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The Lonely Girl's Vegetable Patch
A rural romp through bisexual awakening and obsessive love, as told by one unforgettably unhinged millennial.
Twentysomething and aimless in 2005, Drew moves to Vermont’s countryside and takes a job at a stable. Through the musings of her lovelorn trainer Tristan, she glimpses Cleo—his elusive ex, a woman seventeen years his senior who just opened a new coffee shop in town. Hungry for an indefinite more, Drew applies to work there and quietly lusts for her alluring new boss. As her slippery dynamic with Cleo begins to lose grip, Drew flails along her own boundaries, unsure where she ends and where Cleo begins.
Amid the wintry farmland, Drew’s want and anxiety flare against false peace, piqued by Cleo’s hidden appetite for reckless behavior. The web they weave around each other ensnares townspeople, tourists, and past and future lovers, until a wild experiment tests the sticky threads of their bondage. For fans of Big Swiss and Milk Fed, Genevieve Plunkett’s latest is an offbeat ode to losing yourself by going too far, written in masterful prose that balloons with longing.
Twentysomething and aimless in 2005, Drew moves to Vermont’s countryside and takes a job at a stable. Through the musings of her lovelorn trainer Tristan, she glimpses Cleo—his elusive ex, a woman seventeen years his senior who just opened a new coffee shop in town. Hungry for an indefinite more, Drew applies to work there and quietly lusts for her alluring new boss. As her slippery dynamic with Cleo begins to lose grip, Drew flails along her own boundaries, unsure where she ends and where Cleo begins.
Amid the wintry farmland, Drew’s want and anxiety flare against false peace, piqued by Cleo’s hidden appetite for reckless behavior. The web they weave around each other ensnares townspeople, tourists, and past and future lovers, until a wild experiment tests the sticky threads of their bondage. For fans of Big Swiss and Milk Fed, Genevieve Plunkett’s latest is an offbeat ode to losing yourself by going too far, written in masterful prose that balloons with longing.
296 pages, Paperback
Published September 15, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 3, 2026
Gay and depraved Gilmore girls, in the best way possible.
September 19, 2026
4.5⭐️ Thank you to Feminist Press for sending me this ARC!
A manic pixie dream girl and her manic pixie dream woman's fever dream of a meeting 🐎☕️
This is one of those weird character-focused lit fic books that's hard to really describe, but I had a good time with it! It's got a messy bisexual awakening, horses, hot women baking, and catty barista banter.
The whole thing is written in first person retrospective from Drew mostly at this awkward time of transition in her early 20's between jobs, dipping back on occasion to her childhood. This focuses a lot on her significant relationships and her jobs (as those things overlap in a way 😏) but I think ultimately, this is about processing childhood neglect and early parts of the process of seeing *yourself* and others complexly.
Also a random bit that I thought was really interesting was the strong role that scent plays in this. That's not something you see a lot. Drew
is definitely neurodivergent and that is a neat detail that goes along with that. Really there's more about neurodivergence there, especially looking at Drew's mom. (I feel like that is one of those themes I'd end up on the lookout for during a reread).
There is a lot to think about, and it's one I will definitely come back to. I love a story that brings you into a character's psyche in this sort of way.
A manic pixie dream girl and her manic pixie dream woman's fever dream of a meeting 🐎☕️
This is one of those weird character-focused lit fic books that's hard to really describe, but I had a good time with it! It's got a messy bisexual awakening, horses, hot women baking, and catty barista banter.
The whole thing is written in first person retrospective from Drew mostly at this awkward time of transition in her early 20's between jobs, dipping back on occasion to her childhood. This focuses a lot on her significant relationships and her jobs (as those things overlap in a way 😏) but I think ultimately, this is about processing childhood neglect and early parts of the process of seeing *yourself* and others complexly.
Also a random bit that I thought was really interesting was the strong role that scent plays in this. That's not something you see a lot. Drew
is definitely neurodivergent and that is a neat detail that goes along with that. Really there's more about neurodivergence there, especially looking at Drew's mom. (I feel like that is one of those themes I'd end up on the lookout for during a reread).
There is a lot to think about, and it's one I will definitely come back to. I love a story that brings you into a character's psyche in this sort of way.
on-my-radar
June 7, 2026well….yes!
August 31, 2026
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹'𝘀 𝗩𝗲𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 is an unfiltered, spirited coming-of-age story that explores power dynamics, identity, and sexuality. It's 2005 in Vermont, and Drew is at a turning point in her life after forgoing college and getting kicked out of her friend's parents' basement. So, it's not ideal timing when she receives an unsolicited explicit photo from her bookstore manager and decides to quit.
Thanks to some embellishments on her application, she lands a job at a horse stable, where her new manager, Tristan, isn't faring too well after being dumped by a married woman. Drew becomes captivated by Tristan's obsession with Cleo and begins pursuing him to feel closer to this magnetic older woman.
So, when Cleo opens a new cafe in town, Drew jumps at the opportunity to enter her orbit. She quits her job at the stable, abandons Tristan, and makes Cleo the center of her universe. Together, Drew and Cleo serve 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, but that doesn't mean they fit into a polite customer service box while doing so. Instead, they taunt their clientele by serving gazpacho when they want cozy soup and removing the beloved quiche from the menu when a woman refers to it as 𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘦.
On the surface, it seems like a grand old time between two audacious women, but amidst her infatuation, Drew loses sight of her own wants, needs, and boundaries. I LOVED this book, but I strongly recommend checking out the TWs before reading.
Thanks to some embellishments on her application, she lands a job at a horse stable, where her new manager, Tristan, isn't faring too well after being dumped by a married woman. Drew becomes captivated by Tristan's obsession with Cleo and begins pursuing him to feel closer to this magnetic older woman.
So, when Cleo opens a new cafe in town, Drew jumps at the opportunity to enter her orbit. She quits her job at the stable, abandons Tristan, and makes Cleo the center of her universe. Together, Drew and Cleo serve 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, but that doesn't mean they fit into a polite customer service box while doing so. Instead, they taunt their clientele by serving gazpacho when they want cozy soup and removing the beloved quiche from the menu when a woman refers to it as 𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘦.
On the surface, it seems like a grand old time between two audacious women, but amidst her infatuation, Drew loses sight of her own wants, needs, and boundaries. I LOVED this book, but I strongly recommend checking out the TWs before reading.
July 10, 2026
horse girls make do!
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
** I received a digital review copy from the publisher, because I am a librarian and librarians are awesome **
3.5 stars, rounded up for Goodreads
I was lured in by the blurb, which promised a bisexual coming of age story set in what is supposed to be the early 2000s.
Honestly, this read like an extended short story that a creative writing major would have written in the early 2000s. The prose was enjoyable, as was the (what I'll generously call a) plot: a horny girl with family issues, adrift and looking for meaning, (maybe?) finds it in her manic pixie dream boss, Cleo. (Who she became obsessed with while having a dispassionate fling with Cleo's much younger ex while working together in a stable.) Drifts through existential crisis, (murder?) mystery, and dabbles in BDSM.
What do you call something that's odd and melancholy, explicit but not smutty in the 2026 sense? Basically an indie film of a book.
3.5 stars, rounded up for Goodreads
I was lured in by the blurb, which promised a bisexual coming of age story set in what is supposed to be the early 2000s.
Honestly, this read like an extended short story that a creative writing major would have written in the early 2000s. The prose was enjoyable, as was the (what I'll generously call a) plot: a horny girl with family issues, adrift and looking for meaning, (maybe?) finds it in her manic pixie dream boss, Cleo. (Who she became obsessed with while having a dispassionate fling with Cleo's much younger ex while working together in a stable.) Drifts through existential crisis, (murder?) mystery, and dabbles in BDSM.
What do you call something that's odd and melancholy, explicit but not smutty in the 2026 sense? Basically an indie film of a book.
September 24, 2026
This is giving depraved Emily Austin, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Twenty-one-year-old Drew is a girl-loser, but it’s understandable because she’s still young and has mommy issues. When she takes a job at a stable, she meets Tristan, who’s still hung up on an affair he had with an older married woman named Cleo. His infatuation with Cleo rubs off on Drew, to the point that mentions or comparisons to her are enough to make Drew horny.
When Cleo unexpectedly opens a cafe in town, Drew ditches the stable and Tristan to infiltrate Cleo’s life, landing a job at the cafe. From there, the two become increasingly intertwined.
There’s a comforting domesticity to the stable, the cafe, and the rural setting, which makes Drew’s increasingly sexually deranged inner life even more wild by comparison.
A rural romp for people with questionable fixations.
Twenty-one-year-old Drew is a girl-loser, but it’s understandable because she’s still young and has mommy issues. When she takes a job at a stable, she meets Tristan, who’s still hung up on an affair he had with an older married woman named Cleo. His infatuation with Cleo rubs off on Drew, to the point that mentions or comparisons to her are enough to make Drew horny.
When Cleo unexpectedly opens a cafe in town, Drew ditches the stable and Tristan to infiltrate Cleo’s life, landing a job at the cafe. From there, the two become increasingly intertwined.
There’s a comforting domesticity to the stable, the cafe, and the rural setting, which makes Drew’s increasingly sexually deranged inner life even more wild by comparison.
A rural romp for people with questionable fixations.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
The Lonely Girl's Vegetable Patch is not a love story; instead, it's an offbeat exploration of unconsummated desire and obsessive longing. Plunkett deftly captures the emotional zeitgeist of millennials in the early aughts through Drew's social paralysis and inescapable disaffection with the world around her. With the unease and inevitability of a slow-motion trainwreck, Drew attempts to subsume herself into her boss's—Cleo's—life, losing herself to her burgeoning sexuality and to her desire for this older woman. The Lonely Girl's Vegetable Patch lays bare the misadventures of youth and the fundamentally human desire to be seen.
August 24, 2026
this one's for all the weird and sticky and discombobulated bisexual horse girls with an affinity for sarcasm (who also happen to ride vespas in their spare time)
thank you to feminist press for an early copy - i loved this book!!!!!! <3
thank you to feminist press for an early copy - i loved this book!!!!!! <3
September 2, 2026
saw a review describing this as “gay and depraved gilmore girls” and was immediately in. felt a bit unresolved but ultimately loved the freakiness of it all. could have read a whole book of just the coffee shop lore
also very cool that the northshire had advanced copies… I love vermont
also very cool that the northshire had advanced copies… I love vermont
August 3, 2026
this warmed my Vermont farm girl heart and simultaneously disturbed me but wow it is great
Review of advance copy
intriguing
September 9, 2026
Horses, obsession, bisexuals, more horses… THIS BOOK TRULY HAS IT ALL
September 22, 2026
This book was pretty good but you have to be a little bit of a pervert to enjoy it I think … 3.75 stars!
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September 26, 2026The only way I could have enjoyed this more is if I were a horse girl
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews