Synopsis:
When Gertie buys a run-down house ‘by accident’, she considers it the latest fail in a series of disasters! Her job at the Little Duck Pond Café and the friends she’s made there are a big comfort – especially as temporary boss Alice seems to be going out of her way to make her life difficult. But then Gertie meets the handsome Rafe – and her life takes a turn she definitely wasn’t expecting . . .
Shop The Book: Rumors, Romance, and Rhubarb Crumble
Shop My Stack: 2026 Books Read
I have read a handful of Rosie Green’s Little Duck Pond Cafe books before and I always come back to this series for a very specific reason. Each book is a standalone but there is a beautiful continuity of characters woven throughout the series, so even though this is book 45 and I have not read all 44 that came before it, when a character like Maddy shows up in Gertie’s story there is this warm rush of recognition. I know who Maddy is because I read her story in a book twenty something books ago. That kind of overlap is something special and Rosie Green does it so well.
I will also say that this series is genuinely outside my normal genre. I live in thrillers and gothic and paranormal and witchy reads. But these books are something different entirely. They are a warm blanket, a cup of tea, a seat by the fireplace. And for me they make the most perfect palette cleansers between all the intense dark reads I consume. When I finish something heavy and gothic I get to come home to Little Duck Pond Cafe. And that is exactly what this felt like. Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources for having me on this tour.
The Story
Rumours, Romance and Rhubarb Crumble follows Gertie, who finds herself accidentally buying a run-down house in a small town and landing a job at the Little Duck Pond Cafe. She has a new temporary boss named Alice who seems determined to make her life difficult. And then she meets the handsome Rafe, and things take a turn she definitely was not expecting.
Reading Experience
This read exactly like a typical Little Duck Pond Cafe book and I mean that as a warm and genuine compliment. The focus is on character development, on flaws being worked through, on growth and evolution. Usually the main character is coming from some kind of painful or difficult experience and she is new to the town. And the townies, who have all lived through their own trials and tribulations and grown together and bonded over years, they all come together to help this newcomer find her feet and herself. And then in typical Rosie Green style there is a swoony man who sweeps the girl off her feet and there is also a quiet undercurrent of something is not quite right running underneath all the warmth and romance. A subtle mystery hiding in plain sight.
Characters
Gertie is an absolute sweetheart and I loved her immediately. She loves people, she wants to be loved, she is a people pleaser who never wants to inconvenience anyone. And of course that means she has been pushed around before and she finds herself being pushed around again. There were so many moments where I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and yell “trust your gut, open your eyes, they are lying to you.” But of course the main characters never listen to us readers.
Alice, the temporary boss who is written as this controlling and difficult character, kept pulling at me throughout the whole story. Because people are not born wicked. There is always a reason. And I kept feeling like there was something more underneath Alice’s behavior, some painful situation driving all of it, and I kept reading to find out what that was.
Rafe is charming and chivalrous and handsome and Gertie falls for him completely. But sometimes those characters are just a little too shiny. I had my suspicions about him fairly early on.
And then there is Gertie’s new neighbor, who is a bit of a mystery from the start. I loved that character immediately and I knew right away that what Gertie was seeing was not the whole story.
Seeing Maddy and other familiar faces from earlier books show up in Gertie’s world was genuinely heartwarming. That is the magic of this series.
Themes and Tone
Underneath all the cozy warmth and romance this book is quietly about something really real. People with a lot of empathy, people who are natural people pleasers, can become easy targets for those with more narcissistic tendencies. Gertie and several other characters have found themselves in situations where they are being taken advantage of precisely because they are so kind. The journey this book takes them on is about finding inner strength, developing clear values, setting boundaries, learning to balance that overwhelming sweetness with enough self protection that they are not just sitting ducks. Pun absolutely intended.
Final Thoughts
Rumours, Romance and Rhubarb Crumble is a warm, feel-good, cozy romance with just enough mystery and drama underneath the surface to keep you turning pages. If you are new to the Little Duck Pond Cafe series this is a completely accessible place to start. You do not need to have read any of the previous books to enjoy Gertie’s story. But if you have read any of them, the character continuity adds a layer of warmth that is genuinely lovely.
This series has officially made it onto my long game TBR. I want to go all the way back to book one and work my way through slowly, pulling one out whenever I need a cozy come home read between darker books. Highly recommend for anyone who needs exactly that.
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this virtual book tour Rachel’s Random Resources .
My 2026 Book Stack:
https://amzn.to/3YQVeZC
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/ashleykbooks
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/ashmandak
About the author
Rosie Green is the author of the popular Little Duck Pond Café series, set in the fictional village of Sunnybrook. Watch out for lots more café drama and romance in 2026, including ‘A Cornish Escape’ (out in May) and ‘The Secrets of Midsummer Cottage’, which will be published in July 2026.
Follow Rosie on Twitter – https://twitter.com/Rosie_Green88
https://www.instagram.com/rosiegreen_author/
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