Some curses just need a cozy fire, a little magic, and a second chance to break them.
Sometimes breaking a curse looks less like defeating a monster and more like finding somewhere you finally feel at home.
✶ PRE-READING ✶
There are few things more likely to tempt me into a cosy fantasy than an autumnal setting, a farm, some baking and a fairytale hiding underneath it all.
The Pumpkin Bride promised all of those things, and it absolutely delivered. It also has a competent heroine, clever dialogue and a community that feels like an important part of the story rather than simply a collection of people waiting for the main characters to save them.
And there was something about Grimroot Farm that felt wonderfully familiar. There are definitely moments here that gave me Stardew Valley feelings, which is possibly the highest compliment I can give to a magical pumpkin farm.
✶ POST-READING ✶
As I thought... this is a sweet, warm-hearted fairytale romance with a surprisingly clever relationship to the stories we already know.
The fairytale connection is subtle enough that I almost missed it, which I really enjoyed. Rather than simply taking a familiar story and changing the costumes, Fiona Buttercup has built something new around its bones. The result feels recognisable without being predictable.
Marigold is exactly the kind of heroine I enjoy reading about: capable, clever and willing to make decisions for herself. Jask is a good match for her, too. They both have things to learn and things to overcome, and their relationship develops into something that feels genuinely mutual rather than one person simply rescuing the other.
There's also a lovely sense of community around them. The farm isn't just a backdrop for the romance; it's somewhere people can belong, contribute and build something together.
It surprised me by... how much the story slowed down once Marigold and Jask had settled in together.
There was a stretch where I began to feel like I was watching the world's most determined pair of people avoid looking at each other.
I mustn't look at her. She can't stay here.
But she is extremely attractive.
You must leave immediately.
No.
I mustn't look at her.
No.
Perhaps I should look at her.
At a certain point I wanted to grab them both by the shoulders and say, you are very obviously in love, please proceed.
Fortunately, once the story moved past that particular loop, the pace picked up again and I was happily swept along.
The result is a genuinely lovely story about curses, second chances, finding your people and discovering that the life you thought you'd lost might not be the only life available to you.
And, perhaps most importantly, it feels complete.
There is a temptation with cosy fantasy to turn every successful story into the first instalment of a six-book series. I actually hope this one stays exactly where it is. The ending feels satisfying, and I don't think it needs another adventure tacked onto it.
That said, if Fiona Buttercup does decide there's another story waiting somewhere in Harvest Hollow, I'll be there to buy it.
✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦
Book Recommendation: The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. For the combination of cosy magic, community, food, rebuilding a life and the feeling that creating something good can itself be an act of courage.
TV or Movie Recommendation: Stardust. A fairytale adventure with romance, humour, curses and people discovering that the stories they've been told aren't necessarily the stories they have to live.
✧ VIBE CHECK ✧
A colour palette: pumpkin orange, deep russet, moss green and the gold of late-afternoon sunlight.
A soundtrack: acoustic guitar, gentle strings and the occasional warm burst of fiddle.
A season: October, when the leaves are turning, the evenings are drawing in and there is an entirely reasonable excuse to put another pie in the oven.
A mood: cosy, hopeful, romantic and quietly magical.
A scent: pumpkin spice, woodsmoke, fallen leaves and something sweet baking in the kitchen.
★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★
The Star.
The Star is a card of hope after hardship: the quiet realisation that something has survived even when you thought everything was lost.
That feels particularly fitting for Jask and Marigold. Both have been shaped by what they've lost, and both have spent years believing that the lives they wanted were no longer possible. The curse has taken more than a physical form from Jask; it has left him believing that his old life and old identity are gone for good.
But The Star asks what happens when we allow ourselves to hope again.
The answer here isn't simply true love breaks the curse. It's that love, community and a new life give both of them a reason to believe that the future can be different from the past.
✦ THE TRUE QUESTION ✦
Can you build a new life when you thought the one you wanted was already gone?
The Pumpkin Bride is ostensibly about breaking a magical curse, but underneath the fairytale trappings is a gentler question about what happens after you've lost the future you expected.
Sometimes the answer isn't getting everything back exactly as it was.
Sometimes it's discovering that the life waiting for you can be just as good.
Final Thoughts
The Pumpkin Bride publishes on the 1st of September. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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