Small Town Hearts

by Lillie Vale

Babe Vogel has spent her whole life in the postcard perfect small coastal town of Oar’s Rest, Maine. She works at the local coffee shop, the Busy Bean, lives in a lighthouse, and has a tight group of friends she’s known since birth.

When NYC-based artist Levi Keller turns up at the Busy Bean, Babe can immediately tell he’s from “out of town.” Levi is determined to live like a hermit and remain a mystery to the Oar’s Rest natives, but Babe won’t allow it. She takes Levi under her wing and shows him how the Maine locals live.

But as the seasons pass and Babe and Levi’s friendship becomes something more, they both have to figure out if they can balance small-town living with big-city dreams. Is Levi just a “summer boy,' destined to go home when the seasons change, or is he in Oar’s Rest to stay?

• ISBN10: 1250192358
• ISBN13: 9781250192356
• Publish Date: 1 April 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 2 December 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[theyaobsessed]

This book is one I enjoyed because it is one of those sweet reads that warms your heart. As stated in the blurb Babe is experiencing her summer after high school. A time that should be filled with making all those “last time” memories before everyone goes their separate ways. Thanks to an awkward event involving her two best friends breaking up she finds herself going without their support.

One of the new people she gravitates to is summer boy Levi. Summer boys are ones that visit in the summer and once the season ends head off back to their regular life. From the beginning, she fights her feelings trying not to let him have too profound an effect on her so when he leaves at the end of summer she is unhurt emotionally.

This is an LGBT friendly romance as well as Babe speaks about how the previous year she had been in a relationship with fellow townie Elodie. All in all even though this is being published in the spring this is a great summer romance read. Though her back and forth mentally about Levi is a little bit tedious toward the end I found myself understanding that that is part of growing up. Changing your mind often in regards to the future is a hallmark of being that age. I hope if you decide to pick this book up that you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

~*Review first appeared on The Bent Bookworm!*~

5/5 stars for an adorable, realistic summer romance! I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. But I was intrigued by the synopsis, being a small-town girl at heart myself, and while I’ve only visited Maine once it was gorgeous and picturesque and I would love to go back.

“The cardinal rule of every beach town is that locals do not get involved with tourists. They always leave.”

Babe is a bisexual baking barista (try saying that five times fast) who is struggling to let go and move on as her life – and her best friends – change around her. Her two bests friends are going on to college, and she’s not. Her choice, but she wants everyone she’s grown up with to stay the same right along with her. But is she really staying the same?

I absolutely loved the way Babe stuck to her guns about NOT going to college and staying in her home town. I think sometimes in all the narratives (and real life experiences) of people leaving home and never looking back, that we forget there are people who love their towns and what to stay there, build a life for themselves in the same place they grew up. On the other hand, I was glad that Babe realized she wasn’t entirely staying the same, she was growing and changing as a person too – even if she stayed in the same physical place.

Levi and Babe were adorable together. Even though their relationship is a little insta-y, it wasn’t insta-LOVE and I appreciated that. After all, insta-LIKE is pretty common and has a large variety of endings, haha. They had chemistry, but the author steered away from things like heavenly boy-sweat and sparks flying from the touches of fingertips. Thank you. I also loved that they both knew, pretty much from the start, that their relationship (whatever it was at the time) might not be permanent, and they were okay with that.

Babe’s issues with Elodie, her ex-girlfriend, were difficult to read about. Elodie is not out, and Babe has been for years, so that really threw a painful wrench into their relationship. After their breakup, Babe eventually – after a lot of tears and pain – moves on. When Elodie comes back to town after a year at college, Babe didn’t crumble. She had realized how much Elodie hurt her and how much she was a selfish person, and wasn’t going to let her do it again.

She was deflecting, trying to unload the responsibility of her decisions on me.

Having let people do this to me more times than I can count, I actually teared up that Babe found the strength within herself to call Elodie out on it. YES. Because it is damn difficult.

Also I desperately wanted some of Babe’s baking confections. OMG. I was EXTREMELY disappointed that there were not recipes for these…I mean, come on! That’s just cruel. Maybe someone will be inspired to come up with some? Because I know I’m not that talented…just page me if it happens. Kthx.

Highly recommend for a breezy summer read that still has some substance. I loved it and am very excited to see what debut author Lillie Vale comes out with next!

Many thanks to the publisher and author for a review copy in exchange for an honest review!

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[readingwithwrin]

Thank you to NetGalley, and Xpresso Book Tours for a free arc.
Small Town Hearts is such a fun and sweet summer read that can truly be read anytime of the year.

Babe Vogel is a character that you will immediately fall in love with. She has been on her own for a while now living in a lighthouse that she absolutely loves, and now that she is officially done with high school she can work full time on her passion. Working at the local coffee shop where she gets to showcase her baking and is now the manager of the store. She loves her job dearly and it really shows throughout the story as she makes several important decision for the shop and for her future. We also see Babe’s personal life through friendship struggles, ex’s showing up, and possibly even a new love interest. Babe is bisexual and I loved how this was shown in a very natural way and how it was never made to be a big deal throughout the book and how supportive everyone was about it.

Overall I really liked this story. Babe is a strong character who is also still a teenager trying to figure everything out. She did seem a little bit more mature at times but I blame that on the fact that she is a manager and has been living alone for quite a while. The love interests shown in this story were heartbreaking and also lovely to see unfold. We get to see a failed relationship and how it can still affect someone months after it has ended, and how it makes them uneasy about certain things in future relationships. I’m really glad this was shown because a lot of the time we just see this get pushed to the side and just forgotten in stories. Now for the friendships in this book. There were so many great friendship moments between Babe and Lucy, and how work friends can become best friends over time. I also liked Babe’s relationship with Penny and Chad and how we got to see their friendship evolve over time and how things can fall apart and come back together when times get rough.

Small Town Hearts has so many great friendship moments that made me fall in love with it. Yes, the romance was also a big element of the story, but it wasn’t the main focus and Babe had so many other interests in it without that being the main focus of the story. I’m really excited to see a healthy friendship being showcased more in YA books and I hope this trend continues.

[Sam@WLABB]

This was NOT turning out to be the summer Babe was expecting. She had planned to laze her days away on the beach with her besties eating tacos, but one mistake, and she was ousted from the group. To add to her misery, her ex-girlfriend was back in town after unceremoniously cutting Babe out of her life. All seemed lost, until a silver lining, in the form of a summer boy, appeared.

I am going to tell you right now - I was rooting for the summer boy from the very beginning. Levi was such a sweet little cinnamon roll, and it was easy to see that he made Babe something she hadn't really been in quite a while - happy. He was honest and a straight shooter, and he didn't leave her questioning everything she did or said. Their relationship was delightfully healthy.

It was easy to understand Babe's reluctance to open her heart to Levi, though. She was nursing quite a few wounds due to abandonment. Her mother left, her girlfriend left, and her best friends (kinda, sorta) left. How was she supposed to allow herself to fall for a boy, who was scheduled to leave at the end of the summer?

Alas, my heart didn't care, because these two shared a great friendship and a meaningful connection. And his friendship came without expectations, UNLIKE some of her "friends".

A big part of Babe's story was the conflict with Penny and Chad. I guess it's part of growing up, but it's also sad to see a long friendship run its course. It was definitely hard for Babe, and Vale did a wonderful job capturing those emotions. I felt for Babe and raged against her friends. I suppose I should commend the author for inciting these emotions in me, because I sort of felt like I went through the stages of grief during the demise of this friendship.

Aside from the romance, which was the star of this book for me, I also loved:

• What a fantastic little seaside town Vale brought us to. I loved exploring Oars Rest, and thought the author did a wonderful job pulling me into this local.

• Babe's mom and friends sort of sucked, but she was not without support. There were many fine inhabitants of Oars Rest, who gave their love to Babe. Her boss at Busy's was a sort of surrogate father to her, and she found an honest friendship in Lorcan and Lucy, who were both amazing. Sometimes found-families are just better.

• Sandcastle competitions for the win

• Baked goods. Lots and lots of amazing sounding baked goods. Oh, and seafood too.

• She lived in a lighthouse!

• End of summer traditions

It was a summer of many ups and downs for Babe, where she learned a lot about life and about herself.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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