I picked this up after seeing the author’s last book, The Pumpkin Spice Café, all over social media. The Christmas Tree Farm is the third book in the Dream Harbor series and it’s a cozy, Hallmark-like romance. It’s a sweet and spicy, small-town story with loads of charm.

Our heroine Kira has landed in Dream Harbor, a small town in New England. She wanted a fresh start after her twin, Chloe, married and moved to Denmark. Kira grew up in Georgia, a rich girl with all the privileges of wealth, and, in an effort to prove to herself that she can make it on her own, she used her trust fund to purchase an old farmhouse in Dream Harbor sight unseen. She has depended on her family all her life, especially Chloe, and is determined to learn how to fend for herself. She has dreams of having a garden and making pickles.

But when she gets to Dream Harbor, she realizes the house has a Christmas tree farm and now that her boiler is barely working, she needs to get the tree farm up and running so she can afford a new one and doesn’t freeze over winter. (She is determined not to use her family money to solve her problems.) She’s feeling pretty stressed and, one day, when she’s both cold and grumpy, she runs into Bennet and his three dogs, walking through her farm. She gives him the cold shoulder and tells him he’s trespassing, but she loves dogs so she pets them and gives them doggie hugs before they leave.

Bennet is visiting his sister, Jeanie, and staying in the apartment above the Pumpkin Spice Café. He’d moved across the country to California with a woman several years ago, but they broke up. He’s in town for the holidays and working remotely (he’s a software engineer). Jeanie asks him to come to a town meeting and meet her friends. When he gets there, he finds a lively group making plans for the Tree Lighting Festival. When they find out he met Kira at the tree farm, they ask him to go back up and check on her because they think there could be a dead body or possibly a treasure on her property! Apparently, there was a cryptic letter in the house when the old owner, Edwin, died that claimed he had buried something important there. Bennet, who is sure Kira does not wish to see him, demurs. However, when they all stare at him, he gives in and says he will do it, even though he doesn’t think she will talk to him.

Bennet is a super nice guy but has recently realized the girls he dates seem to be only interested in him when they need help with something. He’s a fixer and loves helping people but he also wants to be loved for himself, not for what he can do for someone. When he goes to see Kira, he tells her he wants to buy a tree for Christmas. Their conversation is funny and they make each other laugh. He asks her if she’s going to the Tree Lighting Festival and tells her she should go to let everyone know that the tree farm has reopened. When he offers to help her with things at her house (his dad was a contractor), she asks him if he gets off on helping people and lets him know that after having people help her all her life, she wants to try and do things on her own. However, when her tree farm gets busy and things become harder than she’d hoped, she begins to see that accepting help can be a good thing.

This story has tons of holiday festivities. There’s ice skating, snow ball fights, hot chocolate, gingerbread cookies and making new friends. When a storm moves in and the power goes off, Kira and Bennet get snowed in at Kira’s place and enjoy their time in front of a crackling fireplace. One thing leads to another and they decide to have a holiday fling until Bennet has to go back to California. Together, they are spicy and sweet.

Kira and Bennet begin to fall for each other but they’ve only known each other for a month. Kira is worried about being hurt when Bennet goes back to California. Bennet wonders if what they have is real enough to uproot his life and move back across the country for. There is a third act break up–not my favorite–but it doesn’t last long.

This is my first book by Laurie Gilmore and while there were a few spots where I thought it was almost too sweet, I really loved the holiday festivities and romance. I think readers looking for a lighthearted, cozy and spicy holiday story to curl up to will find themselves smiling through this one.