Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Isn't It Romantic?


Twelve Dates of Christmas
 by Charlee James 
Published by Tule Publishing on November 1, 2021
Age/Genres: ContemporaryRomance
four-half-stars
Goodreads

She’s fallen for her own fantasy…will a real future with him be enough?

Bored by years of underwhelming dating experiences, copywriter Grace McGovern combines her love of Christmas and her longing for romance into the ultimate romance novel—where the heroine is swept off her feet one Christmas by tender, thoughtful, romantic…and utterly unrealistic dates. When Grace has a chance meeting with an attractive man, she’s charmed by their conversation and fun dates…until warning bells jingle. He couldn’t be taking cues from her book, could he?

Engineer Owen Ellis has always been more comfortable with computers and coding than with women. After claiming he was boring and unromantic, his last girlfriend’s bitter parting gift was a cheesy romance book hurled at his head. When he meets a woman whose warm smile and conversation intrigue him, Owen is ready to try again but knows he needs to up his game. What’s the harm in borrowing a few ideas?

Can the Christmas magic last forever, or will their relationship dissolve into another ho-hum holiday fling?

This was so adorable! Owen and Grace had a little holiday shopping meet-cute and hit it off. Mr. Analytical Owen, having previously been told he was not romantic enough, borrowed some date inspiration from a romance novel that had been chucked at his head by an ex. The dates were so much fun and gave me all those rom-com feels I love. I was happy the title was not deceiving either as this story was full of holiday cheer.

I have to say, Owen was a total doll. He wasn’t the king of grand gestures, but he was thoughtful and considerate. It was fun the way those grand ideas of romance were challenged a bit. There’s no way people could keep up a romance novel level of activity while dealing with all the other parts of their lives.

If you are looking for something sweet, fun, and low drama, this is the book for you. I love an adorkable hero, and Owen was a great one while Grace was the fun and vibrant woman who could see what a catch he really was. Lots of holiday and winter fun made this a good time, and heck, the ending brought on my happy tears.



Lovelight Farms
 by B.K. Borison 
Published by Independently on November 10, 2021
Age/Genres: ContemporaryRomance
four-half-stars
Goodreads

Where the lovelight gleams …

A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams.

In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, she enters a contest with instafamous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the $100,000 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 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 girlfriend in the process.

I remember seeing lots of buzz for this when it first came out, and I am so happy I finally had a chance to read it. As a HUGE friends-to-lovers fan, I reveled in the romance between Stella and Luka. There was the typical friendship-too-important-to-risk-romance thing, but it didn’t grate on my nerves the way it sometimes does. Why? Because there were so many other things I loved!

  1. Fake Dating – Stella had convinced Luka to be her fake boyfriend for an influencer sponsored contest. This resulted in so many wonderful situations between the hero and heroine that made me laugh, smile, and swoon.
  2. Luka – If I was a younger woman, Luka would be the man for me. His love and adoration for Stella was so obvious, but it wasn’t just what he said, it was what he did. This man’s heart was on his sleeve where everyone could see it even if Stella couldn’t .
  3. Found Family – I loved the setting so much, and what made it really shine was its inhabitants. Stella had lost her family. She felt like everyone she loved left her, but it seemed like the people in her town were all looking out for her and loved her like family. I loved how protective they were of her and found all their meddling amusing.

This was just such a feel good story! I did have that one “STELLA!” moment, but friends-to-lovers is my thing and Stella and Luka’s romance was precious. When the story started, I was all about Stella’s unrequited crush turning into something real, but as the story progressed, it was all about Luka. He was a wonderful sort of unicorn man. I adored him. There was this one moment that had the tears flowing (always extra points for that), and I felt Borison made the right choices with that epilogue. I will definitely be continuing this series.



If you Christmas – real or fake tree?
Let us know in the comments!

16 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, I love that Owen was using Grace's own romance novel to date/woo her. Too adorable! :)

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  2. Replies
    1. I enjoyed this series and am happy the author is getting wider distribution with a big press publisher

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  3. Twelve Dates of Christmas sounds super cute. I enjoyed Lovelight Farms, but I still need to continue the series. And I'm all about a real Christmas tree.

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    1. That whole series by James was really sweet. I did finish all the Lovelight books. The first was still my favorite, though all were great. I grew up with real trees, but I won't lie, I like the ease of a fake (lights on it already). I have pop up now due to space, but it's pretty amazing to have the tree fully up and decorated in 30 seconds.

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    2. LOL! I can see the appeal, and if it was only me and the hubs I might take that route. But, I still have the kids around (for now), and I enjoy the time together while we decorate it.

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    3. My parents always did real trees when I was a kid

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  4. I love LOVE that Owen brought Grace's book to life for her <3 And Stella and Luka are no less adorable -- what a lovely duo of reviews!

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    1. It was such a fun and precious storyline. Luka --sigh-- he was amazing

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  5. You ahd me at adorable Sam! I need more adorable books in my life!

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  6. I really need to continue that Borison series. The first book was so lovely. Twelve Dates of Christmas sounds perfect. I'll have to put that one on my holiday TBR this year. :)

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    1. The first book was my favorite, but they were all great!

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  7. I loved Lovelight Farms too! Owen is using the book Grace wrote for romance cues? That's great. Will have to add that one to the list!

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    1. The premise of Twelve Dates was adorable. It was my favorite of the series by far.

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