The Pumpkin Spice Café

The Pumpkin Spice Café is the first story in the Dream Harbor series by the novelist Laurie Gilmore. A cozy contemporary romance about change, fear, and belonging, The Pumpkin Spice Café centers on Jeanie Ellis as she inherits her aunt’s café in the sleepy New England town of Dream Harbor. Jeanie must discover her place in the close-knit small town and attempt to figure out who is sabotaging her café, all while trying not to fall in love with the handsome farmer who is assisting her. By employing many classic tropes of contemporary romance, Gilmore explores themes such as The Feeling of Belonging, The Ongoing Process of Healing After Trauma, and The Effects of Fear on New Relationships.

This study guide refers to the 2023 HarperCollins e-book edition of the text.

Plot Summary

Jeanie Ellis knows she needs a change when she discovers her boss dead of a stress-induced heart attack at his desk. She needs to leave the big city and her soulless corporate job, so when her eccentric Aunt Dot announces her retirement and offers Jeanie the chance to take over her small-town coffee shop, Jeanie jumps at the chance. Jeanie’s fond childhood memories of The Pumpkin Spice Café and the town of Dream Harbor inspire her to try and become a “New Jeanie,” evolving in whatever way necessary to fit into this community.

However, when Jeanie arrives at the café, the mysterious sounds coming from it lead her to believe it is haunted. One night when she goes to ascertain the source of the strange noises, she runs into the local farmer, Logan Anders, making a produce delivery. Jeanie pours all of her problems out to Logan, who feels compelled to help this strange, beautiful woman who knows no one else in town. Logan tells Jeanie about the bi-monthly town meetings where she should be able to get some help with the challenges of taking over her aunt’s business, though he warns her about how nosey many of the townsfolk can be.

Though Jeanie and Logan are immediately attracted to one another, they both have reasons for avoiding the other. Jeanie’s trying to figure out who she truly is and where she belongs in this new town while getting the hang of the coffee shop. She believes she doesn’t have time for a relationship. Logan still avoids town after a very messy and public breakup with an out-of-town woman, so he hesitates to let himself get involved with anyone who may leave Dream Harbor. He’s become extremely private in the wake of his breakup, refusing to let the whole town know every detail of his relationships. Jeanie and Logan end up thrown together at the town meeting, where the mayor goes so far as to suggest that Logan help Jeanie figure out what is haunting her café.

Shortly after Jeanie re-opens the café with great success, Logan comes over one night to stake out the ghost she believes is haunting her. Jeanie feels humiliated when the ghost turns out to be nothing but a cat that she eventually adopts. Even as Jeanie believes they’ve solved the mystery, small inconveniences like her garbage cans and flower pots being tipped over keep occurring. Norman, the long-time employee of the café, insists that there are ghosts that don’t like the café’s new ownership. Meanwhile, Jeanie begins to integrate herself into the community, befriending Logan’s best friends Hazel and Annie and joining the local book club and trivia nights.

Logan tries to avoid Jeanie and his feelings for her, but he can’t hide for long in the small town since the two are continually drawn together. One day when they run into the café to hide from the rain, Jeanie kisses Logan, and they agree to an ill-defined secret relationship. Though this arrangement works well for a while, Jeanie knows Logan’s history and doesn’t want to break his heart. She also becomes nervous about the secrecy of their relationship, though after a handful of talks and arguments, they both feel better about it. Logan takes a major step when he is publicly affectionate with Jeanie at the Fall Festival, beginning to overcome his fears of yet another breakup involving the whole town. However, he still harbors fears about Jeanie leaving him when she inevitably realizes she wants more than Dream Harbor.

The morning after Logan realizes he loves Jeanie, he discovers a stack of papers Jeanie received from a realtor who wants her to sell the café. Though Jeanie tells him she doesn’t intend to sell, he feels overwhelmed by his fear and ends their relationship, telling Jeanie she doesn’t belong in Dream Harbor. The following day, Jeanie discovers that her employee Norman is the true saboteur of the café because he originally wanted to buy it from her Aunt Dot. Norman quits and leaves Jeanie to run things on her own, yet he and Logan’s belief that she will give up on the café and leave Dream Harbor makes her even more determined to stay, especially because she is finally starting to feel like she belongs in the town, despite the rift between her and Logan.

Hazel and Annie convince Logan that Jeanie plans to stay, telling him about all the hard work she has put into the café and her feelings for him. Logan finally recognizes he has issues with abandonment when Hazel points it out to him, and he realizes the ways he’s let his fears make decisions for him and ruin his relationship with Jeanie. He goes to the café to apologize and proclaim his love for her in front of the whole town, admitting to her and himself that he has issues to work through. The two reconcile, and Logan can finally picture a future with Jeanie in Dream Harbor.