I recognize that books are not therapists, but I can’t actually afford a therapist, so books are what I’ve got. It took me a bit to dive into Isabelle Popp’s Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About because I have recently read some wonderfully emotionally devastating books, and I was not up to a book with a fraught father daughter relationship. After a couple of books that I enjoyed in peace, I opened Pumpkin to Talk About again and within two chapters was completely in love with the writing, with the characters, with the whole package.
Josh also falls completely in love with Sadie within two chapters. The first time he sees her, she is screaming and chucking pumpkins destroyed by a neighbor’s hogs. Josh is immediately attracted to her thick thighs and rage. Sadie is not immediately in love with Josh, because she doesn’t trust anybody until they’ve earned it. Sadie is standoffish and surly, and Josh looks at her and sees a goddess. Sadie has returned to Pea Blossom Indiana to take care of her father’s pumpkins and maintain his multi-year winning streak in the local pumpkin weigh-off. He has gone to Florida to care for his brother, who is ill. Sadie is a fiber artist in Los Angeles and has just complete a commission that was both highly lucrative and soul-sucking. She feels like she’s at a cross-roads professionally and wants an opportunity to improve her relationship with her father.
Josh had worked in tech and made a lot of money, but decided that he would rather find a new purpose in life, so he left Silicone Valley and bought a farm in Pea Blossom where he is raising squash. Sadie’s father is his reluctant mentor. One of my favorite things in romance is when a man goes to therapy. Josh has been in therapy and he is doing his best to put those lessons to work with Sadie. He is the Golden Retriever to her Black Cat, but he’s had some training and is doing his best not to jump all over her. He’s very aware that he has done too much in the past to earn love, and he put effort into making space for Sadie to find her way into his life. There are missteps, but they work through them. There are so many thoughtful threads woven into this book, it’s a tapestry of kindness.
I loved the queer normative and diverse world that Popp has written here. Sadie and Josh are thoughtful people who are conscious of their less mature impulses and frequently choose the more adult path of listening and considering. Sadie’s consideration of where to take her career as an artist is one of the richest elements in the book. Her weaving is rooted in the family farm she fled from years before, but she’s forgotten the connection between her art and her father’s lessons about the land. As Josh asks her to share her artist’s eye, she begins to make connections in the community and reconsider the limitations she’s put on her own talent. As she sticks it out in Pea Blossom, despite a constant desire to run away back to LA, she lets herself learn that she isn’t too difficult for everyone. I love a romance where people realize that they are not unlovable, that the right people will accept them for who they are, if they open up to that possibility.
Let’s Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About was a surprise delight and I’ve already added Popp’s expected 2026 book, I Haunt It That Way on my most anticipated of 2026 list.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Harlequin and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.