Perfect cozy, spicy, warm holiday book to make you believe in love and want to move to a small town! :) Perfect for the holidays, perfect to read and then add notes to your "perfect partner" list.

Normally by the third instalment of a series like this, many authors are just eeking out the story for the sake of it and in all honesty, I went into this book with that in the back of my mind. However, it didn’t feel that way at all. The way Gilmore is navigating this series is wonderful. I can’t wait for the rest!!

Cute and cosy and sexy!! I honestly couldn’t stop reading! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

The cutest cozy Christmas story!! I absolutely loved Bennet and how he was so patient with Kira. The gentleness from Bennet when they are snowed in absolutely warmed my heart! The ending was so precious’! This is by far my favorite of the series. I can’t wait for the next two books!

A brilliant read and one I really enjoyed. The characters are loveable. The plot is one that is engaging and I found myself completely drawn into the story and enjoyed the writing style.

Another success from Laurie Gilmore! I read all three of these this season and LOVED THEM! The right amount of romance and spice and so so good!

The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good.

Bennett Ellis is on vacation in Dream Harbor taking a break from his life in California. And most importantly, taking a break from his latest run of disastrous dates.

After a run in with Kira in her fields, Ben has no intention of offering to help the grumpy owner set up her tree farm, despite the fact she’s clearly got no idea what she’s doing.

Kira knows she should stop being so stubborn, but her farm is not all cute and cozy like people always show on social media, it’s borderline dangerous with no heating, and she’d rather no one saw it.

But somehow fate finds Ben at Kira’s farm once more, and as Kira watches him swing an ax at the first tree, she finds herself appreciating his strength and questioning why she refused help in the first place..

My Opinion

It was nice to be back in Dream Harbor. This is the third book in the series but it could be read as a standalone. This was a cute, holiday romance. Dream Harbor has such an appeal that it is always nice to return and the majority of the characters are just so welcoming.

Rating 4/5

3,5 stars

Unfortunately this wasn't my favorite book in the series. I thought it was too instant love (and it's not my favorite trope at all), some scenes seemed too forced and the chemistry between the characters was slow to come, in my opinion.

I really enjoyed seeing Kira's evolution as a person and as a Christmas lover. Ben is the golden retriever we all look for in a book boyfriend. Their adventures are great. The overall premise of the book is great, but I was expecting more.

It's a cute book, with lots of Christmas vibes, lots of hot scenes, but it didn't win me over. It lacked something to really hook me. Still, I think they were two great additions to this series and to this wonderful city!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing the review copy

Love this story: I fell in love with the cover and loved the heartwarming and cute plot. Well written, likeable characters
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I did it again: I listened to the audiobook knowing full well I didn’t vibe with the narrator—even after listening to the first two books. Sigh.

I kept with it, though. it took me a minute to really get into it (the FMC didn’t make a great case to not DNF), but once she started to be friendly, she redeemed herself.

And I can’t lie, the spice kept me invested too. I still don’t see how or why this is categorized as “erotica” on Spotify, because it’s far from it, but it is spicy!! More like a 3.5-4/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️

(Thank you, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for my honest reviews.)

Cute cozy holiday romance. Laurie Gilmore’s series has become a comfort read for me and gives me very Gilmore Girls vibes which is right up my alley.

So far os the dream harbor series, this is my absolute favorite! I.love christmas and I loved the romance on this. I like that it was a slower build up to the spicy scenes compared to the last one.

This was such a cute read! I loved all the Christmas vibes and I really liked the romance between Kira and Bennett. I loved the grumpy x sunshine trope and I loved that Kira was the grumpy in this situation. I liked that both our main characters were dealing with their own issues and that we got to see them work through them while also supporting each other.

I will admit that this series does suffer from insta-love and third act break-ups but I do find myself enjoying them. They're light-hearted and fast-paced which for me are perfect in between heavy fantasy books!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I Love a good romantic Christmas book and this one did Not disappoint! Every Christmas story needs a Grinch and Kira fit that bill. And Bennett was so bright and easy to Love. You cannot go wrong with Any of the 3 books!

I can’t thank Laurie Gilmore enough for creating our perfect little Dream Harbour escape which just keeps giving, all year round. I’ve read both Cinnamon Book Store and this in quick succession and just can’t get enough, so it’ll feel like a long few months waiting for the next. A perfect balance of a bit of spice and a soul searching couple who need to break their own bad habits, these books will hold a special place in my shelves. Looking forward to the next few instalments immensely.

This was cute enough, though I vastly prefer the Cinnamon Bun Book Shop. I think my main issue is with the female MC and her silly personality...it's hard for me to immerse myself in a book where I can't relate to OR enjoy the MC in a romance. The male MC (the protagonist from Pumpkin Spice Cafe's brother) was better, but I'm not usually going to be thrilled by a wealthy tech guy, even if he is self-aware.

Dream harbour is my favourite place to be. Another absolute cracker of a book from laurie gilmore filled with interesting characters, laughter, love and ofcourse some spice

After reading The Pumpkin Spice Café a few years ago I knew I just had to read another book by the same author.
This is the third book in the Dream Harbor series, each book is connected some with the same characters, but you don't have to read them in order, and each has a standalone story.
This one is as Christmassy as it gets. I mean who doesn't love the thought of a classic cut your own Christmas tree farm with dogs running around?
Throw in a grumpy Christmas tree farm owner, Kira who really doesn't know how to promote her business.
When Ben takes his dogs for a run in the woods and meets Kira for the first time it's not that flowery meet cute, we all dream about. She accuses him of trespassing, and he can't wait to get away from her. The book had me laughing out loud so many times. He's fun and sunshiny, she's the grump and despite him trying she's really not interested in changing.
She's a dog lover and I think his dogs may have swayed her to start coming around. He seems to just pop up everywhere she is and things just take off from there.
Loved seeing the Christmas tree farm coming to life and the towns people so happy and spirited and the Christmas spirit of the season hits them.
A spicy Christmas story full of warmth and charm.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Laurie Gilmore's writing feels like home. It is no surprise that I adored this book from start to finish. I didn't particularly warm to Kira at the beginning of the novel, but as time progressed, I really had a soft spot for her and her walls came down. Bennett. I loved everything about Bennett - he was kind, supportive and would do anything for Kira and it totally melted my heart. I love the way that the familiar characters were still an integral part of the narrative and that it felt like I was re-visitng an old friendship group. It was also wonderful to see how the characters interacted with one another and the way in which Gilmore writes is so mesmerising that it didn't even feel like fiction.

It was so nice to be back in dream harbour and read Bennett’s and Kira’s story. This was an easy going, light hearted read and I especially enjoyed it being set on a Christmas tree farm, great read for this time of year.