Always Be My Pumpkin (Oakwood Village Dreams)

Samhain sweeps magic into Gracie’s cosy Irish hometown, and with it the boy who broke her heart ten years ago…

Sunny librarian Gracie isn’t looking for love. After dumping her cheating ex, she’s living the life she’s always dreamed of as a small-town librarian – surrounded by books, knitted pumpkins, and the cosy magic of Samhain.

Then Flynn Anderson walks back into her life.

Not only is Flynn her childhood best friend, he’s the boy who broke her heart ten years ago, disappearing to New York with no explanation. Now he's back, annoyingly handsome and somehow roped into helping her organise the village's Halloween festivities. Even worse? They’re forced to share his family's cottage. With only one bed.

Between sweet, funny notes, stolen glances, and far too many moments that make her pulse race, Gracie finds her feelings for Flynn are more complicated than she thought. And when a spicy fake kiss feels all too real, she faces an impossible choice.

Will Gracie be heartbroken again? Or will the magic of Samhain, and the support of their cosy small-town community, help Gracie and Flynn find their way home – this time, for good?

Linda writes cosy small town romance with heart, Irish humour, and soft spice. A former librarian, she hails from a small town in Ireland. The Christmas Market, 2024 will be followed by Always Be My Pumpkin, Montlake, 1st October 2026. Represented by Nicky Lovick at WGM. Writing and ideas are the author's own. No AI used in these stories.

One bed, two best friends, and a decade of unspoken feelings—this is a perfectly spiced autumn romance for fans of Laurie Gilmore and Lucy Score. I lost myself in the swoony dream of a lost teenage love renewed, in McEvoy’s warm, funny, irresistibly Irish voice, and in every stolen glance and fake kiss that aches in the best possible way. With its Halloween heart and cosy small-town magic, Always Be My Pumpkin is a story about finally choosing yourself—and finding that the person you love most is already choosing you back.

—Bekah Pickering, Editor