Sadie returns to her hometown of Pea Blossom to tend to her family's Pumpkin Farm, where her father has grown award winning pumpkins. She plans to continue his legacy and grow a pumpkin big enough to win first place at the state fair.
After an incident of bad luck, the pumpkin patch is destroyed. Sadie is devastated; she needed this win to try and get in her dad's good graces.
That's when Sadie meets the handsome new neighbor, Josh. He also has a farm, but with very high-tech advanced growing methods. With his help she is back on track to her pumpkin goal.
Even with her eyes on the prize, she can't help but steal glances at Josh.


"She loved the idea of art as a disguise. In some ways, art was here to express yourself, but to literally hide yourself and create this alternate persona was a welcome chance to escape."

"She wanted to be herself, and running toward yourself was somehow harder than running away. She had to learn to say yes to herself instead of saying yes to other people."

"Doing what other people wanted never guaranteed he would get what he wanted."


Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About is a cute and cozy quick fall festive read that's good any time of the year. The author is descriptive without being over the top, keeps you entertained and there is LOTS of spice, I mean tons. Good thing Josh has a tech system to tend to the pumpkins, or they would be dead with how much time they spend in the bedroom LOL.

Thanks so much to NetGalley Afterglow Books by Harlequin for this ARC and ALC

I read the book the first time around and loved it so much I listened to the audiobook later on.
The audiobook makes the story even better. Adelaide Fernport was a lovely narrator who kept a great pace while speaking. I would gladly listen to any book she narrates. She spoke clearly and was super easy to understand while bringing the characters to life.

This book was so cute and felt like the perfect fall read. Sadie and Josh were so cute from the beginning. It felt a bit like opposites attract and I love that. It did feel a bit rushed in the beginning when they first met but not enough to warrant a hang up for me. Absolutely enjoyed this!

Cute story in a magical setting. I enjoyed the characters, the development of the plot, and ALL THE PUMPKINS! It was a great read in preparation for fall and I can't wait to add it to our collection!

4⭐, 2.75🌶️

Okay, pumpkin farmers falling in love? Wasnt sure, but I really enjoyed this! It was cute, quirky, and I just smiled while listening to Sadie and Josh fall in pumpkin love (and real love). Honestly, I loved learning so much about pumpkin and squash and competitive growing. I loved how adorable Josh was and how sassy Sadie was. They were a great balance for two people falling in love and overall just adorable.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for an ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to the publisher and author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This one as pretty cute. Not going to lie, I ended up learning a lot more about pumpkins and gourds after reading this than I thought I would have. It was a good steamy read, not too spicy but just enough!

this was such a cute, quick, funny read! i really enjoyed this and think it got me super excited for fall. i thought sadie was really quirky, funny, & sassy. i liked the state fair plot and thought it was really cute. i love a cute little state fair and that definitely added to the comfy, cozy fall vibes! i wasn’t crazy about josh at first, but he did definitely grow on me towards the middle of the book. i do have to say, i wasn’t crazy about the narrator and think i would have enjoyed reading this digitally or physically a little more. i would still recommend picking up this book though as a cute little read to get ready for this fall season!

This was just an okay read for me. I enjoyed the small town, Fall vibes but nothing else about this book was really a stand out read. Okay on audio and great if you're looking for an Autumn read but just a mediocre read for me. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio and digital copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I love this cover and wanted to totally get swept away in this autumnal Midwest setting. This story is about Sadie, an artist who’s in a bit of a creative rut when she returns to her childhood home to house sit for her father while he’s away. When she meets the new cute boy next door, Josh, she soon learns they’re competing in the annual pumpkin growing competition that fall. Circumstances continue to bring the two of them together and before long, Josh is smitten with Sadie and trying to get to know the closed off neighbor better…if she will only let him.

The audiobook narrator did a great job reading the story to life, I just found the pacing of the story and the romance to feel off to me. The story felt slow and took a long time for me to feel invested in. I actually read the first 25% of the book and then set it aside to read a couple other books before trying to pick this up again. The first half of the book is a slow unfolding of the story and characters and then the romance heats up with a lot of intensity in a short amount of time. The intimacy feels like the primary focus in the second half of the book with multiple scenes. By the end of the book the couple is confessing their love for each other but it feels like most of the time their time was spent with him trying to convince her to give a relationship between them a try and she just wanting to fool around without putting down roots in the town she’s only visiting for a temporary amount of time. The love declarations at the end felt a bit rushed but the book wrapped up with a nice concluding epilogue.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an advanced audiobook copy of this story, all opinions are my own.

I was excited for this one. The small-town setting and grumpy sunshine trope (with her as the grumpy black cat!) sounded so fun and cute. Unfortunately, I had a hard time connecting. The characters didn’t have much chemistry on their own, and the same narrator was used for both POVs, which made it tricky to tell who was speaking since the voice didn’t change much. It wasn’t bad, just not for me in audio format. I may give it another shot this fall on Kindle!

Thank you Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy of this book!

“𝗦𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆 𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗺 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.”

𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 7/1/25

Audiobook 🎧/ eBook 📖 dual immersion read.

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆:
Sadie returns to her small hometown to help out her father whom she has a tenuous relationship with. Stu (her father) has to leave town for a family emergency leaving Sadie to compete in the local pumpkin contest. When she arrives home, an unexpected and unwelcome surprise meets her.
To overcome the hurdle she teams up with her brainiac (and competitor) neighbor to find a way to make the competition a success.

𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
🎃 Opposites attract
🧶 Small town
🎃 Goth meets Nerd
🧶 Cozy fall vibes
🎃 Dual POV

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: I love this cover to start off. I loved the premise and the unique characters. The setting was also fantastic and atmospheric. The narrator was a decent as well, despite being the same female voice for the male POV chapters.
That’s where my praise ends however. I found the story to be so bland, I wasn’t invested in any of it. The characters weren’t particularly interesting, their chemistry wasn’t there, and then there was just explicit spice 🌶️. It felt incongruent.
It’s a short cozy romance with fall vibes, definitely will be many readers cup of tea. Sadly, it was not mine.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 2/5 ⭐️⭐️

*Thank you @NetGalley, @HQN_ShamelessRomantics, and @HarlequinBooks for sending this audiobook and ebook for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

#LetsGiveEmPumpkintoTalkAbout #NetGalley

Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖 (I started on e-book but switched to audio and was able to read much faster)
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋 (This one didn’t grab me in regards to feeling an emotional connection with the mains)
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔 (I think you get a pretty good back story from the mains and who they are, their struggles)
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡ (It was mild for me)
Romance: 💞💞 (I did not find this one romantic)
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (I liked them fine but something was just missing a bit for me. Maybe I wasn’t emotionally attached the characters enough to really feel it)
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥 (at least, I might have missed some)
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: third person from the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: soon in, 4% (chapter 1 of 28)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, one year later

Should I read in order?
I think this one stands alone.

Basic plot:
Sadie believes home holds nothing for her. But she returns anyway to assist her dad’s pumpkins in winning the local SPICE Pumpkin Weigh-off only to find the entire patch destroyed. Luckily her interesting neighbor, creator of Josh’s Squashes is willing to give her some starts to get back in the competition.

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance
- Indiana, USA setting
- small town – Pea Blossom
- rich, squash growing hero
- textile artist heroine
- opposites attract – a black cat heroine and an eager to please hero
- neighbors
- tattooed heroine
- plus size rep (heroine)
- fall themes
- rivals – they are both trying to grow the biggest pumpkin in the S.P.I.C.E. competition
- medium steam – 3 full scenes at least (I might have missed something) with a slower burn and light femdom

Ages:
- heroine is 31, turns 32 in the story, hero is 33

My thoughts:
This was more of a 3 star read for me but I rounded up because I really liked the kiss in the server room when the power went out and also love corn nuggets lol.

This story is a pleasant fall read! Slower burn with lovely mains that have real problems and flaws. I liked the neighbors being pumpkin growing rivals and the playfulness that can come with that. I liked both mains individually...but something happened with them together that I just didn’t feel it for some reason. Maybe I just didn’t feel the high stakes here like I get when reading historical romance...Sadie just didn’t see that into Josh and she didn’t decide she wanted to really give it a go until everyone in her family gave her reasons….and that bothered me. I felt like she wasn’t really invested in the relationship and some scenes of the book just left me….sad.

But that is really just me – the narration was good, I liked the small town setting and I think those setting their sights on a competitive opposites attract fall themed read should grab this one up!

I liked Adelaide Fernport’s narration for the most part. I think my biggest struggle was her voice just sounded very similar for narration, female and male voices so it made the book a bit more...monotone feeling to me? But overall it was fine and I enjoyed the narration and didn’t have to alter the speed or anything from what I usually like.

I was pleasantly surprised by how cute this was! I loved the golden retriever vs. black cat dynamic. Both main characters were likable and the smut was good.

This was a cute, cozy romance centered around a pumpkin growing competition. I was excited for the fall theme and it sounded like a book I would love. However, I felt really disconnected from the story and the characters. Some of the scenes and dialogue felt forced or very mid. I just don't think the writing style worked for me. But I think others would enjoy it.

4.25 stars

Loved this story! The narrator was on point. I honestly thought a sweet, wholesome fall romance. Then BAM! hit with the spice, and I was here for it. Josh's Squashes, how perfect is that?!

It wasn't terrible but there was just something about this book I did not like. I can't really pin point what it was. Not great but not bad either

Vampy curvy goth goddess returns home to small town Indiana to help her father grow competitively large pumpkin and falls in love with gamer tech boy turned homesteading inventor neighbor? Yes please. I absolutely devoured this audiobook. It gave cozy sweet fall vibes with the banter and romance to keep me giggling and kicking my feet. Sadie’s steamy response to Josh’s secret stash had me 🫣🫠😮‍💨. Highly recommend! A great read to gear you up for my favorite time of year.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About (audiobook)

This was such a cozy little surprise! I picked it up on total impulse, craving something that felt like a nostalgic autumn day, and while it didn’t lean too hard into the fall vibes, it definitely delivered on cozy charm and romance. The story was fun, flirty, and surprisingly spicy 👀, with an audiobook narration that made it all the more enjoyable. It’s one of those reads that feels like a seasonal treat, but truly works any time of year. 🎃🔥📖

What a fun romcom about a prickly textile designer/artist and a sweet tech-guy-turned-squash farmer set in small-town Indiana!

Sadie left her rural hometown for the design world in LA and never looked back, escaping her narcissistic mother and meh father for her own life. But when dear old dad heads to Florida to care for his ailing brother, he begs Sadie to come home and tend to his pumpkins so they can once again win the giant pumpkin contest.

Brilliant Josh made bank on his video game design but found the tech world empty and superficial. So he decides to try his hand at small-town farming and a more peaceful life, next door to Sadie’s dad. Until Sadie comes crashing in.

Right off the bat, she’s prickly as all get-out and he’s the classic kindhearted golden retriever, and somehow it seems to work. Only, seriously, she’s a pain in the you-know-what and just unnecessarily mean at times. Sadie’s the taker, Josh is the giver, though it gets slightly more complicated than that. I loved the back and forth, the banter, the small-town vibes, the fun. The characters learn and grown, and the chemistry is on fire!

I listened to the audiobook and Adelaide Fernport’s narration was fantastic!

Read if you love:

Black Cat FMC
Golden Retriever MMC
Grumpy-Sunshine
Small Town
Neighbors to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Slowish Burn and then FIRE
LGBTQIA+ reps

Please take my review with a grain of salt. Third person is not for me. This is a cute book especially those who love Halloween. I am one of those girls and had this been done in first person it would have been rated higher.
The characters are likable but just a tad tame for my tastes.

I received an arc copy for this book and wanted to offer my thanks as I quite enjoyed this book!!

As an avid “spicy” audiobook consumer, I find I am getting kind of bored with the same ol “tropes” grumpy guy and sunshine woman etc. this story approached some of the same kinds of tropes but with a spin I appreciated. It was inclusive without hammering you over the head with HOW inclusive the story is being.

What caught my interest initially was the cover and clever book title, and thankfully the story did not disappoint!!

Kudos to the author, the spice level was great for me! It was enough so it wasn’t a traditional hallmark made for TV movie without it seeming like there was a quota they were trying to fill.