I CAN’T KEEP LIVING LIKE THIS I NEED TO PHYSICALLY ENTER THIS BOOK AND LIVE BETWIXT THE PAGES.

Thank you @berkleyromance @berkleypub for the NetGalley ARC of Mixed Signals! Along with Lovelight Farms and In the Weeds, it has ruined my entire life and I will never be the same! 😌 And also a special shout-out to @authorbkborison for being the ultimate writer of soft boys and therefore tearing my heart out of my chest repeatedly and with vigor!!!

Layla Dupree has met everyone and she does not like them. Well, maybe not quite. But her dating history has proven to be so consistently disastrous that she might as well have. In any case, she has decided to give up on it forever, starting right now, tonight, on this specific disaster of a date.

Enter: Caleb Alvarez. Literally immediately. Like the date isn’t even over yet and our man is here and ready to roll. And he has an entirely motiveless (cough cough) proposition for Layla: they will go on practice dates - so that he can show her how her dates SHOULD be treating her, and so that she can tell him what he’s doing wrong on all of his.

Naturally, because fake dating is always very chill and casual and has never once resulted in the fake daters falling in love (pls avert your eyes from the first Lovelight Farms babes, thx), the two are ready for their entirely professional, super informative month of dates.

The only problem (!!!) is that the two of them each seem to have just what the other is looking for. But will the clock run out before they come to their senses? (👀👀👀)

Gonna go scream into my pillow for 3-5 business weeks and then restart this series again while I wait with absolutely no patience for whatever comes after that little Business Casual preview we got. Go add this to your TBR right now immediately.

Rating: 4.25/5
Warnings: N/A (that I remember)
Steam: 3/5
Tropes: friends to lovers, practice dating, small town and slow burn, sunshine x sunshine

Thank you to Berkley Romance for the chance to read this book again before the rerelease. All opinions are my own.

I really adored this book. The Lovelight series is such a dream. To enter this beautiful small town, with it’s very human characters and get to be a part of their love stories. Bec’s books are warm hugs, you read them and you feel comforted by the tenderness and heart in them.

Things I loved: Caleb and Layla, both individually and together. Such sunshine babies and Caleb is one spicy cinnamon I’d absolutely adore to have as an irl boyfriend. So many baked goods! The dates were adorable. Small town antics and seeing our previous book friends. The conflict was not miscommunication and thank you for that!

SWOON
“You made something for yourself here—out of an old tractor shed. Something incredible for the rest of us, too. No one comes to your bakehouse by accident and no one likes you by accident. I see you, Layla Dupree.”

He says it so firmly, so resolute, that I can’t help but believe him. “Clear as day. I always have.”

Things I didn’t care for: Nothing I can remember

Thank you Berkley for the eArc.

This series hasn’t disappointed me once so far and this book was just as good as the previous two. Layla and Caleb’s relationship was extremely sweet and one of my favourites I’ve read so far this year. This author has become one of my favourites because they just have a way of writing a romance that makes you FEEL with the characters.

As always the characters from the previous books and the side characters in the town were the icing on top of the cake and I love them all.

I will definitely be gushing about this series when it comes out and would recommend it to anyone looking for a romance between two really nice characters.

this was such a soft and delightful romance that had me craving baked goods. Becs has a way with words that leaves me longing to enter the world she creates

What a delightful little world the author has created. I’m hooked and desperate for the next one! This included some fave tropes.

trigger warnings: sexism and misogyny, sexual content, alcohol, estranged family, anxiety and panic attacks

I think this might be my favourite book of the three although it's a really tough call. And frankly they're all amazing in their own way so perhaps this is my favourite in this point in my life.

Caleb being the romantic lead was a curve ball because homeboy was a COP???? And a cop romance in this economy???? But Ms. Borison said lol he's a substitute teacher now bc he got fired for being too nice. Iconic. I still don't like the cop to educator pipeline because that's a whole other icky issue but we're going to let this isolated and fictional town in Maryland exist in its own little bubble.

Caleb as a teacher was incredibly cute and relatable. I've had my fair share of chaotic students and seeing Caleb have nearly identical experiences to my classroom ones was so cute and great. He's a man full of acts of service and love in unspoken words because previous experience has told him that expressing his feelings has led to the demise of his relationships. I love how his time with Layla defies that opinion of him at every turn. His type of affection is exactly what Layla craves and I loved how he was able to find the perfect person in his longtime crush.

Layla on the other hand is just looking for someone to put in the effort for her (*stares in Caleb*). She's sweet and full of giving. While her life is spent finding joy in making for others she simply wants someone to do the same for her. I loveeeeeeeee how her confidence builds over the course of the book and how Caleb stepping up to the plate allows her to see the joy that she deserves without struggle.

I found the "we're not really dating but it's not fake dating because they're definitely dates but with an expiry date" plot so funny. It's a really interesting hodge podge of tropes that made for the perfect amount of nonsensical confusion yet it had consequences for Layla and Caleb in their indecision and refusal to have an outright conversation as things got more serious. I'm also really pleased with how the miscommunication wasn't really that but more of a very literal interpretation of the whole situation and no interrogation of the subtext. It made things tough but painless.

Frankly this book was too cute for words.

The way Caleb crushed on Layla was ADORABLE. Layla truly noticing Caleb for the first time was FUN. The two of them practicing dating was SWOONY and FUNNY. Layle and Caleb falling in love? Super SWEET. Those five capitalized words? That's how I would describe this rom-com. I love these characters, this town, and this series. I cannot wait for Charlie's book next! 2024 feels too far away!

I loved the first one in this series, and it turns out I loved all of them! BK Borrison is truly an amazing author! I loved how all of their stories connected.

I am honestly addicted to Lovelight Farms universe and B. K. Borison's amazing talent for creating the sweetest, cutest couples in the fictional world!

Before I start my review, I have to emphasize that Caleb Alvarez is a real cinnamon bun, the best book boyfriend you can ever be introduced to. I also adored his loyal, entertaining, and tight-knit Alvarez clan. They made me laugh aloud several times.

This is one of the best books that make you feel extremely good, warming your heart and putting the biggest smile on your face! I think doctors should prescribe Borison's Lovelight Farms series to cure depression. It's guaranteed to heal your anxiety problems! At least it helped me a lot.

The heroine of the story is Layla Dupree, who is exhausted after being involved in way too many disastrous dating experiences. She realizes she deserves the whole cake instead of settling for breadcrumbs. When her favorite customer at her bakery, the kind-hearted Caleb Alvarez, makes a dating offer to help each other's predicaments, she cannot refuse him. The plan is simple: Caleb will learn what he's doing wrong in his relationships, overcompensation, or overthinking. In return, Layla will date a guy who gives her the exact treatment she deserves: kindness, care, and devotion.

Caleb has had a long-time crush on Layla, and the dating scenario is an opportunity for him to prove how much she means to him. This guy is extremely sweet, and his kindness makes him kicked out of the deputy position in the sheriff department. He's so helpful and sees the good in others. He deserves millions of brownie points.

The third-act disagreement in the book made me roll my eyes, but I loved everything about this small-town romance.

The characterization is perfect, the attraction and chemistry are palpable, and the lovemaking scenes show how much the couple cares for each other.

Overall, I love this series, and I can read thousands of books if B. K. Borison decides to create more!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this lovely book's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

Read If You Like:
🌲Lovelight Farms
❤️ Romances
✌🏻Dual POV
🥐 Baked Goods
😘 Fake Dating
🌶️ Spice

My Thoughts:
I absolutely loved Layla and Caleb together as they were just so freaking cute! I loved that he fell first and had been crushing on her forever… and that it was so obvious his family knew and were poking the bear. The dual POV was so well done in this one!

I also enjoyed the way they started their fake dating to use it as a way for both of them to get better at dating since their respective dating lives sucked.

And then when they took their fake dating to add in some benefits the spice was well done.

If you want to be transported to the quant bakery at at Lovelight Farms and be surrounded by those from the prior books in the series I highly recommend checking this one out asap! But it can also be read as a stand-alone if you haven’t read the other books in the series yet.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Romance for my ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Mixed Signals was a fun romcom! The characters were interesting and their relationship was a little weird but it got there. In the Weeds is still my favorite from the series though.

Mixed Signals is maybe my favorite book in the Lovelight series so far! How is that even possible?

I was so excited to start Mixed Signals because I have been eating up the tension B.K. Borison wrote between Caleb and Layla in the first two books. She definitely delivered and gave these two their time to shine! In Mixed Signals, Caleb and Layla agree to practice dating each other since they haven't had any luck in love lately. It is clear to literally everyone else though that they are perfect for each other and the practice dating eventually starts to feel a little too real...

This book is sweet and steamy and just amazing. I devoured it in one day and have been recommending it to all of my friends! If you like books by Chloe Liese you will love this series.

BK Borison just gets better and better with every book. I think this might be my favorite in the series. I loved Layla’s character in the previous books and was so excited to see her get her own love story. I was a bit hesitant when I learned that her love interest was Caleb, who had also been in the previous books but never in a way that suggested he could be a potential love interest. However, getting to know Caleb’s character was the highlight of this book and I was so pleasantly surprised at how good Caleb and Layla fit together. They are both sunshine characters but balanced each other so well and took care of each other in the most tender and thoughtful way. Caleb Alvarez???? Oh my god this man is SO HOT, I am literally blushing right now just thinking about him. Caleb is a DREAM. He loved Layla so much. He was so obsessed with her. The things he said.. the thing he said!!! I am so overwhelmed with how much I love him and them. I want to live in this small little town and series forever.

B.K. Borison carries the same style forward from her first book of the series. This works better than book 2 as a standalone. Layla is a really fun character.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC.

I knew from the very first chapter that I was going to love Caleb and Layla's story in Mixed Signals; I was not disappointed.

I adored Caleb and Layla - both of whom have not had much luck with dating lately, but Caleb has been crushing on Layla for a while now and decides to take a risk with an unusual proposal. He suggests an arrangement - a dating experiment, a way for both of them to figure out what they have been doing wrong. Caleb sells it to Layla as something easy, uncomplicated and temporary - ha!

Caleb was an absolute cinnamon roll, one of my favorite male protagonists ever. He adored Layla and was determined to show her that she deserved good things and was worth the effort. Layla was weary; she wanted to find her person, she longed to have the kind of love her friends found in their relationships, she felt close to giving up. However, bumping into Caleb (in a Hawaiian shirt!) after yet another disastrous date changed everything, and suddenly she felt as though she was seeing him for the very first time.

Watching these two slowly fall in love was delightful: the sweet and hilarious dates, the meddling Inglewild residents, their friends, Caleb's adorable family, the constant revisiting of the terms of their arrangement - all perfection.

Mixed Signals has officially become my favorite story in the Lovelight series, and the epilogue sweetest of Happy Ever Afters. I am so excited for Charlie’s story next year and hopefully see more of Caleb and Layla.

4.5⭐️This book was one big hug!

Mixed Signals follows Layla, a bakery owner who hasn’t had the best luck in the dating department, and Caleb, the former town cop turned teacher who often gets ahead of himself in relationships. When Caleb rescues Layla after her most recent dating disaster, the two agree on a one month arrangement to experimental date, in order to better themselves for future partners. Of course, neither of them anticipated real feelings getting in the way of their agreement.

Layla and Caleb officially have a special place in my heart. I loved their emotional and physical connection and how relatable each of them were. Their experimental dates/antics were so much fun (i.e., roller skating date and escape room) and the steamy scenes were interwoven into the story in a way that added the plot rather than take away from it. Becs’ writing is so descriptive and atmospheric that I felt like I was transported right to the small, fictional town of Inglewild.

Read if you like:
-Sunshine x sunshine trope
-Baked goods
-He falls first
-Experimental dating
-Spicy scenes
-Small town romance