"Coming Home to Starr's Fall" by Kate Hewitt is a perfect blend of Hallmark and Gilmore Girls! It makes me want all things Autumn. Great story for sure!

An easy ready to get you ready for fall season around the corner. Story of recovering from trauma and finding love where you least expect.

This story follows Laurie, who just moved to Starr’s Fall with her dog, Max, to open a pet store when she runs into her handsome yet grumpy neighbor, Joshua. While Laurie is new to town and eager to meet new people, she’s on the hunt for something deeper in the small town and along the way finds herself learning more about the elusive Joshua.

This was such a sweet story. The setting of Starr’s Fall had a Gilmore Girls Stars Hollow vibe while the characters were reminiscent of a Nicholas Sparks novel. This was a quick and comforting read and a great fall romance choice for my no spice girlies.

I received this ARC from NetGalley. Laurie moves to a small town in Connecticut to start her own pet store and bakery. Her ulterior motive for moving to this small town is to find out more about her biological mother. This was pitched as someone who enjoys Gilmore girls and that is the exact audience for this book. I couldn’t get enough of this story and Starr’s Fall. This was a cozy fall book and I loved every minute of it!

So cute! I had a lot of fun reading this. I love books that have a cool weather vibe to them, that make me want to take a slow walk in crispy cool air with a warm coffee. It was a great palate cleanser after a few thrillers. It was lighthearted, but had great depth. This kicks off my fall reading 🍂

It had everything I love in fall-themed sweet romances. I especially loved the found family aspect and Laurie’s sweet little dog, Max 🐾

Laurie Ellis has been pushed around the foster system pretty much her entire life. When one of the past foster mom’s leaves her a small inheritance she takes that and moves to Starr’s Fall to see if she can locate her birth l

Joshua Riley has grown up Starr’s Fall having returned from New York City three years ago. He lives as the town.”grinch” completely shutting everybody out.

Laurie is looking to be accepted , find her family, and just belong.
Joshua wants to forget everybody and everyone, yet somehow these two are drawn to each other!

This is a great start to a wonderful new series and I cannot wait to return to Starr’s Fall to meet new people and catch up with the ones we have already met!

What a perfect fall read! This cozy story has everything a romance book needs- found family, healing from past trauma, and grumpy sunshine romance. I loved getting to experience Laurie and Joshua’s love story, starting as neighbors and developing into a heartwarming connection. Would highly recommend reading this book!

A comfy, cosy story about new beginnings, friendships and love. Laurie comes to Starr’s Fall to open a pet and bakery shop and to unravel the mystery surrounding her birth mother. A story full of optimism and eventually true love.

This was such a cute heartfelt story about new beginnings, grief and change. I couldn’t put this book down. I feel in love with Joshua’s Antiquarian bookshop and when he decided to make a change I was so excited it felt l was going to be right there with him making that change and all Laurie’s idea seemed wonderful I wanted to be part of it. I also loved Laurie’s idea of a pet shop and bakery and it wasn’t hard picturing it all!
I loved that it was in the Autumn season and we had a peak to the small town festival, Laurie’s description of the beautiful gold and scarlet leaves in autumn and the magic of a small town.

Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys cozy reads and small town romance.
Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book

read if you like:
👯‍♀️ Gilmore Girls
🏡 small town charm
👩‍❤️‍👨 enemies-turned-lovers

summary:
This story couldn’t be further from a thriller but it’s a great feel good! It’s almost exactly a book version of the show Gilmore Girls, which is one of my all time favorites. It centers around Laurie, a twenty-something year old who decides to start her life over with her dog, Max, in a small Connecticut town, Starr’s Fall. The town, while upbeat and quaint, is struggling, with many shops closing down. Laurie decides she wants to open a pet store and bakery, fulfilling a lifelong dream and attempting to infuse life into the sleepy town. She meets Joshua, a long time resident and the “town grump” and for once has hope that there’s a future for her.

This book is a perfect blend of small-town charm and heartfelt romance. If you love Luke and Lorelei, you will love Laurie and Joshua. Their romance is a slow burn, which allows their chemistry to develop and their relationship to feel real. I grew to love both characters so deeply that it’s hard not to root for their success and happiness. Hewitt also weaves in a little mystery of Laurie’s background and family and their ties to Starr’s Fall. While it isn’t the main storyline, it’s still a fun edition to this feel good journey! I’ll say though, buckle up for tears. While this story has a satisfying ending, it isn’t always happy, and that threw me for a loop.

This book lets you escape to a simpler place and time, in a quaint and charming small town. Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the ARC! Check this book out when it releases on September 18!

I received this book from NetGalley.

Laurie says that she isn't ready to tell people why she's really in Starr's Fall and yet immediately tells Annie about her family - their surname at least. And then also tells other people.

She also keeps mentioning, although written in the book and not speaking to other people, about Nadine and how they had lost touch. We already know that so why is repeated so often? She also keeps speaking about her in the foster home but the information is almost always the same so we don't learn anything new.

It bugs me that Annie tells Joshua that he needs to think about Laurie and her pain, almost as if hers is worse than his. Yes, her upbringing was tough, but so are a lot of people's. Laurie sat with huge information and left him out of it, even though they're supposed to be in a relationship. She didn't even tell him, after he helped her to get that far. I don't like that either.

Why did Henrietta write to her daughter if nothing came of it - seems to just be a filler? And honestly it's disappointing that Laurie's mother wanted nothing to do with her and we never find out why. Seems unfinished, something is missing.

Overall the book was fine, but just didn't seem to gel together enough.

This book was advertised for those who love Gilmore girls so of course I had to read it. It takes place in Starr’s Fall and the FMC is named Laurie. With Gg being in Stars Hollow and the FMC being Rory it began a little cringe for me. As the story progressed I was sucked in and absolutely loved it. It’s small town, enemies to lovers. It’s the first in the series and I can’t wait to read the rest.

Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley and for the ARC copy.

This was a relaxing and lighthearted read. It centers around a woman who relocates to a new town with her dog to start a new life and also search for her birth mother. While making herself comfortable in this new town, she opens a pet and bakery store, finds love with the bookstore owner across her store, makes new friends and embraces the importance of community.

Small town cosy read! I loved the setting of Starrs Fall, the characters and their stories! A really easy & comforting read and hopefully will be the first in a series! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC

I enjoyed this book. It’s not a difficult read, set in a charming town called Starr’s Fall. There are some heavier themes but the way the are handled leads to to believe this is a planned first book of a series. There is a lot left unfinished and it definitely feels more a pause than a full stop! That said, I’ll happily return to this idyllic setting with these characters so it’s not a bad thing! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

A story of loss and of new beginnings in a small New England town. I found the main character Laurie much wiser than her twenty- five years but her character evolves along the way to being more realistic. A sweet read with interesting characters.

Cute tale of small town life and secrets, starting over, finding your place and new family and friends.

Really enjoyed this easy read book, the story is based in the town of Starr’s Fall and when Laurie moves there hoping to find a special someone it doesn’t go all to plan. Lovely feel good read.
My thanks as always to NetGalley and publisher Boldwood books for the early read.

This is just delightful. It is sweet but not too sweet and definitely not saccharine. Laurie is lovely, she is kind and gentle and overcoming a tough upbringing where she never felt she belonged. The story follows how she is charmed and charms the people of Starr’s Fall. There is the love interest in the grumpy neighbour and even this is chipped away at with care and with humour. The book’s characters are ever so slightly upstaged by a rescue dog called Max and the hugest cat ever that falls for the charms of the dog! There are some tough topics around adoption and foster care touched on with gentleness. This is a great read that I read through all in one with delight,

Ugh there’s something about fall romances set in the small towns of New England that make me so happy.

The leaves are falling, with a crispness to the air, along with the scents of coffee and pumpkin spice, past a half-empty street of shuttered storefronts and a bandstand that has seen better days…

Just like the whole town of Starr’s Fall, thinks Laurie Ellis – as she and her beloved dog Max head to collect the store keys. Maybe she has seen better days, too, but she’s certainly ready for a new start—and to leave her past behind. Still Laurie wonders whether she made a terrible mistake in coming to lovable but shabby Starr’s Fall. Will she even find customers for her pet store and bakery, never mind a community to welcome and accept her?

Not according to Joshua Reilly, the handsome but grumpy manager of the bookstore across the road, who claims he’s never heard of anything so ridiculous as a bakery for dogs.
But Laurie remains stubbornly undeterred. She’s starting over, right here. Not least because she has another secret reason for being here… one she isn’t telling anybody, at least not yet, as it involves her own tragic past.

While this has everything you would expect from this type of book; it also has a lot of depth and tackles verg serious topics such as grief, parental loss and being raised in the foster system.

I loved everything about these characters and their beloved town! I can’t wait for the series to continue