Welp looks like I’m going to be buying a Christmas tree farm. Honestly, what is there not to love about this book? It’s charismatic and charming with the small town feel and a sweet friends-to-more love story with sultry romantic scenes and a faking dating trope. One of the things I love about friends-to-more is that the chemistry is there from the beginning. The years filled with agony being friendzoned and loaded moments of tension fill the pages the moment you open the book. This author knows how to not only write these scenes but imprint them into your heart. It’s the type of book where you feel not only the emotions that are being projected on the pages, you feel the in-between angst and pining because the writing is so well done and filled with emotion.

The narrator was spectacular and gave a unique voice to not only Stella but every character in this book. I truly loved this book when I first read it, but listening to it gave me a new appreciation for this author's writing style and a new faveorote narrator to follow

Sure is this a holiday book, but it’s not one that is overly laced with tinsel or mistletoe. There is a hint of the “Christmas magic”, but it’s nice that the author didn’t use this as the propelling factor for romance. The characters' story and connection are what make this book special. This book easily checks every single one of my boxes for an enjoyable romance book. From the flawless writing to the characters that felt real, it’s easy to see that this book is easily well loved. I’m beyond excited and counting down the days until the second book in the series comes out.

Charming! I fell in love with Lovelight Farms and the wonderful characters in this book!

Stella Bloom owns Lovelight Farms and loves it. What she doesn't love are the missing shipments, dying trees and family of raccoons which have taken over the barn. With money problems growing, she enters a contest held by an influencer hoping the cash prize will save the farm. She wants everyone to love her farm, to see it as a romantic place. So, on her application she claims to own Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend.... oops, she doesn't have one!

Stella and Luka Peters have been best friends for years. He agrees to be her fake boyfriend to help her win the contest. The rest, as they say, is history.

What a wonderful and charming book. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did an amazing job. I kept finding times to listen and even relistened to some parts over again. This was a feel good, put a smile on your face, piece of happiness that I didn't know I was looking for.

I absolutely adored Luka and Stella. The author knocked it out of the ballpark with this debut book! The main characters as well as the supporting characters were fantastic, and I loved the journey this book took me on.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Heartwarming, charming and full of love.

This book is adorable! Friends to lover and fake dating is definitely a great combination. And it was funny! This is such a great book to read, especially during the winter season.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Audiobooks have so much to do with the narrator, and I did not like the narrator of this book it distracted me from the book, and therefore I did not finish it. Maybe I will try again when it comes out in print.

This friends to lovers holiday romance set on a Christmas tree farm was perfection! I loved these characters, the friendships, the charming small-town setting, the found family, the sexual chemistry and longing looks. It was hard to believe this was written by a debut author, it's just so so good! I didn't want this to end and thankfully Layla and Beckett will be getting their own books in 2022!! If you only read one holiday book this year you can't go wrong with this one. Perfect for fans of Emily Henry's The people you meet on vacation. Great on audio too!! Much thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape media for a chance to listen to the new audio version in exchange for my honest review!

I have already read Lovelight Farms, and was very excited to for the opportunity to revisit Inglewild.
I loved this book - the fake dating, small town vibes, banter, group of friends/coworkers at Lovelight (found family), and I could go on. It is a perfect holiday read, that can be read year round.
The narrator did a wonderful job of bringing this story alive. I am so excited that there are more books to come in this series because I never want it to end.
Thank you B.K. Borison, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for the free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Lovelight Farms by @authorbkborison

The physical book has been out for over a year but the audiobook is available on netgalley right now.

Let me start by saying I am impressed this is a debut book! It was absolutely darling!

Stella is your everyday human. She's working hard to keep her business afloat and battling the loneliness life can bring. So what happens when she enters a contest to save her Christmas tree farm? Well she lied for one. Two, now she must call her best friend to save her butt!

Luca, has been friends with Stella for over ten years and he's always had her back. She when she asks for a fake boyfriend, of course he comes to the rescue!

This book is cute, quaint, and a perfect Seasonal read! I throughly enjoyed it! I can't wait to read the next one!

The audiobook is also well done and I think the narrator did a great job!

Lovelight Farms is the first standalone novel with connecting characters in the Lovelight series. Stella Bloom is the owner of Lovelight Farms with her business partners, Beckett Porter, and Layla Dupree (both will have their own stories in the series). To help the farm with money and publicity, Stella enters a contest hosted by influencer, Evelyn St. James. Unfortunately, Stella thought making the farm seem more romantic on the application meant she included a falsehood that she had a boyfriend. After trying and failing to get Beckett to agree, she turns to her best friend, Luka Peters, for help.

While the book features a Christmas tree farm, the story begins in the fall where Luka and Stella are discussing Thanksgiving plans and events involving her pumpkin patch. Once Luka agrees to fake-date Stella, the two of them begin to showcase their new relationship around their small town so they do not blow their cover once Evelyn arrives. The two of them continue this path for a long time as I kept waiting for Evelyn to appear, but it does not happen until a lot later than expected. The synopsis of the novel states that her visit is the driving force of the novel, so it felt very odd to have it almost minimized.

Stella’s character was both understandable and not at the same time. While I could connect to her reasons for keeping her romantic feelings for Luka hidden, I could not understand how she could brush off a lot of events at her farm. She knows that her farm is struggling, and she needs to do something about it, but she brushes a lot off as if they are meaningless. I could not understand this even a tiny bit as it would seem she would want to investigate everything to see her farm thrive. If these events were connected or not does not make a difference in the grand scheme as Stella should have been more vigilant about figuring it out.

Luka and Stella have a great connection in their friendship, but there were some elements that I wished were explored in further detail. Luka asks a lot about spending time with Stella’s family, but it seemed that he is not familiar with their traditions. It seemed weird that conversations like this happen only after they are fake dating. I also wish that there was more detail about how nothing romantic has happened in the ten years they have known each other. The two of them are close and even physically touch (not kiss, etc., but still hold, and stay close), so I wanted more as to how nothing or even a close call has not happened in ten years.

Overall, I love the concept of the story and the setting was a true standout. Stella’s denseness about everything going on around her does get a little wearing. There is being oblivious to the signs around her at times and then there is the extreme level that she seemed to be and I did not understand the reasons. I loved Luka and Stella’s friendship, but it was difficult to see this as a friends to lovers relationship compared to a friends to friends with benefits situation. They have slept in the same bed, have a very close connection, so all that changed was a sexual component. For me, I wanted a bit more to get them that extra step to lasting couple. The audiobook was a fun way to listen to this story and I love the other characters that were introduced and I cannot wait to try all of their stories next!

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to read this novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

This book was so incredibly soft and cute. The two main characters had such incredible chemistry and the charm that oozed out of this book was out of this world. The audiobook narrator offered a really tender voice to the story that reflected the main characters really well. Loved it!!

"Luka filled the empty places in my life slowly, carefully, with his easy smile and stupid jokes. He brought me back to myself."

Stella Bloom, the proud owner of a Christmas tree farm, has two problems: her business is falling apart and she's in love with her best friend, Luka.

When an Instagram competition that could save her business comes along, Stella is willing to do whatever it takes to win. When "whatever it takes" turns into lying about co-owning Lovelight Farms with her longtime boyfriend, she adds a third item to her list of problems and has to find a longtime boyfriend as soon as possible. Who better than the man she's been in love with for a little under 10 years?

I AM ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED. I love Christmas and thought a mid-year Christmas read sounded delightful and I am SO happy I listened to my inner holiday gremlin. I read the book of this, but the audiobook is great!! I enjoyed the narrators voice and felt it suited Stella's character fairly well! So cute to hear all of this come to life.

THIS WRITING??? FABULOUS. These CHARACTERS and their sweetness levels??? To DIE FOR. My HALLS? Decked. My Christmas TREES? Cut. My ice skating RINK? Zamboni-smooth. I adored this. I want my own Luka. I'll also never look at those little pine tree car fresheners the same way ever again. 🥹🌲

Rating: 500 Christmas trees out of 5 🎄✨

DNF at 33%

I don't know if it's because it's the dog days of August or what, but I was just completely bored by this book. I normally love a small-town Christmas romance and the writing isn't bad by any means, but I'm just not connecting to it at all. Considering I have other books that I could be reading, I have decided to DNF.

THIS IS A MUST IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT HOLIDAY ROMANCE. I can’t believe this was the author’s debut novel; it was that good.

Stella enters a contest to save her Christmas tree farm. Only problem is that she lied on the application and has to ask her best friend of ten years, Luka, to pretend to be boyfriend in order to win.

This book had all my favorite tropes: best friends to lovers, fake dating and small town romance. Luka was literally the perfect book boyfriend. He was protective of Stella, loyal and always knew what to say! Meanwhile Stella was such a great female character. She was hardworking, cared about her employees and had some real life fears. The steamy chemistry, beautiful tenderness and banter between the two best friends was everything I needed in a book!!! I also found it refreshing that this book wasn’t super angsty and full of drama. Lovelight Farms will be a place you’ll want to visit, and I totally got some Gillmore Girl vibes when the author was describing the town of Inglewild.

Rating: 4.5/5
Warnings: death of a parent (in past), parental abandonment, infidelity and alcoholism
Steam: 3/5
Tropes: best friends to lovers, fake dating, slow burn, small town and holiday romance

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape for this ACL in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was the most lovely, heartwarming holiday romance...straight out of a Hallmark movie with a little bit of steam. This friends to lovers romance had the most delightful slow burn, with two best friends in love with one another for NINE years but who have never said anything. The tension built was so well done. I adored the Christmas tree farm, the foodie references, the pine tree air fresheners, the dancing in the kitchen, and in general Luka (that man omg). The cast of characters in this small town were so delightful...I could picture myself in the space so clearly.

"I know you can take care of yourself. You've been doing that as long as I've known you. But let me hold your hand while you do it, okay?" SWOON

I read Lovelight Farms via KU in December and I was so excited to see that not only did we get a beautiful updated cover but now I could listen to it via audio!

Listening to Lovelight Farms is like getting a warm hug from your favorite person. I absolutely devoured this story in AUGUST, so I cannot wait to read it in the wintertime because I know it'll be even better (is that possible? stay tuned...). Stella runs a holiday tree farm + experience, but she unknowingly inherited some debt from the previous owner and something has been causing suspicious problems around the farm. She pretends to have a boyfriend to get a feature on an influencer's page, and there is only one man for the job: her best friend Luka. Luka is one of the sweetest men I have ever read about. I would say I want him for myself but honestly him and Stella are too perfect together that I could never break them up. This is the perfect romantic comedy full of love and laughter. I highly recommend this book to everyone!! I can't wait to read Mixed Signals next!

Oh my gosh this audiobook was adorable and I cannot wait to get it to listen to it again during the holidays!

4.5 ⭐️. A really solid holiday romance! Yes, I actually mean that!! The story of Stella and Luka is adorable, and the tension between them is built with care (yes this is a friends to lovers trope). My one criticism is about the reveal of what’s happening at Stella’s tree farm (it just seemed a little silly). For readers/listeners looking to get into the holiday spirit with a little romance, definitely check this one out!