Late Bloomer is an incredibly charming and fun romance with lovely messages and representation.

Opal is stuck in a bit of a life slump, a dead-end job, a breakup with a manipulative and icky ex and friends who really only are there when they need things which only gets worse when Opal wins the lottery from a scratch ticket. This is her opportunity to start fresh and pursue her dream of selling custom painted shoes (love this so much as it was a hobby I did in high school). She's browsing for property in one of her favourite getaway towns and finds a flower farm listed on Facebook, buys it outright and moves there. Too good to be true?? Maybe...

Pepper is trying to keep a failing flower farm going after her Grandma passed and left the farm in a bit of a muddled state. One day a stranger shows up, carrying a large bag of white shoes and saying she actually owns the property now. Opal understands the frustration and confusion of the situation and agrees that Pepper can keep living on and working the flower farm to try and get the money to buy it back and in the meantime Opal will also stay and work on her shoes. So we begin our lovely "forced" proximity and follow along as these two figure out life stuff and grow closer as friends and eventually more. And this book gets quite spicy once it's going!

The story was absolutely lovely and fun. A fluffy romance with a happy ending!

I was excited to read this book.
Mazey Eddings novels have always been a hit for me, but unfortunately this book was not something I could get behind.

For starters, I love the premise of a girl (Opal) winning money from a scratch-off ticket and starting a new life on a flower farm and running into a dilemma where the other protagonist (Pepper) and her work together and they fall in love.
I liked reading about the synopsis, but the characters were one's I could not connect with.

Opal had no backbone what-so-ever and it aggravated me more than enough times to count.
The two seemed like they were plucked from a picture of sterotypical lesbians and were forced to fall in love. The chemistry they had (if you could call it that), was full of too many cheesy moments with way too much cringe that often fell bland.

I had so much hope for this book and it did not hit it's mark with me, but I still enjoy the idea behind the novel and the showcase of neurodivergent representation in a sapphic novel.

My heart is swooning ! This book was a fuzzy blanket wrapped around you in a stormy night. I felt so inspired! I want to draw, buy a house in the mountains and grow things.

This author is a big favorite of mine. Being a neurodivergent myself I feel so seen and validated after I have completed one of their books. This one is no different. I really related to both main characters but differently. Opal gets her voice and the power to be herself and take control of her life. Pepper finds a way to heal and trust letting herself love. The relationship that blooms with in these pages just makes me melt.

I have never annotated in a book before but I felt so inspired with this book. I have made notes, drawn pictures, watercolored flowers and just felt connected. I just want to curl up inside this book. Life is to short so buy the house and plant the garden!

3.5 stars

<i>Late Bloomer</i> is a romance set on a flower farm. After Opal wins the lottery, she buys the farm from a lady. Unbeknownst to her, Pepper lives on said farm and wasn't aware of the sale. They strike up a deal and something more...

This book was enjoyable. I was really into it at the beginning, but the ending fell flat. I thought Opal was a bit of a caricature of the quirky heroine (she paints shoes for a living lmao). On the other hand, I felt like Pepper had more depth as a character. She had issues outside of her relationship with Opal that were explored throughout the whole novel, which I liked. There was definitively sexual tension between the leads, but I did not fully believe the romance was there, which made part of the ending a bit egregious to me. Despite the pretty lengthy romance book, I just wish we got more time of the leads spending time together, maybe outside of the farm.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this author's work and might check out some of her backlog. I would not mind having this on my bookshelf. Long live sapphics!

Thank you NetGallery and St. Martins's Press for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Mazey Eddings can do no wrong. I have yet to read a book of hers I haven't loved and I'm not about to start here. This book was so refreshing and real and full of such tender hearted moments. There was growth and love and it was absolutely beautiful. I loved the relationship development between the characters and how they met in such wild circumstances. They strengthened each other up and where there for each other when they felt like they had no one. Absolutely beautiful. All the stars.

Infinite thanks for the early copy of this book, I loved every single minute of it

Love, love, love - Mazey Eddings fan for life over here! Very fun, cute romance - highly highly highly recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC of Late Bloomer in exchange for my honest review!

Having previously read Mazey Eddings's work, I'm glad to say that Late Bloomer is quite a charming and cozy rom-com in her bibliography. The first book I read from her was A Brush with Love, which I liked, but didn't love. I had stronger appreciation for my next Eddings book, The Plus One. And now, with Late Bloomer, we've got an opposites-attract romance that boasts plenty of heartfelt fluff and plenty of fiery spice to balance things out (it does take about halfway through the book for the spice to fully arrive, but it's paced out well enough so that it lands effectively). As a reader who suspects I'm on the spectrum, it's very easy for me to connect with the two likable MCs here, Opal and Pepper, as the narrative explores their neurodivergency in an authentic fashion, in a way that feels like real life. I did find myself thinking at times that this could have used some more plot meat to strengthen the narrative, though, and then I'll also say that the third-act conflict gets on my nerves a little. I suppose it unfolds realistically, given the circumstances and what the messy MCs are feeling at that time, but still, it comes off as a tropey part of the book. But hey, even with these minor gripes, I generally enjoyed this florally abundant rom-com. The insight that Eddings gives us into the writing process afterwards is a neat touch, too.

Overall, I'm officially rating Late Bloomer 3.75 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding up to a flat 4 stars. I'll continue to look forward to more of Eddings's work.

I was given an ARC of this book and wow, it was such a beautiful, heartwarming book that made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think, and most importantly…I felt seen.

Pepper is an autistic woman who is hyperfixated on her late Grandma Lou’s flower farm, adorably named Thistle and Bloom. She wants her quiet routine, and she wants to live on her farm in peace…if only she could find Lou’s will.

Opal is an artsy girl who is working a dead end job and feels like she has no future. She has severe ADHD and I understood all of her decisions, I understood why she acted the way she did.

When Opal accidentally wins the lottery and buys the farm Pepper lives on, sapphic chaos ensues. I appreciate that the author played with the useless lesbian trope but they aren’t actually useless lesbians. They’re two neurodivergent girls who communicate and interact with the world in VASTLY different ways.

I very much enjoyed the twist of the U-Haul Lesbian as well. Opal moves in before she’s even met Pepper! It also was a nice way to really highlight just how different neurodivergent people are, and how despite having similar issues, can struggle with communication on a immense level that has severe consequences they can’t stop running into.

I loved seeing myself in these two characters. I loved setting queer neurodivergent characters that use words like autism and ADHD, and the real implications not learning ways to work with your abilities instead of against them can cause you a million problems such as Opal’s brush with drugs and struggle with not becoming an alcoholic.

The book is realistic, but it’s still a joyful read. It’s a gay romcom with neurodivergent disaster gays. This book was basically written for me. If you’re a gay/queer neurodivergent who has been searching for a romcom that features you, you’ve come to the right place.

This queer romance was incredibly cute. Honestly, I thought the cover was adorable, so I went for it and I am glad I did. This story is about two neurodivergent women Pepper who has some serious impulse control issues due to her ADHD and Opal who is autistic.

Pepper, is an artist who wins a scratch off lottery ticket and immediately buys a flower farm off of FB marketplace. Upon arriving to her newfound property, Pepper she meets Opal, a flower farmer who has lived in the farm with her grandmother who had recently died. Awkwardness ensues immediately due to all the confusion and frustration as the property was sold without Opal’s knowledge. The two women try to make sense of the situation which includes the ownership of the property as well as the finances.

Despite their frustrations about the situation of the farm, the two women decide to live together until Opal can buy the farm from under Pepper or if a will is ever found. While living together their attraction becomes palpable which leads to some sexual frustration.
This definitely is a slow burn romance with a lot of spice. It is a very sweet book, but I did find myself being a little frustrated with Pepper’s impulsivity which I found to be a little over the top.

3⭐️

Opal is a people pleaser who gets so lost in others that she forgets herself. When she unexpectedly wins a small fortune from a scratch off lottery ticket, she finally decides to take her life into her own hands and buys a flower farm to work on her art. Unbeknownst to her, the seller from Facebook marketplace sells her an inhabited property.

Pepper lives and works at the Thistle & Bloom, and arrives home to a stranger unpacking her car at her hom and finds out that her mom, Trish, sold the flower farm out from under her after Grandma Lou’s passing. Opal and Pepper agree to live together, further complicating the situation, and find that they like each other more than either of them initially thought.

This book was cute and atmospheric and I loved the setting of the flower farm and the neuro-spicy representation in Pepper. The story line wasn’t my favorite and I found myself skipping ahead a lot. Opal’s personality was also kind of all over the place. Overall pretty cute!

Gahhh this book was fantastic!! I was instantly in love with the cover and I was loving the story line. Definitely one of my top reads of the year and one of the best Sapphic reads ever! The story line and the realness of these characters dealing with who they are and how they have to figure out how to live together. Forced Proximity on a flower farm?! Yes please!!

Let me start by saying that this is one of the most gorgeous, eye-catching covers I've seen all year. That said, the story itself didn't fully live up to expectations.

I liked the two characters, the story line and the back and forth perspectives. However, I didn't like how Opal was written one way in her chapters, but came across completely differently in Pepper's chapters. It threw me off and left me confused. However, I did love the setting and the flowers and just really the heart of the story. It was gorgeous, just like the cover.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really struggled with this one, which is a major let down after really enjoying some of Eddings' other works.

This was a great book. I really enjoyed reading it and read it in one day! I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this e-ARC! I do my reviews on my social media platforms. I am currently working on getting through my reviews so stay tuned! Leaving a rating as a placeholder for me and to not effect the books rating in order to post this. Thanks again!

This was such an incredible sapphic romance. Once again, I fell in love with characters that were written by Mazey, as if I hadn't already seen it coming. Opal and Pepper's journeys were full of growth and I loved being able to follow along with them. This was such a sweet romance, and I could not get enough of the flowers! Probably my favorite bits of the story!

I felt like this book was off to a great start, talking about our awkward stages or mistakes we all can make.
The mental health talk was relatable.
Talk about relatable, "my dominant personality trait is pleasing others".
Opals friend Laney seems totally awful, glad Opal's sisters agree.
I enjoyed the representation in this book (bisexual, and neurodivergent rep.).
I found myself feeling for Opal, cheering for her. She wanted to find herself and distance herself from the unreal friends. And then when everyone thought she made a mistake buying the property with her winnings.
Then Pepper was introduced, and I felt for her, too. (Peppers friends on the other hand, seemed too cool)
Peppers unwillingness to love mornings hits close to home. Lol
I find myself admiring Opals can do, positive attitude. I also admired her quirkiness and ability to be herself. I love her absolute honesty at all times, that resulted in a bit of awkwardness.
I did feel like the story could be moving a bit faster at times. And there were times where, although I felt like the characters were different enough, their similarities were SO similar that it was hard to tell who's perspective I was listening to and found a friend of mine agreeing.
A total grumpy sunshine romance. ("I’m not sure the exact moment we switched roles, but Opal’s grumpiness makes it feel like sunshine is radiating through my veins.”)
I love how this book progressed, but something about it wasn't in my top books for the year. I would say Id give it 3.5 stars.

An easy 4⭐️ for this sapphic romance!

This story is about Opal, an artist who wins the lottery and buys a flower farm to escape her floundering life and have room to let her creativity flourish, and Pepper the owner of the farm who didn’t know it was for sale!

Pepper and Opal were so chaotic, tender, and whimsical together- I loved it! Both characters are neurodivergent (the rep was amazing!), one character had chronic migraines, one character was Bi and the other was queer.. needless to say the rep in this story was A+ and all was handled exceptionally well in my opinion! Books like this make my heart swell, the feminism is always top notch, the communication and space holding makes me smile, and the side characters shine bright like the little found family they are!

Read this if you like:
-forced proximity
-opposites attract
-sapphic romance, bi + queer pairing
-neurodivergent rep
-migraine rep
-let’s just bang one out
-flower farm settings
-competition plots
-complicated mother/daughter interactions
-winning the lottery

All in all I really had fun with this one! If you get a chance to listen to the audio DO IT! The performance was FANTASTIC!

DNF at 26%

The characters weren't really working for me, especially Opal. She came off really annoying and kinda a doormat. The dialogue also felt incredibly cheesy between the two main characters. Some of the phrases didn't come off like normal people talking, more of a caricature.

This is a lesbian romance and I was really excited for it. But unfortunately didn't work for me. This would be perfect for anyone who is looking for a lesbian romance and doesnt really mind stilted banter.

I’ve loved every single book I’ve read by Mazey Eddings, and this book is no exception! This was a sweet quick read that made me feel like spring was here and not only was the story fun and unique, the characters and their journeys were amazing! I really liked Opal and Pepper, and I loved both of their character journey and growth! This book had such an original concept and it was such a fun read! I loved all the diversity that was represented in this book! Overall, a sweet romance that’s filled with all the flowers you can possibly imagine and a sweet budding romance between two FMC that you won’t want to put down!

4⭐️