The Café between Pumpkin and Pie -- Anthology

In the town of Moonbright, young woman who chant some specific lines on Halloween are destined to see the reflection of their true love before the night is over. Three loosely connected stories explore the romances of 2021.

Love Over Easy by Katie Angell

Hannah Allan is in a little over her head. Dressed as Bo Peep so that her sister's children (her sister is home with a cold and her brother-in-law is at work as a policeman) can go to the Halloween parade and then go trick-or-treating. She didn't expect to run into Jake Kaylor. He is the man that every woman in Moonbright wants. Hannah's sister was his girlfriend for awhile but they didn't work out. 

Hannah's family owns the Corner Cafe. She works as a waitress and may not always get everyone's orders right, but she is pleasant and the town loves her. Jake is beyond what she can imagine, the bad boy extraordinaire. Yet he somehow has eyes for her. And she's looking back...

Some of the language by Angell is a bit formal and I'm not sure I bought an HEA but for sure there was an HFN.

Three stars.

Love Rising by Stacy Finz

I've read Stacy Finz before and was happy to recognize some characters from previous books. Of the three stories, this felt the most cohesive and it may have helped that the main characters knew each other in the past and seemed to be willing to meet each other halfway to make the relationship work.

Sydney Byrne is only in Moonbright to sell her grandmother's house and then she's going back to San Francisco and back to her bakery. She's not sure why Nick Rossi is at the house at o'dark thirty, nor does she know why he's tearing down the wall to her grandmother's crafts room but she never suspects that her grandmother may have made alternate plans.

Nick doesn't know why Sydney's grandmother hired him but he always fulfills his clients requests. Especially when it means that he's tweaking Sydney's nose at the same time. The two were close in high school with Sydney tutoring him. But then his girlfriend caught them kissing and spread horrible rumors about Sydney that Nick did nothing to stem. Now they're all grown up, both single, and he's thinking that they can test the waters again. But Sydney's life is across the country, how can they make it work?

Three and a half stars

Romance on Tap by Marina Adair

I really liked that Adair wrapped in the experiences of a child adopted from another country but still loves her adoptive parents. Mila Cramer is back in Moonbright so that her parents can have one last Christmas in the house she grew up in. While she's in town, she's determined to lift the curse that Ford James put on her when he kissed her during Seven Minutes in Heaven in high school. That was the last time she kissed a man with whom she had such chemistry. But Ford's twin brother Hudson might book a spoke in those plans.

Again, having characters who already have a history served the author well in this short story. It made me believe that they might have a shot at an HEA because they do know each other... at least their histories. 

Three and a half stars

Three and a half stars

This book comes out August 31st, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Bakeshop at Pumpkin and Spice -- Anthology

Sweet Magic by Donna Kauffman
Bellaluna's bakery is run by Abriana "Bree" Bellaluna O'Neill and her grandmother, Sofia. Their family has owned the shop for generations and every year at Halloween, Sofia makes special cookies that can help people find true love. Bree is ready to be the one making the cookies but she just can't get the recipe right but you have to be in love. Sofia thinks that Caleb, who is in town to run his uncle's restaurant business, might be the one. But Bree isn't sure... Caleb is a short timer. Can he really be her true love?

A typical Kauffman book. Regular readers will be satisfied.

Love Spells Disaster by Allyson Charles
Cassandra Hie wants to get married but she wants to find the "right" kind of guy. Someone like her boss, Steve.  But then Chip, a local handyman, eats the cookies meant for Steve. Suddenly, blue collar's not looking so bad... plus, he loves Halloween as much as she does.

There was so much time spent on Cassandra changing her mind that not as much was spent on their relationship building.

Sweet on you by Kate Angell
Lara's rent has just gone up and she's in danger of losing her job. Plus her boyfriend recently dumped her. But, Mayor Jack needs help. So he creates a job for Lara, who he is attracted to. And she rocks it.

An okay story but I don't love boss/employee romances, especially if someone has created a job for someone else.

That Mistletoe Moment --Anthology

A Boyfriend by Christmas by Cat Johnson
Noelle has been dating the boy next door, George, for the past five years. This Thanksgiving, she's sure that he's going to propose. Probably at Christmas. But that doesn't stop her from checking out the cute guy who has the last two bags of cranberries and offers her one. And then her boyfriend announces that he really doesn't ever see them getting married. So she breaks up with him. Too bad her family is pressuring her so much to get married. Good news, her sister has gotten her a trial for this new app that lets you pretend that you have a boyfriend. You can great photos, get texts, and just go along your merry way. Except that Noelle accidentally texted  cute grocery guy instead of the app.
Nathan is totally fine with that. He's not even weirded out that a woman he met once is inviting her to her family's Christmas Eve party. They figure out the mistake pretty fast and then hop into bed. And then into love.

Two and a half stars

All I Want for Christmas... by Kate Angell
Daniel Hayes is a super-rich guy who employs a personal shopper. Well, he used to but she fell in love with him and it ended up being an issue. So now he's down to three interviewees.  And because of the last gal, he only wants women who are in a relationship. So Riley uses the app. Then she finds out each of the candidates is going to buy him a gift and the one who chooses best will be the woman he hires. Okay. What is this premise? Then pile a snowstorm where they get caught together... Oh, and Riley is all "Christmas, Yay!" and melts his frozen heart. yay.

Two stars

Her Favorite Present by Allyson Charles
Oh. And then there's the owner of the app. The one who thinks that all of his clients are losers. The one whose best friend and other employees dare him to meet one of their clients and see if he still thinks they're losers. So he meets this girl, under false pretenses, has whiplash changing his mind but then has to convince her that he's in love.
Ick.
This might have been a better story if we had seen more character development that just isn't available in an anthology.

Two stars.

Overall Two stars
This book comes out September 27

The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine

This anthology has three stories revolving around the annual Halloween party at a B&B, Rose Cottage, in Moonbright, Maine which is apparently an October 31st mecca. There is a touch of fantasy with the owner of the Cottage having a crystal ball that sees the future. Most of the stories are okay but suffer from the regular issues that plague shorter romance books.

Charmed by You by Kate Angell
Grace Alden is trying to get the Cottage decorated with the help of Three Men and a Truck, one of whom is Cade Maxwell. He's having issues because she's a commanding woman and he doesn't like having a female boss. Explicitly, his cousins don't like working for a woman but you get that sense from him as well. While helping her aunt Amelia, the far-seeing owner of the Cottage, is having them set up her fortune telling table Grace sees a man's hands in the crystal ball. Later Cade sees a black cat tattoo. They end up together. I'm not sure why or how but it seems like it might be an HEA? 

Two and a half stars

Mesmerized by You by Jennifer Dawson
Chloe and Jack have been friends forever. All of their other friends wonder why they haven't just slept together and gotten it over with. Even her family wonders. Which is why her Aunt Iris, who they are visiting in Moonbright, decides to force the issue. There's only one bedroom left in the last B&B in town. This was also an okay story but there seemed like WAY too much set up as to why the two weren't already sleeping together and then SO MUCH angst about finally doing it.

Two and a half stars

Enchanted by You by Sharla Lovelace
This one was my least favorite of the three. Sidney Jensen works for a horrible human being. One who blames her for a deal imploding and then sends her off to the wilds of Maine to take care of her own (not Sidney's) family business. There, Sidney meets up with the boy (now man) who broke her nerdy heart in high school. They sort of talk and work things out a bit and then have an HEA.

Two and a half stars

Overall, intellectually, this book averaged to two and a half stars but it actually gave me enough good-feels that I'm bumping it up to three.

Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap--Anthology

Image from Goodreads

Where There's Smoke by Donna Kauffman

Clara Parker is not at a good point in her life right now. She's just been dumped (while on speaker phone, in the local grocery store.) Her job as a dating advice columnist is, quite obviously, not going to be an option. Her boss's suggestion that she do a baking column isn't going well either (she set her kitchen on fire.) Luckily, her old buddy, Will Mason, was nearby. He's a hunky (like, in a calendar, causing riots in a bookstore type hunky) firefighter. He and Clara never quite hooked up, though both wanted to. Maybe now is their second chance...

An interesting story, best of the group in my opinion.

The Gingerbread Man by Kate Angell

Abby is one of Clara's closest friends. She lived withher grandmother who has passed away. Lately, she's been amusing herself with an online business making erotic gingerbread cookies. During the local fundraiser, a stranger comes in, buys a box of her cookies, and then disappears. Well, at least until Abby finds his car off the road and takes him to her house. Lander Reynolds is grateful to Abby Denton for saving his life. And as they spend more time trapped in a snowstorm, they start to get to know each other, in a romantical type way.

An okay story. I liked Abby and Lander and this reminded me of Christmas shorts from the nineties but it was a little... slow.

Sugar And Spice by Kimberly Kincaid

Lily Callahan is a caterer who wants to expand her business. And winning the local bake-off is an easy way to do it. But she's up against Pete Mancuso (the guy who dumped Clara in the first story) who is a pastry chef who has dreams of his own. The sparks that fly between them in a partnership round make the ratings go through the roof. It's an attraction that the sponsors want to exploit and one that the two of them can't deny.

A bit to syrupy for me but an okay story.