Mixed Signals (Lovelight, #3) by B.K. Borison Also by this author: Lovelight Farms (Lovelight, #1), In the Weeds (Lovelight, #2)
Series: Lovelight Farms #3
Published by Berkley on August 30, 2022
Genres: Romance
Source: Spotify
Goodreads
Layla Dupree has given up on love.
She’s waded through all of the fish in the sea, each one more disappointing than the last. Apparently owning the bakery at Inglewild’s most romantic destination does not help one’s love life—despite her best efforts. All she wants is a partner who gives her butterflies, not someone who ghosts her at dinner and leaves her with the check.
Good thing Caleb Alvarez has the perfect solution.
After saving Layla from another date gone bad, he has a simple proposition: One month of no-strings dating. He’ll do his best to renew her faith in men while she rates his dating game. It’s a win-win situation. All the benefits of dating, without the added pressure of feelings and unmet expectations.
But there’s one ingredient they haven’t considered. The chemistry between them is red hot and the urge to take things to the next level is more tempting than Layla’s double fudge mocha brownies.
Will the heat between them boil over? Or will it be another case of mixed signals?
I think I’m in a funky place with this author where I adored the her debut in the Lovelight Farms series (so much so that it actually made me enjoy one of my least favorite tropes, friends to lovers), but none of the subsequent romances in the series have really hit for me. I really like all of the characters in the couples as individuals, I just find their romantic stories not to my taste. This is definitely the case with Layla and Caleb, who are honestly just two great people, but it made for a really boring romantic story for me.
I think the main thing that was hard for me to get into the romance is that it’s a “fake dating” story but the premise for the fake dating is really weak IMO and doesn’t really make sense. Both of them are unlucky in love and decide they will fake date so they can get better at dating (Caleb) and learn what it’s like to be treated right (Layla)…I mean it’s a pretty thin pretense to begin with. Couple that with the third act breakup being due to miscommunication (which was my biggest issue with the previous book in this series, In the Weeds, as well) and I was just…bored. I listened to this on audio and found myself zoning out during the ~romantic~ scenes, and zoning back in during the filler scenes with secondary characters (which were honestly so much more fun! Caleb’s huge Latinx family is a TREAT to read about). I suppose if there wasn’t the fake dating premise there wouldn’t be much of a story here, because it would literally just be “two nice people finally realize the other one is attractive and then fall in love, the end.” Look, I love me some drama (I mean my FAVE trope is enemies to lovers) in my romances and this was just too sweet and simple for me. I saw someone describe this as a “sunshine/sunshine” book and it’s honestly a perfect descriptor-and probably a good indication that it’s NOT a book for me.
HOWEVER I am glad I read it and will carry on with the fourth and final book in this series because I just love the world of Lovelight Farms! I can’t get enough of the small town setting (and the farm itself) and romance aside, there were a lot of things above this story I loved, such as:
- Caleb’s big, boisterous Latinx family, especially his sassy grandma
- Layla’s baking (OMG the pastry descriptions where mouth watering!)
- The food positivity (seriously they were always talking about how much they loved to eat dessert and not focusing on the characters bodies, weight, etc)
- Appearances from old fan faves, like Stella, Luca, Beckett, etc.
- The escape room scene was fairly unhinged lol
- Caleb trying to teach Spanish class to less than studious teenagers
Overall: If you want a feel good romance that features good people having good things happen to them, then this is perfect! And there is no shame in that- lord knows that with everything going on in the world these days, sometimes a sweet, warm book really hits the spot. However, if you want drama, angst, or just some tension I wouldn’t recommend this couple specifically, but I do think it’s worth powering through to complete a very cute series.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- Goodreads Challenge 2024
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