Wood You Be Mine?

Lovewell Lumberjacks #1

by Daphne Elliot

The first time I met the grumpy lumberjack next door, I almost burnt down his cabin.

The second time, I was throwing tampons at a moose (don’t ask).

The third time, I was naked.

And Henri Gagnon is not just my neighbor and landlord, but a pain in my optimistic, plus sized ass. He’s got a protective streak under his grumpy exterior and he’s convinced I won’t make it through the Maine winter.

I’m going to show him and the rest of this small town that they’re wrong. I have one year to prove myself as the new elementary school principal or I’ll be getting the ax. So I just don’t have time to pine away for the grumpy lumberjack next door, no matter how good he looks chopping wood in his suspenders or the way he growls when he calls me buttercup.

But soon I’m falling headfirst down a hill, and into a full blown crush when he carries me home. He’s distracted trying to save his family’s lumber business, and I’ve got a school to run, and this small town is not as sleepy as it seems. But despite our differences, the heat between us makes it hard to stay away.

Could we actually be right for each other? What happens if I ask him if he Wood Be Mine?

Author’s Note: Wood You Be Mine? is a standalone, full length, small town romance featuring a grumpy lumberjack hero with a heart of gold and a plus sized, sunshine school principal trying to survive in the woods of northern Maine. If you enjoy flirty banter, ax throwing, wood chopping, and slow dancing, come meet the Lovewell Lumberjacks.

Welcome to Lovewell Maine, where the moose outnumber the people and you can't swing an ax without hitting a hot, grumpy lumberjack. Filled with humor, heart and heat, the Lovewell Lumberjack Series will melt Kindles in 2023.

Genres: Romance, Grumpy Sunshine, Audiobook, Contemporary Romance, Small Town Romance, Forced Proximity, Contemporary

340 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 9, 2024

About the author

In High School, Daphne Elliot was voted “most likely to become a romance novelist.” After spending the last decade as a corporate lawyer, she has finally embraced her destiny. Her small town steamy novels are filled with flirty banter, sexy hijinks, and lots and lots of heart.

Daphne is a coffee-drinking, hot-sauce loving introvert who spends all her free time in her garden. She lives on a small farm in New England with her husband, two kids, two dogs, twelve backyard chickens and a hive of Italian honeybees.

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Reviews

[buket]

the reasons i dnf'd this book;;; 👹

1-everyone in the small town hates her and the coffeeshop owner flat out rude to a paying customer and doesn't serve the right order just because she's from away ? 😒
2-her landlord(mmc) barges in her home while she's dancing naked in her living room which isn't a bad thing but adds to her many quirks and when she tells him to leave he says it's his house? 😡
3-i don't like the mentions of pop culture things like tiktok, wordle or taylor swift (even though she's loml) 😩
4- there are so many subplots? mmc's father's "suspicious death", two orphan kids, unnecessary rivalry between two lumber companies and their families, drug smuggling from canada???? i thought i was reading a cute small town story 🤔
5- heroine is a damsel in distress plus she keeps saying "new me would do this, old me wouldn't do that"
6-his caveman act, it's only cute when a barbarian type of alien does it AND the condescending way he speaks to the heroine 👿 oh no she's so stupid because doesn't know how to chop trees 😐😐😐

things i liked;;
she was positive with her body and there's two dogs named after Bronte characters 🐕🦮

i skipped to the ending because reviews said it's end with a cliffhanger? a standalone romance book ends with a cliffhanger? and it's true there's no epilogue(you have to sign her newsletter for it) and i guess it's hfn plus the drama with his dad continues 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Heather Adores Books]

A grumpy lumberjack who is really a big softie inside ~ yes, please! And you can't go wrong with 2 adorable dogs and a moose named, Clyde!

What to expect:
Alice & Henri
~ dual 1st person POV
~ small town Maine setting
~ starting over
~ heartwarming ending!
~ some steamage

Narration notes:
Both perfectly fine in their regular voice, but oh man their opposite sex voice needs some work.

[Tracey]

This is a well-written, entertaining contemporary romance novel. It has a likable female protagonist, a thoughtful and caring male protagonist, adorable children, supportive family, a beautiful setting with small town charm, wit, humor, and a steamy, heartwarming romance with a satisfying conclusion. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrators, Lucy Rivers and Stephen Borne, do an excellent job voicing the characters. I am looking forward to reading the next entries in this series with great anticipation.

[Just A Girl With Spirit]

4.5 “caveman energy” stars!

“You’re just walking behind me like a flannel-clad bodyguard. What are you even doing?” “Honestly? I’m staring at your ass.”

This was the perfect lumberjack romance! The banter. The humor. The sexy scenes. The vulnerability of the heroine with her insecurities—all of it. Some other heart tugging moments that you’ll just have to read and see for yourself.

[glavreads]

this was sooo cute and fluffy

alice left her coastal small town to move to the woods of maine and take over a failing school as principal. her start in a new town gets off to a rocky start when the first three times she meets her grumpy but very hot lumberjack landlord are very embarrassing. but he’s into it. we love that.

cute, fluffy, a little spicy, a little caveman/lumberjack action, i read this so fast because it was very cute.

i love that’s she’s a curvy heroine and he is obsessed with her. i also love that there’s a little suspense subplot that was introduced in this book and i imagine will get resolved in the rest of the series. there’s also a very, very cute subplot with some foster kids in her school and this was like a spicy hallmark movie.

[Darlene I read WAY to many books]

3.5 ⭐️

I saw this on Instagram and I do love mountain men sooo I read it its a cute story to enjoy!

Alice is new to this small town who has alittle trust issues with strangers moving into town and Alice is the new principal so it takes awhile for them to trust her.
But she's also having some vibes with her Landlord Henri a big growly Mountain Man who is smitten but he's busy with the bussiness.

These two have amazing funny moments together from him watching her toss tampons at a moose to them hiking and him carrying her. They connected so well it was insta but still kinda slow. We also get to see Alice be a amazing woman to the kids at the school making sure they were fed, safe and listened to.

My only meh was the ending I felt like it wasn't finished we had so many unanswered questions about Henri's dad accent, them as a couple felt off near the end and we had two downloads a Epilogue to read 2 years later what happened between them. Which I don't get?!


No ow/om drama, no cheating, slight secondary character, tiny drama, sexy times, no virgins or manwhores

Recommend-maybe
Cover-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat level-🌶🌶🌶


Slowinsta
Pinning
Praise kink
Child neglect and abuse
Death of a parent off page
Safe sex/no condom
Hea/HFN

[My Own Bookshelves]

Delightful sexy lumbersnack romance

Gotta love a grumpy/sunshine trope. Make the hero a marshmallow for the sassy, smart heroine and I’m sold.
First in series is starting out with a definite bang. This couple will seize your heartstrings and I am anxious to have more.

Enjoyable storytelling with delightful characters. Worth the time to venture to Lovewell.

[Leslie DeHart]

So apparently I like grumpy lumberjacks now? I didn’t know that was a thing for me but I read ONE book and now I’m looking for flannel and asking the hubby to grow a beard. Lol!

Okay, let’s talk about these characters, sis. Alice is fantastic. Is she completely confident and a ball buster? Nope. She is determined to start over after finding herself in a rut and does so with sheer force of will and a sunshiny attitude that never seems fake or manipulative.

Then there’s Henri. (Taking a deep breath before we continue in honor of all the swooning you can anticipate). He is a bit detached and uber responsible and a family man shouldering a legacy that leaves him a bit overworked and stressed out. Nothing a hit of sunshine can’t fix.

These two are amazing together. It’s not instalove and there’s no miscommunication trope to make me throw my kindle out a window. It’s a LEGIT, REAL ADULT RELATIONSHIP (mind blown) complete with some spicy sex and realistic complications. Throw in the town of Lovewell and its band of lovable and interesting characters, two sets of fantastic siblings, some adorable kids and a couple of dogs…what else are you looking for? Okay, no one is morally gray. No one is unalived and no one has pointy ears. But ya know what we do have in this book? Humor, heart, SPICE (phew) and a thoroughly enjoyable, romantic read that steals your heart.

And y’all…it’s book 1 of 4 so there’s more to come!

❤️❤️❤️

[Hannah]

This looked like a fun thing but ended up being boring and annoying imo

[Ashley]

(3.75★)

“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞?"

"𝐌𝐲 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐧."

Wood You Be Mine by Daphne Elliot is a small town romance that follows grumpy lumberjack Henri Gagnon and elementary school principal Alice Watson.

This novel immediately had me dying and falling in love with Alice because of her incredible sense of humor, especially considering how frequently she found herself in absurd circumstances that her next-door neighbor would find her in. Also, I enjoyed each of the MCs' nicknames for one another since they perfectly captured their bond and vibes.

As for the "ending," it didn't feel like the "perfect" conclusion for Henri and Alice. It was made worse by the lack of an epilogue, which completely took away from the book's enjoyment. But, if the book had a "nice" ending and a "few years later" epilogue, I would have given it 4 stars without a doubt.

Overall, the "ending" did not do Henri and Alice justice, and they deserved better given how cute and ideal they were for one another.

*Thank you to Chaos & Cliterature, and to the author Daphne Elliot, for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.*

[Amy]

4.5/5

I love a grumpy hero but after reading this I found out that I really love a grumpy lumberjack hero. Henri was 🥵 and while he gives caveman vibes 24/7, deep down he’s a squishy little cinnamon roll. At least for the people he loves 😉 Alice was also everything I want in a heroine and more. She’s tender hearted and so kind but there’s an inner badass inside her and moving to a new town is allowing her the opportunity to find her inner sassiness. I really appreciated that their relationship was mature and felt so real, they communicated and didn’t let silly miscommunications come between them and I was so here for it. Lovewell was such an interesting town and the residents were anything but welcoming to Alice and I’m dying to find out more in the next books. There was also a small mystery that wasn’t quite solved so onto book two for me asap. If you like small town romance, large families, messy and realistic problems and spicy scenes this one was fantastic.

[Sam]

dnf at 59%

Interesting plot with a lot of potential, but I got bored and couldn’t keep going. :(

[QuinnReads]

Breaking Past Fears

Newly minted Principal Alice (buttercup) Watson is in way over her head. Not just with Lovewell, Maine, but also with her landlord, Henri Gagnon (Brawny). The two of them are comical and bursting with chemistry. I like how this casual situationship snowballs in short order.

As much as I didn’t want to get involved, my protective instincts were already kicking in. I’d have to keep a close eye on my distracting new tenant.
-- Henri Gagnon

A lot of this is definitely romcom, but some tough issues are tackled. The most notable is foster care and the mistreatment of foster kids Marigold (Goldie) and Tucker Fournier. As I once was one, I know that not all are like this. At the same time, I also know that some are exactly like this or worse. Their journey starts out as utterly heartbreaking. I love where it leads.

This ends with a bit of a suspenseful cliffhanger. The book has an HFN for Alice and Henri, but another storyline continues. There is a bonus epilogue that you should absolutely read to get the HEA that is deserved. There aren't any spoilers for what's to come, just confirmation that the suspenseful part does have a conclusion.

I read along with the audio book. The narrators, Stephen Borne and Lucy Rivers, are fun to listen to. Of course, I really wish this was done in duet, but I usually want that and don't get it often enough. 🎧💚🎧

Story: 4 stars
Narration: 3.5 stars
Listening Speed: 1.8x

[Katy O.]

Sweet rural Maine romance between a logger and a school principal

Source: Hoopla audio via public library

[Barbara Kellyn]

A solid start to a new series from this new to me author. She hooked me with her blurb on Instagram and I instantly knew I just had to read this title! School principal Alice and lumberjack/lumbersnack Henri (now there’s a tree I’d like to climb!) are certainly a couple worth rooting for, and their meet cute(s) are adorable. I loved the dual POV, especially as their attraction builds through the early days of their palpable tension and inevitable passion.

The author branches out into several compelling subplots that demonstrate and test the depth of her characters and their respective worlds. Especially endearing is the storyline with Tucker and Goldie, two neglected children that Alice takes lovingly under wing, although I also enjoyed getting to know Henri’s extended family circle.

FYI: The author intended to save Alice and Henri’s HEA for another book, so just be forewarned that she purposefully leaves readers hanging for the swoonworthy conclusion.

[BookishKB]

🪵❤️ Wood You Be Mine ❤️🪵

📖 Bookish Thoughts

My full review will be shared closer to the publication date.

✨ What to Expect
• Small Town Romance
• Grumpy x Sunshine
• Lumberjack MMC
• Neighbors to Lovers
• Slow Burn Romance
• Cozy Fall
• Forced Proximity
_ _ _ _


📅 Pub Date: November 10, 2026
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

[Sarah (lou_reads_romance)]

Loved it!!
Great characters, wonderful humour, super hot…what a great start to a new series and a nice amount of suspense to keep the reader guessing!
Looking forward to my next visit already!

[Elizabeth]

See bukets review. Nope! Not for me.

[Kims.reading.nook]

I love a lumberjack romance, and really appreciated the complexity of the storyline. It's clear that the Author has set the stage for the drama that will unfold across the remainder of the series & I'm hooked!!

[Corrie Brown]

Cute, cheesy, spicy. All good things.
The romance was good, the background plot/drama was good, but what I really cared about was her adopting those kids. I'm a sucker for found family.

[Yvonne]

2.5⭐️

😴😴 I already forgot what it was about

[Morgan]

I wood love to have a lumberjack

[Mick C]

Always love a unique and original storyline. Throw in a great learning experience and it makes an awesome book. Now I need to get the rest of the series.

[Lauren (lololovesthings)]

4 stars.

Daphne Elliot's "Wood You Be Mine" is a fun, small-town, banter-filled grumpy champion lumberjack x optimistic school principal romance where he falls hard and fast, but doesn't know how to deal with his feelings. Alice has recently moved to Lovewell, Maine, to restart her life as a school principal in an underfunded school. All of the townspeople are wary of her, and she takes notice. Alice's landlord, Henri, is a hot, sexy lumberjack with two adorable dogs who is a huge grump, but on the inside, he is a huge, slightly shy cinnamon roll who is instantly taken with her. She slowly but surely begins to break down his walls and pick at the seams of his fragile heart, and he shows her what it means to trust someone again. I really liked both of the main characters. They have such good banter with one another! They play off of one another well and poke and prod at one another in funny ways. There is a lot of absurdity going on between them and in this small town, which I found hilarious and endearing. Henri was raised in an environment where grunts and backslaps were forms of communication, not "I love yous." His dad recently passed away in an accident, leaving behind a huge mess with the family business that he now has to clean up. He never said goodbye or told him how he felt, and it's screwed Henri up inside. Alice has made it her mission to make her new school the best it can be, despite not having a budget to hire new staff or buy new, necessary items for the teachers. Right before she left her old city, her friend and the principal of her school told her she'd never make it on her own as a principal, so she's out to prove everyone wrong, even if it comes at a great personal cost (literally and figuratively). Alice is a plus-size middle child who grew up with a mother who told her she needed to be smaller to be something. Because of this (and *vaguely gestures to the world*), Alice has a lot of insecurities about everything, including intimacy. The way Henri encourages her to find and take her own pleasure really worked for me. The spicy scenes are good! There is also a little bit of suspense/mystery going on here as well, one that ends on a cliffhanger, so know that going into it. I found this to be an easy, fast read, and I am excited to read the second book to see what else happens in this series!

Thank you to NetGalley, Daphne Elliot, and Berkley Publishing Group for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

[Jess]

Gaahhh this book, I’ve had it on my TBR for a few months and I’m so glad I started it! I loved the mountain man, Grumpy/Sunshine vibes this one gives! Henri and Alice had good chemistry and banter and had my heartstrings twanging throughout with their storyline and the family they create!

This is a small town romance with loveable characters and an exciting plot. I need to find out about the logging companies mystery, Bring on book 2!

[Susan Peterson]

If this story was any hotter my kindle would catch fire—scorching! There’s Henri, the sexy, grumpy, brawny lumberjack; and, the yin to his yang, the warm, beautiful and charming Alice. Not only is their love story sweet, steamy, and full of heart, I loved how much each of them grew during the course of the book. Alice was insecure, doubting she’d ever fit in and become a successful principal; watching her evolve, finding strength and becoming confident, was a joy to watch. Henri will probably always be grumpy, but it was great fun to see him let Alice into his heart, and to watch him fight for his family! I could never get enough of the Gagnon family and their home in Lovewell, Maine, so I’m ecstatic that this is the first in a series!

[Bri]

Get it here:
Amazon US * Amazon UK

First, there were too many sub-plots going on in this book. Second, even with so much going on it somehow still managed to be very bland in my opinion. The grump wasn't grumping and the sunshine just went dull. Again, my opinion. But for me, it fell flat in a lot of areas and the ending didn't leave me wanting more. Honestly the ending itself felt rushed and like it came out of nowhere. It left us with some unanswered questions but nothing that makes me want to come back to this series to see what happened unfortunately.

[Jenni Bara]

I was so excited when Daphne first announced the idea of a Maine Lumberjack book. And Lovewell is just the perfect small town to visit. Between the lumberjacks, the moose, the grumpy town folks, and small town gossip it was perfection. I laugh and got all the feels reading this one. Henri was the perfect grump and Alice fit him so well. Her and her post it notes. The chemistry between these two was 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥And the hint of something going on that lingers through the book left me dying for book 2! Such an amazing read! Can’t wait for more of Lovewell.

[Katrina (Catching up on Reviews)]

A woman moves to a small town in Maine to prove herself as a new elementary school principal, but keeps having chaotic run-ins with her grumpy lumberjack neighbor, Henri. As they deal with their own challenges, their constant clashes turn into growing attraction, making it hard to ignore their feelings for each other. The beginning started out strong, but the story lost momentum as it went on. Overall, it was still a sweet book.

[Maria Arroyo]

Excuse me…what just happened?? This just like ended, with zero warning. I though I had at least 10 more chapters to go or something but no, it was just book done. I kinda like that, didn’t need the epically happy ever after but more like a good things are coming but we don’t need to know about it? Idk maybe I get closure by reading more of the series.