Review: Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison

Lovelight Farms (Lovelight #1)
by B.K. Borison
narrated by Pippa Jayne

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
A handsome, freckled data analyst.
A messy, optimistic Christmas tree farm owner.
A small town with the best hazelnut lattes on the east coast.

Lovelight Farms is a sweet and steamy romance, by B. K. Borison, a holiday happily-ever-after for fans of Tessa Bailey and Hannah Grace.

In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a child, Stella enters a contest with insta-famous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the huge cash prize, she might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes. There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic destination for the holidays, she lied on the application and said that she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only . . . there is no boyfriend.

Enter best friend Luka Peters. He just came home for some hot chocolate, and somehow got a farm and a serious relationship in the process. Will their fake love affair save Lovelight Farms in time for Christmas?

My Review

I picked up Lovelight Farms on a bit of a whim, not quite sure what to expect of it, but it sounded good and one of my Goodreads friends wrote a good review for it. I ended up quite enjoying this one, it’s a great romance read of two friends who become more when they start fake dating. There were some parts I struggled with a bit, but overall still had a fun time listening to this one and plan to continue the series eventually.

I wasn’t quite sure what I would think of this book at first, as I am not a fan of the fake date trope, but I do love friends to lovers stories. The latter is why I decided to give it a try. And while this book has both I still ended up enjoying it. I didn’t really care for the fake date trope and it really just felt like a device to get them to admit their feelings for one another. There’s just something about the whole trope that doesn’t work for me and I didn’t like how Stella lied on her application and now had to fix it by getting a fake boyfriend. I just wish she hadn’t lied and don’t really get why, although toward the end she does explain that part. I did really like the friends to lovers trope and felt that part helped me enjoy this book, as I really got the friends to lovers vibe.

Besides the romance there’s a plot line about weird things happening on the farm as well as the influencer contest that Stella wants to win for the prize money. Neither of those were as big part of the book as I had expected and the focus stays mainly on the romance.

Luka and Stella have been best friends for almost 10 years now. When Stella needs a fake boyfriend she asks Luka, Luka whom she has been in love with for years now, but she doesn’t want to act on those feelings in fear of losing what they have now. I liked how clear it was from the start how much these two mean to each other. Their connection was super obvious and it was hard to believe at times they never noticed it before, but I think it’s more that they just didn’t dare hope or dream that they could be more than best friends. Stella has a big fear about people leaving and she doesn’t want to lose Luka.

I liked seeing them finally being able to explore the chemistry behind them and admit their feelings. Although at times I wished they actually talked about things earlier instead of never really talking about what was going on, but I did appreciate they did talk about some things and agreed on what they were doing. These two were just so sweet together. I really liked all the little small moments that were part of their romance, the way they interacted together and all the little things Luka did for Stella. There are lots of awesome scenes and it was just totally clear how much they meant to each other. I wasn’t a fan of the bit of conflict that got added late in the book, but I liked how it got wrapped up relatively quick. And the ending was super sweet.

The Christmas tree farm setting was so magical to read about. I could really imagine the place well and I really liked reading about this business Stella built with her two partners Beckett and Layla. I look forward to their stories. Beckett and Layla made for some great side characters, as well as some of the other townsfolk, like police officer Dain who is a bit like a father to Stella. The narrator worked well for this story and I felt like it fit the vibe well.

To summarize: I really enjoyed this romantic read set on a Christmas Tree farm. Stella and Luka have been best friends for 10 years, but a fake date agreement leads them to become more. While I am not a fan of the fake date trope, I love friends to lovers stories. The fake date trope was mostly a way to get them to finally admit their feelings, but didn’t have all the things I usually dislike about it, I still didn’t like it though. I did really like the friends to lover part, it was clear from the first chapter how much these two meant to each other. I liked all the little moments and all the sweet scenes between them, they made for a great couple and didn’t even realize it for a long time, or more like they were both too afraid to try and hope for more. I did wish they talked some things through a bit more earlier, but at least they talked about some things. The epilogue was awesome and ended things on a high note. I liked Beckett and Layla as side characters and liked the hints of them getting their romances in future books, I look forward to reading those.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.