44 pages • 1 hour read
Laurie GilmoreThe Cinnamon Bun Book Store
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Two months before her 30th birthday, Hazel Kelly reflects on how the last 15 years of her life have been the same. She feels as if she has had no adventures or stories to tell, something she finds ironic as much of her life revolves around being surrounded by stories at her job at The Cinnamon Bun Book Store. Hazel spots a book that is sticking out from the shelf and goes to straighten it. Yet when she comes across the book, a pirate romance called Love Captive, she sees that it is dog-eared and that the page has a highlighted quote reading “Come with me, lass, if you want an adventure” (11). As Hazel begins to wonder about the book, Noah Barnett enters the store. Unlike Hazel, Noah is new to the small New England town of Dream Harbor, and as a fishing boat captain, Hazel believes he must have many stories and adventures. Noah often comes into the bookstore without having a book to read in mind, leading one of Hazel’s best friends, Annie, to think that Noah has a crush on Hazel. Hazel finds this hard to believe: Noah is known as a notorious flirt, and Hazel believes her life is too boring to attract him. When Noah sees the highlighted quote in the book, he assumes someone left it there for Hazel to find and insists it must be a clue to something. Though Hazel initially thinks Noah is pranking her with the book, she eventually sees that following this clue could lead her to an adventure of her own.
Chapter 2 Summary
The novel switches to Noah’s perspective as he reflects on his attraction to Hazel, who he believes is too good for him. Though Noah has been in Dream Harbor for a few years, he previously moved from town to town to avoid his family. His family had turned their small fishing business into a multimillion-dollar seafood supplier, and after his parents retired, his sisters took over the business while he ran from it. Noah feels guilty about this but knows he wasn’t cut out for the life his family expected of him. Though he lives above Mac’s bar in the middle of town by the bookstore, Noah has secretly been restoring some small fisherman’s cottages near the water, where he goes when he wants to be alone. As he reads a book Hazel suggested for him, he wonders whether she would like the life he has here.
Chapter 3 Summary
Two days after finding Love Captive, Hazel spots another crooked book on the shelves. Though she tries to resist the urge to straighten the book, she soon relents and finds another dogeared page with a highlighted quote about picking blueberries and new beginnings. Hazel’s friends Annie and Jeanie, the owners of the nearby bakery and coffee shop, respectively, find her studying the book and invite her to a bonfire their friend Logan is having that night. Hazel agrees, though she knows she won’t have a good time, and her predictions prove true later that night. Many of their friends from around Dream Harbor are at the bonfire, including Noah and a few members of the local book club. As the book club members discuss what book to read next, Noah mentions that Hazel has been reading a pirate romance. Embarrassed, Hazel excuses herself to go to the bathroom at Logan’s house, where she finds a bottle of wine and a blueberry bush that reminds her of the book she found earlier that day. She reflects that she has been coming to Logan’s house for years and worries that her life has begun to feel stagnant. To rectify this problem, she decides to heed the clues in the books she finds and begin to seek adventure.
Chapter 4 Summary
Noah finds Hazel a bit drunk in the back garden of the house, and she tells him about the second clue and the blueberry bush. While Hazel shares blueberries with Noah, she tells him about how her life feels static and too safe. When she found the blueberries, Hazel decided to have an adventurous summer before her 30th birthday in the fall. She asks for Noah’s help, believing he can show her how to have some reckless fun. As her first act of recklessness, Hazel kisses Noah. Realizing that she is drunk, he doesn’t kiss back, but he agrees to help her have fun and follow the clues this summer, wanting her to see him as someone who can be more than just a fun time. When Hazel mentions that she isn’t his type, Noah knows that he must also convince her that she is. The two joke around and finish the bottle of wine before their friends find them.
Chapter 5 Summary
Hazel wakes up with a hangover the next day but knows she must go to the local diner for her standing breakfast meeting with her father, the mayor of Dream Harbor. At breakfast, her father makes a point of insisting that Hazel should have a fun summer. As she walks to work, Hazel sees Noah leaning against the door of the bookstore, coming to check if she is okay. Regretting some of her decisions last night, Hazel tells Noah that he doesn’t need to help her follow the clues. As soon as she says this, she rethinks her decision again, knowing she will regret it if she doesn’t have a fun summer. However, she worries about what might happen between her and the handsome fisherman she is beginning to fall for over the next two months.
Chapter 6 Summary
Almost a week later, Hazel finds another clue in a quote that mentions drinking milkshakes. She decides not to tell Noah, knowing she could follow this clue herself, yet she runs into him at the grocery store while getting ingredients for her milkshake. Feeling bad about keeping secrets from Noah, Hazel invites him to share a milkshake with her, and they both agree that the milkshakes turn out perfectly and that they make a good team.
Chapter 7 Summary
After a crowded day in the bookstore, Hazel finds another book sticking out of the shelves of the romance section. She asks another store worker, Alex, if they’ve seen anyone messing with the books, but they haven’t. Hazel is scared when she sees the quote highlighted in this book, as it mentions a Ferris wheel, and she is afraid of heights. She texts Noah a picture of the page and says they can go to the carnival this weekend but that she won’t be going on the Ferris wheel. As they message back and forth and Noah tries to flirt with Hazel, she mentions that they shouldn’t tell anyone about the clues because they still don’t know who is leaving them or why. At the carnival, Hazel still refuses to go on the Ferris wheel, but she is more flirtatious with Noah than he expected.
Chapter 8 Summary
Hazel remembers getting stuck at the top of a Ferris wheel during a thunderstorm in high school, but her memories don’t prevent her from enjoying the carnival with Noah as he attempts to win her stuffed animals at various carnival games. Hazel mentions that the whole close-knit town will be gossiping about them dating if they look like they are getting too close, mentioning Noah’s rumored aversion to long-term relationships. Hazel wonders what kind of relationship Noah is really looking for and whether she wants something serious with him, despite her decidedly unserious intentions for the summer. Hazel tries to learn more about Noah’s past, but when she brings up his family, he pivots the conversation back to the Ferris wheel, which Hazel eventually agrees to go on. After one round on the Ferris wheel, Hazel feels brave and reckless, and she kisses Noah as they go around again.
Chapters 1-8 Analysis
The early chapters of The Cinnamon Bun Book Store introduce the protagonists: Hazel and Noah. Each believes they are permanently bound to a specific archetype. Hazel knows how she and everyone else sees her: bookish, introverted, and risk averse. The opening paragraphs of the novel explain how nothing about Hazel’s life has changed in the past 15 years, making her actions entirely predictable to herself and her friends. Even when she believes she should try to change, Hazel feels unable to do so: “Just once, Hazel would like to do something very un-Hazel-like. But not right now. Because right now Hazel’s gaze snagged on a crooked book in the Romance section and the Hazel thing to do was to straighten it” (10). Ironically, Hazel’s predictable personality leads her directly to the first of many clues that will push her out of her comfort zone. Though Hazel is initially afraid to make any changes, she also sees how much her personality has kept her from important adventures and becomes brave enough to take the risk of following the clues.
Noah, too, has internalized the stereotypes that others apply to him. He is viewed as an unserious flirt with little else to offer others but a fun time, and he believes this about himself even though he wants more. Hazel inadvertently confirms Noah’s negative self-image when she asks him to help her have an adventure over the summer, suggesting that like everyone else, she sees him only as a fun guy. Hazel’s friends warn her against Noah due to his reputation, but Noah is so convinced by his own view of himself that he doesn’t think he is even worthy of Hazel. Noah often downplays his intelligence and hides the truth about his past, thinking it will only further contribute to the stereotypes everyone believes about him. The fisherman’s cottages, which he plans to restore as vacation rentals, serve as a motif illustrating the degree to which Noah’s self-doubt gets in the way of his ambitions. Though he has a clear vision for the cottages, his negative self-image convinces him that he is incapable of making it happen. As their relationship develops over the course of the novel, Hazel and Noah will help each other move From Self-Doubt to Self-Acceptance
Though Noah remains stuck in his insecurities throughout this section of the novel, Hazel’s plan to have an adventurous summer quickly causes her to change. As she begins to feel braver, she takes the risk of kissing Noah and asking him to help her. With Noah at her side, Hazel feels brave enough to face her fear of the Ferris wheel and even begins to enjoy it. She kisses Noah again and is unafraid of others seeing them together even though she knows how hungry her community is for gossip. Hazel is introduced as a character whose life is at a standstill, yet as soon as she takes the leap of following the clues and looking for adventure, Hazel finds The Courage to Change.
The small town of Dream Harbor functions not only as a setting for The Cinnamon Bun Book Store but also as a symbol that often drives the plot.. The town’s intrusive interest in Hazel and Noah’s relationship influences the relationship’s development. While Hazel doesn’t mind the gossip spreading about her and Noah, the rumors do put them in the spotlight and earn them both interventions from their friends. Hazel knows that the town’s nosiness is driving whoever is leaving her the clues, and she fears that it means her community is worried about her lifestyle. The citizens of Dream Harbor are often invasive and cause problems, yet Hazel and Noah each have important support systems in town. Neither Hazel nor Noah was born in the close-knit town, but they were both immediately accepted by the community. Even so, Hazel still sometimes worries that she is missing something because she is an outsider, especially when her friends tease her about the personality traits that cause her insecurity. Though friends like Annie, Logan, and Jeanie are always there for Hazel, she sometimes worries that they see her the way she sees herself and are leaving her clues to encourage her to change her lifestyle and personality.
