The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

“This one’s for the readers. Thanks for returning to Dream Harbor with me”

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store

“Hazel marched over to the Romance section to fix the book and possibly give it a piece of her mind because she was that kind of crazy lady today.”

4/10 [overall rating]

6/10 [spicy rating]

Harmless, repetitive fun. Leave your brain at the door of this Cinnamon Bun Book Store.

The protagonist of this novel is called Hazel Kelly, the manager of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store. She’s pushing 30 and feels stuck in rut, feeling that she missed out on wild adventures and fun during her 20s because of her calm and responsible personality.

“It wasn’t that she didn’t love it here behind the same counter she’d stood at for her first shift at the end of her sophomore year of high school, it was just that nothing else in her life had changed either. Same job. Same town. Same friends.”

One day in the store she finds a defaced book, which she interprets as a ‘clue’, specially for her. “Come with me, lass, if you want an adventure.”

The central conceit of the book is that Hazel has the hots for Noah Barnett, a supposedly sexy ginger fisherman with an on-the-nose name, but she thinks that he’s too much of a playa to ever be interested in a relationship with a quiet and bookish woman like her. This is despite obvious signs of his interest, including coming in “every other week for a book but never seemed to know what he was looking for” and the advice of her friends.

Noah’s POVs confirm that he is very interested in Hazel but doesn’t think that she’d be interested in a relationship with him. “He had it bad. Like real bad… he’d never felt like this before. Which was unfortunate because he was fairly certain Hazel didn’t feel the same.”

Noah’s backstory is that he comes from a wealthy family who he ran away from when he felt inadequate helping to run the family business because he didn’t finish high school. His dream is to refurbish some old fishermen’s shacks along the beach in Dream Harbour and transform them into short-term rental properties. Despite living part of the time in one of these shacks, he hasn’t done anything about his plan.

Hazel enlists Noah’s help to “follow the clues, assuming there will be more, and I want to just … I don’t know… I want to be reckless. I’ve spent my whole life being safe and now I want … adventure, excitement. I want a good story to tell over drinks.”

The biggest crime of this novel is its endless repetition. Hazel doesn’t think Noah wants a relationship with her. Noah doesn’t think Hazel wants a relationship with him. All contrary to the obvious evidence.

During a party that they both attend early in the novel, they have a smooch. Noah puts a stop to that though because Hazel is intoxicated. What a white knight. “He grabbed her hand, keeping her next to him. ‘We’ll just blame it on the blueberries.’ Hazel softened and her mouth tipped into a smile. ‘They are really strong blueberries.’” Not a bad little gag and it got a chuckle from me

I thought this part was funny, too. “He proudly presented her with a giant penguin. It was easily three feet tall and stuffed with material she could only assume was carcinogenic. The entire thing felt highly flammable and utterly toxic but she held it to her chest like a kid on Christmas. ‘I love him.’” Thanks for the carcinogenic stuffed penguin!

Mac is into Annie (fourth book?) and I laughed at how much of an incel he was. “Noah glanced at where Trent was now by Annie’s side, looking at her all sweetly. ‘Maybe he’s nice to her.’ Mac scoffed. ‘I’m nice to her.’ ‘Right.’ More grumbling. More cracker eating. ‘She’s the one that’s not nice.’”

Sadly, the book is mostly unfunny when it tries to be funny.

“‘Hazel hates sunshine. She’s like a vampire.’ ‘I am not! I just prefer to be inside. I’m an inside cat.’ Jeanie laughed again.” – why?

A lot of the book is some version of the below:

“He was far too good-looking for this to end well, but it was too late now. She’d recruited the sexy, town fisherman to help her have an adventurous end of summer/end of her twenties and she was suddenly feeling as though she was in way over her head.”

“‘Wait a minute. You can’t get feelings for him. I mean, Noah is fun to hang out with, but he doesn’t have serious relationships. Like, at all. You know he only sleeps with tourists.’”

“She didn’t see him that way. She couldn’t. Noah was her adventure guide until she turned thirty. And then what? What more could Noah offer other than orgasms on the beach? Certainly not as much as a girl like Hazel deserved. She was smart and sweet and deserved a guy with more than a battered boat and a half-baked idea to renovate some old fishing shacks.”

“But it wouldn’t last. They didn’t make sense together. Noah needed a girl who would go rock climbing with him or jet skiing or… or… other adventurous things like that. And he certainly wouldn’t be content to spend the weekend in bed reading and working on the Sunday crossword puzzle.”

“‘I know you don’t date people long term and that’s totally fine because obviously it would be weird for us to get together and it would never work out and…’ Noah was staring at her again. ‘Wait, why would it be weird?’ ‘Oh. Uh. Well, I don’t know. Too many overlapping friends and we have to see each other all the time in town and stuff and then when it doesn’t work out it would be awkward.’”

“Why did it sting to be reminded that this whole thing happened purely because Hazel was throwing caution to the wind for the next two months? He was just a part of her reckless era. He shook it off. This was good for him, too. He’d finally get Hazel out of his system and he could move on with his life.”

“It was good, actually, because Hazel didn’t want anything serious with Noah. So really it worked out perfectly. And she could just continue with her reckless summer of fun even though it was nearly September and thinking about the end of her little experiment gave her a stomach ache. But it was all perfectly fine.”

Okay! Hazel and Noah don’t think the other wants a relationship with them, despite both very much wanting a relationship. Hazel is sensible and a little dull, and adventurous Noah feels inadequate and has a reputation as a ladies’ man. I think I got it. This repetition is a little insulting to readers.

The second clue is: “Vanilla milkshakes are objectively better. Colder and Sweeter. Evie smiled around her straw and took another sip.” For this, Hazel and Noah consume milkshakes and engage in extreme heavy petting.

The third clue takes Hazel and Noah for a Ferris wheel ride, where they have a smooch. This helps Hazel overcome her fear of Ferris wheels that she developed when she “got stuck at the top [of one]… for nearly an hour in a lightning storm and she was convinced she was going to die unkissed.” Yep. That would do it.

The fourth clue reads: “‘She dug her toes into the cool sand and dipped her head back, letting the warm sun caress her face.’ Noah read the highlighted line out loud in that low rumble of a voice and Hazel repressed a shiver. ‘Looks like we’re going to the beach,’ he said.” And to the beach they go and engage in some more heavy petting and sharing some background about themselves.

Hazel believes that Noah is leaving the clues as an excuse for them to spend some time together. Her treacherous and lying friends support this hypothesis. They have a little tiff based on their erroneous assumptions about the other not wanting anything serious, but patch things up after a week and the next ‘clue’ arrives.

“The ship cut through the waves, tossing Arabella’s curls around her face. Salt spray misted her face, and the wind whipped around her skirts. She felt like she was flying” – takes Hazel and Noah on a trip on the latter’s boat. A ‘nor’easter’ storm arrives, and they take shelter below decks and do the deed.

The two fall in love with each other. Awww. But the problem is now telling each other how they feel.

The final clue “was a diary entry and the only highlighted line was the date. September 28th. Hazel’s birthday. In the margins was a note. Mac’s. 7:00, bring friends.”

They go to the party and there are lots of revelations. It’s revealed… it was Hazel’s daddy all along behind the clues.

“’Yep. Well, I had help to hide them. A few of the book club members helped me pick the books and that sweet new employee of yours, Lyndsay, I think, she was very helpful. She hid them for us.’ Mayor Kelly beamed. ‘We thought it would be a fun little scavenger hunt for you.’”

Hazel also reveals that she is learning Jew fighting. “I don’t even know half the people in there.’ Hazel huffed a laugh. ‘Well, some are from my Krav Maga class.’” Whoa. That was leftfield.

It is also revealed that her full name is “‘Hazel Rainbow Kelly.’ Logan’s voice was serious, stern, like she was in trouble. ‘If you tell Annie my real middle name, I’ll kill you.’” Guess it makes sense with an LGBTQIA+ daddy. Will she kill him using Krav Maga techniques?

Hazel is disappointed, but not for long, that Noah hadn’t been behind the clues. When she goes to work after her birthday, in a big romantic gesture, there is a big pile of books and other texts with passages highlighted telling Hazel that he loves her. They meet in person and establish that they want a relationship with each other.

Noah goes away for 6 weeks to look after this sister, and they stay in touch and collaborate on the beach rental properties plan. 6 months later and Hazel and Noah are on holiday in Aruba. Noah now has a cringe tattoo. “He was sprawled out in his beach chair, his tan chest on display. Hazel couldn’t help but reach out and trace his new tattoo, the little book over his heart with the letters HK+NB written inside.” The book concludes with Noah suggesting that they get married on their holiday, and it is implied that they do.

Ultimately, Hazel goes through some character growth. “She just needed to look at herself, at her life, in a new light. In the romantic glow of some dusty old Christmas trees, or the late afternoon light of an empty beach, or the blinking lights of the Ferris wheel, Hazel was fun. And interesting. And maybe Noah had been by her side when she’d realized it and maybe he’d brought it out in her, convinced her that she was desirable”

Noah’s growth comes from being willing to return home and help his pregnant sister who needs some bed rest. He also swallows his pride and gets some advice from his father about the beach rental shacks enterprise. “What story was he telling himself? That his family didn’t want him around because he hadn’t met their expectations? No, the story he was telling was that he didn’t want to go home until he proved to himself and everyone else that his choice was the right one, that leaving school and home and the family business was the right thing to do. He wanted to be successful when he walked in that door. But maybe that was all bullshit, too. Maybe he just needed to go home to the family that loved him. Maybe they loved him even if all he ever had was an old boat and some crazy ideas. Maybe Hazel could too...”

When telling his family about his return, the following comedy exchange happens. “‘By whatever means necessary,’ their mother said, and Rachel laughed. ‘Jesus, Mom,’ Noah muttered. ‘Don’t take the Lord’s name, Noah James.’” Dang. Noah’s mother is devout.

Dream Harbour is a diverse place and probably has about a 50/50 split between heterosexual couples and LGBTQIA+ couples.

For instance, Hazel’s eccentric father, the mayor of Dream Harbour, who thinks that he has dreams which predict the future, meets her for breakfast. “[H]e was wearing a tie covered in rubber duckies, a sky-blue button down, and his signature glasses that kept slipping down his nose.” Through this encounter, readers learn about her folks absolutely nuts living situation. Her father is married to a man called Frank and the two of them live in the same house with Hazel’s mother. Why? Telling his wife and daughter that he was a homo must have been a difficult conversation. Clearly Hazel’s mother has a screw loose and is “known for the often scandalous, always nude, sculptures she made in her spare time.”

At the book club, “Linda smiled at her wife, Nancy, and Hazel was sure the two were silently sharing some kind of memory she didn’t want to get into in the middle of her place of business.” Hazel asks if attendees have observed anything strange in the Romance section. “Isabel tapped her chin with her pen. ‘Stranger than moth men with vibrating tongues or giant blue aliens or minotaurs donating their––’ Hazel held up a hand to stop her. What did these people read? Although that vibrating tongue sounded interesting...”

The book club aren’t the only people reading nonsense trash in the story. “You brought book three of the Wolf Brothers series!… The last one ended on a cliffhanger and I was dying to know what happened to the seer.” Get a grip, Noah.

“Jacob’s eyes lit up. ‘You definitely should! It’s so beautiful here in December and then you can meet my new boyfriend.’ ‘Boyfriend, huh? Hope this one treats you better.’”

“‘Well, I had fun, too.’ Alex lifted their eyebrows mischievously. ‘Me and Joe…’ ‘No way!’ Alex’s smile grew. They’d been lusting after Joe from The Pumpkin Spice Café for months. ‘Yes, way.’” Nice subtle use of pronouns.

In a town of low-key pervs, Hazel is a low-key perv queen. While Noah is explaining to her friends why he doesn’t smell of fish, she was “using all her mental energy to not picture a soapy, naked Noah scrubbing himself in the shower.” At the carnival, she puts her hand on his arm “and found her fingers lingering there on the muscles of his bicep. His arm was so … solid… His hand was solid too, big and strong and probably capable of doing so many more interesting things than ring toss.”

Hazel is not the only oversexed citizen of Dream Harbour. Jeanie and Logan don’t manage to attend the dang carnival. “’Where were you by the way? Didn’t feel like supporting the school?’ Red was creeping up Logan’s neck and into his cheeks. ‘Jeanie put on a sundress.’ ‘Excuse me?’ ‘We didn’t make it out of the house, okay?’ Logan ground out the words like they were choking him and Noah burst out laughing. ‘Damn. Must have been one hell of a dress.’ ‘It was.”

Though the book is mostly competently written and edited; “And then they’d just slept. And it had been really freaking nice”; is not going to be winning any Pulitzer Prizes any time soon. However, there is a little whoopsie for Laurie Gilmore and One More Chapter Books.

“It was a good idea. He knew it was, even when he didn’t really believe it. He just had to wrap his mind around how to sell it to the town council. They were incredibly protective of the town’s ascetics.” Ascetics? I’m guessing this should have been ‘aesthetics’. Chapter 7 of the Kindle version if you want to correct it.

In case, you’re wondering, yes, the cover checks out. “Jeanie sat at the other end with Casper in her lap. The little cat had taken to visiting the bookstore and Hazel often found him hidden among the stacks of books.”