Welcome to Dream Harbor: Laurie Gilmore’s Viral, Cozy-but-Spicy Romance Series

Welcome to Dream Harbor: Laurie Gilmore’s Viral, Cozy-but-Spicy Romance Series

If TikTok has ever convinced you to add “just one more” small-town romance to your TBR, chances are it was Laurie Gilmore’s Dream Harbor series. Winner of the TikTok Shop Book of the Year 2024 and a genuine BookTok phenomenon, this series blends cozy vibes, grumpy/sunshine banter, and found family with a level of spice that might surprise you. Honestly, the stories and characters are so strong they barely need the behind-closed-doors content—but it’s definitely there if you enjoy it.

Welcome to Dream Harbor

Dream Harbor is that impossibly charming coastal town where gossip travels faster than the tide, everyone knows your coffee order, and love has a habit of crashing into people who are absolutely not looking for it. Each book features a different couple and a different business—cafés, bookshops, farms, bakeries, a flower shop—while familiar faces drift in and out, giving the whole series a gorgeous found-family feel. And yes, every book comes with a happily-ever-after.

The Pumpkin Spice Café

Book one introduces us to Jeanie, who inherits the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café from her aunt and grabs the chance to escape her soul-sucking desk job. Enter Logan, the local farmer who wants nothing to do with town gossip or the relentlessly cheerful new café owner—except he can’t seem to stay away from her or her pumpkin spice lattes. This is classic grumpy x sunshine, drenched in autumn leaves, cinnamon, and second chances, and it’s easy to see why this is the book that made the series explode on TikTok.

The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore

In book two, quiet bookseller Hazel starts finding mysterious coded messages hidden between the pages of the shop’s books. Completely baffled but intrigued, she ropes in Noah, the charming, adventurous fisherman who’s been half in love with her for months, to help decode the clues. What follows is a cozy scavenger hunt around Dream Harbor, packed with opposites-attract chemistry, forced proximity, and he-falls-first energy—plus fresh cinnamon buns that feel like their own supporting characters.

The Christmas Tree Farm

Kira North hates Christmas, which is awkward considering she’s just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that practically lives for festive cheer. Bennett Ellis is only in Dream Harbor to take a break from his fixer tendencies—until a snowstorm strands him at Kira’s farm. Cue grumpy x sunshine, forced proximity, one-bed tension, and all the twinkle-light, hot-chocolate, snowed-in coziness you could ask for. It’s the kind of spicy holiday romance you’ll want to curl up with under a blanket.

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

By book four, Dream Harbor welcomes Archer, a world-renowned chef and single dad who never planned to run a pancake house, and Iris, a drifting free spirit who has never managed to keep a job for long. When Iris reluctantly signs on as Archer’s live-in nanny, she suddenly has a boss who cooks shirtless across the hall and a little girl who might just steal her heart. This one is all about single dad tenderness, slow burn, forced proximity, and found family wrapped in stacks of strawberry pancakes.

The Gingerbread Bakery

In The Gingerbread Bakery, perfectionist baker Annie Andrews pours all her energy into her beloved shop and has zero time for romance—especially not with Mac Sullivan, the upbeat bar owner down the street who drives her up the wall. Of course, everyone else can see how obsessed they are with each other. As Jeanie and Logan’s wedding approaches and Annie and Mac keep getting thrown together, their enemies-to-lovers snark begins to melt into something much sweeter. Think enemies to lovers, found family, small town, and forced proximity against a backdrop of sugar, spice, and snowflakes.

The Daisy Chain Flower Shop (Coming 2026!)

The next trip back to Dream Harbor arrives in 2026 with The Daisy Chain Flower Shop. Daisy is over love—especially after her flower shop earns a “cursed” reputation when several of the weddings she decorates end in divorce, helped along by the mayor’s ominous visions. Elliot, new in town and nursing his own romantic scars, has been avoiding the shop completely… until a family visit forces him to step through Daisy’s door. With a fake relationship, he-falls-first, small town, and returning-favorites vibe, this one promises to be a comfort read with all the fluttery feels.

Spice, TikTok Hype, and the Case for a Clean & Cozy Edition

Part of what’s driven Dream Harbor’s viral success is how perfectly it fits the BookTok aesthetic: annotated copies, cozy fall ambiance, trope-spotting videos, and “I read this in one sitting” confessionals. Readers are obsessed with the grumpy/sunshine dynamics, found family vibes, and small-town shenanigans, and they’ve turned the series into a genuine social media moment.

It’s also worth noting that these books are pretty spicy. The on-page heat is definitely there for readers who love open-door romance, but the emotional arcs are so strong that the stories would work even without the explicit content. Honestly, Dream Harbor would be an amazing candidate for a clean and cozy edition—the kind you could hand to anyone who loves small-town charm, quirky side characters, and happily-ever-afters. Either way, it’s a fantastic series: cute stories, lovable characters, and a fictional town that’s very easy to fall for.

The first five books are currently on Kindle Unlimited so be sure to download them for your holiday reading.