This was my first read by Mazey Eddings, and while it is a solid option for sapphic contemporary fiction readers, the main characters just really irked me. I really struggled with Opal’s people pleasing, like I just felt bad for her. Opal is a floor mat, being walked all over for almost the entire book, and it just made me not want to root for her and Pepper. The humor and writing style was very….. interesting, and it didn’t land with me personally.

If you enjoy sapphic, neurodivergent rep, grumpy/sunshine, early twenty-somethings cheesy romance stories, you will love this. This isn’t a bad book by any means, I just think it wasn’t for me!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review <3

Late Bloomer

💐ARC Review💐

First off, thank you NetGalley for the early ARC of this beautiful book. ‘Late Bloomer’ is a story whose characters jump off the page right from the start. What stood out most to me about the storyline was the swapping of the typical grumpy x sunshine trope.

Opal is the ray of sunshine who goes out of her way to always go above and beyond for her friends and family, even when they don’t always deserve it. She always puts herself last, and acts of kindness are definitely her love language. Although she is bubbly and happy, she is strong and purposeful when it comes to her relationship with Pepper.

Pepper is a complex and deep soul who opens up about her complicated family past, the loss of her dear grandmother, and the mental and physical conditions surrounding her autism. She is strong, brave, and perseveres through what life has dealt her. Opal is just what she needs to see how beautiful life can be when you stop and smell the flowers.

4.5/5 - a sapphic story that blends new tropes and dialogue with a timeless love story.

Super cute sapphic romance. I really enjoyed the characters and the storyline. Quick and fun read, love Mazey Eddings!

I absolutely loved this sweet, and surprisingly spicy, romance. Late Bloomer is a sapphic, opposites attract, forced proximity romance between two neurodivergent women who meet over a flower farm. Everything about this is perfect. Opal and Pepper are so funny, and so charming. I love that they actually communicate, and I love that we get to see a book couple struggling to find a communication style that works for them.

Opal's sisters and Pepper's friends make for a fantastic cast, and I am 1000% crossing my fingers for books about Opal's sisters. As someone who normally gags at a pop culture reference in books, they're actually pretty good here. The book effectively highlights mental health, a common theme in Mazey's works. It goes beyond the usual romance plot, skillfully exploring grief, which adds depth to the story.

I also really enjoyed the content at the end! Eddings included a list of almost titles, plus a guide to explain her reasoning for choosing the flowers mentioned in the book. Her acknowledgements also made me want to cry almost as much as the book did.

I can't say enough good things about this, or Mazey's work in general. Immediate five stars, I will be preordering ASAP.

Autistic meets AuDHD and much sapphic sex was had! While I wish some of the confrontations had been more confront-y, they were true to the characters' amazing and distinct personalities. After DNF'ing a book with yet another bland city girl protag, the way Opal jumps right off the page is refreshing and endearing. Pepper is a perfect foil for Opal and the interactions and misunderstandings are a great representation of what it's like to live and love neurodivergently.

This is such a beautiful rom-com! It's a dual POV slow-burn sexy book about two women who are thrown together in a pretty bonkers situation (Lottery winnings! Buying a house without visiting it! Oops, someone else lives there still!)

Opal is a bisexual who just freed herself from a terrible relationship with a man who starts sleeping with her sort-of best friend. She then wins $500,000 from a scratch card (what a twist!) and buys a flower farm to get a fresh start on life. One hiccup - when she arrives at the farm, Pepper, who runs the farm, has no idea it's been sold. Pepper is a sweet, but slightly grumpy, lesbian late bloomer and right away - the sparks fly!

LATE BLOOMER is a sweet, lighthearted novel about how two people can find love in unexpected places and that it's never to late to open up to someone you want to trust. Also, very very spicy!

At it's core, Late Bloomer is a low stakes, low conflict, spicy romance. Both Opal and Pepper are untrusting due to their pasts. But it doesn't stop either of them from falling for one another. The cast of characters is eclectic and very diverse. It's a fun read if you need something lighthearted to read. It's described as a slow burn, but I feel like it was more of the characters couldn't decide if the other liked them enough to commit.
It may have been a little too low stakes for me. The threat of losing the farm is big but I feel like it didn't hold enough weight in the end. I did enjoy that both Opal and Pepper stood up to the people who pushed them around in the end. I liked the closure for both of them.

Loved this sapphic read! It’s so hard to find queer romance that has such deep stories that are also fun. This toed the line perfectly.

4.5. Gloriously queer and gloriously sweet worn some really cool aspects! I loved Pepper so much and Opal was great too.Thanks for the arc! I really liked it.

I love Mazey’s books. Every book of hers are always such a pleasure to read and I always enjoy myself when reading this. This was an adorable queer story and the cover of the book is just stunning. Seriously amazing read !

This was a sweet sapphic romance between two flawed but empathetic protagonists as they found their way to better understandings of themselves through love. I wish there had been more on-page time for both Opal and Pepper with the other important people in their lives, to get a better sense of them outside of the context of each other, but overall it was a really fun read. I'd love to read a romance about Ophelia or Olivia in the future.

The Thistle and Bloom, a perfect backdrop for this story.
We follow Opal, an artist struggling to find a new start and Pepper, a mourning horticulturist who just lost the place that means the most to her. Although opposites in all accounts, both are drawn to each other.

This was a great love story of characters finding themselves and each other. This was a nice slow burn romance that was a comfort read. I enjoyed the story overall. I would love to have had some extra drama in the flower competition, a little added spice!
Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to provide an honest review for this ARC.

First Mazey Eddings book and I loved it! The dislike between the MCs Pepper and Opal was well written and there were many hilarious moments because of their forced roommate situation.

Would recommend this cute Sapphic Romance

I'll just say that it was such a relief to read a romance where I was actually rooting for both characters... Lately, the romance genre has been dead for me and I was at my breaking point. There's only so many stories I can read where white men save the day. Which is why this may have been my first WLW book, but it definitely won't be my last.

Late Bloomers by Mazey Eddings is a heartwarming sapphic romance. This cute, low-stakes love story is the perfect companion for a cozy reading weekend. The forced roommate situation was chef’s kiss and there were some seriously hilarious moments. Eddings' writing style effortlessly draws you into the characters' world, making it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I wholeheartedly recommend Late Bloomers for anyone seeking a light, feel-good read that leaves you with a smile.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I did not love this book as much as I thought I would. I will definitely give it a reread when the audiobook becomes available. I just feel like I was missing that everyone loved about the book.  This book is a slowburn which I genuinely love but I feel like it just did not work with our two main characters. I felt that the misunderstandings that continued to happen were just not important so they annoyed me a little bit. I would recommend this to anyone who loves romance, slowburn, and queer characters. At this time I just feel like it was not the book for me. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher  for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book, however, as delightful as this book sounded, it was not for me. I had a hard time getting past the writing style and the voice for the characters. It seemed like the author was trying to be “quirky” and low key “not like the other girls.” I personally am a people pleaser who is learning to say no but Opal takes it way too far and I just can’t stick with her at all. She’s to the point she’s unlikable. The other characters also seem one dimensional and flat. The dimensions fill in the main characters opal and pepper too much. The characters are too much for themselves, the story, and the reader. I think the idea behind the book is really interesting. It gives me a hallmark movie kinda vibe which is really nice. I just wish it were executed better.

Mazey Eddings can do no wrong. She has a fresh voice, and I have loved every book she has written. And I've had the fortune to meet her and she's as nice as you think she would be.

In Late Bloomer, I absolutely fell in love with Opal and Pepper. I love a grumpy/sunshine trope and forced roommates? c'mon! I also love the neurodiversity representation in this novel. I love how Opal seems to fly by the seat of her pants, like she bought a flower farm on craigslist? Amazing. I would never do that, so it's always fun to read characters that are the opposite of me. Loved the angst between Opal and Pepper, Mazey knocked it out of the park with this one.

4.75 stars rounded up!! The only reason why I couldn’t give this 5 stars is because there was a lot of miscommunication which was part of the personalities of the main characters. However, at the end they suddenly knew how to communicate perfectly and I felt like I’d been thrown for a loop.
Otherwise, I feel in love with this book. It was artistic, poetic, and I could tell so much thought went into crafting this story. I loved the setting because of my own relationship to Western, NC. The setting was made even better by the flower farm setting and all the visuals that were written. I actually felt like this story was a sensory experience down to the heartwarming personalities of the main characters. There was great humor built into their inner dialogue and their banter. What a refreshing, sapphic story was strong neurodivergent representation!

I've heard wonderful things about Mazey Edding's books and now I get it, I'll definitely be diving into the rest of her work this year.
First of all, the writing in this was perfect for me. I absolutely adored the descriptions of all the flowers at the farm and the atmosphere was perfect.
I really loved Opal. Her sense of humor and mine are the same and loved seeing her take an unconventional life path and make it. There's a part where she really goes up to bat for Pepper and it made me realize how little dreamy sapphic characters there are. In true sapphic fashion, the romance in this was poetic and emotional. Opal and Pepper's banter was incredible and Mazey Eddings did a great job at showing the progression of their growing feelings in a way that felt organic. I also felt like the conflicts in this were believable, which is kind of funny since this is about a girl that wins the lottery and buys a flower farm, but I digress.