Book Review for Palms on the Cape by Jenn Bouchard

 

Palms on the Cape by Jenn Bouchard

Published:   July 2, 2026 by Black Rose Writing

Taken from Goodreads:  After a tumultuous childhood with a mother she describes as "a train wreck compounded by a dumpster fire that smelled like cheap perfume," Rachel Sinclair has made a life for herself. On the verge of turning forty, her upscale beach bar-Palms on the Cape-is packed with vacationers and regulars throughout the busy Cape Cod summer season. She has surrounded herself with a chosen family of devoted staff and great friends, including her best friend, Carlos...who she might be in love with.

When a visiting study group from a Vermont business school, known as the A-List, descends on Rachel's bar in late August, she gets pulled in by the charms of their leader, Tripper, a younger man with good looks, access, and tremendous connections in the restaurant industry.

But when Rachel learns of the A-List's plans to take over her business, she must decide if it's worth the gamble to join forces with an unlikely ally or risk losing everything she has worked for.

My Thoughts:  Palms on the Cape is a book about an owner of a restaurant that takes care of the community, feeds friends, and has a unique menu style.  There is so much more to the story.  

Rachel is a restaurant owner that just wants to keep her restaurant as it is, she is satisfied with her life as it is. When she finds out that a group is trying to sneakily take over her restaurant.  It was interesting to see who she chose to trust, the lengths that she had to go through to save her restaurant, and how much she grows in her personal life.

The saving of the restaurant is the main part of the story but there is much more.   There is a friends-to-lover romance, a unknown parent being found, and a hot mess of a mother.  

Thank you to the author for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author(taken from her website):  After moving eight times before college, Jenn was happy to land in Maine.  At Bates College, she helped run large concerts and campus-wide events, survived the ice storm of 1998, met her future husband, and graduated with a degree in Political Science.  From there she moved to Boston, where she fell in love with the Red Sox and earned a master's degree and teaching certification from Tufts University.  After a twelve year stint in Chicago, she and her family moved back to Boston, got season tickets to Fenway, and Jenn began working on FIRST COURSE, her debut novel.  She has been a high school social studies teacher for 26 years, and she is a regular presenter at the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) annual conference.  In her spare time, Jenn volunteers as both a fundraiser and secretary for her Bates College class and is a past president of the alumni association. She is a member of the Women Fiction Writers' Association and Grub Street, as well as a board member for her local Dollars for Scholars chapter. She is an avid cook and is always planning her next adventure. 

FIRST COURSE was published in 2021 by TouchPoint Press and released as an audiobook in 2023 by Tantor Audio. It is now available in a second edition through Coastal Whisk. Her second novel, CONSIDERING US, was published on February 6, 2025 by Black Rose Writing. You will find her short stories in The Bookends Review, Litbreak Magazine, The Penmen Review, MARY, the Little Patuxent Review, and FOLIO. She also teaches short story classes for adults in the Boston suburbs and online.

Jenn's third novel, PALMS ON THE CAPE, will be published on July 2, 2026 by Black Rose Writing.