Sweeter Than Pumpkin Spice

by Isabelle Popp, Nele Junghanns (Translator), Sophie Wölbling (Translator)

Dieses Buch gibt es in zwei mit und ohne Farbschnitt. Sobald die Farbschnitt-Ausgabe ausverkauft ist, liefern wir die Ausgabe ohne Farbschnitt aus.


Sadie Fox würde alles tun, um den Respekt ihres mürrischen Vaters zu gewinnen. Ihr ihn bis zur Kürbisernte auf der Familienfarm vertreten, einen gigantischen Kürbis züchten und damit den Indiana State Fair-Wettbewerb gewinnen. Dafür reist die überzeugte Großstädterin sogar von ihrer Wahlheimat L.A. zurück in die Provinz. Doch gleich nach ihrer Ankunft zerstören Wildschweine das Feld. Ein Albtraum! Dass ausgerechnet ihr chronisch gut gelaunter Nachbar - Tech-Millionär und Neu-Kürbisfarmer Josh - helfen möchte, kommt bei Sadie gar nicht gut an. Irgendetwas führt er doch im Schilde. Aber dann verwüstet ein Tornado die Fox Farm, und Josh bietet ihr an, bei ihm unterzukommen ...

Genres: Romance, Audiobook, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Halloween, Adult, Fiction

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2025

About the author

Isabelle Popp's first attempt at writing a romance novel came in middle school, when she began a story about a weirdo girl who could photosynthesize. That project was abandoned, but she has plenty of other silly ideas in the hopper. When she isn't reading or writing, she's probably knitting, solving crossword puzzles, or scouring used book stores for vintage Gothic romance paperbacks. Originally from New York, she's as surprised as anyone that she lives in Indiana. Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About is her first novel.

Reviews

[TheConnieFox · Rating 4 out of 5]

♥ My Overall Thoughts ♥

This book was such a fun, short read. It left me wanting more! It is funny, romantic, emotional, sad, and full of hope. It is a medium pace read with likable characters! It is perfect for the Fall season, or any season really! It also comes with some spice to it! It is a small town romance with a grumpy and sunshine trope! The author did a great job at keeping me engaged throughout the entire book!

♥ Quick Synopsis ♥

It is about a girl named Sadie Fox who goes back to her hometown to take care of her Dad’s pumpkin patch. She would only go during summertime to grow a huge pumpkin, that was the agreement her and her father had made. However, when she gets there, she discovers the patch is completely destroyed. Then comes along a lovable neighbor, named Josh Thatcher. He is all sunshine, while she is the exact opposite. Feelings start happening between them as this cute pumpkin story unfolds! I absolutely adored the main characters in this book! Be sure to check out the content warnings. I give this book a solid 4 out of 5 pumpkins/stars!

♥ Thank You ♥

Thank you to NetGalley, author Isabelle Popp and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

♥ Release Date ♥

Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About is expected to be published on August 26, 2025!

♥ Quick Overview ♥

🎃 Small Town
🎃 Grumpy x Sunshine
🎃 Neighbors
🎃 Fall/Anytime vibes
🎃 Edgy FMC / Golden Retriever MMC

❥ ツ౨ৎ

[Smutty Little Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook ♥️

3.7 Stars

This is black cat FMC meets sweet and innocent golden retriever. It’s a cute storyline with lovable characters. An audiobook you can turn on when you want a simple and sweet fall story. It’s giving small humble town vibes and I enjoyed it.

[Sara Lemmonade · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

😈 Content Warnings
• Mild language
• Brief alcohol use
• Family grief & small-town tension  

💕 Tropes
• Rivals to Lovers
• Small-Town Setting
• Fake Competitors → Real Feelings
• One-Season Romance
• Secret Past

📖 Perfect for Readers Who Liked/similar books…
• Pumpkin Spice Café
• Love and other words by Christina Lauren

🧭 Age Recommendation
16+

🎵 Song Match
“Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Listen: I get that spice is big right now. And while I'm generally okay with that when there's explicit scenes in service to the plot, I'm not as okay with it when the "plot" is in service to the porn.

This thing has no plot. It's literally one cable installer in a g-string away from being bad 80's porn. Within the first minutes of meeting Josh, the author has Sadie telling him all about her ex-boyfriend to whom she traded oral sex for rides in his car. In flat-delivery detail. (Folks? That's a red flag. Run.)

From there, there's no real plot development. Just banging. When not banging, they're having weirdly disjointed thoughts about how the other's body fluids taste. It went way past oversharing and sailed straight into EWW GROSS territory.

(I was going to explain here that I'm not a prude. I like doing the sex; I just don't want to read about it in that level of detail. But honestly? If that's what passes for sexy these days? I'm out. Give me a wimple and send my prude self to a convent. )

There's little to no character development and by the time I finally started dissociating while listening to the audiobook in order to protect my brain from the stomach-turning descriptions of light BDSM and giant toys, there wasn't a plot, either. Something something artist gets her groove back by banging the tech guy next door something pumpkins something Indiana something daddy issues. That's all I could gather between descriptions of sexybits and throbbing things in one's pants.

If you're into books that should have been PDF porn on obscure erotica blogs, you might like this. If you were, however, looking for a cute little fall romance (as the back cover copy would suggest), run from this. Light it on fire and find something -- ANYTHING -- else.

Ugh. Just no.

[CarlysGrowingTBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️ rounded up

A small town/fall vibes rom com with banter, sass and a lot of (cough pumpkin) spice.

Releases: August 26, 2025

Audiobook Stats:
⏰: 8 hours 8 minutes
🎤: Adelaide Fernport
The narrator does a good job of the different voices needed and had great tempo. The narration was clear and concise. I was able to listen to this audiobook at the lower end of my preferred speed and I was able to understand everything clearly and follow along well. While the audiobook narrator didn't stand out as a top favorite to me I didn't have any big complaints about the narration in general.

Themes:
🎃: Generational family trauma
🎃: Redeeming yourself from your past
🎃: Fill others cups with abundance
🎃: Learning to love yourself and let others love you

Representation:
🐗: Alternative/Edgy FMC
🐗: Artist FMC
🐗: Plus Size FMC
🐗: Light BDSM

Tropes:
💗: Alternative FMC/Golden Retriever MMC
💗: Tattooed FMC
💗: Billionaire MMC
💗: Philanthropist MMC

🥵: Spice: 🌶️🌶️
🧟‍♂️: Gore: 🚫
Potential Triggers: Generational trauma, Abortion discussions **check authors website/social media

Short Synopsis:
Sadie is called back to Pea Blossom to tend to her father's award winning pumpkin patch. A short term hiatus during which she intends to fix her artists block, see her sister and win the spice pumpkin weighing contest. She didn't plan on her pumpkins being destroyed or falling for her dad's tech millionaire neighbor. But Sadie can't wait to go back to LA where there's decent tacos and no one snarks are her edgy bob and black clothing. Will Sadie uproot her entire life for love?

General Thoughts:
This audiobook was pretty adorable. This is going to be a great read for the fall months as the leaves turn and pumpkin spice reigns supreme again. With lots of spice and an adorable plot line, it's a quick and satisfying read.

I feel like the characters were pretty realistic and made decisions that made sense to their personality. Sadie was a fun character and I loved her alternative style and grumpy demeanor. I felt the character growth was most prominent with Sadie. Josh was a ball of sunshine and generous to a fault. It was fun watching these characters play off of each other.

One of the subplots was a little silly to me. The retaliation for the destroyed pumpkins seemed like it could have been totally eliminated with zero repercussions to the overall plot. It just felt out of place to me with everything else going on. However, I did enjoy the talks of art and the various cultural elements involved in textiles. I wish there had been more of that. I would have liked to see more resolution between Sadie and her father. But it also didn't seem lacking within the text. Just a personal preference.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel and I won't be opposed to reading more by the author in the future.

Disclaimer: I read this book as a free audiobook through the Harlequin Audio and NetGalley . All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let Give Em Pumpkin to Talk about is a small town romance, that I think would be enjoyed by fans of Laurie Gilmore’s Dream Harbor series.

I’ve been struggling to put into words how I feel about this book. I think my thoughts all boil down to the fact that I didn’t like the writing style. The book was descriptive, but things felt written as if they were matter of fact and that was hard for me to digest.

I don’t have specific issues with the plot or anything, the writing style just made me not want to read & made me not like the characters.

All in all, this book isn’t for me but it could be for others. 2 stars.

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for honest feedback.

[Dani (Daniiireads)]

DNF 7%

Nope

[Danielle Pulliam · Rating 4 out of 5]

**𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘** 𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝑮𝒊𝒗𝒆 '𝑬𝒎 𝑷𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝑨𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝑰𝒔𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒑

Release Date: August 26, 2025

4⭐️3🌶

This cute little small town romance is full of all the fall cozy vibes. Sadie Fox

has been estranged from her pumpking farmer father, Stu, for quite a few years. But she agrees to spend a few months of the growing season in Pea Blossom to help out her father while he away nursing his sick brother back to health.

Of course Sadie runs into trouble, and of course the handsome twenty something neighbor takes it upon himself to help her with all her pumpkin needs and otherwise.

Sadie and Josh have more in common than at first glance. He made a small fortune after creating a few gaming apps and then selling them. Sadie is also a creator as a textile weaver. 

This was a cute and cozy little fall read. A good break from heavier reading.

Themes/Tropes:

🍁Wednesday Vibes
🍁Cozy autumn
🍁Small town romance
🍁City girl vs farmer guy
🍁Rom Com
🍁Hallmark Movie Vibes
🍁FMC Baddie in Black Clothes and Tats

TW:

✨Adult Language
✨Sexual Content

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's give 'em Pumkin to Talk About by Isabelle Popp
Book Blurb:She’s a little edgy. He’s a lot of sunshine.
Love’s about to catch them completely off gourd…

Rating: ****
Feels: Amusement, Fun, Ohhhh , Adorable.
Style: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Halloween

First published August 26, 2025: 288 pages Kindle

This was just the type of cute, fun fall read that is great to get fluffy with. I love a good curvey FMC with some bite who knows what she wants. Watching Sadie as she returned to her old hometown and had to deal with her super peppy new neighbor was a feet kicking good time. Never done a pumpkin raising contest but now I kinda wanna go see one. The competition between Sadie and Josh and getting to know the other fun side characters in the town was such a cozy good fun time. Josh is just the kinda adorable sweetness you are rooting for all long (as is the whole town.) Really enjoyed this cozy fall romance read.

Favorite Quote: He was an overeager puppy and she was an aloof cat, and he was bound to get his nose swiped at least once or twice.

This book has:
Small Town
Grumpy X Sunshine
Plus Sized FMC
Found Family
Fall Vibes
He Falls First

Thank you to Isabelle Popp and Harlequin Romance for this gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Ashley’s Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was it perfect? No. Do I think you should read it? Hell yes I do

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About
2✨

too much spice, too little plot..

I did not enjoy it, sadly.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Harlequin Romance and NetGalley for the digital ARC.

This is a cute fall read. I always love small town and grumpy/sunshine. I do wish things were a little more developed between the main characters. It was fun though and good for fall. 3.5 rounded up.

[Quilted.reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this sweet fall inspired story. A quick read at 288 pages. Like all hallmark movies 👀 this story starts with our FMC going to her small hometown for an agreement that she had with her father to help the family pumpkin patch. She has to help grow a huge pumpkin every year etc etc, but when she arrives into town, the pumpkin patch is destroyed QR mail, main character, Josh Thatcher, and this is where the romance begins. It’s more of a grumpy sunshine trope.which chefs kiss 💋 blossomed into the cutest love story. Highly recommend for my fall loving people like myself.

[Chasing Silhouettes · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

"Sadie was a tornado, here for a season and gone again, a pure force of nature. And he was utterly defenseless against her." (Ch 10)

Cozy Autumn Small Town Romantic Comedy | Grumpy x Sunshine

"He was an overeager puppy and she was an aloof cat, and he was bound to get his nose swiped at once or twice." (Ch 12)

Love books and stories that bring a series of unfortunate events to the characters. To where they have to find a way to triumph over the obstacles or where the events bring them closer together as they try to solve the issues.

This was a cute cozy read, though wish there were just a little more oomph and excitement.

"Sadie was something else entirely. A sturdy mug of soup that would burn his mouth." (Ch 3)

eARC courtesy of NetGalley / Afterglow Books by Harlequin

[Emery Bencini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute and fluffy read for Fall.

[Becky (romantic_pursuing_feels) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: Some of my goodreads shelves can be spoilers

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)
Sexual 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)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex 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
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy in e-book format through NetGalley but switched to audiobook (again from NetGalley) at about 30%
Why I chose this book: I liked the cover!
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between I believe a cishet hero and bisexual heroine (she mentions past girlfriends)
(Descriptions found at end of my review)

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

First line:
Some parents keep their grown children’s bedrooms like shrines.

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.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: This is my first
Average rating from me: 4 stars
Favorite book: This one by default.

Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- parental abandonment and toxic parenting
- talk of abortion and divorce (side character)
Author content warnings? Didn’t hear any on audio


Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

Safe sex: Condoms used
How’s the consent? It’s good
Pregnancy/children in story? Heroine doesn’t want children, but her sister does a surprise pregnancy towards the end of the book and talks abortion. She has the baby and the heroine is an aunt in the epilogue.
Chapter 10 (43%) - kisses in a server room with the power out
Chapter 11 (49%) - heroine self pleasure but interrupted
Chapter 12 – 🔥 she invites him to watch and leads to mutual masturbation
Chapter 15 (62%) - kisses at the art gallergy
Chapter 16 (65%) - 🔥she ties him to the bed and they use sex toys, her on top
Chapter 18 (73%) - 🔥bj for him, doggy (?)
Chapter 23 (85%) - kisses, touches

Total chapters: 27 and an epilogue



Extra stuff like what my review breakdown means, where to find me, and book clubs


Full break down on what my ratings above mean here:
Overall: How I felt about it everything considered!
Readability: How ‘readable’ was the book? Did I fly through it? Did I have to tell myself to pick it back up repeatedly? Were any passages confusing? (I will probably score like (1) is literally unreadable due to formatting/typing errors, etc (2) There were lots of errors that made it difficult to read OR It was extremely confusing and I had to reread passages to make sense of it OR I disliked it so much I had to bribe myself to keep reading (3) I didn’t really want to keep reading and would have preferred to abandon the read and start something else OR some minor continuity issues/confusion (4) I liked it fine, maybe a minor error or 2. I was happy to pick it up when I had time. (5) I never wanted to put this down. I thought about it when I wasn’t reading it. I hid in the bathroom from my kids to read. I threw inappropriate food at my children for dinner so I could read instead.)
Feels: Totally subjective to each person but did the book give me any tingles? Any butterflies? Did it rip my heart out (in a good way?)
Emotional depth: How well do I feel I know the characters at the end? How much did I feel their emotions throughout the story?
Sexual tension: Again, subjective, but how strong was the wanting and longing to me between the characters? A book might have strong sexual tension without a single touch.
Romance: Was there romance? Did romantic things happen? This can be actions/words/thoughts of the characters and again is subjective.
Sensuality: This is how the intimate scenes are written. Kisses and sexual scenes – how sensual were they? Were they on the mechanical side? Was there emotional pull tied in? Were the details explicit or flowery? These are subjective but generally (1) too short to get a good judgement (2) not all what I'm looking for - very vague or flowery prose (3) either not explicit enough or not enough emotional pull (too mechanical/physically descriptive without the emotions) (4) what I love in a scene (5) absolute perfection - perfect balance of emotional longing and explicit descriptions
Sex Scene Length: How long the bedroom scenes are (generally (1) is 1-3 sentences (2) is a few paragraphs to a page-ish (3) is about average, a few pages (4) more well developed scenes, quite a few pages with descriptions (5) the majority of the book takes place in the bedroom. This is always hard to tell for me on audio!
Steam Scale: Generally, each flame is a scene. If scenes are super close together I sometimes combine them. If a scene is super short or so vague I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t count it. There’s some levels of grey but generally the number of flames is how many sex scenes there are (I max out at 5 so I’ll put a + after if there’s more than that)


Find me
Instagram || The Storygraph || Bookbub ||

Book Clubs
The Ton and the Tartans (Historical Romance)
Upturned Petticoats and Undone Cravats (Historical Romance with Steam Requirements)
A Love Less Ordinary (Science Fiction, Paranormal, Monster, Fantasy)
Modern Manuscripts (Contemporary Romance)
Words for the Wicked (Contemporary Romance with Steam Requirements)
Vintage Romance (Old School Romance – published 2000 and prior)

[Anna]

Respectfully DNF @ 42%

Did the fun title and badass looking female main character sparked my interest in this book? Yes. 100%

The set up was really promising: Nice MMC, a grumpy and black clothing loving FMC, small town, a pumpkin weigh-off. Sounds like the perfect seasonal autumny read.

Unfortunately, two major points didn’t work for me.
One was the writing. It felt like a mouthful of words every time I read a paragraph. It didn’t really flow as nicely and I noticed that I either had to reread certain sections or that I was completely zoning out. Especially during passages about Josh’s tech stuff or Sadie’s textile work.
Two was the chemistry between the main characters. Or the lack thereof. I have rarely read a romance where the main characters barely or didn’t vibe, which makes it hard to root for them as a couple.

I stopped reading right after their first kiss, which, to be very honest, I didn’t even know how we got there. So regarding the romance & relationship, not sure what exactly happens in the other 60% of the book.

Realistically, if I have kept on reading, I highly doubt that the book would make it past 2 stars, maybe a 2.5 at best.

Thank you to Afterglow Books/Mills & Boon for providing this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Jayna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like this tried too hard to check off too many boxes. Things felt forced at times, which gave it a very fake affect. Grumpy, cynical, bisexual, potty mouthed, horny, goth looking girl who fled to LA (and DOESN'T DRIVE- IN LA). Sweet, doormat, puppy dog, shy around girls, coder dude. Multiple non-binary characters in rural Indiana. All so cliched.

Adelaide Fernport narrates the audiobook. Not having dual narrators hurt this one more than usual.


I received an advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[b.andherbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

after sacrificing some of her artistic integrity (and a bit of her sanity) to producing a textile based off a vacuous influencer's butt cheek color, Sadie Fox agrees to return to her father's farm to tend his award winning pumpkins while he heads to care for his ailing brother. Mostly estranged since Sadie had a teenage-fit of angst involving smashing some of said pumpkins, she hopes this trip might help her process some of her ill feelings toward the small Indiana town she was raised in.

Upon arriving, a horde of hogs has decimated her father's pumpkins, and any reason for her to stay. That is until his new neighbor and new squash aficionado Josh steps in to help. Josh has always wanted to best Sadie's father in the heaviest pumpkin contest, but he wants to win fair and square.

Sadie, suspicious of the very earnest Josh who gave up a video game empire to turn into a squash farmer, reluctantly accepts and discovers she might actually have a place in town after all.

this story had good ideas, it just had a bit too many of them. Sadie & Josh both have/had very interesting careers, they both have a TON of character traits that are fun, quirky, and I was excited about. The small-town wasn't all lily white and perfect, there were multiple characters of color, and queer characters. There was humor, and banter. So many good, fun things. also surprising spicy.

That said, this felt a bit like a slog through details despite only being 250 pages, and a lot of it was repetitive. There was a lot of showing, and I wanted more emotion building to complement the descriptions. the sexy times weren't as full of heat because I was missing chemistry between josh and sadie.

this is an author I will continue to watch, because I believe the right elements are all there, just some work to fully paint the picture they were going for.

thank you to the publisher for the ARC; I also checked out a paperback from my library.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to Talk About by Isabelle Popp is excellent, give me 15 of them. The story follows grumpy Sadie Fox as she takes over her dad's pumpkin patch while he takes care of his brother. The farm gets destroyed by hogs from a neighboring farm and the little sunshine Josh Thatcher decides he is going to help Sadie.

This book is so stinking cute. I liked how respectful and sweet Josh was. I always love when the girl is grumpy and the guy is a ray of sunshine, I find that so cute. I very much enjoyed how into both of their jobs the two of them were. I thought that the fact that it was a little bit of a "finding yourself" story was *chef's kiss*. All around it was such a fun book that is just trying to be a fun little read and that's exactly what I wanted when I picked this book up.

I did immersive reading on this book and while I love the written portion, I adored the audiobook. It wasn't a duet but I still loved it just so much! I thought it was phenomenal. The narrator did such a good job and I highly recommend picking it up if you can afford to.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes cozy romances with golden retriever cinnamon roll MMC. I do not recommend this book to anyone who likes dark boys because you won't like it. If you are in the mood for a cute little cozy light fall vibes read then you might really like this book. I do have to give two warning: the first is that the mom is just a bad mom, it is more described than on screen but she is a bad mom and the second is that the dad is mediocre at best so if that triggers you, maybe skip this one.

Tropes: grumpy x sunshine, midwest, millionaire romance, cinnamon roll mmc, golden retriever mmc, he falls first

Triggers: bad mom, mediocre dad

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin - Romance | Afterglow Books by Harlequin, Harlequin Audio, and Isabelle Popp for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Miranda | _pandathebibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadie is called back to Pea Blossom to tend to her father’s award winning pumpkin patch. When she gets there she finds all the pumpkins are completely destroyed. Her father’s neighbor, Josh, finds a way to be able to help her out and still enter the pumpkin contest. Soon the pumpkins are not the only thing that’s growing as a budding romance begins to form between the two.

At 288 pages this is a quick read. The set up was really promising, but the execution fell short for me. I had a hard time connecting to the characters and the plot. I love a grumpy x sunshine and it being reversed gave me high hopes. This was a cute read, but overall I felt like something was missing.

Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About is a small town romance filled with fall vibes. It’s giving Hallmark romance with a bit of spice. This is a great book to add to your fall TBR for the perfect cozy transition away from summer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for this ARC opportunity. This is an honest and voluntary review.

[Ms. Woc Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's Give 'Em Pumpkin to talk About promises rivals to lovers but doesn't really deliver. There's no real genuine rivalry here and if anything they instantly become friends. Sadie returns to town to tend to her father's pumpkin patch and instantly starts up a situationship with kind millionaire neighbor Josh who despite all his riches just wants to live a quiet life farming the perfect squash.

Sadie has a complicated relationship with both her parents who aren't together and a supportive relationship with her half sister. Those scenes added some depth to a story that was otherwise very surface level.

This isn't something I would normally pick up but Harlequin sent me a copy in a book box and I was intrigued. The author tried hard to squeeze every trending trope and archetype in here.

[Esme · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really vibe with this book. I didn't like the characters or the plot for that matter. I just couldn't get myself to connect to anything. I'm not sure if it was the writing style (which is fine not everyone's work is for everyone) or just the story in of itself. It read like a YA which is where I think it lost me when the spicy scenes would pop up and almost jump scare me and had to remind myself this was adult. With that said the book is not bad. The plot was intriguing, well described and the pacing was good. I did also find the romance to be pretty sweet and cute. Seriously don't let my review discourage you from reading this one I do think it was a case of wrong book wrong time.

It would make a great quick read for any fall TBR!

The audiobook was good, I do wish there would have been two narrators but Adelaide did a very great job bringing Sadie to life.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for the audio copy! *All opinions are my own*

[Ashton Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ I went back and forth between a 3 and 4 star rating, but ultimately decided to round up because while the plot itself was pretty typical for a fall pumpkin book, I did appreciate that the heroine didn’t have a typical relationship with her parents and this explored her childhood trauma and strained/estranged relationships with them as an adult.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted cosy and fall and pumpkins. Instead I got... well I don't even really know.

Was there a plot in the room with us?

It felt disconnected.
There's alot of spice in this. It felt like the book was only written for the spice and not the pumpkins.

[Katibeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hallmark turned pumkinSPICED!

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 50%
It might just not be the book for me.... I can see parts of this that are cute and fun.... but it's not written well and I can't ignore it.
I tried...

[Me, My Shelf, & I]

DNF @ 8% (but I was easily struggling since 0% and for sure since 2%)

I believe this is a debut and I wanted to give it more benefit of the doubt and time to cook, but I'm just not enjoying this read and can't imagine continuing will flip my opinion favorably. So, so sorry.

The writing here is rough and clunky and needed a few more passes with the editor. There's also a redundancy issue where the same details are over emphasized.

I love fall and small town romance! And am myself of the 'spooky all year' variety! So this should've been a perfect book for me based on the premise. Oh well.

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Some ch 1 writing issues:
"The pumpkins should have been right where Stu left them, growing in the sprawling patch behind the house she'd been raised in."
So this is a good example of how the author is trying to over-stuff details into a sentence that makes it overlong and wordy. It's also redundant since the opening paragraph is literally about returning not just to her childhood home, but the childhood bedroom her dad has barely changed (it's untouched apart from him adding a grow shelf for pumpkin starters in the middle).

"The fruit that grew from compact spheres to outrageously large orange shapes that looked like they'd melted in the sun, all butchered."
By trying to avoid overuse of the word 'pumpkin,' we're instead treated to this convoluted monstrosity of a sentence. The messiness and additional processing needed to figure out what the author is saying undercuts the potential emotional impact of the moment (not to mention that shapes and spheres are detached concepts, placing the imagery at odds with the use of 'butchered').

"Her brow crumpled as she realized her purpose for returning to Pea Blossom, Indiana, had been undone by this decimation. She wished she could teleport back to LA and forget this flirtation with the pumpkin husbandry she used to love so much. This visit was supposed to redeem her past, not repeat it."
This is a full paragraph example and, again, all of the pieces of information are not only repeated throughout the chapter, but repeated on either side of this paragraph. It makes the reading experience feel like wading through molasses because we're not getting anywhere new. And because none of the sentences are written in a straightforward way, the reader is spending more time reading through it.

[Jess Clamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ 3🌶️
Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Forced Proximity, Rivals, Grumpy/Sunshine

Text-
This leans REAL hard into the pumpkin growing. It almost felt like fiction with a subplot of romance (with spice).

Both MCs felt pretty awkward to me. I mean they seem kinda realistic but they’re a bit quirky.

Overall it just left like something was missing for me. I wasn’t really feeling the chemistry and it seemed more like telling than showing.

Audiobook-
Single narrator, which makes sense for the book. I guess it’s what you’d call an “unvoiced” narration. Which is fine, it’s just not my preference. Her voice was nice and easy to listen to.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read an ARC copy and offer my feedback.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found myself skimming this. I found Sadie to be extremely off putting and even though I’m someone who curses a lot, she drove me crazy.