Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Winter Wishes and Coffee Kisses
SERIES: Love In Maplewood Book 1
AUTHOR: Ana Ashley
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2025
BLURB:
In the heart of Maplewood, love is just a wish—and a kiss—away.
An anonymous one-night stand was just what I needed before moving to Vermont, to open my very own coffee shop, Special Blend.
Happy new year to me!
I’ve lost the only family I had. So when the locals welcome me with open arms and empty cups, I know Maplewood is truly home.
But it’s my neighbor, Nate—the tall, rugged lumberjack-type next door—who really gets my heart racing.
Have we met somewhere before?
He’s a little grumpy, but that’s just froth on the cappuccino, right? My muffins, ice cream, and coffee can melt any heart, so I’m sure they’ll work on him too.
As things heat up, strangers arrive with a revelation about my past– one that Nate seems to know, leaving me torn between my growing feelings for him and the fear of being hurt again.
With the Winter Wishes Festival in full flow, I must can I trust Nate to be the love I’ve wished for, or will this brew the end of us before we even begin?
With the highest percentage of LGBTQIA+ residents in Vermont, Maplewood is a town where everyone belongs. And with festivals year round, there’s always something fun happening! This multi-author, low-angst queer series features ten standalone romances—each set against the backdrop of a different festival. Come for the celebrations, stay for the happily-ever-afters!
REVIEW:
This is book 1 of a new series – Love in Maplewood. Maplewood is the queerest town in Vermont and has a festival to celebrate, well, everything. To start off the series, we have the festival of Winter Wishes. It’s a sweet idea – you put your wish in an ornament on the wishing tree and, throughout the year, it may come true.
The book opens with the anonymous one-night stand that Caspian embarks on before he heads to Maplewood to open his coffee shop, Special Blend. “New year, new chapter. And hopefully, a hot hookup to start things off right.” It’s a masquerade, so they wear masks that they keep on during the hookup, the hottest of Caspian’s life, which he then leaves behind to go start his dream in Maplewood. He lost his mom just a few months back, and opening the coffee shop is his way of honoring her. “Of her encouragement to chase my dreams, even when they scared me.”
Maplewood is a small town where everyone knows everyone, and the people are very nice. Caspian’s mom grew up there, so that is why he chose this place to follow that dream. There’s been no coffee shop since the previous owner of Special Blend retired, so the townspeople are pleased that Caspian is here. He meets his new neighbor, Nate, and is immediately intrigued. Okay, and this is my first questioning look at the book. The hookup was only a few days previous, and both Nate and Caspian mentioned they can’t get the other out of their minds, with Caspian mentioning Nate’s unusual eyes. Yet, when they meet as neighbors, there is no recognition of the voice, the face, the eyes. “That mysterious stranger has taken up permanent residence in my thoughts, and my body hasn’t forgotten him either.”
Caspian carries grief from losing his mother, who was his only family, and it was bittersweet when he meets her childhood best friend, who can share memories of her. Of course, in true small town fashion his mom’s old best friend is Nate’s mom.
Nate has baggage from his previous relationship with Addy, another Maplewood resident. I admit, I kept waiting for the reveal of what happened, because he is guarded because of it. “I should know better by now.” Or “It doesn’t matter what I want. I learned my lesson with Addy-sometimes love isn’t enough, and what seems perfect can shatter in an instance.” When you finally do get to see what happened between them, I was honestly a little surprised they stayed friends. Can’t say much more without spoilers, but I wondered if things had been different, would they have remained friends? “Addy is my best friend, but she hurt me a lot.” There is no blame placed on Addy by either Addy or Nate, but I still questioned it.
There is a lot of time spent on everyday life in Maplewood. Felix, another newcomer to Maplewood, is a great friend for Caspian, and he’s lovely. Hopefully, he gets a book. I would also love a book for Caspian’s best friend, Marcus, because he is also so lovely. Nate shows Caspian what Maplewood really is, and Caspian begins to deal with living his dream without his mom with him. The grief he feels for her is so real.
I struggled with rating this book because I really liked parts of it, questioned parts of it, and rolled my eyes at a couple of things. Caspian is opening a new coffee shop, and his baking is mentioned in the blurb as melting hearts, but…he can’t bake. There is a big something that happens towards the end that I can’t decide if it fits the story or was an add-in to provoke some drama, both between Nate and Caspian and just for Caspian.
This is a sweet story with very little angst and introduces the town and people of Maplewood for the rest of the series.
RATING: 
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