Honeycrisp Orchard Romance, Book 1
From the publisher:
A Cozy Small-Town Romance of Rediscovery, Forced Proximity, and the Magic of Autumn Set on a Quaint Apple Orchard
For fans of the Lovelight series and The Pumpkin Spice Café, this cozy and sexy romance follows a young event planner who returns to her family’s inn on an apple orchard to help run their Harvest Festival—only to find herself butting heads with the handsome son of the apple orchard’s owners.
Ellie Lawson’s city life was treating her just fine until a sour turn of events knocks her out in one fell swoop. Dumped by her boyfriend and fired from her event planning job, she is left with no choice but to return to her parents’ idyllic inn, nestled within a picturesque Honeycrisp orchard on Long Island. Anticipating a quiet hiatus in the attic apartment, she is instead met with Aiden, the stubborn, attractive son of the orchard owner who is currently occupying her planned refuge.
Forced together by circumstance, they find themselves not only roommates but also coworkers, when they’re put in charge by their parents of the orchard’s vital Harvest Festival, a lifeline for both the struggling orchard and the inn. Amidst the enchanting disorder of small-town life, Ellie and Aiden grapple with their conflicting values, burgeoning feelings, and an electrifying tension.
As Ellie discovers the unexpected charm of the life she left behind and Aiden learns there’s much more to Ellie than he’d first assumed, one fact remains: the future of the orchard and the inn depends on their unlikely collaboration.
Embark on a captivating journey of rediscovery, love, and the irreplaceable magic of small-town life.
Ellie Lawson was living the dream—sort of. She’d been put in charge of a major presentation for her event planning company’s biggest new client, and after months of preparation, she knew her plan was stellar. But the night before her big pitch, her boyfriend—who also happened to be her coworker and roommate—dumped her out of nowhere.
Heartbroken but determined, Ellie throws herself into work, hoping to impress the client and finally earn that long-awaited promotion. Instead, her presentation was met with stunned silence. Moments later, her boss pulls her aside to accuse her of plagiarizing her ex’s work—he had presented her exact plan just before her. Outraged, Ellie tries to explain, but her boss refuses to listen and fires her on the spot.
Now both jobless and homeless, Ellie has no choice but to return home to Long Island, where her parents run a charming inn on an apple orchard owned by their lifelong best friends. They’ve been begging her for years to come home and help with their annual fall Harvest Festival, but she’s always been too busy with her real job. This time, she has no excuse. Her parents are thrilled she’s coming and offer her the attic apartment in the inn—except when she arrives, she finds it already occupied by Aiden, the orchard owners’ son. They grew up together, and Ellie doesn’t realize that Aidan was disappointed that she moved away.
Aiden’s house is under renovation, so the two reluctantly agree to share the small two-bedroom apartment. But when Aiden learns Ellie plans to work on the Harvest Festival, he’s less than thrilled. The festival is his project, and he’s not keen on sharing control. She dives headfirst into planning a festival far grander in scale and budget than Aiden thinks prudent, and their clashing approaches set the stage for constant friction.
Apparently, it’s now mandatory for small-town romances to reference the Gilmore Girls, and this author delivers. As Ellie and Aiden navigate their differences, growing attraction, and shared hopes for the orchard’s success, the Harvest Festival becomes more than an event—it’s a chance to save both the orchard and the inn.
Through it all, Ellie realizes she loves event planning but hates the corporate world that crushed her creativity. When her ex and her former boss reach out—the event she designed is collapsing under his mismanagement—and the client tries to hire her directly, Ellie faces a choice: return to the city or stay in the only place that’s ever truly felt like home.
As Ellie rediscovers the unexpected magic of the life she left behind—and Aiden learns she’s far more than the city girl he assumed—their partnership proves vital to the orchard’s future.
My only quibble? The setting. As someone who grew up on Long Island, I’ve never encountered any small towns remotely like this. Sure, there are orchards, but not the kind that exist in quaint, Gilmore Girls-style villages. The story would have felt more believable to me if the orchard had been set in upstate New York, where quirky small towns abound—but most readers won’t know the difference. Nevertheless, this was a charming, heartwarming read filled with small-town magic and second chances, and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.
11/2025 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE HONEYCRISP ORCHARD INN by Valerie Bowman. Avon. (September 9, 2025). ISBN: 978-0063454033. 272p.
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