When Maine bookstore owner and workaholic Tessa Monroe spots a social media ad for a Halloween-themed singles retreat at a remote lakefront campground, she signs up expecting cozy cabins, haunted hayrides, lakeside cocktails, and maybe a harmless October fling. Love? That’s definitely not on her fall to-do list.
Enter Rowan Kane—tattooed, brooding, and annoyingly mysterious—who’s holed up in one of the larger cabins on the property. But when a masked figure turns the campground’s haunted hayride into a real-life nightmare, Rowan is the first to jump in and protect her.
With the masked villain still on the loose, Rowan insists Tessa stay with him—for safety, of course. The cabin? Huge. The hot tub? Steamy. The bed? Just one. And Rowan? Six feet of inked-up temptation with eyes as sharp as his sarcasm.
A cozy, spooky Halloween romantic comedy where falling in love might just be the scariest trick of all.
My Review
I’m so excited to be starting this book; the cover made this a must-read this autumn season. I love the map and the cute stuff at the beginning of the book; you can tell that the author put in a lot of work to make this book special.
Tessa runs a bookstore and is an expert at self-pity. But the love of the name drops of favorite authors not so subtly worked in.
Rowan walks into the store looking for his next read, and I can’t tell if this is the start of a meet-cute or instalove story. But it sure is cozy. Idk how she goes from out-of-town visitor to cabin retreat, but hey, sounds like an adventure.
Oh, we get Rowan’s pov, he is rich and visiting Beachside and Bedford Harbor, Maine. His adventures on a simple break are what led him to the bookstore. He is trying to find a different side of himself and a more relaxed version.
Tessa has a funny inner monologue very relatable. I enjoy that Rowan likes to read. The author has a way with the descriptions that makes you giggle. It’s fun that he sees something that could be her and takes the leap to ask her to join. But oh, how they talk about it has my bookish soul tap dancing.
The overbundance of autumn themes, smells, and cozy vibes has me wanting a cup of pumpkin spice hot cocoa. Omg, as if the season isn’t enough, I hope Pixie doesn’t steal the show.
Gosh, I haven’t read banter like this since Book Lovers by Emily Henry. This is perfect in the snarky comments, witty responses. I hope the heat of their conversation eventually leads to more. I could compare this story to some of the best I’ve read and still want to read this again.
Oh, the secret recipes are a nice touch, so if you want to be a great chef, Cabin Edition, you can be as well. He totally falls first and is hopeless about it. But things do start to progress between them from more than strangers finally dating.
We go from swoony autumn romance to paranormal hunting, and not just for fun? And this gets a little more questionable, but it also reads like an episode of “Scooby Doo”.
The camping is intriguing, but the relationship through after isn’t as vibrant. They have settled into a comfy rhythm, and I think the inspired cabin book club might have been my favorite part. Then reading together was romantic, but where at first the steamy scenes were drawn out, now they read like a quick foray into each other’s clothing, and then we move on. I loved this story until it became more about the mystery to solve than the romance. But we’ll see if that mystery ties back in later in the story.
However, the hidden surprises in the books are delightful. I really wish the author had posted about them on her social media, as they would make me want to read this book more, especially with all the food that is talked about.
The book ends sweetly, and we see another side of Rowan, the billionaire, but I think him at the camp was sweeter and less pretentious. However, the ending is swoony. The epilogue doesn’t really answer my question, but it does give info on the body remains mystery part in the story, and they get those HFN with a side of accidental pregnancy ending. But I feel like something was missing. Where do they live, and how do their lives change after meeting at a camp, then going back to real life, which wasn’t explained very well.
Overall, this was a cute read autumn-themed read with the adorable cabins and nostalgic autumn atmosphere, but then just as things are looking up for the characters. The author adds a ghostly mystery and some random outdoor camping. Rowan and Tessa get very domestic and sometimes steamy, but then the initial captivating parts of the storyline end. Sure, I love the farmers market, cozy reading sessions, and the random little surprises, but the story gets a little more disjointed around Halloween and then kinda dries out as they get even more domestic. But then picks back up right at the end. It was slow-moving and had great tropes. But for an autumn cozy reading, this just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
The book fell flat for me later in the storyline, with less intrigue in the relationship, and the addition of other characters like Maddie and Jack, and the mystery at camp.
If you would like to read Falling Hard at Pumpkin Spice Cabins by Persis Lassiter, you can find this book on Amazon. As an Amazon Assocaite, I earn on qualifying purchases.
If you like this book, you may also enjoy books with these tags and categories: Midlife Fiction, He Falls First, and Autumn.
Read-Love-Review 