Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison (Review by Stephanie Rowitz)

Rating: 4/5

Stella Bloom is doing everything she can to save her Christmas tree farm from financial ruin. Suddenly, opportunity comes in the form of an Instagram influencer’s contest where the prize is a whopping $100,000 and major publicity for the business. The only catch is, Stella lied on her application. She said she owned the farm with her boyfriend, but Stella doesn’t have a boyfriend. Always willing to lend a hand, Luka Peters, Stella’s best friend, agrees to be her fake boyfriend to help her win the contest. Will it end with them just fake dating and returning to normal life after the contest, or will they realize they’ve always been more to each other than that?

I like that this romance featured a couple who were friends first and then decided to take things further. It’s one of the tropes in romance novels that I find more believable than others. However, I didn’t love the premise. Why did Stella feel like she wasn’t worthy enough to have a business of her own? Sure, some customers might think it’s more romantic for a couple to own a Christmas tree farm together, but I think her owning it by herself is more inspiring. However, the book needed a setup, so it served its purpose.

A lot of books in the romance genre require a suspension of belief, and Lovelight Farms will ask you to do this several times. First with the setup, then with the couple secretly harboring romantic feelings for each other for over a decade, to characters who aren’t fully fleshed out. However, it all sort of works. You suspend your belief and settle into this quiet farm story. This book gives and takes in a way I wasn’t expecting, but overall ended up liking. I just wanted a bit more for these characters.

Lovelight Farms is a sweet story about friends becoming lovers through a little bit of outside intervention. Perfect to read over the holidays, or anytime you want to curl up with a cute story.