This book was perfect to help me get into the spring mindset but also ease right into summer. Laurie Gilmore does a great job writing to make you feel the “cozy aesthetic” in all of her books. Seriously, I could picture this one becoming a Hallmark movie! My favorite part about this book was how she was able to have kids be a part of the story. Not often are writers able to incorporate kids without taking away the romance away. This book may or may not have had me thinking about a little family with my husband… one day! 😉

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House starts off with a little chaos! Archer is a workaholic chef who used to live in Paris and discovers he has a daughter named Olive. He never planned to live in a small town, nor be a single dad. He decides to stay a while in Dream Harbor to wait for the custody paperwork to be filed and to help Olive still have some normality as he develops a connection with her. In the meantime he becomes the chef at a pancake house and hires a live-in nanny to help while he’s trying to make a living for him and his new daughter.

Iris works at the Y teaching water aerobic classes to the elderly. Iris is used to going from job to job to make ends meet. She then was told about the nanny position and almost immediately shuts it down. She was not good with kids, she was never around them and didn’t even know if she wanted any. Iris reconsiders it when she finds out she’d be living there rent free. She decides to take it, it’ll help her catch up on bills and start saving a little extra. Slowly, she realizes it’s a whole different world having to care for a little girl and also living with a very attractive chef.

Throughout the book, Archer and Iris try to keep things strictly professional but becomes hard when they can’t ignore the spark between them. It was so sweet to see the care and love grow between Archer, Iris and Olive. Both Archer and Iris learn new meanings to life, one they never thought about for themselves. Will they push to go back to their old lives? Or after all the growth they’ve gone through together, will they become a family?

I never got bored while reading this book. I hope you read it and enjoy it too!

Xo,

Jacquie