Bed and Breakup

Bed and Breakup is a 2025 romance novel by Little Rock (Pulaski County) native Susie Dumond and the first of her books to be set in Arkansas. The story centers upon two women, Molly and Robin, who are returning to Eureka Springs (Carroll County) seven years after having separated. Publishers Weekly wrote of the book: “The plot plays out somewhat predictably and there’s not quite enough to distinguish the heroines from each other, but the romance is sweet and the setting endearing. Lovers of small-town lesbian romance are sure to be entertained.”

In 2012, newlyweds Molly Garner and Robin Lasko settled in Eureka Springs, taking over the Hummingbird Inn with plans to make it a premier bed and breakfast for LGBTQ+ visitors to the city. In 2018, the couple split as they pursued their separate careers, with Molly being an artist and Robin a chef. Now, in 2025, both women have returned to the vacant Hummingbird Inn, which they still co-own (and which had been operated by a management company during the interim but has lain empty since the COVID-19 pandemic), for their own projects. Robin’s nationally famous restaurant business has cratered, and she hopes to develop some new ideas, while Molly has been commissioned to make stained-glass windows for a number of businesses in town. Neither is willing to leave the Hummingbird for the six weeks each imagines she will need, and so Molly decides to undertake some unnecessary repair work in the kitchen as a means of driving Robin away. Robin retaliates by setting up an experimental kitchen in the dining room.

Clint, owner of the local gay bar One More Round and an old friend of the pair, offers to buy the Hummingbird provided Molly and Robin renovate it, the management company having left it in poor condition. Robin needs the money, but Molly is against the idea, being busy with her own work. The two end up in an escalating conflict of practical jokes, trying to make life miserable for the other, before Molly decides that she needs to put this part of her life behind her, agreeing to renovate and sell the Hummingbird. To tide herself over financially, Robin takes a part-time job as sous chef at Counterculture, a local bistro run by Jesse, who had started out working at the Hummingbird when Molly and Robin managed it. Friends encourage them to get out and meet other people, but when both Molly and Robin end up at One More Round, they end up kissing—something they later both regret.

Trying to remain friendly, Molly offers to go with Robin down to Little Rock for her nephew’s first birthday party. They become closer as they work on the renovations, and while they are painting one of the rooms, they give in to the sexual tension between them. They agree that theirs will be a short-term affair as they get the inn ready to sell, and then they will finally get the divorce they never bothered obtaining over the last seven years, but Molly’s best friend, Keyana, expresses skepticism that they can separate without hurting each other again. The couple runs into further problems meeting lawyer Danica, who tells them that despite being separated for seven years, the past four months of cohabitation (in addition to using the inn as their legal residence while traveling) will complicate plans to file for a no-fault divorce. Too, both have offers of high-paying jobs out of state that they find themselves reluctant to take.

Robin’s agent Edgar calls to tell her that she is wanted for a long-running cooking show, Blue Plate Special, but after thinking about it, she turns him down. For a special dinner for Counterculture, Robin has recreated the outdoor dining experience of her previous restaurant concept, Kindling, at the Hummingbird. However, at the end of the dinner, a stray ember blows into a pile of leaves near the porch, sparking a small fire, and though they quickly extinguish it, Robin confesses to Molly that she does not want to leave either the inn or her: “I don’t want to leave half of my heart in Eureka again.” Molly admits that she wants to stay with Robin and run the inn together, and the next morning, they don their old wedding outfits, go up to “the top of the rushing waterfall at Lover’s Leap,” a nearby spot, and leap together into the water below as the start of their new life.

For additional information:
Dumond, Susie. Bed and Breakup. New York: Dial Press, 2025.

Grear, Daniel. “‘Bed and Breakup: A Q&A with Writer Susie Dumond ahead of Six Bridges Book Festival.” Arkansas Times, September 2025, p. 90. Online at https://arktimes.com/rock-candy/2025/09/22/bed-and-breakup-a-qa-with-writer-susie-dumond-ahead-of-six-bridges-book-festival (accessed November 12, 2025).

Review of Bed and Breakup. Publishers Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780593596296 (accessed November 12, 2025).

Susie Dumond. https://susiedumond.com/ (accessed November 12, 2025).

Staff of the CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas