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A review by jkneebone
Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Lovelight Farms is a sweet, if predictable, Christmas romance with a surprisingly well-developed side plot about the female main character's business. Stella, the narrator, owns a Christmas tree farm (the titular Lovelight Farms) which, despite being well regarded by everyone in her small Maryland town, is in financial trouble - inherited debt from the previous owner, mysteriously dying trees in one of the pastures, and missing vendor deliveries have left Stella scrambling for a way to save her dream business. The answer comes in the form of an Instagram competition - Stella enters the farm to win a feature and a cash prize from a travel influencer, and they make the cut as semifinalists, meaning Evelyn (the influencer) will be coming to visit.
The only issue? Stella lied on her application - she said she owned the farm with her boyfriend, but she is decidedly single. Too far in to back out, she gets her best friend Luka to pretend to be her boyfriend while Evelyn is visiting...and for several weeks leading up to that, in order to convince everyone in their close-knit, gossipy small town. Unfortunately, Stella has been in love with Luka for most of their decade-long friendship (and he is obviously in love with her too), so complications develop and lines are blurred as they commit to "trying out" the time as boyfriend and girlfriend instead of best friends. If you've read literally any romance novel, I'm sure you can imagine where things go from here.
Lovelight Farms hits the spot if you are looking for a sweet holiday read. I genuinely enjoyed the friendship-turned-romantic-relationship between Stella and Luka. It was really obvious from the beginning that he was head over heels for her, but the author managed to pull it off in a way that didn't make me want to shake Stella for being so obtuse - it almost felt like she knew on some level, but wasn't willing to accept it. I liked the cast of supporting characters, both on the farm and in the town of Inglewild (sp - I listed to the audiobook), and how they were cheering Stella and Luka on. The Christmas vibes were also very good - although the book starts in October, it takes you through November and into December, and it's a great wintry read for sure.
However, I did have some issues with this one, which is why it's only getting 2.5 stars from me - some of these are personal taste issues, but some are more structural.
My first issue is specifically because I listened to the audiobook, but there were times when it was really hard for me to figure out whether Stella was speaking aloud or thinking. The book was written in first person, and a lot of the time Stella would think something more honest or snarky before she said something different, but a lack of dialogue tags and the narrator not differentiating between Stella's internal and external narration made it hard to decipher when that was happening. It probably wouldn't have been an issue if I was eye-reading instead of listening to the book, and generally the narrator did a good job, but I wish someone in the production process had realized this would be an issue, and either had the author add more dialogue tags, or encouraged the narrator to differentiate Stella's speaking voice. It pulled me out of the listening groove, because I had to think about if Stella had spoken out loud or simply thought something.
My second structural quibble is with the sex scenes. Now admittedly some of this may be because I was trying to listen to a pretty spicy audiobook while visiting family, but for me the sex scenes just felt...unbalanced? Certain things which I would have glossed over were given a lot of specific description, while other things that IMO warranted more description were handled very vaguely. I don't really care whether an author chooses to handle those scenes in a super detailed way, or a less explicit fashion, but they need to commit to one approach rather than changing tact halfway through.For example, in the most climactic sex scene, we got multiple sentences on Luka removing Stella's bra, which I didn't need, but I couldn't tell when he actually started fucking her?
It's more personal preference, but I also didn't like the way that light sexism and gender roles were used as a stand-in for men caring about women. This wasn't often a problem between Stella and Luka (or I probably would have DNFed), but in Stella's interactions with the other male characters, especially the town sheriff Dane, it felt like the author was relying too heavily on outdated male/female dynamics to get across a point which could have been shown another way. The idea is that Dane cares about Stella and is something of a father figure to her - great - but that's shown through him forbidding her from going after a trespasser because (implied) she is a fragile woman. A few-paragraph side plot to show us that Dane was gay didn't make this any more palatable.
Other minor complaints included the glorification of law enforcement (I get that it's set in a small town, but in 2023 I don't really want to read about the kindly town sheriff) and the introduction of too many side characters that didn't make a second appearance. The side plot about Lovelight Farms being sabotaged was interesting, but I didn't love how it wrapped upeven though I saw it coming, on a personal level I am slightly offended that the librarian was the villain of the piece . I also liked the interpersonal dynamics between Stella, Beckett, and Leila(sp), and I wish that we had gotten more screen time/resolution between the three of them at the end. They had only just forgiven her for not telling them about the farm's financial difficulties, how will they react to hearing she got them disqualified from the contest for lying??
Despite my quibbles and some plot holes (it wasn't clear until the end of the book how long Stella had even owned Lovelight Farms), I was invested enough in finishing the book to renew it from the library. The relationship between Stella and Luka is quite lovely, tender and sweet, and since it is (rightfully) the centerpiece of the story, I can overlook some other issues. The Christmas vibes were also very good. If you're looking for a wintry holiday romance and are perhaps less annoyed by certain writing choices than I am, I think you'll like this one. (I would say, though, read the physical copy and not the audiobook, and you'll probably avoid some confusion.)
The only issue? Stella lied on her application - she said she owned the farm with her boyfriend, but she is decidedly single. Too far in to back out, she gets her best friend Luka to pretend to be her boyfriend while Evelyn is visiting...and for several weeks leading up to that, in order to convince everyone in their close-knit, gossipy small town. Unfortunately, Stella has been in love with Luka for most of their decade-long friendship (and he is obviously in love with her too), so complications develop and lines are blurred as they commit to "trying out" the time as boyfriend and girlfriend instead of best friends. If you've read literally any romance novel, I'm sure you can imagine where things go from here.
Lovelight Farms hits the spot if you are looking for a sweet holiday read. I genuinely enjoyed the friendship-turned-romantic-relationship between Stella and Luka. It was really obvious from the beginning that he was head over heels for her, but the author managed to pull it off in a way that didn't make me want to shake Stella for being so obtuse - it almost felt like she knew on some level, but wasn't willing to accept it. I liked the cast of supporting characters, both on the farm and in the town of Inglewild (sp - I listed to the audiobook), and how they were cheering Stella and Luka on. The Christmas vibes were also very good - although the book starts in October, it takes you through November and into December, and it's a great wintry read for sure.
However, I did have some issues with this one, which is why it's only getting 2.5 stars from me - some of these are personal taste issues, but some are more structural.
My first issue is specifically because I listened to the audiobook, but there were times when it was really hard for me to figure out whether Stella was speaking aloud or thinking. The book was written in first person, and a lot of the time Stella would think something more honest or snarky before she said something different, but a lack of dialogue tags and the narrator not differentiating between Stella's internal and external narration made it hard to decipher when that was happening. It probably wouldn't have been an issue if I was eye-reading instead of listening to the book, and generally the narrator did a good job, but I wish someone in the production process had realized this would be an issue, and either had the author add more dialogue tags, or encouraged the narrator to differentiate Stella's speaking voice. It pulled me out of the listening groove, because I had to think about if Stella had spoken out loud or simply thought something.
My second structural quibble is with the sex scenes. Now admittedly some of this may be because I was trying to listen to a pretty spicy audiobook while visiting family, but for me the sex scenes just felt...unbalanced? Certain things which I would have glossed over were given a lot of specific description, while other things that IMO warranted more description were handled very vaguely. I don't really care whether an author chooses to handle those scenes in a super detailed way, or a less explicit fashion, but they need to commit to one approach rather than changing tact halfway through.
It's more personal preference, but I also didn't like the way that light sexism and gender roles were used as a stand-in for men caring about women. This wasn't often a problem between Stella and Luka (or I probably would have DNFed), but in Stella's interactions with the other male characters, especially the town sheriff Dane, it felt like the author was relying too heavily on outdated male/female dynamics to get across a point which could have been shown another way. The idea is that Dane cares about Stella and is something of a father figure to her - great - but that's shown through him forbidding her from going after a trespasser because (implied) she is a fragile woman. A few-paragraph side plot to show us that Dane was gay didn't make this any more palatable.
Other minor complaints included the glorification of law enforcement (I get that it's set in a small town, but in 2023 I don't really want to read about the kindly town sheriff) and the introduction of too many side characters that didn't make a second appearance. The side plot about Lovelight Farms being sabotaged was interesting, but I didn't love how it wrapped up
Despite my quibbles and some plot holes (it wasn't clear until the end of the book how long Stella had even owned Lovelight Farms), I was invested enough in finishing the book to renew it from the library. The relationship between Stella and Luka is quite lovely, tender and sweet, and since it is (rightfully) the centerpiece of the story, I can overlook some other issues. The Christmas vibes were also very good. If you're looking for a wintry holiday romance and are perhaps less annoyed by certain writing choices than I am, I think you'll like this one. (I would say, though, read the physical copy and not the audiobook, and you'll probably avoid some confusion.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent