It was cute. It was fluffy. And it was just okay for me. The setting and the premise just screams fall - small town, pumpkin festival and growing context. I loved the set-up. Unfortunately, I didn't love the relationship. I enjoyed how it started off as rivals to lovers - but the more intimate scenes felt like they lacked intimacy and just read quite staccato.

The pacing also felt rather slow - I felt I was trudging through pumpkin guts at some parts, rather than eagerly picking up the book to see what happened next.

I enjoyed the audio narration and definitely don't think it contributed to my overall apathy around this story.

Overall, it was a cute fall read - but I don't know if I'd be seeking out this author or anything similar in the near future.

This was sweet and spicy! The narrator, Adelaide Fernport, did an incredible job and I really liked their style. It brought the story to life. This would be a great palate cleanser between genres and perfect for the fall ghoulies.

Thank you to Harlequin Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

📖 Let’s Give ’Em Pumpkin to Talk About 🎃

Ahh fall—my favorite season of all! 🍂 When a whole book is dedicated to growing pumpkins (aka my jam 🧡), you know I’m instantly hooked.

I really enjoyed this story—the author did such a great job setting the seasonal tone with vivid, cozy descriptions that had me feeling like I was right in the patch. The characters were warm, fun, and easy to root for, making it the perfect autumn read.

✨ Highly recommend this one to all my pumpkin-crazed, fall-loving friends!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#FallReads #PumpkinBooks #LetsGiveEmPumpkinToTalkAbout #CozyReads #SeasonalBooks #BookReview

Cheesy but so cute, exactly what I needed for the start of fall season.

The narrator is newer to me but I enjoyed her voice and will
Look for her again!

Absolutely adored this audio the book. I feel this is soo cute and sweet during the fall months. Gah! Cant wait to reread the physical one in October for the vibe :)

Super cute, low angst, slightly spicy fall read! I loved the premise of this one! Much different than anything I’ve ever read before! I loved the deep messages here but also that it was still very lighthearted and even had some laugh out loud moments! Super cute and I can’t wait to see more from this author! 🎃

DNF at 50%

I don’t know what it was but I felt Very disconnected from everything in this. The thing that got me where I was Like okay I cant, was the first spicy scene. Like what??? LMAOO I was shook for the wrong reasons. It was very quick too which was okay but I couldn’t do it 😭

great intro to the fall season!! loved the audiobook and will definitely be buying a copy if this book!!

I maintain that this is a queer slutty socially conscious Hallmark movie and I dug it. I'm here for it.

we've got a midsize/fat woman main character named Sadie who is queer of some variety and she is the black cat of this black cat sunshine relationship. she goes back to the small town to watch over her dad's pumpkin patch for the season and to grow the biggest pumpkin. only when she gets there all of her dad's pumpkins have been ravaged by the neighbor's hogs and so she is screaming and throwing and that's when she meets her brand new neighbor. he walks up on her having a little bit of a meltdown and offers to help. he is a tech mogul millionaire (please know that he is a millionaire and not a billionaire because billionaires are gross and we love that the author did not choose to go that route) and essentially he retired at like 30 and owns this farm and is really dedicated to figuring out all these different squash varieties. oh I remember his name it's Josh because he calls his company Josh's Squashes which is funny.

anyway Josh offers for Sadie to take care of a pumpkin from his patch and grow it and compete in the competition and the two of them form a little bit of a friendship but turns into a friend with benefits situation. this book is super smutty and I mean that in a good way. it is way smutier than I anticipated from this rom-commy cover but a lot of it worked. to be fair I almost always think there's too much smut so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I'm sure most people are here for all the smut.

anyway I feel like the best part of this book is that the characters are socially conscious and are really aware of their own privilege and experience and how all of their interactions affect others and themselves. they're not willing to take any sort of shit from anybody. I feel like there's always something in a book like this that just gives a little bit of the ick but there wasn't and I loved that.

The things that I wanted more of that would have thrown this book into five star territory:

More discussion about fatness. Sadie is definitely plus size of some variety. she's described as having a belly and being curvy and being soft and but I wish there had been a little bit more on maybe her side of things to describe living in a fat body because as a fat person it's just not enough to say a soft belly. now don't get me wrong I love bellies and I love people who love bellies and that is a far step ahead of a lot of romance books but I wish there was a teeny tiny bit more.

I also wanted more discussion about queerness. this is one of those blink and you miss it situations. at one point she says that she had an ex who was a woman, and then another point he asks her if she dates men which is a very queer friendly way of saying are you attracted to men / are you queer etc. however I really feel like those two instances are very coded and they're so subtle that unless you're queer yourself I think it's going to get missed. I don't think that there are a lot of straight people who would read this book who would necessarily pick up on that or qualify this as a queer book which is a bummer. she's definitely bi or pan and I think that that acknowledgment of that label or even just a bigger discussion about it would have gone a long way for me personally.

Sadie Fox has forsaken everything that has to do with her hometown of Pea Blossom, Indiana and her father‘s beloved pumpkin patch… That is until he asks her to come home and grow a winning pumpkin for the state fair while her father’s out of town.

She comes across obstacle after obstacle in this project, and the biggest one being her handsome tech millionnaire Neighbour, Josh Thatcher, who is too nice and giving to a fault.

Sadie has grown up feeling that she is too much and not deserving of love and care, and Josh just has too much love and care to give. Can these two find a way to fit perfectly together… And grow the biggest pumpkin in the state?

I listened to the audio narrated by Adelaide Fernport and really enjoyed her voice work for both Sadie and Josh. She did a great job bringing both characters to life with their own unique personalities. She also managed to create dynamic background characters that really sparked when they came up.

It just shows you that opposites do attract and you really can come home again!

This is the story of FMC Sadie, a textile artist who returns to her childhood home to assist her dad in growing his prize winning pumpkins, and MMC Josh, a wealthy tech guy relatively new to town, who sells squash at the local farmers market. This book is a Hallmark movie with spice. It took me a bit to get into the story but overall I enjoyed it. Adelaide Fernport did a great job with the narration.

Tropes:
*Slow burn
*He falls first
*She’s grumpy/he’s sunshine
*Small town
*Black cat/Golden retriever

Sadie Fox returns to Indiana to take care of her father's pumpkin patch. She arrives to discover the entire crop has been destroyed by the wild hogs next door. She then meets the next-door neighbor, Josh, who arranges for her to have a pumpkin to enter into the pumpkin weigh-off. She is a black cat to his golden retriever.

This was like if a Hallmark movie had sex scenes. It was a love letter to Indiana, a state I have driven all the way through just to be able to not set foot in, because ewwww.

This might be for you, but it was not for me.

I also was not a huge fan of the narrator.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harlequin Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

This was okay. Light, fluffy, low stakes. Audiobook narrator was solid and enjoyable to listen to. This was an easy listen.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced audio copy!

A cozy, spicy romance perfect to read during the fall season (and totally makes me want to grow a huge pumpkin just in time for my local Giant Pumpkin Fest—it’s a real thing!). Sadie returns to her small hometown to care for father’s pumpkin patch, where she encounters a ruined patch and her much to happy, secretly wealthy neighbor Josh, with a knowledge of growing squash. I enjoyed the reverse grumpy x sunshine aspect, where Josh works to open up Sadie to appreciate and appreciate the little things in life. There was humor and spice and everything nice!
I overall thought this was a cute, quick and fun fall romance, but I did have to displace my thoughts of realism on some plot aspects, got used to the third person point-of-view, and overlooked that some the spice seemed out of place and forced at times.
I started this with my eyes but finished with my ears. The sole female narrator, Adelaide Fernport, did a great job and made for an enjoyable listening experience, I didn’t miss that there was not a male narrator. 3.5 stars

This was such a cute and cozy story! I loved the small-town vibe and the way both main and side characters felt connected and well-developed. The FMC's complicated relationship with her father was really relatable, and I appreciated how that emotional layer added depth to the story.

I especially enjoyed the pumpkin-growing contest between the FMC and MMC—it added such a fun seasonal element! The contrast between the FMC and MMC made their dynamic even more enjoyable to read, and their banter and chemistry kept me hooked from start to finish.

I received an ALC from NetGalley, and the audiobook was a quick, easy listen—perfect for anyone looking for a fall-themed romance. The narrators fit their characters well, and the audio quality was great with no weird muffled sounds. Both narrators were consistent and really brought the story to life.

Overall, this was a fun, cute, and spicy read. I only wish I had saved it for fall instead of listening in July—definitely one to cozy up with when the leaves start changing!

This is such an adorable book and really put me right into the Fall mood.

The narrators on this were amazing and really kept me pulled into the story.

I love seeing plus size rep in more romance books and having an alt FMC made my heart so happy. This book was fast paced and really held my interest. The relationship between Sadie and Josh was adorable and I even used some of this book knowledge when I planted my own pumpkin patch this year too!!

This cozy Fall Rom-Com was not what I expected—and I mean that in the best way.

From the cover, I was fully prepared for a Hallmark-style cinnamon spice story with black cat x golden retriever vibes…and while those vibes delivered, what I didn’t expect was for the heat to crank WAY up about halfway in. Like…Indian Summer heatwave hotness!

Our FMC is a total black cat—sharp, independent, and fully in control—while our MMC is the sweetest golden retriever of a man who just wants to be wanted. But make no mistake: this book sizzles. She’s the Dom, he’s the soft sub, and together they are pumpkin SPICE in the best way. 🧡

If you’re into:

🍂 Small Town Romance

😾 Black Cat x 🐶 Golden Retriever Energy

💥 Grumpy x Sunshine

😳 Forced Proximity

🧠 Anxiety/Control Rep

🔥 Dom/Sub Dynamics

🎃 And an MMC who just wants to be enough for her (one squash at a time)



I’m giving it 4.5 stars for spice, vibes, and the surprise depth in both characters. It’s the cozy-spicy autumn romance you didn’t know you needed—but trust me, you do!

New to me author and narrator. This book had some fun spicy scenes that were surprisingly emotional and I really felt the MC's relationship develop. I really enjoyed the story and the struggles Sadie seemed to meet at ever turn since returning home to help her father. I love how Josh is so open with her and allows her to be who she is, and give her what she needs. I prefer first person from a dual POV, but I think overall the story was well done and the narrator did a great job.

What an incredibly cute, cozy Rom-Com! This follows the budding romance of Sadie, a goth textile artist, and Josh, the epitome of a golden retriever. There is drama, a tornado, and fierce competition as the two maneuver through the pumpkin patch.

I really enjoyed this lighthearted romance with the writing by Isabelle Popp and narration by Adalaide Ferngood. I would like to hear more from both of them. I read this off and on in three days (stupid work and sleep disrupting my reading sprints!) I hope that you, will check out this new seasonal favorite!

Man did I want to love this one. I do think if I read it with my eyeballs and not listened to the audiobook, I would’ve enjoyed it more. The narrator did nothing for me and this definitely should’ve been a dual narrator situation. Third person POV has never bothered me but for some reason this distracted me more than anything. The POVs switch only at a new chapter but with only one narrator, I would get lost on whose POV I was listening to. The spice was spicy but also came out of nowhere… Josh doesn’t even cuss but has a closet full of sex toys that his new temporary neighbor finds and wants to use. The spice was weirdly dirty for someone who is that sweet and it just felt weird. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Overall, it was cute and definitely a good fall-esque read and it was a debut novel so I will give it some grace, not that it was bad just a bit clunky. I’ll definitely check out her next book and hope this was just an anomaly for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.