Small Town Hearts ARC Review || A Sugary Sweet Summer Contemorary

Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad.

And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had – to never fall for a summer boy?

Publication Date: March 19, 2019 by Swoon Reads

Many thanks to Macmillan/Swoon Reads for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so adorable! It was so cute and sweet and had be swooning all the way through. I read in January, so the middle of winter, and the whole time this book had be thinking summer summer need summer now.

The setting and premise of this book is basically your perfect summer (or any time of the year) read! Set in a cute little town in Maine, this book includes long languid days on the beach, picturesque sights of the town (Babe lives in a lighthouse!!!), sandcastles and even a sandcastle building competition, a summer clam shell pageant, and food! Honestly, if for no other reason (although there are definitely other reasons) you should read this book for the food alone. Babe works as a barista and adores baking (thus making me adore her), and there are so many mouthwatering descriptions of desserts! I mean, just take a look at the delicious looking pie on the cover and then multiply it by 1000 and you get all the foooooood in this foodtastic book.

In addition to Babe’s amazing trait of being an amazing baker, she’s also just a fantastic character. I love how she has goals and knows what she wants to do with her life, even if it’s not going to college which seems to be unusual for YA contemporary; she knows that she loves to make people happy with food! She has a clear passion for what she loves, be that people like her friends, places like her town, or things like food.

Levi, her love interest, is also absolutely amazing! He’s an artist, sort of confused in what he wants to do in the world at the moment, and just starts to discover what he really wants to do this summer. Of course, he and Babe also have a bit of a forbidden romance since Babe has vowed off dating summer boys who always leave at the end of the summer, and I’m such a sucker for a forbidden romance so that was great too! I will note that I’m not perfectly satisfied with how it was wrapped up at the end, but for the most part I was swooning!

As for the supporting characters: there were a couple of people that I hated, and then a couple that I loved! One prevalent theme in this book was letting go of the past and accepting change, and with that, new friends, and it was so sweet to see Babe grow close to new people after a falling out with her old friends. On the other hand, I was kind of sick of Babe clinging on to terrible, cruel friends, and always justifying and making excuses for them, and I was a bit irked by the way those friendships were wrapped up.

There was fantastic bi rep in this book too! Babe is bi and this is openly discussed. There is talk of her ex girlfriend trying to come to terms with and discover her sexuality, as well as the clash with wanting to be open with relationships and people who aren’t ready to come out yet.

I’m close to Babe and all her friends’ ages right now and this book really resonated with me. It definitely shows how hard it can be to accept change and move on with life, which is what really happens after high school moving on to college or wherever your life takes you. I’d definitely recommend this book for people close to that age who are dealing with change in their lives, as it’s very relatable! Definitely anyone of any age can enjoy it though 🙂 Overall a very sugary sweet read I really enjoyed!

4 stars