Reviews

The Confidence of Wildflowers by Micalea Smeltzer

wonderstruck_books's review against another edition

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5.0

Why? Why am I a sobering mess? I have a roller coaster of emotions that I’m trying to process but can’t seem to. Excitement, agony, remorse, joy, heartbroken, happy, they’re just all mixed up. Salem was an interesting character. Not perfect but flawed like every other human being. Having past trauma, she doesn’t let it take over her life.

Salem loves her life. Content in her small town, running her moms shop and making her candles that she loves. She’s happy and grateful of the life and love she has. Her older sister’s a nurse and her mom owns the antique store she helps at. After surviving their past, the three women take life on and don’t look back.

When she met Thayer, it’s like she knew subconsciously, that they were inevitable. The grumpy neighbor, turned friend, and eventually so much more. I was expecting to hate her boyfriend, Caleb, but he was just so purely good. Her best friend, Lauren, is just the amazing. The connection and ease with Caleb and Lauren just made me so happy. To know she has people in her life that are there for her in the hard times as well as the good.

Getting to know Forest, Thayer’s son, brought so much energy to the story. The witty banter and hilarious out burst of honesty was so refreshing. Thayer and Salem’s relationship took off and never looked back. The connection was obvious but slowly opening up and sharing the darkest parts of each other, they grew together and were finding happiness.

Everything Thayer did was out of concern and wanting to protect Salem. Running with her when she had nightmares, supporting her by just being there, keeping a supply of Diet Coke, building a gym in his basement, going to a concert with her when her boyfriend couldn’t. All the little things added up and she felt whole. He’s not perfect, but nobody truly is. But she starts to see a possible future with him that she never saw with Caleb.

All the emotional turmoil and inner thoughts she had throughout the book made me stop and think. Her reasonings and self awareness was enlightening. Not knowing exactly what you want out of life and taking the time to discover yourself is so important. And her getting the opinion to do so after so much suffering is empowering.

Getting unexpected news about her mom, I thought I knew how it was going to end. But no! I was completely and utterly shocked, gutted and was left hyperventilating. My God! I’m still trying to process everything and just keep sobbing uncontrollably. Absolutely heartbroken. Then the cliffhanger in the last chapter? Boom! That was a journey I was not expecting.

luisaimp's review against another edition

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3.0

i did like the book a lot and will be reading the next one, theres a few things that i didnt quite like, her being 18 is a big one. wish she was a couple years older, like idk 21, also reaaally hated the cheating, like i get why it happened but still. also hated what happened to forrest, other stuff could have happened and still get the same effect, him losing custody for example

shreyahehe's review against another edition

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4.0

why did the author had to do that? i just can't process, I thought it was a fake scare.

adriannareadsbooks's review against another edition

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2.0

This book started okay. Boring but okay. But then there were just so many ridiculous things. I can’t even get into it. If you like drama , immature characters, death of a child, sex while one party was legit JUST PASSED OUT AND INCOHERENT, cheating, did I mention immaturity then this in the book for you!

kleverette's review against another edition

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4.0

Would have given it a 3/5 if it weren’t for the last few chapters. Kind of cheesy and teeny for the first half. But the ending is good enough it still makes me want to read the second book.

ccrutcher's review against another edition

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1.0

This was needlessly depressing, and used so many "traumatic events" so poorly without contributing to the plot or encouraging character growth. I was cringing from the age difference at the start and never stopped cringing right up until the end. Not for me!

jessicaswan's review against another edition

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5.0

I can’t stop crying. The last 10% of this book fucking WRECKED me

thebookishbard's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nencsa's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

klotz_jozsef's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0