Madison left Maple Falls six years ago for a brilliant NYC career, leaving behind the small-town life, her family, and her young love, Zach. Her mother’s passing hasn’t help her want to return to the memories and pain, but an anonymous letter urges her to come back and help her father and the family inn before it falls apart.
The plot has great potential. The characters are mostly likable and their relationships and backgrounds are strong. You can feel the MCs belong together—you yearn for them. It also makes you want to visit the small town of Maple Falls, feel the calm, the coziness, and eat all the pastries and dishes!
Original title: Cinnamon Spice Inn
Publisher: Bookouture
Expected publication date: Aug 28th, 2025.
However, I personally felt the narrative a bit weak and kind of repetitive (same wording, same phrasing, too many times). As a debut, I truly hope Harper Graham improves and grows into a great romance author—the ideas and potential are definitely there!
This books is about roots: resentment, revival of young love, finding the way back home, and family. I wouldn’t label it enemies-to-loves. It works as it is without marketing it to the wrong audience.
Let’s dive in:
The opening scene isn’t great, but it peaks up quickly.
It’s a dual POV narrative, and having both main caracters’ inner thoughts helps build up the tension and romance.
But here’s the thing: we know that the MMC is thoughful, kind and helpful, because we can read what’s in his mind, but from the external FMC’s perspective, everything falls back to the young-love memories, He is hot, pushes her buttons, lights her up sexually, but does nothing trully kind towards her (apart from fixing the inn, which is for the family and accepted to do it before knowing she came back). The only real moment when he shows genuine care is in the farmhouse. I won’t develop because of spoilers, but it’s the scene where I truly rooted for them and saw their love and mutual care beyond just tension leading to sex.
The miscommunication is a big issue here. They both insist the other is, and will always be, their “one”, so why doesn’t either of them fight to actually talk and clear things up? They *think* about it, but don’t act on it. They just drift apart or end up in bed. Whatever happened to talking?
And it’s always Madison who initiates. Why can’t male characters in fiction open up about their emotions (not sexual desire or describing the woman’s beauty, but actual feelings)? Instead, they need to show strength and express their emotions through *manly* actions (such as building a house, or two considering the inn). I find it old-school and kind of tiring.
Zach’s character relies too much on past experiences to show he’s the caring kind, but I wouldn’t consider him a good friend—even for Liam. He pushes him aside all the time, even considering not showing up to his birthday *before* realising Madison could be there? Come on, man! Your best bud’s birthday is once a year!
And what about the parade of side characters? I loved most of them and they made the town’s atmosphere light up and feel alive and cozy. But...
* Jo: she’s introduced as Madison’s best friend, but she has only two major interactions throughout the book. Even considering her busy job, she doesn’t even appear for a weekday visit to show support or see her in her new adventure? It could be avoided or improved, but it feels like a missed opportunity.
Then new characters appear in the middle of the book:
* Kit: Understandable—caring, she fits right in.
* Cassidy: Also coming from NY , she has the opposite feelings to Madison, so I assumed she’d help Madison realize what’s good and bad about both worlds and help her make up her mind, but… they don’t talk! So what’s her role in this story? She could have been cut entirely. But then you read the last pages and… She’s introduced as the FMC of the next book??? She could have appeared there instead, keeping this novel cleaner.
Overall, it’s cozy, enjoyable and definitely a book you should read with coffee or hot cocoa ready with a big plate of cinamon rolls—otherwise you’ll feel hungry at every page turn! I’d recommend it as a quick, light read.
It’s not perfect—there are miscommunications and some underused characters—but the warmth of the town folk and delicious food descriptions more than make up for it.
I’ll definitely look out for Liam and Cassidy’s story, and I hope these notes help Ms. Graham develop it further and give her writing that extra flourish to lift her narrative.
Thank you Netgally and Bookouture for the opportunity to read the ARC of this first novel in the Maple Falls series in exchange for my personal opinion.
Interesting quote or descriptions (beware of vague spoilers):
“It was foolosh to mourn a life she had walked away from”. (chap. 5)
“And–yeah. If looks could kill, he'd be six feet under.” (chap. 26)
If you're interested in romance, you'll find more reviews following this link.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
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