Calling all “Gilmore Girls” fans! Looking for a cute, clean, quick, fall romance? Well, look no further than this autumnal favorite, “Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice” by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc.
Follow Lucy, a junior in a small New England town named Briar Glen, as she spends her days with her friends at school and her evenings helping her mother run their very own coffee shop, Cup o’ Jo. Every fall, the beautiful town of Briar Glen is filled with tourists taking in the sights of changing leaves and the smells of fresh brewed coffee.
Lucy and her mom do good business during the colder months and are able to enjoy the seasons themselves. Life is good until one day their biggest competitor opens up a shop right across the street from their very own Cup o’ Jo. To make matters worse, Lucy has to spend her school days with the owner’s son, Jack.
Lucy has put it upon herself to do whatever she can to stop their competition, Java Junction, from running Cup o’ Jo into the ground and to save the coffee shop her mother has worked so hard to run. Will she be able to win the yearly bake competition like she did last year and earn the cash prize? Or will she have to put aside her hatred for the overdone drink, pumpkin spice latte, and come up with her own perfect recipe? But of course, that is easier said than done. And what about Jack? Will she ever be able to set aside her differences with him, or will her animosity last forever?
If you love anything fall, “Gilmore Girls” or romance, then “Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice” is for you. Cicatelli-Kuc paints the world of Briar Glen in beautiful autumnal colors. Following Lucy as she spends her days with her friends going to annual events and activities gives you a reminiscent feeling of your own years past. Cicatelli-Kuc smoothly weaves in an important message to people of all ages: don’t waste your life focusing on work and money but make time for fun and friends as well.
It is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, especially around the holidays, but money will only take you so far in life. You need memories and good times. Also, never forget to enjoy your childhood. Be a child and don’t grow up too fast. You’ll soon grow up, look back and long for those good ol’ times.
Reading such powerful reminders in such a cozy romance like Cicatelli-Kuc’s “Pumpkins Spice and Everything Nice” is a huge bonus to an already wonderful book.
• McKinnley Weedin is a book seller at Inklings Bookshop. She and other Inklings staffers review books in this space every week.