I want to say first things first, I love myself a small town romance and within the trope usually the small town guy is a family oriented, respectful, charming, etc man and the woman are hard working, driven, cold, etc. Now some novels switch roles gender wise but I found with this book, the main character Michelle is hard working, yes, but she also has room for a nice meal with Cliff and his kids even as she doesn’t have any of her own. Michelle has some conflicts within herself especially after divorcing a past relationship yet, I felt that she wasn’t too cold to have Cliff unmet her frozen heart. The stereotype within the story was different in a great way. Though it is just a me thing but from the chapter Cliff and Michelle meg and so on, I felt that it was obvious that Cliff had a thing for Michelle but almost in an unrealistic sense. Now, I loved their relationship dynamic but I love a good slow burn and usually from the start, it isn’t so lovey dovey. The book overall was a 4.5 for me and not just the aesthetic but the side characters truly make a story more enjoyable. Michelle’s dog, Rocket, was such a character and though he obviously wasn’t the main character he certainly had my attention any scene he was in especially his bond with Cliff’s youngest Brittany. (Such a wholesome duo!!)

An emotional romcom that will have you grinning into the pages of your book one minute and then tearing up the next.
Full of nostalgic memories of the 90s, if it makes you happy is a well written feel good contemporary with likable main characters in a small town setting.
I love a divorcee romance and then when you add in the doting single dad trope? SOLD.
Plus grumpyxsunshine / black cat & golden retriever energy

I wasn’t a fan of Michelle and rockets fake conversations. I thought those were a bit odd plus the whole epilogue from Rocket’s POV. Just have to say I wasn’t a fan.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. A nice dose of fall. I will definitely recommend it to others in the future!

✅. Cozy
✅ 90s Nostalgia
✅. Slow burn romance
✅. Small town Vermont setting
✅. Found family
✅. Autumn and Winter holiday vibes
✅. Friends to lovers
✅. Cinnamon roll MMC (and he actually bakes! 🍪)

Sweet, tender, romantic and an absolute delight, this romantic book is exactly what I needed to read this weekend. From the friendly small town residents, MMC Cliff’s adorable daughters, Rocket 💙, and FMC Michelle’s slow warm up to life in Copper Run, Vermont the entire book is as cozy as a big, fluffy blanket on a chilly October night. Highly recommend to anyone who needs a lighter read between heavier books.

Loved this book! Super nostalgic and perfect for the fall. Michelle and Cliff were perfect for each other and I was screaming every time something slightly romantic happened between them. It was a slow burn, but it wasn't unbearably slow to the point where I was frustrated with the characters for not acting upon their feelings. There were a couple of moments where I wanted them to just say something instead of just thinking it, but the payoff was definitely worth it in the end. I desperately wanted a some more confrontation between Cliff/Trace/Michelle/Emily, but it wasn't that type of book and I'm okay with that, but man it would've been so satisfying if Emily had really told Trace how she makes her feel. The grand gesture at the end was so good and really fit with the late 90's/early 2000's theme for rom-coms. I'm a real sucker for a grand gesture and even though Cliff and Michelle were the embodiment of quiet love, their grand gesture was perfect.

Gilmore girls meets a Hallmark movie: who could ask for more? That’s not a real question because you just need to read this book. It has the cute moments that will make you sigh. The funny moments where you’ll giggle to yourself. And the touching moments where you just have to say aw.

This book is the literary equivalent of stepping inside and warming yourself by the fireplace after coming in from the cold. It's nostalgic and reminiscent of what we love about '90s rom coms - not just in the setting and the references, but in the aspects of real human connection, new beginnings, and quirky, lovable characters who you can just feel belong together.

There's something so observant and beautiful when an author understands how to write characters that not only blend well together, but also contrast. Michelle and Cliff each have specific traits and experiences that affect their views of love and themselves, and they're written in such a way that makes them feel like they fit together like puzzle pieces. For example, Michelle's experience with her ex makes her feel like she's a cruel, hard to deal with person who deserves to be alone, but Cliff's funny and bright personality makes it easy for him to be around people and see the good in them - he serves as sort of a mirror to show her that she's also a funny, likable person, which she desperately needs to see in herself. Michelle also reflects that Cliff's personality and humor aren't too much like he's been led to believe. She needs his optimism to brighten her stormy demeanor. They both bring out things in each other that they've been told they either don't have or are too much for people. Personally, the ability to see and explore what draws people together is something that I love and am always looking for in a romance. I don't want to be told that two people are good for each other: I want to feel like they mesh in the little unspoken ways that matter in a friendship/relationship, and I think this book does a wonderful job of showing that.

Michelle and Cliff both showed character development without being unrealistic. Their entire personalities hadn't changed by the end, but rather the book was a little slice of life showing how in these few months, their meeting sparked important changes within them: Michelle learning to question what she wants and being willing to admit it to herself, and Cliff learning to love himself and what he has to offer. The character dynamics between them and the other characters felt very well-explored. I have to give a special mention to the relationship between Michelle and Cliff's daughter Emily: I thought it was so lovely how their experiences as eldest daughters and their complicated relationships with their mothers allowed them to understand each other on a deeper level and subsequently heal parts of themselves through each other.

The setting was beautifully well written. Maybe it's because I was imagining Stars Hollow for most of it, but I really felt like I was there. There was so much description of the sights, sounds, and smells, and a well-rounded secondary cast that kept things interesting and added depth to Copper Run. I do wish we got to see a little more of Michelle learning how to run the inn. I feel like that was a little more of a primary conflict towards the beginning that sort of fizzled out as we went and I think it contributed to some slow pacing towards the middle, where it started to feel less like Michelle was making choices and doing things and more like she was just being taken to different places and town events. Overall that was a very small issue for me and even the slower points were interesting and kept me engaged!

If you enjoy character-driven stories of flawed, introspective people who are healing and trying to navigate life, I think you'll really enjoy this book. It was a cozy slice of life story that felt like sinking into an armchair with a cup of tea, and I will absolutely be reaching for it again come autumn.

Bonus: I was so hoping that there would be an airport grand gesture and I was not disappointed. Bonus bonus: The epilogue was SUCH a unique surprise and made me weepy! I had to hug my dog for a long while after that.

4.5 🌟
Julie Olivia delivers a warm, heartfelt autumn romance that wraps around you like your favorite oversized sweater. If It Makes You Happy is a slow-burn, small-town love story filled with rich nostalgia, charming characters, and the emotional depth of two people learning to open their hearts again.

Yes, the romance is slow—deliberately so. It takes its time, maybe a little too much at times, but the payoff is worth the wait. The side characters and small-town quirks add charm without feeling forced, and the final chapters (plus a lovely epilogue) left me both smiling and a little misty-eyed.

If you’re into:
• Slow-burn romance
• Single-parent love stories
• Cozy, nostalgic settings
• Character-driven storytelling

…then this is absolutely one to curl up with this fall (or any season, honestly).

Thank you NetGalley and Julie Olivia for the ARC

It has the 90's, autumn, cozy Gilmore Girls vibes that would make for the perfect fall read. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this book since I haven't read anything else by the author, but I adored it.

The story follows Cliff, a small-town single dad baker, and Michelle, a big city marketing exec, as she moves into the quaint Vermont town of Copper Run (Stars Hollow 2.0) to run her late mother's bed and breakfast. Cliff lives next door to the inn and Michelle and her neighbor quickly become friends despite their differences. He's a warm cinnamon roll single dad and she's a somewhat standoffish recent divorcée but they just work so well. Michelle is only meant to be in town for a limited time so they lean into their friendship and attempt to avoid anything more, making this a fairly slow burn but the tension is THERE. Their relationship is so kind and they both do so many little things to support and uplift the other and I really loved reading their romance blossom.

I'm not always the biggest fan of single parent romances - sometimes I find that they have way too much focus on the kids without those moments doing much for the storyline and sometimes they feel like a weird afterthought where I'm like WHY ISN'T THIS PERSON EVER PARENTING?! Cliff is such a cute dad and the relationship Michelle forms with his kids is also super sweet. The book is a bit long for what it is, perhaps because this dynamic is added, but it didn't really feel as long as it was and I'm actually glad they didn't attempt to make it any shorter.

The epilogue actually made me cry because it is SO FREAKING CUTE and from a different perspective than the rest of the book. Make sure you read the epilogue, maybe read it twice.

If you're like me and re-watch Gilmore Girls every fall for the vibes alone, definitely add this book to your list. This is probably my favorite strong fall vibes romance I've read yet. This will likely be my emotional support fall book and I'm not mad about it.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for this ARC!

This is a perfect New England cozy fall romance!
Perfect if you love cozy small towns, holiday celebrations, dogs as side characters, open door but light spice, 90s nostalgia, and the cutest MMC (single dad of two AND a baker ??)
The cast of characters was varied and well developed. Just the right amount of romance and reality for a contemporary romance novel. Of course I cried happy tears in the epilogue because it was such a sweet and tender ending!
I read it in less then 24 hours and it was the perfect book to transport me to a cooler time of year (NYC is currently in a record setting heat wave!)

This book is a book that will hold a special place in my heart. I savored this read and it still wasn’t long enough. This book has all the amazing traits only found in 90’s dads in our single dad mmc, a stars hallow like little town and b&b, all the little 90’s favorites easter eggs and a fierce fmc that finds herself again and finds the purest of loves. Plus a fun dog. It was so nostalgic and I truly loved every single second. The sarcastic banter, family dynamics, small town things, to the deeper topics. I laughed, I cried, and I think my heart grew in size as this book will always have a special place there for me.

I adore this book. The 90s vibes, small town charm, grumpy sunshine, friends to lovers, single dad… All of it came together to make a heartwarming narrative. I rate most romances 3🌟 unless they really suck me in and this book definitely did that.

-Digital ARC provided by NetGalley ARC Program in exchange for an honest review.-

Cute, slow-burn near-contemporary romance set in small-town Vermont; it has Hallmark movie written all over it.

Michelle, a recently divorced, successful executive in Seattle, is tasked with running her late mother’s bed and breakfast in Copper Run, Vermont. The inn was really left to Michelle’s younger sister, Sara, who still has one semester left of art school in California, so Michelle takes a leave of absence and heads east for the fall semester to help her sister out. Of course, there is a hot, flannel-shirt-wearing, single dad of two daughters next door; he’s a baker. While Michelle is all efficient and more than capable of handling the business aspects of the inn, she has poor people skills and cannot cook or bake. Cliff, on the other hand, charms everyone. They become friends, but the sexual tension begins building almost immediately. The story is alternately narrated by each of them, and also, in various places and at the end, by Michelle’s dog, Rocket.

Although the characters were likeable and the story was entertaining, I found Cliff to be more the figment of a woman’s imagination than a real man, and the stock characters and plot were predictable. But if cozy romances are your thing, this book checks all the boxes. I gave it three-and-a-half stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for making the ARC of this book available to me to read and review. The expected publication date is September 2, 2025.

Copper Run in '97 is a whole vibe but tbh, that's about all this has going for it. It leaned too much into nostalgia and not enough on a solid plot. I did love a lot about this but I struggled with the characters relationships. Michelle's relationship with her parents just seemed like an afterthought - a way to get her into having a reason to take over the inn. She learned maybe a little more about her mom through the town by the end but you were still left with a lot of questions as a reader. The situation with Tracy and how they left off with her was... Weird. Nothing wrapped up there either.

In a way, this would have made a better movie than a book. It was entirely too long, focusing on smaller details. Some flashbacks to Michelle's youth could have better painted why she was the way she was and how she was growing past it and mourning her mother.

This book is basically a Hallmark movie but with hotter forearms and better banter. Cliff is the small-town single dad who somehow bakes and emotionally regulates, and the main character is spiraling through post-divorce chaos with bad scones and worse boundaries. It’s cozy, flirty, and predictable in the best way—like a warm hug that smells like cinnamon rolls and a midlife crisis. Setting it in 1997 made me feel like it’s TGIF and I’m watching Boy Meets World in my childhood living room. If you need something sweet and nostalgic, this’ll hit the spot.

When I say that I could NOT put this book down, I absolutely mean it.

Setting the story in 1997 just made it that much more lovable for me as a millennial!

And Michelle and Cliff are lovable from the very beginning!

DO NOT SKIP THE EPILOGUE!!

This book was the whole reason why I discovered and joined NetGalley… And it did NOT disappoint. The slow burn yearning, the coziness, the nostalgia. I absolutely loved it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s reminiscent of so many 90s rom coms without obviously copying them, and it’s cozy and happy without being cheesy. The writing style is so refreshing, even better than I was hoping it would be. I GENUINELY think Nora Ephron would be proud. I preordered it when I was only 20% into it, that’s how impressed I was and confident that the rest of it would be just as good. I’ll recommend this to everyone I can- it BETTER go crazy on Booktok/Bookstagram when it comes out!

This book feels like autumn in paperback form. Picture yourself in a cozy sweater, sipping cider, and watching leaves fall while a slow-burn romance unfolds in small-town Vermont circa 1997. It’s warm, nostalgic, and full of that feel-good charm.

The characters are a total delight. Think Gilmore Girls meets Friends. The heroine is trying to pick up the pieces after her divorce by running her mom’s old bed and breakfast. She’s chaotic in the most lovable way. Then there’s Cliff, the golden boy next door with single dad energy, killer baked goods, and flannel-wrapped arms that deserve their own subplot.

Their friendship-turned-something-more is the definition of slow burn, and it’s done so well. The chemistry simmers, the banter sparkles, and the tension builds beautifully. You’re just waiting for them to admit what everyone else already sees.

So why not five stars? The ending didn’t quite land. It felt a little rushed and lacked the emotional payoff the rest of the book set up. Still, the journey getting there is full of heart, humor, and cozy charm that makes it worth the read. Perfect for fall or whenever you need a little comfort in book form.

Thank you NetGalley, Julie Olivia & the publisher for the ARC!!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is the perfect romance book in my opinion. Banter, lovable characters, charming MMC, FMC who grows and changes, lovable pet sidekick, cozy fall vibes. What else can you ask for? I read this FAST and absolutely loved it. I’m so sad it’s over! Fall would be the PERFECT time to read this book!

Michelle plans to briefly take over her mom’s bed & breakfast in a small Vermont town, far from her cushy job in Seattle. She’s recently divorced and meets Cliff, a single dad & baker in the small town. Cliff has a beautiful charm about him and breaks down Michelle’s walls. Their love story is so sweet & captivating! Absolutely recommend this book!

Loc 479 - “Louis” should be capitalized

Thanks NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this arc!

5000000/5 stars

Y'all. The way that I LOVE THIS BOOK. I preordered a physical copy for myself before I was even halfway done. This is honestly the perfect romance for me. It's so sweet, he's so funny, charming, and sarcastic and she's so tightly would and stoic, I LOVED seeing how Cliff and Michelle go from neighbours to friends to so much more. And the nostalgia factor is sooo well done! There are so many little things thrown in here and there that feel natural and not at all cheesy. And I couldn't pick up on any anachronisms so yay!!! I hope we will get sequels about Lars and Carol (maybe not about them getting together, but I wouldn't be mad about that if it happened lol) AND THAT EPILOGUE HAD ME CRYING OK SHEESH I WASNT EXPECTING THAT

I loved this book so much!! I loved the 90s nostalgia small town romance feel. If you like Gilmore girls you will love this book. Perfect for fall time to get in the autumnal mood!