[ARC Book Review] Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale

Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad.
And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had - to never fall for a summer boy?

**Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale was sent to me by the author herself! Although I am hugely grateful to Lillie Vale for sending a copy my way, this does not impact my opinions and thoughts whatsoever. This is an honest spoiler-free review.** 

content warnings (listed by the author): manipulative friendship,  mention of casual drug usage (weed, not shown on page), alcohol consumption (shown on page), alcohol abuse (a character drinks and parties to the point of dehydration and sleep-deprivation; two characters get wasted and are too drunk to dully consent to sex with each other).

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When Lillie Vale was asking for readers and reviewers who identified as bisexual to sign up for e-ARCs of her debut novel, Small Town Hearts, I was really excited! The synopsis sounded really cute and I am always down for a romance where one of the characters is bisexual. And I am really happy I ended up reaching out because I genuinely enjoyed my time reading this really cute story. 

"Things don't have to still be perfect to be pretty great." 

The characters were enjoyable to read about, especially Babe. I really loved that she was not only super independent but she also was so loyal (sometimes to a fault) to her friends. She's only nineteen years old and she definitely seems around that age in terms of how she handles her friends and crushes, but she also felt like someone who has been taking care of themselves for a really long time. I liked the way she not only stood up for herself but she was honest with the ones she loves. She's definitely one of my new favorite characters. Her relationship with Levi was really cute. I thought they had really great chemistry and I liked that it felt like a new relationship. It wasn't insta-lovey or overly cheesy. They felt like two new friends who are also crushing on each other, which slowly develops into something more. Which I found sweet and perfect for the tone of the story. 

This entire book is a love letter to Maine, and I loved it so much. I felt like it was super authentic to Maine summers and it made me kind of excited for the upcoming summer (even if it's my least favorite season). I'd be surprised if Lillie Vale never lived or spent time in Maine during the summers because it felt so authentic to the busy summers I experienced when living in a small town. I also loved all the food talk in this book.  Do not read Small Town Hearts while hungry because it will be absolute torture! From the different seafoods, whoopie pies, Moxie, and all the desserts Babe makes throughout the summer had my stomach grumbling. It's definitely made me excited for fish fries and lobster rolls in the summer.  

I liked how Vale handled Babe's bisexuality because for the most part Babe doesn't have to explain her sexuality to anyone. She makes it clear who she is and she's confident in herself. When she mentions having an ex-girlfriend it isn't brought to light but instead accepted as if she said an ex-boyfriend. Of course there are time and places for books where a character has to defend and explain her bisexuality, especially when bi-erasure exists in both the straight and gay communities, but it was nice for it to be treated as normal. I also like how Babe handed the return of her ex-girlfriend, Elodie. There are a lot of important conversations brought up with their past relationship. One of the bigger topics being when to come out and who to come out for (Babe makes it clear Elodie needs to come out when she feels safe and to do it for herself, no one else). I thought these were important conversations to be had and I thought they were handled well. What I think always helps is when a book is an OwnVoices book, and with Lillie Vale identifying as bisexual it helped make Babe's bi identity feel more relatable. 

"If August had a color, it would be gold. Brighter than a lion. Twenty-four-karat beauty."

I think my only real gripe with the book was the conflict between Babe and her two best friends Penny and Chad. I didn't like either of them from the beginning and continued not to like them throughout the entire book. So when their story line was resolved I couldn't bring myself to care too much about that entire subplot. Maybe it's because we don't get a lot of their history other than some quick summaries of their past so it's hard to feel the strain in the relationship, but all it made me do is really dislike Penny and mildly dislike Chad. I much preferred the couple Babe starts hanging out with more, Lucy and Lorcan and would have enjoyed more of them in the story. I thought Babe's friendship with Lucy and even with their boss, Tom, was super sweet. They felt like a little family and I thought it was heartwarming. I was happy to see that Babe had a good support system around her especially when dealing with the Penny/Chad drama.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone in the mood for a sweet summer romance. I think this is the perfect book to read in the summer! Definite bonus points if you live in Maine/New England but you can obviously love it even if you don't. I don't even like summer, beaches, and sand (sandcastle competitions become a fun subplot) and I found myself enjoying the beachy vibes. Small Town Hearts becomes available March 19th, 2019 and if you click the links here are the Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Book Depository.

Thanks for reading!