LOVELIGHT FARMS review

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🎄Happy December 1st! It’s fiiiiiiinally my favorite month of the year. 🤩 Kicking off this month with my first holiday read of the season! This book has been allll over bookstagram. Unfortunately this one just wasn’t my favorite. The premise was super cute (two friends who slowly fall for each other while working together at a Christmas tree farm) but the execution just didn’t hit the mark for me.

🎄Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Stella is the owner of the local Christmas tree farm, Lovelight Farms. She’s facing major financial issues and decides to enter a social media contest to win the prize money. When filling out the application, Stella tells a white lie that she runs the farm with her boyfriend Luka. Luka and Stella have been friends for 10 years, but never romantically involved. Can they tolerate pretending to date each other if it means winning the contest that could save Lovelight Farms?

🎄Luka was the best! He was upfront about his feelings, and did a great job communicating those feelings to Stella. But ohhhh Stella. This is what made the story fall apart for me. Stella was so awful about communicating with Luka and then accusing him of lying about his feelings when he told her how he felt that she came off very childish imo. At first I thought she was just clueless to how Luka felt (even though he made it extremely obvious) but then he would tell her face to face how he felt and she continued to deny it. I did love the setting of this one though! A small town during Christmas time is very Hallmark movie vibes and I loved it! Overall, this wasn’t my favorite Christmas romance but I know lots of other people love it so I’d still give it a chance if you’re on the fence!

Just a quick review and I will update it later.
I listened to this in late September/early October and it is the cutest friends/fake dating romance. Usually, it is Enemies who do fake dating so this was a nice change.
I am currently listening to this again to discuss with Book Club (hence the update on this later comment).
Current thoughts - I like the narrator. I feel she does well expressing emotions and switching between characters.

This was a fun fast read. It was funny how the two characters came together, and the issue they had seemed like a non issue but it was explained so well that I understood where everyone was coming from. This story has a great cast of characters and there's even kittens! Loved it and loved the narrator.

The farm was sweet and charming!

We all know the story of best friends who fake being a couple, right? The question is does it work for Lovelight Farms?

The answer is a Yes!!

The story is sweet and perfect for the holidays!

Luca and Stella have been friends for a decade. Stella is in love with Luca and doesn’t want to lose what she has with him in case he doesn't feel like she does. The loss of her mother almost destroyed her and she can't count on her father. She only sees him once a year for a Thanksgiving dinner that is done way before the date just so he doesn't have to explain a child he had outside his marriage to anyone else.

Stella doesn’t want to lose what she has with Luca but in order to keep the farm afloat, she enters herself into a contest with an influencer. In the contest paperwork, she said she owned the farm with her boyfriend and now she is in desperate need of a fake boyfriend. Who better than Luca to fill the place? To her shock, Luca is more than agreeable to be it.

Can Stella keep her heart in check or is her heart going to be broken by the end of the influencer's visit?

Adorable characters. I Love Luca and his mom. Lovelight Farms had a small-town feel with all the positives. Stella’s friends were both great. The kittens 🐈‍⬛ were so cute!!!

Pippa Jayne did a great job narrating this book.

I can’t wait to read the next book.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Dreamscape Media via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love romance stories with characters who are friends pretending to be in love. The story is super sweet and a nice holiday-time read. Curl up by the fire and enjoy this sweet read.

This was such a beautiful friends to lovers Christmas romance. The emotion between these two was off the charts, and with the adorable town and cast of very lovable and supportive characters it was a huge hit for me! This is right up there with some of the strongest in the rom com genre right now, like Emily Henry and Jimenez. An amazing indie debut which deserves all the hype.

Absolutely loved this book! I listened to the audiobook as I re-read this in preparation for the holiday season and I am still in love with Luca-Stella. They are absolutely end game, and I will re-read this book for years.

I really like this book. I love Stella and Luka, the rest of the characters are so great. I like the setting of a Christmas tree farm. Friends to lovers is a great troupe. It's a good Christmas time romcom. I'm eager to continue this series.

Stella has made a terrible mistake. When entering a contest to bring more publicity to her Christmas tree farm, she lied and said she co-owned the farm with her boyfriend. Now she and her best friend Luka have to pretend to be a couple to avoid being disqualified from the competition. Of course, things get complicated as they keep up the charade.

I rarely enjoy friends to lovers romances, but this one worked perfectly. It was really understandable why Stella and Luka never made a move to change their relationship until more pressure was added.

I loved the narration. I thought she brought Stella's voice to life perfectly. I also love the cover art for this series.

Luka and Stella have been best friends for 10 years. She is having trouble at her Christmas Tree farm and decides a fake boyfriend will be the ideal addition to her application for a social media competition. and Luka is the perfect person to help her out.. Everyone is so happy when they tell them they are together and Stella feels guilty as she has been hiding her true feelings. It turns out she’s not the only one! I really liked the small town feel and loved Stella’s work partners and can’t wait to read their stories.

Friends to lovers and fake dating in this small town Christmas romance. Spicy, sweet, and a quick holiday read!

I LOVED "Lovelight Farms" when I first read it last year, so I was very excited to get access to an ALC.

SUMMARY: Stella runs a Christmas tree farm with her friends, but a run of bad luck has left the partners in the red. Now Stella’s convinced an influencer to visit and showcase the property, but only with the understanding that she’s actually dating her longtime BFF Luka. Oh. No. Now they have to fake date.

From a story perspective, this is a very sweet (but also 🔥) slow-burn, friends to lovers holiday romance. It reminded me of Tessa Bailey’s books in that things would be rolling along in a charming way only for things to take a sudden and spicy turn!

I don’t always love friends to lovers, but this felt right to me. Also, I’m a huge fan of fake dating, and this book made me want to run a Christmas tree farm, which is never something I thought I’d say about myself.

From an audio perspective, I didn't mind the narrator, but I didn't necessarily think that she was right for the voice of Stella. She is described as being in her late 20s, but the narrator sounded a bit more mature/matronly to me.

Small town crossed with Christmas feels; fake dating causing friends to lovers; witty banter mixed with laugh out loud moments.

This adorable romcom is a great start to the holiday reads! It gave me all the cozy feels that you want out of a holiday book. It even shows that family is what you make it! I'm looking forward to continuing this series!

Thank you to @NetGalley and @Dreamscape_Media for my audiobook!

Ahhh I loved this sweet holiday (but not over the top holiday) read. A friends to lovers story with all the feel good vibes!

I loved the printed version of this book. The romance and Christmas vibes, and the audio was a fantastic addition!
The voicing was enjoyable and added to the experience.

I adored this book so much! It is going on the list of my favorites! I am a sucker for friends to lovers and Stella and Luka defined this trope! I’m also a sucker for anything Christmas and I want to go visit Lovelight Farms. I just loved them so much! I can’t wait to read more by this author!

Overall boring and disappointing. It takes 60% of the story to finally start the social media plot. Luca deserves better. There's barely any plot and almost nothing about the tree farm. Stella is so annoying and whiney. The conflicts are only conflicts because Stella is dense. Luca tells her over and over that he loves her. It's not even fake dating. Beckett is the best character but gets no screen time. Besides the setting and diabetes Stella must have from eating all those baked goods there's no Christmas in this story.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!
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best friends to lovers, Christmas tree farm setting, fake rating. everything was *chefs kiss*
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Stella has always loved the magic of Christmas tree farms, so when she gets older she buys lovelight farms. But it is not so magical between vandalism, dying trees, and missing shipments Stella is struggling to come up with enough money to keep it open which leads to her entering a social media contest that has a cash prize that would save her farm.
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Stella and Luka have been best friends for their whole lives, but for the sake of this contest Luka and Stella agree to fake date each other.
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I absolutely loved Stella and Luka together they were adorable and so charming. This book is perfect for the holidays and maybe my new favorite holiday read. i loved the cozy hallmarked-esque feeling,

GAHHH one of my favorite books to read at Christmas time turned audio! Whether it’s your first time, or one of the many times you’ve read it, this audiobook is the way to go!

Okay… this is my last holiday book review… I promise! (No promises that my tree and decorations are coming down anytime soon though! We like to cuddle babies by the light of the tree at night!)⁣
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⁣Lovelight Farms can be described with these words- adorable, sweet, funny, uplifting, and sexy. I might be the best Christmas book I’ve ever read! And I think it would still be a fun and cozy book to read on a cold winter night! ⁣
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⁣Read this if you enjoy: ⁣
⁣- Friends to lovers & fake dating troupes. ⁣
⁣- Cozy Christmas tree farms.⁣
⁣- Lots of sexual tension. ⁣
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⁣I’m amazed this is a debut novel and can’t wait to read the next book by B.K. Borison. Five stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️