Synopsis:
When Penny returns to Magnolia Springs after ten years in San Francisco, she tells herself it’s only for the fall. She’s there to help her parents with the harvest season on their orchard, surrounded by golden leaves and baskets of red apples, and she swears she’ll be back to her city life by December. But Penny didn’t expect to find her childhood sweetheart, Ethan, working at the orchard, too.
She can’t quite believe that the boy she left behind to chase her dreams has grown into a man who is even more handsome than she remembers. His broad shoulders, dirty blonde hair, and deep brown eyes still set her heart racing, and his steady presence soon stirs up feelings that Penny thought she’d left in the past.
As the golden leaves start to fall and long days of harvesting side-by-side turn into cozy evenings with Ethan, Penny finds herself drawn to him all over again. Now, Penny is facing a choice: return to the life she built for herself in the city or stay with the man who still feels like home. Because this time, leaving Magnolia Springs might mean losing Ethan for good…
Review:
I decided to read Cozy Girl Fall as a quick read, palate cleanser and I’d say it definitely hit the mark in that sense. Would I recommend this as a good read? Probably not. It was very much ok. I finished reading it six days ago (at the time of writing this review) and I remember basically nothing about it. I couldn’t even tell you the names of the characters without looking at the synopsis.
The characters of this book were either completely forgettable or annoying. You spend most of Cosy Girl Fall hearing about how annoyed Penny is to be back in Magnolia Springs. Her hatred for the town she grew up in was hollow at best. You’re not given a real reason for why she hates it other than it’s small. Nothing actually bad happened to her, she just thought she was “too big for a small town”.
Then you have Ethan, the guy who was so ready to drop everything for Penny after not seeing her for ten years – insane. He was actually quite pathetic for the entirety of the book. There was absolutely nothing special about her. Plus she left the town ten years ago, while they were dating, and didn’t even tell him. She literally just left and never contacted him again. If someone did that for me I wouldn’t be fawning over them when they return, I’d be annoyed.
I think if we got to actually see them as a couple when they were younger, their connection would be stronger and more realistic. But you’re just told “yeah they were together when they were younger, they should be together now, trust me”.
The build up to their (eventual) reconciliation was extremely rushed. I liked the trope of ‘there’s a storm and now we’re trapped in this small space together’ however, this would have been a great time for them to actually talk about what happened ten years ago, but instead they have a fairly casual chat and are then making out.Penny instantly regrets it and is very vocal about that fact. Ethan storms out, which would make you think he’d avoid her at all costs, but no, he’s leaving her notes on her car, buying her coffee and all the while she’s literally climbing trees to get away from him.
You can’t convince me of this romance when at all points Penny was trying to avoid him. Even when they do get back together (a spoiler, but not really) their relationship felt very surface level. They were basically just getting it on and having terrible communication skills.
Also, sandalwood and pumpkin spice – the two genders apparently. Penny exclusively drinks pumpkin spice lattes and Ethan is constantly described as smelling of sandalwood. So yeah.
One part of Cozy Girl Fall that I did really enjoy was the autumn festival. I didn’t care for Penny and Ethan getting it on in a very public area (a barn near the festival) however, I did really enjoy the family-friendly activities they got up to. The apple pie contest and apple bobbing were fun, and were basically the only autumnal parts of this book.
Cozy Girl Fall was, as I said at the beginning of this review, ok. I know I’ve complained about the characters a lot, but I did actually finish this, so it wasn’t entirely bad. I think for a quick read to get you into the autumn season, it’s good. But as a romance, not so great.
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