I am currently supporting the boycott against St. Martin’s Press until they respond to influencer’s concerns about safety, inequality, systemic issues at hand and also meet the demands of the boycott. I am looking forward to leaving an updated review for this book once the demands are met ❤️

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Late Bloomer is the first title I’ve read by Mazey Eddings and it didn’t disappoint. If you’re looking for a sweet sexy sapphic romance low on angst but high on quirky neurodivergent main characters in Opal and Pepper, this book is for you.

I enjoyed the alternating points of view and rooted for both women to overcome their differences and find love in each other.

I will admit the start was a little slow and honestly, both Opal and Pepper annoyed the hell out of me at the beginning, but I stuck with it and I’m glad to have followed their journey.

I’m off to read more by Mazey Eddings, and I hope you will too.

"𝐅*𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥.”

This is my second book by Mazey Eddings (I read Tilly in Technicolor first - also loved) and I think she's quickly becoming an auto buy author for me. And now we have Sapphic love on a flower farm!! Sign me up.

Opal has ADHD and she's everything! She's impulsive and loud and bright and funny and creative and all self deprocating. She's plagued by being a full blown people pleaser who lets others walk all over her and never stands up for herself. She finds herself winning the lottery when a fair weather friend randomly gives her a scratch off for her birthday.

With the money she decides to buy a flower farm, and there she plans to start a new life, make a business out of her art, and have a happy life.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐱𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐲. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.

Pepper, Opal's polar opporiste, is autistic and pessimistic and quiet and reserved and orderly and is living in said flower farm when Opal arrives. The farm she grew up in. The farm that should be hers. The farm that is no longer profitable and falling apart.

Opal, never the one to ruffle feathers, agrees to let Pepper stay while they work things out.

Together they enter into a fragile arrangement, and when one of Pepper's friends suggest they enter this flower art competition for money to save the farm Opal jumps at the chance to use her talents and help.

I was struck with how these two opposites learn to work together, and live together, and eventually fall into each other. Opal is our pusher. She craves people's approval, so she works overtime to make Pepper like her. Pepper is used to her quiet life, and having Opal is like inviting a hurricane into her life and she's drawn to her anyway.

This book is equal parts learning how to navigate a world and communicate with someone completely different than you as well as a book on grief and moving on. It's tender and compassionate and beautiful and sexy and reading about these characters that just truly needed each other to be their whole selves was so perfect.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭—𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐬, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞—𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞, 𝐎𝐩𝐚𝐥’𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭.

All the stars. I can't wait until this one comes out.

I received this ARC from NetGalley to read and review. All of the statements above are mine.

I adored Late Bloomer! The cover and title alone are so fun but the text was such a delight. The autistic and neurodivergent rep was also a lovely surprise, and the sunshine versus grumpy main characters Opal and Pepper were too cute.

Opal and Pepper’s initial dislike for each other wasn’t overtly cruel, and as a reader it was fun to watch their banter turn into love. Their push and pull was just the right amount to keep me invested in their relationship as they went from fuck buddies to friends to much more. Sometimes a light (and spicy!) read is what anyone needs, or at least I do, so I cherished this one, and will likely pick it back up when I need something cute to lift my spirits.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will be withholding all reviews and promotion for St. Martin's Press titles and their imprints until the publisher addresses the concerns of BIPOC and Muslim creators who are being stalked, harassed and feel unsafe due to the actions of a racist employee.

I've really enjoyed my recent reads from Mazey Eddings, and I was really looking forward to this queer romance from her, but I struggled a bit with this one. I'm trying to wrap my brain around what exactly irked me, but I think it was that it didn't feel like it had much direction.

With Late Bloomer, we get a slow-burn, contemporary romance between a bisexual people-pleaser who is seeking to start over in a small town (classic romance trope!) and a lesbian flower farmer who gets sucked into the the other woman's drama. First of all, YAY for non-neurotypical MCs and some spicy sapphic sex scenes! I will never get bored of those two things, and good on Mazey Eddings for giving the people what they want.

However, despite some really positive aspects of the story, I kept waiting for something to happen other than little misunderstandings and sort of a meandering, directionless plotline. There were some exciting things happening in the background, things that could have given the story more umph, but they seemed to fizzle out before they made me excited. Plus, I had a hard time telling who was "talking" at times- their voices got mixed up in my head.

I applaud Mazey Eddings for this story, but I think she has the ability to write even bigger and better (hopefully queer!) romances.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

I adored everything about this book! I’m on a mission to read more books with LGBTQ characters, and Late Bloomer was a brilliant start to my personal goal.

I relate a lot to Opal. Not with winning the lottery haha, but with her constant need to say “yes” and people please. When she was brave enough to move away from those looking for a handout, I knew I would root for her the entire way! I loved the neurodivergent representation, and the spice was the chef’s kiss 🤌

Sometimes we all need a comfort read, and Late Bloomer provided the HEA along with elevated characters and new perspectives.
5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I will be withholding all reviews and promotion for St. Martin's Press titles and their imprints until the publisher addresses the concerns of BIPOC and Muslim creators who are being stalked, harassed and feel unsafe due to the actions of a racist employee.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this book initially - it took me a bit to get invested into Opal’s story, as it seemed a little shallow and self-loathing for my tastes at first. But, I needed to see through what was going to happen after the scratch-off ticket, and I’m glad I did. Opal and Pepper’s backgrounds were unique and kept me interested, along with adding some depth to their characters and actions. Though it was kind of clear what the ending was going to be throughout, I was still engaged and excited to read about what transpired between them chapter after chapter. This is my first Mazey Eddings book and I enjoyed it!

Mazey Eddings books are hit or miss for me, but this one was such a lovely read! I was immediately drawn in by the cover and stayed for the neurodivergent rep and sweet romance. The writing also felt smoother and more polished. Something Eddings does really well is use her romances to explore deeper issues--parental neglect, anxiety, PTSD, etc. This story was no different and I love how the characters felt like full, developed people outside of their romantic relationship.

3.25 stars!
First off, thank you netgalley for the ARC :)
Now onto the book itself, this was a cute read! I initially started it a couple months back but then got 20% in and was not feeling it that much so I took a pause. Decided to finally finish it last night and breezed through it. This is a very low stakes, low angst, low conflict book. If that’s what you’re looking for then this book is PERFECT for you. I however like my books to have a lot of tension, angst, and a good amount of conflict (in general not necessarily between the characters). It just fell a lil flat to me and was also pretty cheesy. Sometimes it was fine and really cute but other times I lowkey cringed LMAO. Pepper and Opal are very cutey but personally I just wished I felt a lil bit more!

Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings is a soft and saccharine sweet "unconventional roommates to lovers" story that follows Opal and Pepper in their very honest, very down to earth adult problems. A recent phrase has become popular in online communities called "coming of age but for adults," and Late Bloomer feels like the perfect novel for that explanation as Pepper and Opal both struggle to navigate adult life in a manageable way.

As a reader, it felt nice to see myself in them in that way, on top of navigating adult relationships that go beyond "I like you"/"I like you too." Dealing with issues such as manipulative friends, exes, and parental figures, Late Bloomer explores emotional maturity in the light of wanting to curl up and ignore everything.

It is a warm story, filled with hope and love.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Mazey Eddings for an advance copy!

I would love to give this a full length review . I love and adore this author very much. However, SMP needs to take accountability for the harmful things that were said by an employee. I will still be reading this book and sharing it privately with those who want to read it

This was fantastic! I'm always in want of good sapphic books and this was no exception. It was fluffy and serious at times, but I loved every single page.

A new sapphic contemporary fantasy with great representation of autism and adhd. This novel was very cute and heartwarming, with a grumpy/sunshine type of romance taking place at a flower farm.

There were a lot of elements that I enjoyed--as someone with autism, it was great to have that representation in a story! I related a lot to Pepper and some of her experiences and emotions. Despite some of the heavier topics being explored, I felt like it was a comfy, lovely read. A bonus for me was it wasn't an instalove.

I think some of the characterization was just not for me. I often felt like Opal's reactions to things were cartoonish and over the top. I found it difficult to believe that she could be such a huge pushover while being 100% aware, and narrating, how people were taking advantage of her. Like, girl. Come on. It became a bit repetitive for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing this ARC!

Late Bloomer is my very first read by Mazey Eddings, and to be honest, I think I would prefer trying another of her titles compared to this. I tried to give this a fair shot but I don't think this one was for me. Late Bloomer has a lot of great representation and if you're looking for a spicy sapphic story you're in the right place. The plot was believable enough but the characters had too much going on and it felt like there was little to no development.

So so cute! Pepper and Opal were so sweet and all of the side characters were delightful.

I loved the flower farm setting and how different Opal and Pepper were but how well they worked and meshed together.

Mazey is always spot on with the representation!

Late Bloomer is a comfort read with an interesting plot that kept you wanting to read to find out how it all would end up. The MCs were so unique individually, and even though it started out dicey, these two complimented each other. There were a couple heavy topics, but they added that extra layer to the story. Pretty low angst and when the steam came, it was very steamy.

I’ve ready plenty of rom-coms in my life but nothing like this. It was a beautiful experience to read and it really left a lasting impression on me. I loved it from the very beginning and had the time of my life reading the sarcastic/playful banter between the two MC. The humor was weighed perfectly with emotional moments that had me feel something along with Opal and Pepper. I felt a sense of protection of these two women, like I’ll fight anyone that tries to ruin their happiness. What I appreciate the most is the connections I felt with the MCs. With Opal, I’ve been at the point of numbness after a break up and have felt that need to feel something again. With Pepper, the loss of a close family member really hits home for me. I lost my grandpa just last fall and it still hurts knowing he’s gone. I feel Pepper’s pain and it only makes me feel more attached to this book. Opal and Pepper are a beautiful couple and deserve the happiness they get.

This book starts my 2024 reading challenge and I honestly couldn’t have ask for anything better. This book will forever be in my recommendations.

Late Bloomer is a solid entry into the growing options for sapphic fiction readers. In a welcome turn of events for Opal, she wins the lottery off of a scratch off ticket and decides to follow her dreams for once instead of letting others dictate what she should be doing with her life. After buying a flower farm, she moves to rural North Carolina to tap into her creative side. Unfortunately, she encounters Pepper at the property and doesn't have the heart to put her out. Pepper's grandmother owned the farm before her death and she had hopes of inheriting everything and bringing the farm back to it's original beauty. This sets up an awkward situation between the two that leads to a connection neither planned on finding. Overall, Mazey Eddings novel is great for those who are new to romance, sapphic fiction or both. However, I did find that the two main characters did not have very distinct voices and often they read as the same person. Also, the neurodivergent representation was nice to see; however, there were more stereotypes than I would have liked.