PLOT: 4/5
CHARACTERS: 4.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT: 4/5
OVERALL: 4/5
“And isn’t it silly, to love the way someone’s things look like next to yours? Little bits and pieces of a life lived in parallel.”
– B.K. Borison, Lovelight Farms
Who does not love some good old holiday cheer? Everyone will agree that the mood and the environment are totally different around holidays, especially at Christmastime, where amidst the festivities, one also enjoys the cozy romance books and the feel-good Hallmark movies. But why wait till Christmas for it? Why not pick it up anytime that you want to experience those Christmas times? The Lovelight series has four books, and Lovelight Farms is the book one. Book 2 is titled In the Weeds, Book 3 is called Mixed Signals, while Business Casual is Book 4 in the series.
The plot of Lovelight Farms (without spoilers)
Stella Bloom owns the Lovelight Farms, which is a Christmas tree farm. She just wants families to enjoy the Christmas cheer by relishing the entire experience, starting from picking the tree to enjoying the mouth-watering delicacies. But after the success of the first year, Stella finds herself a full south pasture filled with dead trees.
It seems that Santa’s barn has gotten a hostile takeover by what appears to be a family of raccoons, and Stella’s shipment which was due to arrive, has now mysteriously disappeared, leaving Stella in a massive financial mess. She will do anything to save her farm, and so she enters into a contest with a famous Instagram Influencer, Evelyn St. James.
Her aim is to win a cash prize of $100,000, and in order to make her application look more appealing, she lies on her form that she owns the farm along with her boyfriend, Luka Peters. For this, she proposes to her best friend, Luka Peters, to pretend to be her boyfriend for a week, and he gladly accepts it. Maybe finally getting to date Stella will be the best Christmas present Luka could ever get.
My Thoughts
Lovelight Farms justifies the hype that it receives. It is a perfect feel-good holiday romance. The small-town setting, the magic of a kiss during 1st snow, and Halloween decorations leading to Christmas décor added to the whole vibe of a Holiday romance read.
Coming to the story, the friends-to-lovers trope is beautifully done, where they both love the other, but their friendship is the most important thing to them, and therefore they both are careful to not cross the line. So, fake dating becomes a perfect excuse for both Stella and Luka to explore their love for each other, and since they already have chemistry, once they start, they cannot seem to stop.
Luka’s character is by far the best. He is solid, dependable, comforting, and beyond everything – a truly great guy. His plan all along was to wear Stella down, to be there around her, and to continue doing what he does best. Stella, at times, was frustrating; she wanted Luka, and yet played dumb, especially when the poor guy showed his love and bared his entire soul. She only comes to good sense when pushed by one of her business partners Layla. However, in her defense, Stella is all alone and afraid to lose the one person who matters the most, if things don’t go as expected.
The entire Christmas farm setting is so vividly described that one wants to immediately pack their bags and visit this place to experience its magic firsthand. The spirit, love, and beauty of Christmas, the bonding of people, and the coming together of families are just magical.
In Lovelight Farms, the writing and pacing are good, and the whole mystery surrounding financial woes and the contest kept things interesting.
The secondary characters, especially Beckett and Layla, held strong with their quirkiness in this story, and I can not wait to read their individual stories as well. The other books in the series – In the Weeds (featuring Beckett) and Mixed Signals (featuring Layla)- have been added to my TBR list accordingly.
In my opinion, if you love romance, go for it. This holiday romance with friends-to-lovers in a pretend relationship, with a small-town setting will be the perfect feel-good read any time of the year.
Can’t wait to read it? You can buy your copy of Lovelight Farms using the link below.
