Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison

64 reviews

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Desperate to save her Christmas tree farm, Stella enters a competition with an instagram influencer—and pulls her best friend Luka into a fake dating plot that may just be less fake than she imagines.

This book is absurdly cute, and I’m not sure I have words beyond that. Luka and Stella make the perfect couple, and even though I’m not always a huge friends-to-lovers reader, this one drew me in (and, honestly, their friendship was as adorable as their romance). The town and the farm are the absolute perfect wintery postcard setting (and the major Stars Hollow vibes I got from Inglewild only made me love it more).

There were a few plot points I didn’t love (the “whodunit” that wrapped up the mini-mystery element of the book was a little unsatisfying) but overall this was a delight from start to finish, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series soon.

I read this one with one of my book club and, as always, had an amazing time (even if I finished MUCH faster than I was supposed to, oops)

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: holiday romances; small-town vibes; friends-to-lovers

CW: Death of a parent/parental abandonment; grief.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Grief

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent

lqvekanej's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Stella and Luka have to be one of my favorite couples ever, everything about their story was PERFECT. Luka is a top tier golden retriever boyfriend, and Stella’s story was so hauntingly familiar, yet achingly perfect, and I was rooting for both of them the entire time, whether it was for their own characters or the two of them together. B.K. Borison is beyond talented, and I can’t wait to read the rest of this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Infidelity

love_chloe_c's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Genuinely surprised by how many people liked this book. It's like reading a Hallmark Movie except way less cute. There are a lot of issues with this book, the main one being that Luka (the main love interest) is not described to have any lovable qualities except for being Hot while doing literally anything. Licks ketchup of his finger? Hot. Sits in a chair? Hot. Exists? Hot. But there's never an actual description to give the reader a good picture of what he looks like. He's just tall, jacked, and hot. On top of that he briefly demonstrates a possessive/jealous side because Stella *laughs* with another guy and it's just glossed over and described as (you guessed it) hot. It was a slow read and almost a DNF, but I kept reading because I had to know what happened at the end. The novel also contained a mostly useless plot line about property damage which literally only served later as a convenient way to get stella out of her financial troubles. On top of that, everything wrong with Stella stems from the fact that her mom died ten years earlier... GIRL GO TO THERAPY. I just cannot. I would not recommend this book I'm sorry 😭  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment

headinthepages's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, and Infidelity

whichdirection's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

So so so cute, very well written. Awesome chemistry between them the whole time, really rich side characters and world.
2 sex scenes (plus a bonus chapter that is another sex scene on the KU version, idk if there’s another version)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment, Infidelity, Grief, and Alcoholism

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, and Death of parent

Abandonment:

Estelle’s father left her mother when she got pregnant, he had a wife & another child (born shortly after Estelle) that didn’t know about her. Overcoming her fear of being abandoned is the main part of her character development, as she worried Luka & her two business partners will leave her.

Alcoholism:

Estelle’s father shows up to Thanksgiving Dinner intoxicated and ends up passing out, it is implied that that happens a lot

Infidelity:

Estelle’s father was unfaithful to his wife when he impregnated Estelle’s mom, but additionally it’s mentioned about 90% of the way through the book that his wife is leaving him because he was cheating with multiple ppl at his office

Cancer, Death of parent, Grief:

Estelle’s mom died of Cancer before the events of the novel, she mentions her mother & missing her/keeping her memory alive multiple times; Luka’s father died when he was a kid (exact cause unknown, but not cancer) and they mention it & his & his mother’s grief multiple times

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

This is a novel I have seen floating around social media due mainly because of the new covers with a new artist in charge of drawing the designs. It’s a somewhat different take on the cartoon drawings but it is what it is ya know. Anyway going in I was expecting more from this one. A lot more. I wanted details about the ins and outs of running a tree lot, Stella’s friendship with Layla & even a little more info on Luca. But instead I got a heroine who signs up for an IG influencer to check out her farm but that didn’t show up until way later in the story. Repetitive dialogue, world building descriptions and self-sabotage. Character developing? Eh, not as built up in this one. I was told the other books in the series are better so maybe I’ll give them a chance but we’ll see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Death of parent

kirbylover16's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism

brie333's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol and Cursing

Minor: Abandonment

marcelas_'s review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Terminal illness