caught myself tearing up a few times. I love reading each couples love story and how they’re intertwined with the town. I can’t wait to read Annie and Mac’s story next!!

Tropes: single dad, found family, small town romance, accidental pregnancy, grumpy x sunshine, forced proximity

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for this ARC!!

This entire series is such a fun, cozy read. As we make it back to Dream Harbor we have Archer coming into town because surprise, he has a 5 year old daughter who is now parentless. In the hopes of figuring everything out and determining next path, he hires Iris as a live-in nanny. And bring a Dream Harbor book, you can probably guess what happens. The best part about this one - when the book club trash talks the single-dad trope and kids in a romance book. Amazing 😆

This is another great installment in the series. If you loved the first books, this one will be your next perfect, fun romance.

the perfect palette cleanser read!! she came with sweetness and spice, which was perfect for sitting down and binging this in one sitting! i’m not certain if this is the last book, but if you enjoy gilmore girls, this series is practically that personified 💞

✨ (Diner) Chef
✨ Small town
✨ Single Dad x Nanny
✨ Found Family
✨ Forced Proximity

It's no secret that I love the Dream Harbor books and this book definitely lives up to its predecessors.

I love how we're thrown into this plot. It starts a little sad but it immediately had my heart clenching and I wanted to sob about all these lost souls. Iris and Archer were both struggling and needed a little help to find their ways. They, of course, figure out a way to do that together and I was rooting for them the whole time!

I'm not big on kids in real life and I hate most pregnancy tropes buuuut toddlers in books can be super cute and I LOVED Olive. She was seriously so sweet, my heart melted. There are so many great Olive moments and this book is honestly worth it just for that!

The tension and will-they-won't-they had me squealing! I love a taboo trope where they catch feelings for someone they shouldn't; and many a feeling was caught between Iris and Archer. I also personally felt that the approach to these feelings was pretty realistic and I loved the way it was handled in the book.

For my fellow Dream Harbor fans (are we also Dreamers?), we get some great little cameos from the characters in the previous books. While I will always recommend reading every book in this series and I prefer them in order, I think this one is an easy standalone because of how removed Archer is from the town while going through his personal home and life changes. As I mentioned, there are cameos but none of them play a big enough role to make it absolutely necessary to read the other books first.

I am so so happy with another addition to this delightful series! The Strawberry Patch Pancake House is an adorable (and spicy) book that gives you all the smiles, feelings, and small-town escapism a lot of us need these days.

(Also loved the use of the line "why are they always so sticky?" in reference to kids because of the parallel with that exact line from Luke in Gilmore Girls. Plus Archer is the chef in a diner like Luke - these books are always keeping with the Gilmore Girls theme and I'm here for it 100%)

This was such a cute and cozy read. Dream harbor is the cutest little town, that I would pay to visit! Archer and Iris didn’t really strike me as a good couple is the first part of this book. I felt they were too different. Until they started this little found family with Olive at the center. This adorable little 5 year old changed them and made them fit so perfectly. I loved how this book portrayed the real messiness of having kids and also the moment that make it all worth it. This book was real and sweet and a total dream.

This might just be my favorite in the series! It’s such a quick and cozy read.

Archer, a world famous chef turned small town pancake house owner, never expected to put down roots in Dream Harbor. But with his daughter, Olive, to care for, he needs a fresh start and a little help. Iris has never quite figured out how to stick with a job but somehow ends up as his nanny.

One of the best parts of this story was watching Archer go from his carefree, bachelor lifestyle to fully embracing fatherhood! His relationship with Olive was so sweet.

The chemistry between her and Archer was so good!

This series is just so charming, and coming back to this little town always feels like a treat!

Thank you NetGalley and Harper360 for the gifted copy!

I received an arc from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

This book was a little on the spicy side for me but I did enjoy the storyline and single Dad/Nanny trope. Archer had a lot to learn in his new job and with fatherhood, once he found out he had a daughter but he hires a nanny to help. Little did he know she would change his life and his daughters forever.

Nice small town read.

Iris is anything but nanny material. Archer just found out he’s a dad. He needs help. She needs a job and a place to stay. Together, they work out their fears and take care of little Olive. A mingling of new characters and old faithfuls in my favorite New England setting make this romance a hit!

This is my favorite of the Dream Harbor books, which is saying something because I’ve loved them all. The involvement of kids, new characters and the “single father”trope (iykyk) make this refreshing and fun. I love the ending and I’d love to try one of the pancakes!

Thank you Laurie Gilmore, Harper Collins and Net Galley for allowing me to be an Advanced Reader for this one!

This was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 star for me. I love every chance I get to visit Dream Harbor because I enjoy a small town setting. However, this was not my favorite from the series. I did not find myself as invested in the characters or the plot as I have in the other books. Thank You to Harper Collins for this arc read through NetGalley!

This series is just so cozy and cute and I love it!

Yes, the town very much gives Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls. It is just so cozy, I want to go there.

This book follows the new chef in town, Archer, and his daughter (that he didn't really know that he had, it's a whole thing, you'll see). Archer finds a nanny in Iris, the woman who bumped into him on the way to pick up his daughter, spilling a green smoothie all over him (those are nasty and pointless by the way).

These books are just so quick and easy to read and there's nothing wrong with reading a book for that very reason!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

I am obsessed with this series, and I feel like I love each book, more and more!
I am so thankful to have been approved as an ARC reader for this one, thanks to Netgalley and @HarperCollins360.
Dream Harbor is so full of coziness, character, and nosy residents who are absolutely everything.
Iris has lived in town her whole life and does not date guys, seriously anyway... just like her mother. She could use a place to live that wouldn't hurt her bank account since her career was lacking.
Archer is living in Paris and is a world-renowned chef when he finds out he has a child and her mother passed away.
His life is turned upside down when coming to Dream Harbor, getting an apartment and beginning a trial custody period of his daughter. He had no idea she existed or what his life was about to turn into.
He quickly realizes he needs live-in help, a nanny. Iris is recommended and quickly takes the job despite them both knowing it may be a mistake, they're attracted to each other.
Archer's daughter, Olive, quickly wins over not only Archer but Iris.
The level of emotion I felt while reading this book was unexpected. I'm usually not the biggest single dad romance fan, but this story was SO special. Sweet, fun, heartwrenching with a happily ever after. I can't wait for the next book in the series, and I was genuinely so sad that the book was over, I loved reading every minute of it!

This whole series is like a small town warm hug. I’ve been on a single dad romance kick lately and this one hit the spot. Of course, there’s a little lack of communication but NOT the dreaded trope. Gilmore’s writing improves with each new story and I can’t wait for the next one!

Archer?? Swoon.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC read!

I have only heard of this series by Laurie Gilmore, but this is my first time reading one of them. My first time reading a Laurie Gilmore book even. After reading the fourth book in this series, I plan to read the other three as well. What’s nice though is that you can read this as a standalone if you want. I am a big fan of Gilmore’s writing style and the way she builds the characters in her story.

This book is about Iris and Archer. The single dad trope. Live in nanny, where they fall in love (naturally). It was nice to see Archer’s development from bachelor life to dad life. I always find it sexy to see a man grow in his maturity that way. Iris is your typical single woman with daddy issues (even though it’s stated that she refuses to be one with daddy issues). Maybe we can say commitment-phobe instead? Grew up with a mom who bounced from relationship to relationship and never settled down; now Iris questions if that is how her life will be as well. I laughed, and I also cried. The smut scenes are classy, I like that Gilmore includes consent here. Definitely recommend!

Also a pregnancy trope in this book, which I will admit made me inwardly groan a bit. However, I think Gilmore made it work and thankfully the relationship/love between Archer and Iris was already fully developed before the pregnancy trope was intertwined in the story.

I thought I was going to have a really fun time with this book, but it fell flat for me. It was fun, but not what I was hoping for out of it. Not a lot of development in my opinion. That being said, I do still feel like it was a good book.

Archer acaba de descubrir que tiene una hija, Olive, de la que debe hacerse cargo después de que su madre falleciera. Esto lo obliga a dejar atrás su carrera, por la que tanto se ha esforzado, y mudarse de París a Dream Harbor. Olive no quiere saber nada de él, su nuevo restaurante no está recibiendo la recepción que esperaba, y la nueva niñera, Iris, lo hace cuestionarse toda su vida.


~

Iris me desesperó en los últimos capítulos, pero se entiende por qué actuó de esa manera.
Me gustó la evolución de Archer.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House 🍓

Spring just entered the chat 💬 and what better way than to begin your spring with one of Laurie Gilmore upcoming book in her series Dream Harbor. Following the story of Archer a chef who finds out he has a daughter name Olive he now needs to leave the life of culinary arts to prove he can provide for his daughter and for it to happen he decides to move to the small town of Dream Harbor. He was suggested to find a nanny to care for his daughter while he finds a job he then meets Iris, a uncommitted relationship (due to her mother’s background ) and a fear of having children of her own but with all the debt she has she has no choice to accept the job. To think a single dad a sweet kid like Olive living on the same roof. Will she leave those thoughts of having a family of her own wouldn’t be so bad right?

Being back to Dream Harbor and seeing new characters develop is such a treat Laurie Gilmore knows how to make you escape. Such a fast paced perfect for the spring right 🌷

Mini Summary
• single dad 🏡
• forced proximity
• slow burn 🔥
• found family
• one bed 🛌

Thank you Laurie Gilmore & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and share my thoughts of this novel.

"Fall in love with the brand new spring romance set in Dream Harbor, from the bestselling author of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe and The Cinnamon Bun Book Store.

As a world-renowned chef, single dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.

Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when it's suggested that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she almost runs in the opposite direction.

Now, Iris finds herself in a whole new world. One where her gorgeous new boss lives right across the hall and likes to cook topless... Keeping everything strictly professional should be easy, right?

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House is a cozy romantic mystery with a single dad and found family dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!"

I mean, the Gilmore Girls vibes are strong, just look at the pen name Melissa McTernan chose, she literally made herself a Gilmore girl...

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House is a cozy, small-town story with a dash of mystery. Set around a beloved pancake house, the book features relatable characters, light romance, and surprising twists. Gilmore’s writing is warm and inviting, making it a quick, feel-good read. While a few parts drag, it’s an enjoyable story perfect for fans of cozy mysteries and heartwarming communities. Such a solid read, thank you so much for this opportunity!

I was so lucky to be able to read this as a Digital ARC! Another amazing book from Laurie Gilmore. It was an 5 star read for me! Absolutely loved this! The forbidden love, close proximity and the spice was just chef's kiss. I absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for a Hallmark style romance with some spice🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ And I do mean spice! Can't wait until this gets published as I will be for sure adding it to my physical book collection!