Let’s Give Em Pumpkin to Talk About is exactly what I wanted it to be – a fun, spicy, relatively low stakes trip to small town Indiana where the pumpkins are enormous and love is in the air. Mixing grumpy/sunshine romance with a pumpkin growing contest makes for a fun setting, giving our main characters the time they need to grow into a relationship that’s equal parts spicy and respectful. Conflict comes from clashing personalities and uncertainty of our pair’s futures, all intertwined with the messes that childhood leaves behind in their personalities. If you’re looking for a romance centered on pumpkins with spicy scenes and a satisfying romantic arc, you’ve found the right book.

The Best Bits

A Few of My Favorite Things

Our Grumpy Main Character

I love the concept of a somewhat gothic, definitely grumpy protagonist being dropped back into her small hometown in order to help grow a prize-winning pumpkin. It’s an admittedly ridiculous premise and one I couldn’t get enough of. Sadie is a bit all over the place at times, trying to balance unexpected success on a project she’s not passionate about against the many issues from her childhood that are brought back to the surface. It’s interesting to watch her navigate this return home and her responses, while not always great choices, make for an entertaining read. 

Our Sunshine Main Character

Josh is a ray of sunshine straight out of a Hallmark movie – a former tech millionaire turned squash farmer with big dreams to become a worldwide squash influencer. Again, ridiculous premise but hilariously done. He is the polar opposite of Sadie in every way, making for an always entertaining romance as the two of them skirt around each other and eventually come together. While he does have an ulterior motive, it’s essentially glossed over, which I did find to be a bit of a miss.

All of the Side Characters

You have Sadie’s father, an old pumpkin farmer who gives everyone crap and apparently really loves wooden boats. You have the sister who gives Sadie crap and is one of the most entertaining parts of the book. You have the ex-boyfriend turned neighbor who is starting a pig hunting retreat for god only knows who. Throw in a few smaller characters from the local art scene and you have a cast of characters who build a homey town. Is it realistic? Probably not, and that’s what I loved about it. 

The Pumpkins

I love the concept of a pumpkin growing contest pitting two rivals against each other. It’s very fall, very Halloween, and very small town. I expected this to be an explosion of pumpkin things – pumpkin spice, pumpkin patches, pumpkin everything – but instead it was a simple farm versus an incredibly over-planned farm just trying to grow big pumpkins. It was calming in its simplicity and allowed the romance to take center stage.

On a final note…

I both appreciate the title and apologize to everyone who has heard me singing a pumpkin version of the song it’s based on for the past two months