42 pages • 1 hour read
B. K. BorisonLovelight Farms
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
Beckett brings the cats to Stella’s porch, noting that he honked because he didn’t want to interrupt anything between her and Luka. When he leaves, Luka insists that they talk about what happened between them, and they both agree that it was not as weird as they expected it to feel. Luka suggests that they give a romantic relationship a try while they are pretending to date, as it seems like something they both want. However, Stella makes him promise that this won’t impact their friendship regardless of what happens. At breakfast, they discuss the possibility of Luka moving much closer for a job, though he also implies that it would allow him to see Stella more. They also agree that while Evelyn is in town, Luka will stay at Stella’s cottage rather than his mother’s house.
Chapter 14 Summary
The next day, Stella goes to Thanksgiving dinner with Luka’s large family, who tease the pair about their relationship. As they leave with a tower of leftovers, Carina mentions that most of the town has volunteered to visit the farm when Evelyn is there to give it the best chance at the contest. Once back at the cottage, they nearly have sex again, but Luka stops them because he doesn’t want to rush their relationship.
Chapter 15 Summary
Stella wakes up in the middle of the night to find a surveillance system she had recently installed alerting her. Previously, she had been alerted for wildlife passing through, but this time, she sees a hooded figure throwing rocks at the camera. She wakes up Luka and calls Beckett and Sheriff Dane. In spite of Dane’s instructions for them to stay inside, Stella leaves her cottage to turn on all the Christmas lights, illuminating the farm and a figure whom Beckett and Luka chase after. Dane arrives with another police officer, Caleb, who sits with Stella and talks about Layla as the others look for the culprit.
Chapter 16 Summary
No one got a good look at the trespasser, who escaped from the farm before anyone could reach them. When everyone else leaves, Luka acts jealous of Caleb, but Stella suggests that Caleb has his eye on Layla. Inglewild gets into the holiday spirit in preparation for Evelyn’s visit, and the romance between Stella and Luka continues to grow in their close proximity.
Chapter 17 Summary
Evelyn arrives and is enamored with the farm and its charming holiday spirit. She and Stella get along well, yet when it comes to meeting the rest of the team, Evelyn is shocked and leaves quickly after meeting Beckett. Beckett explains to Stella that he slept with Evelyn a few months earlier when he was out of town, and she left early one morning before he could say goodbye. Though he is embarrassed, Beckett doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the farm’s chance at winning the contest.
When Layla and Luka arrive, Stella decides that it is finally time to tell them the whole truth about the farm’s financial situation. Layla and Beckett are surprised to learn that the farm is actually hemorrhaging money as they and their teams continue to receive their paychecks on time and in the correct amount. They surmise that Stella has been going without a steady paycheck, which causes Beckett to leave angrily because he knows that this is not what business partners should do. Layla is equally angry at Stella for hiding the severity of her situation, and Luka attempts to help her come up with a solution. Stella admits that she never told Luka she was in trouble because she didn’t want him to rescue her, but Luka tells her that asking others for help doesn’t mean that her achievements aren’t her own.
Chapter 18 Summary
Stella is surprised to see Evelyn back at the farm the next day. She tells Stella that she and Beckett had a conversation and that they are not going to let their past get in the way of the contest. Evelyn’s honesty makes Stella feel even more guilty about lying about her relationship, but before she can admit anything, Luka enters. As Luka shows Evelyn the farm’s ice-skating rink, Beckett and Layla approach Stella with pages and pages of a business plan that they have laid out to help the farm. Stella is surprised that this plan includes massive pay cuts for both of her partners and backpay for her missed paychecks but doesn’t alter any other staff’s pay. Beckett and Layla believe that it is only the right thing to do since they are partners in the farm, and they both want to buy a third of the farm’s ownership to make it official.
Though Stella talks them down to slightly less of a pay cut, they all agree on the plan, and Stella is filled with renewed hope for the future of her farm. However, the plan includes charging admission for the farm, something that she is hesitant about since it could be cost-prohibitive for some families and she knows that it would have prevented her and her mother from going so much when she was younger. When she finds Luka, Stella thanks him for his help, as she knows that he must have had a hand in formulating the business plan. As the chapter ends, Dane calls Stella and tells her that he has some information about the trespasser, asking her to come down to the police station.
Chapters 13-18 Analysis
In these chapters, Stella and Luka’s relationship begins to shift, highlighting their true feelings for one another. Their feelings manifest in the trial period of their relationship, and Stella begins to trust them while still questioning if Luka’s feelings toward her are real. At the Peters family Thanksgiving, Luka’s relatives treat Stella like she is already part of the family, making her feel like she belongs to something bigger than herself. This is a great contrast to the Milfords’ Thanksgiving, yet in both cases, Luka’s support of Stella comes to the forefront among the other distractions. In Chapter 16, when it becomes clear that Luka is jealous of Stella’s brief moments spent with Caleb, Stella becomes more certain of his romantic feelings toward her. In the same chapter, Stella and Luka have an intimate moment on the couch, which seems to shift their relationship’s trajectory even further. As their romantic relationship blossoms, the feelings that Stella has about Luka’s steadying friendship only increase.
Though her self-sufficiency causes her trouble in earlier chapters, it nearly leads Stella to ruin in various ways as the novel progresses. When she disobeys Dane’s order to stay inside when the trespasser comes to the farm, Stella causes them to lose the vandal when she turns on the farm lights. She makes things at the farm much worse for herself by regularly refusing to take a paycheck despite the farm’s dwindling finances. She lives on as little as she can, believing that this act will help her save the farm, rationalizing her drastic decisions by noting that her house on the property is already paid off. It is this selfless yet stubborn decision that earns her Beckett and Layla’s anger, highlighting the need for balance between Self-Sufficiency and Relying on Others. Though Stella believes that they are only angry with her for not sharing the financial situation of the farm and putting their jobs at risk, Beckett and Layla are angrier that she would do such a thing to herself, with Becket noting that “[t]his isn’t what partners do” (197). Though she thinks that she is being selfless and has an answer to every problem, Stella’s stubborn self-sufficiency puts her farm, relationships, and well-being at risk.
The events of Chapter 17 additionally take a toll on Stella, and she begins to recognize how much her inability to ask others for help has caused her downfall. However, she quickly begins to make changes, particularly because of Luka’s advice. When he finds out about the farm’s finances and how Stella has been coping with it, Luka tells her that “[l]eaning on other people doesn’t make [her] achievements any less [hers]” (203), highlighting one of Stella’s bigger insecurities. She takes small steps toward letting others help her when she reluctantly enlists the help of Luka, Beckett, and Dane when she finds the trespasser on the farm. A notable achievement in this regard is when she allows Layla and Beckett to help her with the farm. Stella has a special connection to her farm, especially because of her experiences during her childhood. As such, she thought that the farm was her burden and that she could not ask others for help. She begins to see that this is not the case, as volunteers from the town pour in to help her and her friends brainstorm ways to save the farm while prioritizing her well-being. Beckett and Layla’s idea to buy part of the farm from Stella is not to make the farm any less of her achievement, as Luka suggests, but is done to help her continue something they all care for. When Beckett says, “This is what partners do” (209), after showing Stella the business plan, he echoes the quote on page 203, highlighting how, as a business partner, he is invested not only in the farm but also in Stella’s dream of it. As her friends come to her aid, Stella begins to recognize that sometimes it is okay to let others help.
