Rule #1 – Never fall for a summer boy.

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?

Goodreads

I received an eARC of Small Town Hearts from Xpresso Tours in exchange for an honest review.

Small Town Hearts needs trigger warnings for friend breakups, underage drinking, and accidental overdose.

Oar’s Rest is the perfect fictional sea-side town with the ridiculous traditions that you only ever hear of in romance novels, but I loved it. The sandcastle competition was absolutely adorable and a great barometer for Babe’s feelings about her town and her friends.

I loved that the main conflict of this book was between Babe and her friends. Dealing with friend breakups is so hard, especially when you’ve been friends since you were small like they were. I thought Vale handled this really well, given the small town they lived in. Lucy calling her out on basically being in a bubble with her trio was awesome and I was happy to see it.

My friend Laura created a bomb ass playlist for this book as part of another blog tour, so check it out!

I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading more of Vale’s work in the future. You can pick up a copy of Small Town Hearts for yourself on Amazon!