What you need to know: This is the quintessential small town and I’m in love. Olive lives in a literal lighthouse that she also manages. There’s a festival for every occasion, a grouchy old man, a meddling cat, four best girlfriends, and the yummiest men. You’re going to love it here.

Thoughts
I absolutely adored this book. Emilia Emerson is one of my favorite authors and I was excited to see how she approached this cozy project. (For those who don’t know, this is the first book in a four book series written alongside Eliana Lee.) You know that movie where the FMC touches a piece of her Christmas town display and she’s transported inside of it? That’s what I felt like with Starlight Grove. I could vividly picture the town and its people, and I wanted to reach through the page to attend their harvest festival.

Olive is a fantastic FMC. She’s not smooth and polished, but she is strong and resilient and such a good friend and partner when she opens up. I love how Emilia Emerson writes about body size and chronic health conditions. As someone who has PCOS and experiences depression, I felt especially seen. Watching as she grew throughout the story was incredibly rewarding.

Now the MEN. Goodness, Emilia. Warn a girl!! There’s Easton, the golden retriever alpha who can’t help but “discreetly” follow Olive around town; Lars, the hopeless romantic who adores Olive more than I ever seen one person adore another; and Finn, the closed off alpha who is experiencing his own emotional turmoil. These alphas are truly everything. They are a study in emotional maturity and how to communicate and take care of each other. If Starlight Grove was real, I would be there asap to find my own. omg also FELIX!! I’m so excited to see what mischief he gets up to in the next book *eyes emoji*

Some of My Favorite SFW Quotes (may contain minor spoilers):
-For anyone who’s been told you’re too prickly, too much, or that you feel too deeply⁠— Starlight Grove welcomes you home with open arms, just as you are.
-but it wasn’t like I could say Olive is mine even though she doesn’t know it yet and I’m going to bite her and f*** her and take care of her forever.
-There was no sunshine when Olive was unhappy.
-I hated being perceived.
-I couldn’t stop staring at that little curve of her lips. It wrecked me. Destroyed me. Any other goal in life I’d ever had was gone and was now replaced with the need to see this omega smile every day for the rest of my life.
-I could picture her leaping into the ocean and turning into a mermaid if she got overwhelmed. And I’d f***ing follow her. Even if it meant drowning.
-He lowered his forehead to mine. “Please, Olive, I’m begging you. Let me out of my misery. Just one kiss, one taste of your sweetness. I won’t survive without it.”
-“I need you to know you are my priority, sweetheart. Not a minute of the day goes by that I’m not thinking of you.”