I enjoyed Coming Home to Starr's Fall. It is a great romance and hits all the right notes for me. Dogs and fall! I loved the small-town cozy vibe. I wish I lived in a place like that. It is perfect for the fall season.

I chose this purely for the beautiful Autumn cover! Thankfully it was just as heartwarming as the cover. Laurie and her cute dog Max move
To Starrs Falls to find her birth mother. She immediately is swept into the bosom of this quaint town and meets cutie bookstore owner Josh. Little mystery and a little romance make this novel. Can't wait for more from
This quaint town

This was a super cute, slow burn, small town romance. I loved the autumn feel of this book and how it loosely reminds me of Gilmore Girls. Just the vibe. I love small town romances and set in fall for me is chefs kiss! I liked that Laurie was opening a pet bakery/store. I also liked the aspect of trying to find her birth mom. The romance was super slow but it made it feel more realistic. All in all, I enjoyed this one.

Unfortunately, Welcome Home to Starr's Fall didn’t quite meet my expectations. I went in with an open mind, not expecting too much, but I still found myself feeling disappointed by the end. The story felt very superficial, lacking depth and emotional engagement.

The characters didn’t resonate with me, and the plot didn’t manage to pull me in. There was a real lack of connection, and I found it hard to care about what happened next. It had potential, but the overall execution felt flat, leaving me feeling detached from the story.

While the setting had some charm, I wish the narrative had given more to truly hook the reader and invest them emotionally. Sadly, it didn’t leave much of an impression.

Perfect for fans of the Gilmore girls for the autumn evenings. Laurie moves and sets up a pet bakery. Time for Laurie to rebuild. Will she be welcomed into the community?

Coming Home to Starr’s Fall gave me a beautiful book to curl up with and enjoy meeting new people. Being in a small town in Autumn along with Laurie Ellis as she moves to Connecticut to open a pet shop combined with a bakery for dogs. Her dog Max is her companion on this journey to start her new life.
Laurie meets Joshua Reilly who is not an overly friendly guy who owns a bookstore.
As I was reading this book, I felt like I was with them both. I am glad I got to read this book which is the first in a new series.
Thank you NetGalley, Kate Hewitt and Boldwood Books for the copy of Coming Home to Starr’s Fall. This is my personal review.

This was a wonderful story of hope and optimism and learning to find family amongst the friends you have. I really loved the characters of Joshua and Laurie and I am very much looking forward to the next Starrs Fall book.

The story line was cute for a fall read. I didn't think the character development was great and found myself skimming through to just get to the end of the book. I wasn't ooing and awing at the end of the book when the main characters were together. Didn't seem believable.

"Coming Home to Starr’s Fall" is a cozy autumn romance that captures the charm of small-town life. With a delightful grumpy-sunshine dynamic and vivid descriptions of pumpkin spice and falling leaves, it’s the perfect fall read. While familiar tropes abound, the warmth of the community and relatable characters make it a delightful escape. A heartwarming story that will leave you wanting more!

I love the Autumn & this book brings the colours of this beautiful time of the year. Good read that took me a time to get into but I really enjoyed this love story.

This was a nice sweet read with a cute romance I loved the small cozy town and its residents but I was hoping for a different ending

Coming Home To Starr’s Fall, by Kate Hewitt, is a cosy novel with a small-town autumn vibe.
This easy-to-read page turner is centred around the character Laurie Ellis who moves to Starr’s Fall to set up her pet shop/bakery where she meets the grumpy book shop owner, Joshua Reilly. As their relationship blossoms, and as she makes more friends and starts to feel at home, Laurie begins to look for her birth mother, a former resident of Starr’s Fall.
I really enjoyed reading this book by Kate Hewitt and I hope to read more in the future. I recommend Coming Home To Starr’s Fall to lovers of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe and other autumnal romance reads.

This book was as refreshing as walking down the street on a crisp autumn day, the leaves rustling on the ground in the breeze, and the smell of autumn in the air. I loved Starrs Fall and how the locals welcomed Laurie and Max with open arms! If I could close my eyes and transport myself into this town I would. The grumpy sunshine trope was present and accounted for and there was zero spice, which was nice for a change of pace. If you want to fully immerse yourself in a small town New England autumn, this book is for you! If you’re a fan of the Gilmore Girls, this book is also for you.

This was a 3.5 for me, rounding up to 4. It was cute and I loved Laurie. But it moved a bit slow and I think the romance in this could have been a bit deeper. I loved Max and all in all this was a fun time! I also think that Henrietta needs an ending to her story! Thanks to netgalley & Kate Hewitt for this arc. All opinions are my own.

PS: More thorough reviews will be posted on my Instagram wrap up, youtube wrap up, and on TikTok

I loved this book! I’ve read a few of Kate’s books in the past but none for a number of years as I got sucked down the rabbit hole of new authors. However, I’m thrilled I joined in this blog tour. This is a fabulously cosy, heart-warming read that shows that community can be a good thing, without making it over-sweet. Some books can over do the community support, everyone wanting to help vibe, but this one does it perfectly. I liked Laurie, Joshua and Max and it was a joy to watch them all interacting. Watching Laurie evolve in this new setting and take on some big challenges was so rewarding. Life isn’t always perfect and I find it nice when book characters also have to deal with some troubles in their journey. It makes them more realistic, and potentially inspirational, depending on the book. In this case, Laurie has her plans and her goals and she is determined to succeed, and happily isn’t above accepting some help along the way.

I enjoyed visiting Starrs Fall and meeting it’s residents. While it clearly needs some new life and new businesses, because it’s suffered with the effects of the pandemic and people’s changing shopping habits, it’s feels like a lovely place. The existing business, bakery, diner, etc make it easy to imagine popping in somewhere for a coffee and having a wander around the town window shopping and possibly buying the odd book. It also had a relaxed feel to it and that’s probably what contributed to the cosy feeling I had throughout the whole book. It’s absolutely perfect for this time of year, ideal reading after walking outdoors, perhaps in a woodland, experiencing all of the autumn colours, before going back home and getting all cosy indoors under a blanket with a hot drink in hand and this book.

A little bit broken and bruised...

Laurie chooses Starr's Fall to open a dog bakery (no, just no).
The town, its inhabitants and Laurie are all a little bit broken and bruised.
Joshua is the bookstore owner. There's a clue in his shop as to why Laurie is in this town.

I read "Coming Home to Starr’s Fall," and I found it to be a cozy, sweet, and heartwarming story. The book introduces Laurie, who moves to Starr’s Fall to start a pet store and bakery while also searching for a connection to her past. As she gets to know the townspeople, she starts feeling at home, especially with Max, her dog.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was the perfect read to kick off the autumn season. I liked the characters and would love to know more about them. Laurie was an inspiring character, and I appreciated her optimism. The small-town romance and opposites attract storyline was lovely, and I found the chemistry between Laurie and Joshua endearing.
Overall, it was a very pleasant and charming read, perfect for enjoying covered with a blanket and drinking a cup of tea. This is the second book by Kate Hewitt that I've read, and I definitely want to read more of her work.

3.5 stars rounded up. Laurie Ellis has two wishes: one is to open her own pet store/bakery and the second is to find her mother. She was put up for adoption as a baby, but unfortunately grew up in foster care when her adoptive parents could no longer keep her. Her only clue is what was on her birth certificate: her mother's name and the town she lived in. Based on this information, Laurie moves to Starr's Fall in Connecticut to pursue her dreams. Shortly after arriving she meets grumpy bookstore owner, Joshua Reilly, who thinks a bakery for dogs is ridiculous. He is cat sitting, and Laurie's little dog, Max is scared to death. As the animals get accustomed to one another, Laurie and Joshua begin spending more time together and there is definitely chemistry. Laurie continues to try and get information about her mother, but keeps hitting dead ends. It isn't until she meets town recluse and the only living member of the founding family, Henrietta Starr, that Laurie begins to feel at home and welcome in Starr's Fall. When she finally opens up to Joshua about her past, he is able to help her in her search. Will sharing secrets help them get together?

Coming to Starr's Falls is not a heavy hitter, but an easy read, predictable romance. I enjoyed the setting and characters. I loved seeing how Laurie becomes friends with Henrietta Starr and finding out about her past. As time passes, Laurie and Joshua feel the chemistry and eventually the spark ignites. I liked how the town accepted her into their community and supported her business. This is a slow story, with an enemies to friends to more theme. I've read many stories where adoptive children find their parents and all goes well, but this isn't always the case in real life, so it was nice to see this story buck that trend. There are themes of new beginnings, grief, found family, multi-generational friendship, and romance. The story was not deep, but the characters were wonderful in the town. I did enjoy this one, but it was somewhat predictable.

I read this as an ARC on NetGalley. I loved everything about this book, the characters, the setting, the plot. Everything! It was filled with finding home and love. I am hoping this will become a series.

I haven’t read a Hewitt romance in ages; all I remember of them is that Hewitt wrote not-too-over-the-top, well-written HPs. Coming Home to Starr’s Fall is far from an HP; au contraire, with its “kisses-only” ethos, circumspect hero and heroine, and small-town gentleness, it’s a competent, pleasant read but the drama llama is shorn. If I have a criticism, it’s that it starts with a strong grumpy-sunshine romance and veers away from romance to turn women’s fiction in the second half. Because I’m not much of a WF fan, my attention and liking waned. The return to the romance in the final pages was anti-climactic. Here’s the publisher’s blurb to give us some focus before further commentary:

The leaves are falling, with a crispness to the air, along with the scents of coffee and pumpkin spice, past a half-empty street of shuttered storefronts and a bandstand that has seen better days…

Just like the whole town of Starr’s Fall, thinks Laurie Ellis – as she and her beloved dog Max head to collect the store keys. Maybe she has seen better days, too, but she’s certainly ready for a new start—and to leave her past behind. Still Laurie wonders whether she made a terrible mistake in coming to lovable but shabby Starr’s Fall. Will she even find customers for her pet store and bakery, never mind a community to welcome and accept her?

Not according to Joshua Reilly, the handsome but grumpy manager of the bookstore across the road, who claims he’s never heard of anything so ridiculous as a bakery for dogs.

But Laurie remains stubbornly undeterred. She’s starting over, right here. Not least because she has another secret reason for being here… one she isn’t telling anybody, at least not yet, as it involves her own tragic past.

What she doesn’t yet know is that a clue to the mystery is hidden deep in Joshua’s bookstore. And he doesn’t yet realize that Laurie herself might be the key to mending his own battered heart… for Laurie and Joshua and the whole town, it’s going to be a fall to remember.

Hewitt is a smooth, adept writer and the writing kept me reading, even when the subject left romance’s shores and landed on the craggy coast of women’s fiction. Moreoever, Hewitt drew two likeable protagonists in Laurie and Joshua: they’re funny and sad in the way a great romance writer can make protagonists who’ve suffered and yet who maintain a sense of humour. This is true of Laurie and of Joshua; the wonderfully-drawn animal characters, Laurie’s cutie-pie dog Max, and Joshua’s cat-sitting of regal, slightly-nasty escapist artist cat, his aunt’s actually, Lea, are a hoot.

Joshua and Laurie come with painful pasts, adding to the pathos and yet, the humour lightens the mood enough to make for an entertaining read, especially in the first half. Add the small-town characters and a slightly shabby town trying its best and you have a sold read. Laurie’s backstory is heartbreaking as we slowly put together her childhood in the foster child system. Despite what is a painful, lonely life, Laurie works hard to be cheerful, positive, and hopeful. She isn’t Pollyanna-ish and she’s not naïve. I liked how Hewitt made her strong but honest about her feelings of loneliness, deep desire to belong, find community, and find friends. Starr’s Fall isn’t perfect, but there are enough good people in it to make her feel welcome. Joshua, on the other hand, does anything but…and Laurie still smiles and greets and doesn’t let him get away with his grumpiness. She wins him over without making it a mission, just by being herself.

Joshua too had a hard time of it. He lost his mother to cancer as a child, had a cold, difficult relationship with his father, gave up his musical career in NYC to care for him when he was ill and dying, and was abandoned by his fiancée…dumped by text no less. He has good reason to be a grump, yet so does Laurie and she isn’t. Their exchanges are affectionate, the banter is gently funny, and honest. Hewitt shows us compatibility and builds Laurie and Joshua’s romance on it.

Then the romance stalls and slips out of the narrative because Laurie’s motivations for being in Starr’s Fall is more than a yearning for community, friendship, and making a work dream come true. As if that isn’t enough, she’s also in town (not a spoiler, it’s in the first chapter) to find her biological mother. While I didn’t enjoy how Hewitt veered a lovely romance into WF territory, the resolution to Laurie’s search is original, surprising, and not what I expected. It is to Hewitt’s credit that her realistic portrayals of several characters’ struggles was unique and compelling (Laurie’s first friend, for example, struggles as her mother’s care-giver). Maybe there’s too much going on here, or Laurie and Joshua are so easy and lovely together that there isn’t much room for more romance in this novel. In the end, an enjoyable, well-written read, with an appealing setting, and engaging secondary characters, especially the pets; if you’re good with it turning away from romance and towards WF, you’ll greatly enjoy this. With Miss Austen, we say Coming Home to Starr’s Fall is “almost pretty,” Northanger Abbey.

Kate Hewitt’s Coming Home to Starr’s Fall is published by Boldwood Books and released on September 18. I received an e-galley from Boldwood Books, via Netgalley. The above is my honest, Generative-AI free opinion.