44 pages • 1 hour read
Laurie GilmoreThe Cinnamon Bun Book Store
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 18-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary
Feeling more confident with himself after spending time with Hazel, Noah decides it is finally time to bring his idea about the fisherman’s cottages to the town meeting. Noah believes he can renovate them and rent them out to tourists, bringing in business that would benefit many people in Dream Harbor. Nonetheless, he worries members of the town won’t like the changes. When he meets Hazel at the town meeting, everyone is whispering about a newcomer in town. Hazel mentions a new clue about drinking cider, but she looks suspicious when Noah immediately suggests a brewery they can go to. Mayor Kelly starts the town meeting and mentions that a newcomer, Kira North, has purchased the old Christmas tree farm in town. When Kira finally arrives, she announces that she will not be reopening the farm and won’t be changing her mind. Kira’s reluctance to reopen a business in town leads Noah wonder whether his idea for the vacation rentals is a good one, and he begins to doubt himself further when Hazel suggests they leave early. Thinking that fun is all he is good for, Noah abandons his idea and leaves with Hazel.
Chapter 19 Summary
Thinking about how little time she has left with Noah before her birthday and the end of summer, Hazel takes him to have sex in a supply room in the Town Hall. She feels that Noah wants more from her than a casual relationship, and she knows she does too, but she also thinks they shouldn’t pursue a serious relationship because that is not what they signed up for.
Chapter 20 Summary
Hazel is still uncertain about whether Noah is the one who is leaving her the clues as they sip cider at a new brewery Noah brought them to. When Hazel becomes evasive, Noah asks to show her something and brings her to his cottage. Noah is nervous about what she thinks, but Hazel is impressed with all the work he has done on the cottage and with his ideas for the vacation rentals. When she brings up taking his idea to the mayor, Noah kisses Hazel, and she accuses him of using his body to distract her from talking about serious topics. Though Noah knows it isn’t true, he suggests that this is all Hazel really wants from him, so Hazel suggests they end their relationship and just be friends. Noah tries to explain that’s not what he wants, but Hazel initially thinks he is lying when he tells her how much he cares for her and that he was just lashing out a moment ago. Though she eventually believes Noah, he is left uncertain about where their relationship stands afterward, yet Hazel does confirm that she will tell him if she finds any more clues.
Chapter 21 Summary
Every Sunday, the bookstore has cinnamon bun day and serves pastries to their customers. Hazel runs into Logan, who has heard about the clues from Annie and wants to make sure she is okay. Logan also lets her know that Jeanie’s brother Bennett is going to stay in Dream Harbor for a month during the holidays and that Logan intends to propose to his girlfriend Jeanie soon. Hazel hadn’t found a clue in a week, and she hasn’t seen Noah since then either, making her wonder again if he was the one leaving the clues. A book club member brings her books to the register and shows Hazel an additional book with a dog-eared page. Nearly everyone in town but Noah has been in the bookstore that morning, and the way the woman from the book club talks to her makes Hazel think that the whole town knows something she doesn’t. After reading the highlighted passage in the book about a woman taking a ship out to sea, Hazel excitedly texts Noah about the new clue.
Chapter 22 Summary
Noah is excited at the prospect of another adventure with Hazel, whom he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about since the previous week. He gets another call from his nieces, who want to know if he is coming home for Halloween, and to everyone’s surprise, he volunteers to come for Thanksgiving. When his sister Rachel answers the phone, she asks Noah not to get the girls’ hopes up. She also mentions a few complications with her pregnancy and asks him to come home for the holidays because no one is as mad at him as he thinks they are. After the call, Noah rethinks his family’s opinion of him and decides that he should go home sooner rather than later.
Chapter 23 Summary
Hazel knows she wants to be with Noah after her birthday, and she plans to discuss it with him after their boat trip. She is somewhat nervous about going on Noah’s small fishing boat, but she is happy when she learns that he still cares for her and only wanted to give her space the past week. Their boat ride starts off well, but Noah becomes distracted by Hazel and doesn’t notice that a storm that was forecasted to pass them is now coming right toward them. The storm picks up quickly, and Noah hates to see Hazel’s fear growing, yet when he tells her he has a plan, she trusts him wholeheartedly.
Chapter 24 Summary
To Hazel’s great relief, Noah competently pulls them into a nearby harbor where they can ride out the rest of the storm. They both go into the cabin below deck to warm up, and Hazel wants to tell him how much he means to her, but she wants to be safe and back on dry land first. They both agree to have sex, yet they also both lie that they are not disappointed when the other says their relationship is just casual fun. Additionally, Noah tries not to think about his promise to return home in the fall, shortly after her birthday. Afterward, as they wait for the rain to die down, they both read books they had brought together and Hazel admits that this is her favorite day with Noah. As Hazel is about to confess her feelings for Noah, he tells her that he will be leaving for a while after her birthday. Hazel’s heart is broken, but she knows how much reconciling with his family will mean for Noah, and she doesn’t show her feelings.
Chapters 18-24 Analysis
Though Noah’s insecurities are highlighted in earlier chapters, they come to the forefront in this section of the novel and prevent him from acting on the plans that would make him happy. Not only does Noah fear that he is not the person he wants to be, but he also worries he is not good enough for Hazel. Though he often feels more confident around Hazel, demonstrating the value of Romance as a Source of Self-Confidence, Noah’s self-critical thoughts often drown out the good things happening in his life, especially when it comes to his relationship. Noah’s unrealized and largely unspoken plans for the fisherman’s cottages serve as a motif symbolizing his feelings of inadequacy. In Chapter 18, he feels excited to share his thoughts about the vacation rentals at the town meeting, yet when he hears the town’s reaction to another idea, he questions whether he should bother. Noah doesn’t have enough confidence to bring up his idea at the town meeting, yet his hopes are further dashed when Hazel asks him to leave with her. Though he had hoped for a relationship with her, Hazel’s request to leave reminds Noah that “This was what Hazel wanted him for. This was all she’d asked for. Not a relationship” (144). This confirms Noah’s fears that he is incapable of doing anything serious, whether it be a business proposal or a relationship. Hazel and Noah’s fight in Chapter 20 continues to confirm this as he accuses Hazel of only wanting to be with him for sexual reasons. Noah believes that his harsh view of himself comes from his family, but toward the end of this section, he starts to wonder whether his family is to blame: “The story he was telling was that he didn’t want to go home until he proved to himself and everyone else that his choice was the right one” (170). The narrator’s language here highlights Noah’s growing awareness that he has constructed a narrative about himself and his family, and this narrative may be keeping him stuck rather than helping him move forward.
Despite what Noah thinks about their relationship, Hazel tries to help him with these insecurities once she learns more about them, further demonstrating the theme of Romance as a Source of Self-Confidence. When Noah shows her what he has done with the first fisherman’s cottage, she is amazed by his progress and encourages him to take the project seriously. In Chapter 24, when Noah guides their boat out of a storm, Hazel is sure to tell him how impressed she is, claiming that he saved their lives. Similarly, Noah helps Hazel overcome her insecurities. In Chapter 20, when they sneak into the supply closet and Noah turns on Christmas tree lights to make the mood more romantic, Hazel notes that this simple change makes her feel better, and she sees this experience as a metaphor for the positive feelings Noah himself evokes in her:
She didn’t need a new life or to be a new person. She just needed to look at herself, at her life, in a new light. In the romantic glow of some dusty old Christmas trees, or the late afternoon light of an empty beach, or the blinking lights of the Ferris wheel (162).
Just as these symbolic lights bring out a new view of the supply closet, Hazel and Noah help one another see themselves differently.
As Noah and Hazel battle the anxiety of their changing relationship, they each try to find The Courage to Change. Often, when either character makes a move to address a change in their circumstances, their hopes are dashed by the other. For example, just as Hazel decides she needs to tell Noah about her serious feelings for him, Noah informs her that he is leaving Dream Harbor. Yet Noah also must make uncomfortable decisions about his family in these chapters, which often go against his wishes for his relationship with Hazel. When he left town initially, Noah’s father warned him “You can’t always take the easy way out” (144), leading Noah to doubt the decisions he had been making about his life. Noah recognizes that he has been taking the easy way out in his relationship with Hazel, including when he decides he needs to leave Dream Harbor. Yet Hazel also often takes the easy way out of their relationship, not telling Noah about her feelings because the uncomfortable truth could ruin her fun time with him. Both characters push back against making changes in this section, afraid of how change could impact their comfort in life.
