The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook is a fall treat that’s not overly extraordinary but still enjoyable, with an unexpected mystery subplot thrown in. It’s cute, bookish, has a handsome and nice single dad and all the spice – and pumpkin spice – you could ever hope to have in a romance novel.

Robyn teaches literature at Yale, but then her boyfriend breaks up with her. Her best friend, Meg, offers her a chance to run her small bookstore in Maple Falls, Washington, while Meg builds a new life in Paris and plans to sell her place. Robyn says yes and takes a sabbatical. She dreams of tenure and has absolutely no plans to stay in this charming little town with these charming little people. She just wants to get her life in order – and maybe read smut and eat pumpkin pie in the shop’s famous book nook.

The problem is no one who wants to buy Meg’s half of the shop wants to keep it exactly as it is, serving the community in the manner that she and her co-owner want.

Enter handsome single dad Tyler, co-owner of the bookstore, who is busy raising his little girl while flirting with Robyn. But the two of them are stunned when they discover a long-missing clue stuffed into a book related to Robyn’s author grandmother’s missing manuscript. Might Tyler and Robyn find true love – and the long-missing manuscript – along the way?

Lots of books this year have compared themselves to The Gilmore Girls while selling their small town fall stories, but when it comes to wit and dialogue here the race fell short for me. The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook was sweet and its mystery plot was fun, but outside of that it didn’t have much spirit or spark.

Robyn could have stepped out of a Hallmark movie. She’s stuffy high-powered career woman who needs to be loosened up by a hot dad, a small town, and a little girl who loves llamas and wears pigtails as shorthand for ‘cuteness’? This is their bread and butter. The only way she deviates from the norm is her love of spicy books, which naturally attracts Tyler and results in a steamy romance.

Tyler is an almost too perfect image of a single dad. He resists trying to fall for Robyn because he doesn’t want his daughter to get attached. He doesn’t want to get attached either. Of course, the three of them grow close anyway and Tyler feels a little guilty that he let it happen.

The mystery regarding the missing manuscript is the best and most interesting part of the book. I liked spending a little time with Robyn’s grandmother and her surprisingly saucy books, and the manuscript’s hiding place turns out to be completely unexpected.

I leave it up to you to discover the truth behind the mystery, and whether Robyn stays in Washington State. While The Pumpkin Pie Book Nook didn’t quite have the spark I was hoping for, it was a pleasant fall read with a fun mystery.

Lisa Fernandes has been reviewing romance novels ever since her great aunt left a Billie Douglas book out in the bathroom. She’s currently working on a biography about Julian Sands.