The Christmas Tree Farm (Dream Harbor, Book 3)
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The Christmas Tree Farm (Dream Harbor, Book 3)
Acheter pour 24,59 $
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Narrateur(s):
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Regina Reagan
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Auteur(s):
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Laurie Gilmore
À propos de cet audio
‘A charming break from reality’ Publishers Weekly
❄️❄️❄️❄️
Every book in the Dream Harbor series can be read as a standalone.
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 trying to take a break from both his life and his constant desire to fix things.
But somehow fate finds Ben trapped by a blanket of snow at Kira’s farm, and, despite her Grinchiest first impressions, with the glow of the fairy lights twinkling in the trees, and the promise of a warming hot chocolate, maybe, just maybe, these two lost souls will have a Christmas they’ll remember forever…
The Christmas Tree Farm is a spicy romantic mystery with a HEA guaranteed, perfect to curl up with this winter!
Tropes:
- Grumpy x Sunshine
- Small Town
- Forced Proximity
- One Bed
‘Wonderful story with tears, laughter, mysteries, uncertainty and happiness’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Compelling, cozy and delightful narrative’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A charming small town romance with sizzling chemistry and plenty of spice’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I LOVED THIS SO BAD. The vibes of the small town were immaculate’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This book makes my heart happy!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘The perfect kind of romance for me’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
©2024 Laurie Gilmore (P)2024 HarperCollins PublishersCe que les critiques en disent
PRAISE FOR LAURIE GILMORE:
‘Gives off the same level of endorphins as taking a sip of an actual pumpkin spice latte… all the makings of a top tier Hallmark movie that happens to include a nice dash of spice’—People
‘With a name this cute and a cover this autumnal, how could I not cozy up with my blanket and relax with this adoring book?’—New York Post
‘A charming break from reality’ Publishers Weekly
‘This book is what happens when you turn a pumpkin spice latte into a story… perfect for fans of Hallmark movies’—People
This was fine. Sort of a typical Christmas romance. I might recommend reading it over listening as I found the voice didn’t match the character and it interfered with the believability of the story.
Cute but not my favourite
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Kinda cringe
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The first half was genuinely fun. I was enjoying the characters, their banter, and the overall charm of the story. The FMC had personality and spunk, the humour worked for me, and while the romance leaned lust-forward, it was softened by sarcasm and wit. At that point, my experience felt like a solid 4-star read, and I was fully on board.
Unfortunately, the second half completely lost me.
There’s a sharp divide between the first and second halves of this book. The charm, banter, and personality that originally hooked me disappeared in the second half, replaced by an overwhelming focus on lust. Even after the characters got together, the repetitive, lusty inner monologues didn’t ease up. Instead of deepening the emotional connection, the story became increasingly focused on sexual fixation and objectification, which left the romance feeling shallow and unfocused.
I realized while reading why I don’t enjoy lust-forward storytelling. When the lusting overtakes the internal monologue, it doesn’t build tension for me. In a slow burn with depth, I feel yearning and anticipation, and I want the characters to get together. Here, by the time they did, I found myself wanting them to just do it so we could get it over with — hoping that once they had gotten it out of their system, the focus would shift to something more meaningful. Unfortunately, that shift took far too long. While the relationship does eventually move in a more meaningful direction, it happens so late in the story that, for me, it was simply too late to matter.
In the second half of the book, every time the story hints at a softer, more emotional moment, it immediately gets redirected back to sexual content. Even the letters that could have been sweet end up being dirty — and at this point, I found myself constantly rolling my eyes at how often potentially meaningful moments were reduced to something superficial and trivial. 🤦🏼♀️
With Kira, I really struggled with how she was characterized in the second half. She kept telling herself that Ben was just a holiday fling and nothing more, while simultaneously focusing almost entirely on how physically attractive he is. Her internal monologue repeatedly circles back to the idea that she could enjoy him for a while because he’s hot — but that eventually she’d get bored, because that’s “just who she is.”
This didn’t work for me because it painted the FMC as shallow — someone who only does short-term, physical connections — only for the reader to later be expected to believe she’s capable of falling in love and planning the rest of her life with someone she’s only just met. Too much time was spent emphasizing her emotional detachment and surface-level attraction for that eventual shift to feel believable. Instead of watching a character grow, I felt like I was being told conflicting things about who she was, and it just didn’t work for me.
There were also character moments toward the end that didn’t sit right with me, particularly Ben’s interaction with his friends-with-benefits. Turning her down in the moment while still keeping the door open felt emotionally messy and unfair, and it didn’t show the growth or clarity I wanted to see at that stage.
On the audiobook side: this is a dual-POV story, but it’s performed by a single narrator with very little vocal distinction between characters. The narrator’s voice felt too mature for this particular book, and that really came to a head during the explicit scenes. I ended up skipping all the intimate scenes entirely — in audio, it genuinely felt like having a grandma read corn to me, and I just couldn’t do it. I would not recommend the audiobook format.
By the end, the second half of this book was honestly a 1-star experience for me. The tonal shift, the loss of emotional depth, and the relentless focus on lust completely overshadowed what initially worked so well.
Overall, this averages out to a 2-star read. I’m genuinely disappointed, because the first half had so much promise. I won’t be rereading this, and I wouldn’t recommend it — especially not in audio.
I don't recommend the audio
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