Inside the mind of viral BookTok sensation Laurie Gilmore
If you're been anyway near BookTok in the last year, or quite frankly anywhere near TikTok full stop, chances are you'll have seen the iconic cover for The Pumpkin Spice Café. You know the one: A white cat peaks out of the door of a warm and inviting coffee shop, while orange leaves fall overhead and litter the path. It's what can only be described as peak autumnal vibes.
The novel tells the story of Jeanie, who moves to the small town of Dream Harbour to run the Pumpkin Spice Café left to her by her aunt. But as she settles into the town, she struggles with working at the coffee shop - and her feelings for a certain local farmer Logan.
Since its publication in August 2023, the novel has gone onto win TikTok Shop Book of the Year at the TikTok Book Awards, become a Sunday Times bestseller, and amassed an army of dedicated fans around the world, who have fallen in love with the novel and the subsequent releases in the Dream Harbour series (there's three currently already out, with three more on the way.) But how do you create a book with such viral success? Author Laurie Gilmore, the pen name for writer Melissa McTernan, can't quite explain it.
Five years ago, Melissa was a stay-at-home mum in upstate New York, who turned her hand to writing while her children were at school. She published a short novella with a local press [publishing house] and self-published a number of novels. She ended up self-submitting some work to One More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins in the UK, who loved her style of writing and asked if she would consider writing a cosy small town series under the pen name Laurie Gilmore. And thus The Pumpkin Spice Café was born.
We caught up with Melissa around the release of the third novel in the Dream Harbour series, The Christmas Tree Farm (which is out now, btw) to unpack her whirlwind year, discuss those Gilmore Girls references and discover just how she writes those steamy scenes.
Cosmopolitan: Hi Melissa, the last year has been incredible…
Melissa: It’s bonkers. I think going through the process of trying to publish on my own has made me even more appreciative. It’s like ‘Oh, this is what happens when you have a team of people who know what they’re doing surrounding it.' It’s amazing. Everyday I’m still shocked.
The book has appealed to people who don’t usually enjoy reading.
It’s been so cool. I’ve had comments from people saying, ‘Oh, I haven't read in so many years’ but the book, for whatever reason, seems to be capturing people. I got a really nice message this morning from someone saying they have ADHD and dyslexia, and it's hard for them to get into a book, but they were able to get through mine. And I'm just like, that's so nice.
Arguably, your most successful books are the Dream Harbour series, which is published under a pen name. Is it difficult to have the success not under your own name?
I didn't know if it would bother me or if it would just be strange. So right from the start, I asked, ‘am I allowed to tell people?’ It’s not a secret, it’s linked on my social media. It was never a secret so that helps. And now it feels normal. The name just fits the series so perfectly that I'm like, ‘Yes, that's my Laurie Gilmore persona over there.'
Both your pen name and the blurb reference Gilmore Girls. How much of an influence was the show on the books?
It's funny because as some people read it, they’re like ‘Oh my gosh, this is so Gilmore Girls.’ They're seeing so much in there that I don't know if I even really intended that. For me, it was mostly the setting. Stars Hollow is like the ideal New England town. And I knew we had to have quirky side characters, that was a must.
My favourite part of Gilmore Girls was always the town meetings. So I was like, ‘Oh, I'm going to create my own wacky town meeting.' So every book so far has had a town meeting in it.
The Pumpkin Spice Café
Did you rewatch the show ahead of writing the book?
No, I didn’t rewatch. I didn't want to have that too close to mind. So I was just going off vibes and remembering it from years ago. And that town just sticks with you.
What is your writing set up?
I have kids, so I write when they're not home. They go to school, and I try to sit down and get my writing done in a chunk in the morning. My lovely husband makes me a spreadsheet for each book, with the full word count and how many words I need to write per day to get it done by the deadline. I have a cosy chair. I don’t have a desk - I'm bad at sitting at a desk. There’s lots of cups of tea, and some cats roaming around.
What are your favourite tropes to write in?
I have a few favourites. I love grumpy sunshine. I think he should always fall first, I want him obsessed with her from the beginning. Cram them into one bed, I love any kind of forced proximity is good. I want them together basically all the time. I'll read pretty much any trope done well.
Before I started reading, I didn’t realise the books had so much steam in them.
I do think that is the trick with this series. It's cosy and the covers are cute. The steam is surprising to people. It's out there, so don't be surprised. Don't give these to your grandma unless she's into it.
What is the process of writing the steamy scenes?
I read a lot of romance, and I tend to read steamier than I write. So when I'm writing, it just feels like a natural part of the story. I'm writing relationships between people, and that's what happens in relationships between people, so it feels like it should be there. I like to try and think about how those two specific people would be steamy together, and try to make it important to the story and to the characters, and not just stick it in because now it's time to have sex.
The Cinnamon Bun Book Store
The second book, The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, is a lot steamier than the first. Was that a conscious decision?
When I wrote The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, the first draft, it was even less steamy than it is now, because I was going off the cover and the vibe. Then the Edit notes were like, ‘you can make it steamier.' So then going into The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, I knew I was allowed to make it steamy. They're [Hazel and Noah] already friends, who have this fun, adventurous summer together. So the steam came earlier because they were having fun together.
Who do you read for your romance inspiration?
I love every single thing Cat Sebastian has ever written. I'm obsessed with her. I love Talia Hibbert, Kate Clayborn, B.K, Borison, wrote the Lovelight Farm series that I read right before writing Pumpkin Spice, and I loved that small town [in the novel.] I was so excited when I got to write my own.
Do you have a favourite Dream Harbour couple?
I keep getting asked this. I feel like I might say something different every time, depending on the day. I love Hazel and Noah from the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore. Just something about those two. I don't know what it is, but she runs a bookstore. Isn't that just all of our dreams?
Now that we're getting closer to Christmas, and I've been thinking about Christmas Tree Farm and I do really like Kira and Bennett, too. I like them all for different reasons, but I guess I maybe relate most to Hazel.
Are there any plans to adapt the novel? And who would be your dream cast?
There's no plans that I know of. I’m so bad at casting, it’s just a random bearded man that I found on Pinterest. It's never like a famous actor. I feel the only one that I really have in my mind, for some reason, is from Christmas Tree Farm. Bennett is 1,000 per cent Henry Cavill. And then I think Kira from that book is Dakota Johnson. I guess it'll have to be a Christmas movie, because that's the only one I have in my head.
You won at The TikTok Book Awards earlier this year.What was that experience like?
That was an out of body experience. It's funny, because I don't have a personal TikTok account. But it's just cool that readers liked it and the fact that it took off like that, and people wanted to post and talk about it, like, that's amazing. That's all you really want as an author.
The Christmas Tree Farm
The new book is set at Christmas. Do you have any memorable festive works of literature that are special to you?
Well Lovelight Farm, it’s a series, but the first book takes place on a Christmas tree farm. I'm not so much a seasonal reader, but as a kid, I had this book called Santa Mouse. And The Polar Express makes me cry every time I read it to my kids.
What can you tell us about the fourth book coming out next spring?
When you read Christmas Tree Farm, you'll meet Iris, who will be the heroine in book four. You'll always meet the couple, or at least half of the couple in the book before. I know everyone's seeing book four, and they're like, ‘Who are these people? This is not Annie and Mac.' Everyone is very keyed up about that. It's okay, they're coming, I promise.
So it's not Annie and Mac. It's Iris and Archer, who you won't meet until that book starts. He's a chef, and he has just found out that he's a dad. He has a child who lives in Dream Harbour and he has to come and take care of her because her mother has died. He gets to town, he has a little girl. He has no idea what to do and then Iris is hired as his nanny.
He's a chef and the town is basically hazing him, so he has to figure out the beloved pancake recipe that they still want at their diner, even though he has taken over.
There’s six books scheduled for the Dream Harbour series. Could you see yourself writing more of them?
I've got four written. I'm not tired of it yet. I really like writing in this world, and it’s fun to have created a town. As long as people want to read them I'm game to keep going.
The Christmas Tree Farm is on sale now
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