REVIEW: Can You Feel the Maple Tonight by Bix Barrow (Love in Maplewood #5)

CAN YOU FEEL THE MAPLE TONIGHT

Love in Maplewood - Book Five

by Bix Barrow

Release Date: June 13, 2025

Review

Such a fun story. A hometown vet and the younger celebrity musician/songwriter get off on the wrong foot. But you can’t avoid each other in Maplewood. Add in a meddling teenager, and it doesn’t take long to find themselves tumbling into a situationship.

There’s great chemistry, and I enjoy how the story isn’t just focused on them, but also on their interactions with and support of others. And some hilarious animal interactions.

There were some great glimpses of some, now, favourite other residents.

And no sides were taken in the diner war!

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Synopsis

Catching feelings for my friend with benefits? Surely there’s a song about that...

When my musical mentor asked me to help his old buddy put on a music festival in Vermont, I thought it’d be a nice break from my regular life. Not that my life has been regular lately. My twin left to go be an actor, and I’m not on tour for the first time since I was a kid. Working on a project like this is just what I needed.

But I’d barely arrived in Maplewood when I almost ran over a teenager, heard about a local cryptid, and got shouted at by a fanny-pack wearing, floppy-haired, thirty-something veterinarian named Finn. Who was adorable. When he wasn’t yelling, of course.

This being a small town, I keep running into Finn no matter how I try to avoid him. Only, as much as he rubs me the wrong way, I wouldn’t mind him rubbing me the right way if you know what I mean.

Turns out he feels the same, so we agree to stop bickering and start lick...er-ing. Whatever. You get my drift. It’s all just casual, friends-with-benefits fun, a physical release. And that’s all it can be, because I’m only in town until the festival is over. Then it’s back to my regular life.

But someone should’ve warned me that Finn’s actually sweet. He’s always doing thoughtful little things for me, and he’s so supportive of his teenager. How can I keep things casual in the face of all that? But it’s way too soon for either of us to be having “feelings”. Maybe I can find an excuse to stick around a little longer....

Can You Feel the Maple Tonight is a low-angst, small town contemporary MM romance with an age gap, a single parent, musical interludes, something strange in the woods, a giant tortoise, hats for every occasion, and a murder chicken.

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!

About Bix Barrow

When Bix Barrow got an idea for her first book, it ended up turning into her second — and thus the first two stories in the Bent Oak, Texas series emerged. An aspiring author for most of her life, it took a foray into the MM romance genre to spark the steamy scenes and blazing banter Bix now weaves into her novels. Accompanying her on her writing exploits are her two dogs and multitude of cats (seven at last count). An avid traveler, Bix has started to view her expeditions as interviews for her future home. Born and raised in Texas, she is eager to move somewhere with fewer politicians, hurricanes and flooding.

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