You know when you bite into a warm, buttery pancake topped with freshly picked strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream, and your soul just sighs in happiness? Yeah. That’s exactly how The Strawberry Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore had me feeling. Craving comfort, craving pancakes, craving a fictional town that felt like a warm hug.

I love the Dream Harbor series. It’s my guilty pleasure. It’s the kind of series you reach for when life is just… a lot. When you need somewhere that feels safe and familiar, where folks say hi to you at the grocery store and there’s always a table at the diner that feels like home waiting with coffee and pancakes. Add in a weekend farmers market where you can wander through with a cinnamon roll in one hand and fresh flowers in the other.

And listen, I’m a complete sucker for the single dad + nanny trope. Give me that close proximity, give me the slow burn tension, give me the moment when she starts falling not just for the hot, slightly grumpy dad, but for his adorable kid too. Ugh. My heart.

And speaking of pancakes… warning: this book will make you hungry. I could practically smell the buttermilk through the pages. I was this close to dragging my child strawberry picking and attempting homemade jam, just to stay in the mood. Laurie Gilmore nailed that cozy diner-turned-pancake-house experience so well I swear I felt like I was sitting in a booth, sipping coffee, watching sparks fly between Asher and Iris.

This is also very much a slow burn, y’all. Like slow-slow. Like, a real one. You’re gonna be waiting a while for the spice. There is tension all throughout, but we don’t get the goods until near the end of the book. At one point I was like, “How long are we gonna keep licking batter off fingers and are we seriously just going to keep playing this baking foreplay game or?” LOL

⚠️ Quick Spoiler Alert:
Okay, here’s where it got a little tricky for me, the surprise pregnancy trope. Iris made it very clear she didn’t want kids of her own. And I appreciated that. So when that twist showed up, I was like, hmm. It didn’t quite sit right, because it felt like such a huge shift for her character without enough space to process it. Not every love story needs a baby to be complete, and I wish that had been honored a bit more. Sometimes, loving someone else’s child can be enough. Still love the story, but I had to sit with that one for a bit. I wasn’t sold on this trope. She did not want kids of her own, I mean she literally says it throughout the book.

That said, I still adored this book and would rate it three stars.  I had so much fun reading it and totally wish Laurie would make a coloring book for this one like she did for The Pumpkin Spice Café. I’ll be pouring a glass of wine and breaking out the markers again. 10/10, highly recommend that pairing.

 Favorite Quote:

“I’ve lived here my whole life. And a lot of things have changed because things always do, but those pancakes have been the same for my whole life. There’s comfort in that, Archer. People like that, they need it. I need it.”

So if you’re in the mood for something light, sweet, and full of strawberry-flavored charm, The Strawberry Pancake House is your next feel good weekend read. Just don’t forget the pancakes. You’ll want them.