Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Late Bloomer

Opal's start in this book is a little cringe and anxiety driven, and the whole lottery plotline is a little silly - but if you just take those things at face value and get into the relationship side of this book I enjoyed it! Sapphic romances have really been a struggle for me recently - I haven't found that I understand why the MCs are truly into each other beyond just a sexual attraction. But I thought the development of Opal and Pepper's relationship more realistic. Both MC's go on a journey of learning to trust each other because of past partner/family dynamics - and to me that felt very authentic. I've I think only read one other (non queer) book by this author but I find that Mazey is really good at writing complex well-rounded characters that have real, relatable struggles to overcome on their journeys to love.

neurodivergent rep
forced proximity
sexual awakening
grumpy/sunshine
complex parental dynamics

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estimpert's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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ronan_lesh's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was a cute sapphic romance with neurodivergence characters that made me go "wow, yeah, same", to a lot of their habits. There's nothing overly complicated about the plot itself. It's simple, easy to follow, and fairly predictable but I enjoyed it especially when the characters stick it to the emotionally abuse people in their lives.

This one is definitely for the ones that love sapphic smut.

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mari1532's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I want to thank NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a copy of this book.

Brief Summary: Opal has had a turn of luck and will finally pull the pieces of her life together and pursue her dream of being an artist. While doing some late-night internet surfing, Opal decides that the Thistle and Bloom flower farm is the perfect destination to make all her hopes come to life. Pepper, the current resident of the farm however has other ideas—many, many ideas in fact, but none of them involve Opal. Forced to work together Opal and Pepper begin to learn a great deal about themselves and each other and what they find might be 1000 yellow daiseys worth of joy.

Thoughts: Eddings is an excellent writer. The way that she can elicit such emotion from her characters makes them jump off the page. While I loved both Opal and Pepper, I felt I identified a bit more with Opal. The chaotic way she approaches things and the way she releases stress by changing her hair were both so relatable and articulated feelings that I often experience in a way that makes me feel incredibly seen.

I do wish that there had been a bit more integration of Opal's sisters into the later part of the book. They seem to be a central part of Opal's world and they seem to have drifted off at the end. I'm not sure if it is because of the distance between the farm and where they live in the city or what. Am I hoping that there will be spin-off books for both of them, yes. But I am selfish.

The very last chapters of the book felt a little chaotic. I completely agree with Pepper that some of the villains in the book were exhibiting some serious stalker behaviour. Also, I'm not entirely sure how much time has passed in this book and it seems wild to me that someone hasn't talked to you in months and you think it's cool to just show up out of the blue.

I enjoyed the dynamics between Pepper and her friend group and like Opal's sisters I wished they had more time on the page. Especially since they seemed very invested in Pepper at the start of the book and then seemed to make no real appearances later on.

Overall, I found this an endearing love story between two agents of chaos and it truly shows Eddings for the mastermind that she is. If you enjoy sapphic romances this one will make you swoon.

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stacy837's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Love an openly autistic main character

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

sapphic romcom - make this a film!
neurodivergent (one is a fellow AuDHDer) & bi main characters
grumpy x sunshine
forced proximity
dislike-to-lovers
miscommunication (cry about it, this is so human and universally relatable, my god!!!)
navigating toxic parents
for the recovering people pleasers *sobs*
steam rating: 3 out of 5

Not my favorite by Mazey Eddings, but it was sweet and a fun premise (what would you do if you won the lottery? Would you buy... a flower farm? lmao).

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jordanbolker's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I thought it was cute but this is the best I can give it. I got bored throughout most of the book waiting and waiting to see how this would all play out. There was a lot of disorganization with the plot and random acts by the characters that didn’t seem dramatic or as plot-twisting as I’d hope. Wasn’t the wow factor for me.

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