Late Bloomer is a story about a girl, Opal, who feels lost in life, and after randomly winning the lottery, decides to change everything and buy a flower farm in Asheville, North Carolina. Here she meets the granddaughter of the previous owner, Pepper, who isn’t aware that the property has been sold, and they strike a deal to live together until Pepper can buy the farm back from Opal.
I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it mostly let me down. The cover is gorgeous, the synopsis is interesting, and I loved the idea of falling in love on a flower farm, so really this should have been right up my alley, but I could never get into the characters or the story.
I’ll start with the positives. The setting is beautiful; I really felt like I was there on that farm, and it’s clear the author did her research on various flowers and their meanings. The author’s note at the end about flower significance was a cute touch. I also thought Pepper’s grief was handled well, and her growth towards opening herself up to love again after her rough hand in life was wonderful to see. If this book had only been about Pepper and her journey I think I might have loved it. However, Opal, to me, was unlikeable. I understand being a people pleaser, I struggle with that too, but she was written in a way that was just kind of whiny and annoying. She had no spine, seemed to jump between meek and aggressive depending on the scene, and was all around a character that I didn’t care to root for. I did like Pepper, but I spent all of the romantic scenes wondering why she liked Opal, which definitely took me out of the moment a little bit. Not to mention how fast they “fell in love.” I hate that trope in fiction, where the characters have sex a few times, laugh together maybe once, have a big fight, and then fall back together crying out love confessions that make no sense at all. I sensed no deeper connection, and for a book that is primarily a romance story, that was really disappointing. I would have loved to see Opal grow more and see them start to slowly build a relationship, not just jump right into one.
Despite all of this, I’m glad I got the opportunity to read this book, and I think people who don’t mind suspending a little bit of belief would likely enjoy the story. If you enjoy instalove in a gorgeous setting, with themes of overcoming grief and living as a neurodivergent in a neurotypical world, then this book is for you!

I’ve read all of Mazey Eddings’ books and so far none of them can top A Brush With Love for me (Dan & Harper supremacy). I digress, this sapphic romance features neurodivergent/ADHD/Autistism rep, a bunchhhh of flowers and many Taylor Swift references is an excellent description of Late Bloomer. Tropes include found family, coping with grief, a windfall, oh my god they were roommates, forced proximity, and…kinda not enough plot that I was bored some of the time I was reading.

Late Bloomer had all the makings of a strong story but the main characters, Pepper and Opal, just felt a little flat and two dimensional to me. The writing was easy, funny, with lots of great quotes. Something was just missing and I’m not sure exactly what.

I’ll still read Mazey’s work because she’s a brilliant writer who is breaking the mental health in writing barrier.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Disappointing, because I loved Mazey Edding’s Brush With Love trilogy so much, but this one just didn’t vibe with me. Opal - flighty, messy Opal is a pile of some of my least favorite traits, and I found Pepper’s characterization to be all over the map. Their chemistry fell flat, and the story (especially the third-act fight and subsequent make-up) didn’t really do it for me. Next time, Mazey, next time.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mazey Eddings can do no wrong, this book is a perfect addition to her other adult romance novels.

Opal needs a fresh start, so when she wins the lottery, she impulse buys a flower farm and heads right on over to move in. She's surprised to find Pepper already living there, believing the farm became hers after her grandmother died. The two become temporary roommates as they try to figure out what happened and spark eventually fly between them.

This is a sweet, tender romance with lots of laugh out loud moments. The setting of the farm is gorgeous and I learned a bit about flowers. There's also a grumpy/sunshine thing going on that is delightful.

Highly recommend.

Gorgeous cover and a sweet charming grumpy/sunshine romance. I like the author’s writing style so this was easy to get into. Opal did seem a bit naive/ young in parts but overall I liked the chemistry between her and Pepper. 3 🌟

I would love to review this book but I am withholding my review in light of the SMP Boycott, and will wait to post until SMP takes action and the boycott ends.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When lost soul Opal Devlin wins the lottery, she impulsively decides to buy a beautiful flower farm. The only issue? Pepper Smith already lives there. It belonged to her late grandmother who didn’t write a will. The two young women strike up a deal to both live on the property and save the struggling farm in an art competition - the perfect marriage of Opal's love for art and Pepper’s passion for flowers. While things start in a way that’s anything but ideal, the two end up falling in love.

While the concept of Late Bloomer is fun and it’s a quick, easy read I found the writing lacking. Eddings’ writing isn’t bad per se but it isn’t without its cliches and lines that made me cringe. Many of the attempts at humor fell flat for me and I laughed at moments that I could tell were meant to be serious.

That being said, there were things I enjoyed. I loved the vivid setting of the Thistle and Bloom. The flower farm feels like a character in its own right. I thought Pepper acknowledging that feelings may arise when she and Opal decide to be enemies with benefits was believable and worth noting when so few fictional characters ever see this as a possibility. I also loved that Opal is established to likely be neurodivergent even though she never pursued an official diagnosis. Her neurodivergence is very different from Pepper’s autism, but no less valid, which feels true to real life and is refreshing in a world full of stories where every neurodivergent character acts the same.

Unfortunately, I would have liked Opal’s characterization to feel more organic. Opal is constantly telling us who she is instead of Eddings revealing her personality through backstory or her actions. It also tends to be the same information again and again just stated in slightly different ways. Pepper feels more like a real person because of this, leaving an uneven playing field. Pepper’s mom and Opal’s coworker felt more like cartoon villains than real threats and Opal’s sisters felt like the same person, only there to occasionally make silly comments and establish that not everyone in Opal’s life is awful.

Opal and Pepper fall for each other very quickly - so quickly that claiming they’re “enemies to lovers” feels false to me. I thought it was very, very obvious that Pepper didn’t hate Opal so Opal believing that despite all they had been through felt like it was only part of the narrative because Eddings needed it to be to tell her story, not because it made sense.

I often wondered while I was reading if Eddings’ writing wouldn’t be better suited to a young adult novel. Opal and Pepper both felt young to me, especially Opal, and I could easily see this novel being YA with a few tweaks.

Overall, I thought Late Bloomer was a promising novel that ultimately fell short and would give it 2.5 stars.

I think it was the slump because sadly this book did not hit like I wanted it too. Opal got on my nerves, and even though I loved Pepper, I just didn't feel their chemistry. Overall I liked it and will plan to read this author again, but nothing stood out to me in this book besides the stunning cover.

The cover definitely pulled me in & the first few chapters had me intrigued! I appreciated the neurodivergent & autistic representation but unfortunately the story overall fell a little short for me. For the book being as long as it was, I felt like Opal & Pepper's relationship developed too quickly which definitely caused me to be quite confused by the ending. I will say that the spice was spicing though which definitely gripped me in the middle. I will definitely be adding more books by Mazey to my Goodreads shelf!
Thanks to NetGalley & Mazey Eddings for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 & 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨:
🌈 𝐿𝒢𝐵𝒯𝒬+
💘 𝐸𝓃𝑒𝓂𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈
♾️ 𝒩𝑒𝓊𝓇𝑜𝒹𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝑅𝑒𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃
🌶️ 𝒮𝓅𝒾𝒸𝓎
🌻 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝓁𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇𝓈

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 (𝐎𝐩𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫) 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 😭 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝, 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲–𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐦-𝐜𝐨𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝! 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥) 𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞!

𝕊𝕪𝕟𝕠𝕡𝕤𝕚𝕤: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐎𝐩𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐥𝐢𝐧, 𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝-𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐥𝐲–𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐩𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲? 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦 (𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦), 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐢𝐜𝐤-𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝) 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐏𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 & 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 (𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐧) 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲.

🌷 🌼 🌹 🌺 🌻

𝐻𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝓏𝑒𝓎 𝐸𝒹𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈, 𝒮𝓉. 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓃'𝓈 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Opal is stuck in a rut, she keeps going back to her toxic ex and her so called best friend uses her every chance she gets. That stops now, she quite literally won the lottery. She put that money to good use getting a dreamy flower farm where she plans on starting up her business. Maybe the deal was too good to be true, once she gets there she meets Pepper who claims to be the rightful owner of the property. Eventually they strike up an agreement to temporarily cohabitate but that won’t be easy as the pair keeps butting heads and argue at every turn.

An absolutely gorgeous setting, representation, extremely likable characters, and a compelling plot what’s not to love. I’m obsessed!!

There is so much representation built into the story. The main characters are obviously part of the LGBTQ+ community and so are a lot of the side characters as well. You’ve got to love that! Mental health, autism as well as dealing with the loss of a loved one is also brought up. Two young women making their way in the world after a rough patch, that’s empowering and inspiring to read about.

There’s something for everyone emotional scenes, moments to lighten the mood and also quite a lot of spice. To make it even better there’s a dual pov, an amazing friend group, the opposites attract trope and so much more. I also have to mention the cover it’s absolutely gorgeous, easily one of my new favorites.

Can’t recommend it enough, this is a must read I my opinion!

Would recommend for fans of…
🌷Well Met
🌷The Kiss Quotient
🌷Book Lovers

If you’re looking for a cute and refreshing read, perfectly suited for spring, Late Bloomer is the book for you!

This enemies-to-lovers (ish), forced proximity romance follows Opal, a young woman who ends up buying a flailing flower farm owned by the less-than-sunny Pepper, and the two must navigate cohabitation amidst their growing feelings.

The only word that comes to mind when I think of this book is cute! It’s sweet and uplifting, even when dealing with heavier topics such as grief and difficult parental relationships. Pepper and Opal manage to remain hopeful, and persevere, even when things are challenging. Everything about this novel will brighten your day.

I normally don’t include my thoughts on Author’s Notes and extra materials, but I highly recommend reading them with this one. Mazey Eddings provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the book’s title was chosen, as well as the symbolism behind the flowers featured in the book. These aspects really added to the reading experience and gave me a greater appreciation for the story.

My only qualm with this one was how young the characters felt. Late Bloomer is very, very clearly an adult romance, but many times it felt like characters from a YA romance had been put into an adult one. It’s a minor thing, but it made it difficult for me to fully buy into the story.

Late Bloomer is out April 16. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Opal is feeling down and directionless in her life, until a lucky lottery win opens up new possibilities.

Seeing an online listing for a flower farmm she immediately latches on to the idea of buying it as an artistic haven. Bonus that it gets her away from people suddenly coming out of the woodwork with guilt trips and demands for help, toxic ex Miles and fake friend Laney worst among them.

The way she buys the farm - from a Facebook marketplace listing, sight unseen (other than those pictures), no inspection, trading the check for a deed from seller Trish in a coffee shop…it (rightly) gave me The Anxiety.

When Opal arrives there she finds the struggling Thistle and Bloom already occupied by an outraged and confused Pepper. She’d had been running the place with Grandma Lou before her passing, and searching for the will that would have officially passed it on to her.

After some negotiations they end up reluctant roommates. Opal agrees to give Pepper the opportunity to buy the place back over time, but admits she needs a place to stay and work currently.

Things progress from there to roomies with benefits, getting steamy and then heading towards sweet.

When I started I thought I couldn’t possibly dislike characters more than I did Mike and Laney. Then came Trish. A warning that, especially if you are sensitive to horrible mother storylines, that woman will make you want to do a crime. Putting it mildly, I disliked her a distracting amount.
On the flip side, Pepper had amazing friends and Opal had amazing sisters and I enjoyed the scenes *they* were in immensely.

I also enjoyed the brainstorming when planning their art installation. Their world might have been cheated out of a masterpiece celebrating Jeff Goldblum, but the description of what they did create sounded beautiful.

In addition to the fun of a budding relationship (<- see what I did there?) the exploration of labels for everything from mental health to sexuality adds to the deepness to the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC!

I enjoyed this one quite a bit! I binged it in one day and it held my attention the whole time. Opal and Pepper were really cute together. Plus a flower farm as a setting is kind of precious. We have opposites attract, forced proximity, and multiple POV. The author touches on autism representation which I thought was very well done. I loved how Opal and Pepper were there for each other even before they truly admitted their feelings to each other. They navigated the one another’s past coming out of the woodworks with ease. I also really enjoyed the narrator as they really held my attention! Also the cover is stunning.

Late Bloomer follow Opal and Pepper as the find themselves unexpectedly roommates on Pepper's family's flower farm.

This book has a fun premise, and I was giddily caught up in several scenes, but the love story totally click for me. The build up to the start of the relationship felt rushed or not fully fleshed out to me. And the build up is the absolute best part of romance. Once Opal and Pepper were together, I did greatly enjoy their relationship and the way they supported each other.

Despite the romance aspect falling a bit flat for me, I loved Pepper so much and will continue to seek out Mazey's books that include neurodivergent folks with such great care.

For me, this was a pretty solidly middle-of-the-road romance: not terrible by any means, but nothing about it stuck out as particularly memorable once I’d finished reading it. I liked the general premise: Opal, a chronic people pleaser wins the lottery and, to escape from all the ill-intentioned people in her life who suddenly want even more from her, impulsively buys a flower farm and unwittingly finds herself the roommate of the farm’s current owner, Pepper. Shenanigans around cohabitating ensue, because of course they do; there is a subplot about a flower arranging contest with a cash prize that could save the financially struggling farm; there were some zany best friends (who, in a move that might be typical of the genre or might just be a pet peeve of me personally, were at times overwritten in their zaniness; I felt like the author was trying to push the idea that this group was a found family, but I never really felt that connected to any of them except for Dishka, who is Pepper’s best friend and therefore has a lot of on-page time). The only thing that really stood out to me about this book was the neurodivergent representation: Pepper is autistic and makes this fact very clear from the beginning, while Opal is undiagnosed (though she thinks that autism, ADHD, or a combination of the two is very likely) and is comfortable for the moment with simply “neurodivergent” as a label. A romance novel with two neurodivergent MCs is still, in my experience, rare, and I really loved that the author made it clear that Opal and Pepper’s neurodivergence was part of what made them relate to and understand each other so well. And I loved how supportive their friends were! A birthday gift that Pepper receives related to her special interest put a smile on my face.

A fun, quick ride with some much-needed neurodivergent representation. Definitely recommend to anyone looking for something light, easy, and romantic.

Oh my gosh where to even start with this review…

This is the neurodiverse, messy but relatable, queer rom-com that my autistic pansexual heart has always wanted to find.

I absolutely adored Opal & Pepper! More importantly, I truly appreciated how messy the feelings were in this one. As an autistic adult who has struggled so damn hard with romantic love in the past, it was affirming to find a romance book that was able to capture the confusion & difficulties of these emotions that sometimes plague the neurodiverse community in particular.

I also just love that there is a romance book with 2 neurodiverse MCs. Especially in light of the fact that for some reason (ahem ignorance), many people still think I can’t possibly be autistic simply because I’m married; instead of recognizing that being autistic doesn’t, by itself, naturally equate to wanting to be alone or single forever 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve loved all of Mazey’s books, but this one…oh this one is definitely something special.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin, St. Martin’s Publishing Group for a digital copy of this one. All opinions expressed are my own.

Extra special thanks to Mazey Eddings for continuing to write neurodiverse characters and giving readers like me books that celebrate us.

“Fuck anything and anyone that made you have to survive instead of live.”

This is classic Mazey Eddings. We get two incredible but flawed characters who are trying to figure themselves out. Opal is looking for a fresh start, and Pepper is looking for a way to save her beloved grandmother’s farm. They clash immediately, but there’s such an underlying tension from the beginning.

As always, Eddings does an incredible job with representation. Pepper is autistic and Opal is unsure if she’s autistic or ADHD, but their portrayals are so great. Opal struggles with letting people walk all over her and these feelings of not being enough, which is incredibly relatable. They're complete opposites, but they complement each other so well. They really see each other for what's underneath. I love the way their relationship develops and how much Opal wants to see Pepper succeed.

There is a lot of emotional baggage between them and they take some time to get used to being stuck together. It takes time for them to fully open up to each other, but when they do it's really beautiful. I was happy to see a lot of growth from both of them. I really enjoyed it, thought I felt a few parts were a bit rushed. Overall this is such a great read.

EVERY GARDEN NEEDS A HOE

When I tell you I was dying laughing listening to the acknowledgments at the end of this book. I will forever be referring to this book as every garden needs a hoe.

This was a real surprise delight for me. I have liked Maisy eddings previous books but I always had small issues with them. This is her first sapphic book and all my expectations were met and then some.

This is a sapphic neurodivergent semi enemies to lovers. We have opal who is a chronic people pleaser. She is neurodivergent and bi/pan and when she wins the lottery she impulsively buys a flower farm and ditches her crappy abusive friends. Except when she gets to the flower farm does she bought from the nice old lady, she discovers that someone is already living there and doesn't know that it's been sold.

Insert Pepper. Pepper is autistic and sapphic, I can't actually remember if she is lesbian or bi but she's super duper queer. Pepper was dropped off by her abusive narcissistic mother at the flower farm when she was 16 or 17 or younger I don't remember anyway to live with her great aunt / grandma. I'm so sorry it's been a week since I've read this and apparently the small details have floated away from my mind. Anyway so she sent to live at this farm with a relative and her mom essentially abandons her. When the relative dies, pepper is under the assumption that she has to turn the flower from around and make a profit but that she is still living there. Unbeknownst to her, her mom has gone out from under her and sold the flower farm for an exorbitant money to Opal.

The two of them clash at the beginning but I wouldn't really qualify this as enemies to lovers more like enemies of circumstance. They don't actually dislike each other but it's hard to like the person that just bought your home out from under you or like the person who is living in your brand new startup life respectively. I really liked the slow growth of Pepper and Opals friendship that turned into more. I liked that both of them had their own baggage to deal with and that it wasn't skewed and one character's growth development. Both of them had things to deal with and they do.

As someone with a toxic mom, I really felt for Pepper and how hard it is to be the child of someone who generous toxic as hell and manipulative.

I saw a couple people talk about how the title is a little misleading because both of the characters know they're queer but personally I still really loved it. You know one of the characters has more experience than the other and they're both really blooming into their own identities as queer neurodivergent individuals with power. I mean learning and taking hold of your own strength is something that a lot of people have to work towards and both of these women have to do that in this book and I really liked that. I'm here for that.

DNF by first chapter…Opal is super annoying and can’t deal with her people pleasing tendencies. I usually love this author’s writing style but this doesn’t work for me.