45 pages • 1 hour read
Laurie GilmoreThe Pumpkin Spice Café
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Throughout the novel, Jeanie refers to her Dream Harbor self as the “New Jeanie.” How does this separation of her new and old self affect the way Jeanie adapts to change within the novel? In what ways does she or does she not evolve into a “New Jeanie” throughout the book?
In The Pumpkin Spice Café, Laurie Gilmore’s chapters alternate between Jeanie’s and Logan’s points of view, a common structure for contemporary romance novels. How does this dual perspective affect Jeanie’s and Logan’s characterization? How do they each portray themselves, and how do they portray each other?
Gilmore incorporates many common tropes of contemporary romance novels into The Pumpkin Spice Café. Do any of these tropes subvert the conventions of the romance genre? Cite specific examples from the text to support your argument.
How does the revelation that Dot and Norman have always had feelings for one another impact the other love stories in the novel? Do their confessions in the final chapter influence how Logan and Jeanie view their own relationship?
Consider the role of Casper the cat in the novel. In what ways does Gilmore use him to support The Ongoing Process of Healing After Trauma as a central theme of the novel?
What role does friendship play in Jeanie’s and Logan’s character arcs? How do their friends shape the development of their romance and contribute to the novel’s thematic interest in The Feeling of Belonging?
Consider the secondary characters from the text such as Ben, Noah, or Dot. What role do they play in helping the romantic leads complete their character arcs? How do they contribute to Gilmore’s larger exploration of support and community in The Pumpkin Spice Café?
The Pumpkin Spice Café is the first novel of the Dream Harbor series. In what ways does the ending of this story foreshadow the upcoming novels or establish the other relationships in the series?
How does the title and name of the café, The Pumpkin Spice Café, contribute to the overall tone of the novel? What does the title signal about the kind of story it contains?
