"Late Bloomer" by Mazey Eddings is a captivating and steamy romance! Opal's journey from winning the lottery to buying a flower farm in Asheville, North Carolina is filled with unexpected twists and turns. The arrival of Pepper, the rightful owner, adds a fiery dynamic to the story. Just wait to see how their opposites-attract relationship unfolds amidst their dreams and growing attraction! It's a sizzling and heartwarming read! This is definitely a low angst and low conflict comfy read, sometimes we all just need a comfy read. Now that I have, I'm going to go read something less cute that makes me pace back and forth with anxiety.

Cottage core lesbians rejoice! Late Bloomer does not disappoint a flower farm and two women forced to work together. Opal and Pepper's dislike of each other turns into a blossoming romance, all while they are forced to live with each other and cope with their respective angst. I'm so excited to pick this up on publication day,

This story is cute and funny at times, and at others it is upsetting. I really enjoyed the neurodivergent representation. I really hated pepper’s mom. I should have paid more attention to the content warnings.

Late bloomer is a cute little story about a couple of girls who both, for their own different reasons, are at dead ends in their lives. Neurodivergence, people pleasing, and bad parents brought them together in what could be a very fun iteration of the forced cohabitation trope, that quickly disintegrates into lots of miscommunication and spicy scenes that feel like they were written about different people. The book being from two perspectives shows how very different we perceive ourselves and are perceived by others. The opal in opal’s chapters seems to be a very different person than the opal in peppers chapters. After a slow start, the story suddenly speeds forward, to the point where it feels a little rushed at the end. I know there isn’t a lot to say about harvesting flowers, but I think the opportunity was missed for some cute domestic scenes to flesh out the big feelings between the main characters. While the book didn’t hit every note, most of it was good and fun, and there was enough interest to carry me through to the end. I probably wouldn’t suggest it out of the blue, but if someone were looking for a cute and spicy sapphic romance I would lead them toward Late Bloomer.

Set in a picturesque farm in Asheville, North Carolina, Late Bloomer's characters blossom as the book moves forward. Readers will see themselves in given BG, eager-to-please Opal and guarded, hurting Pepper and watching them come together is like watching a flower open to the sun--gradual but beautiful. Recommend for livers of queer romance, laughter, flowers, and the bonds of sisterhood, friendship, and love.

I have already read this title. My apologies to Netgalley to have bothered requesting it a second time.

to start off I will say that I did not realize that this book was auto-approval and that's totally my bad because I am not in the mood for fluffy contemporary romance at the moment. I really tried to read this entire book because it was my mistake, but I just wasn't feeling the tone or the characters. I stopped at around 50% way through. I did not feel engaged at all in the 200 pages I read. The POVs were too similar I kept getting confused who I was reading from and the prose felt like every single type of hello fellow kids internet buzzword vomit. Sorry.

A fun, well-rounded, cute romance with spice. I enjoyed the banter and the emotional depth of the story!

Mazey Eddings books always have the perfect mix of romance, comfort and good mental health rep and Late Bloomer did as well. This is a low angst romance where main character Opal wins the lottery and buys a failing flower farm to get away from everyone trying to use her to get some of her lottery money. She meets Pepper who works on the farm and they have a not so great first meeting because Pepper is supposed to be the owner of the farm. Despite the dislike between them they start living together on the farm and have to learn to work with each other which leads to an attraction and benefits situation.

I liked how low angst this because sometimes it what I need. I loved how opposites the characters were, grumpy sunshine ish is my jam, I’ve seen this in other reviews but I did also find it hard especially in the beginning to tell the different characters and their povs apart. The chemistry was working and the spicy scenes were done well. Also I’m glad for the neurodivergent and autistic rep and the realness to this romance. Overall a nice comfort read with a beautiful and real romance.

Read for:
- Sapphic romance
- Opposites attract
- Flower farm plot
- Mental health rep

Thank you SMP for this arc for an honest review.

Mild spoilers below

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Characters – 6/10
Flaws through the inner dialogue were good and realistic to me. I liked the secondary characters, but they weren’t super memorable. I also felt like the mother seemed like a likeable character at first through Opal’s eyes, and then not at all through Penny’s eyes at the end. They are different characters, yes, but I felt like there should have been something at least a little unlikeable about the mother in the beginning in order for the last scene with her to really land.

Atmosphere – 7/10
Described the settings & characters decently.

Writing – 6.5/10
Sometimes I felt like the inner dialogue was heavier than it should be, even though I did think the inner dialogue helped round out the characters.

Plot – 5.5/10
I felt like the pacing was slow in the beginning and middle, and then too fast at the end. It took too long for the decision to do the competition.

Intrigue – 5.5/10
The book didn’t grab my attention as much as I would have liked. I wanted to see how it would end, but I much preferred to pick up other books before this one.

Logic – 5.5/10
Some of the fights between the characters didn’t seem to make sense or came out of nowhere.

Enjoyment – 5.5/10
I liked it, but I wouldn’t recommend it heartily. Just as something people may want to read as a light read to pass some time.

I really enjoyed this book! Opl was such a fun character and it was so great to explore her in the moments of humor and the moments of grief. The spice was fun and I would recommend this book!

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I DNF'ed at 25% of the way through.

I thought it was a weirdly depressing meet-up between the love interests. The mom illegally sold the grandmother's flower farm and the recently-turned-rich girl runs away from all her "friends" who want her money. It was pretty dark.

Even then, Pepper & Opal barely got along despite the central romance. I was happy to have the neurodivergent rep but they kept overexplaining everything and telling instead of just showing it was driving me nuts.

Maybe it got better later on but I wasn't feeling it.

I loved Opal and Pepper’s dynamic! I wish there was a bit more diversity but it didn’t take away from the story. It was super cute and I loved the flower house, I could picture it in vivid detail. I wish there was more on the relationships with friends and family but overall a really solid sapphic romance!

Thanks to Netgalley for access to this E-ARC! This was so cute! Loved the characters & the romance. Also this cover is gorgeous! Definitely recommend.

I adored this one! I found some of my own traits in both of the characters, and loved that the story dealt with more than just romance; mental illness, grief, and found family. It was a quick read, and I still think about this one after finishing it a couple weeks ago. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I liked this but I didn’t love it, which is a bummer because I really like Mazey Eddings’ stuff. The voices of Piper and Opal were kind of hard to differentiate sometimes, and I felt like the pacing was a little all over the place. I did really love the setting and the mental health representation was great, as per always with Eddings. I also appreciated the little nod to Lizzie Blake. And a beautiful cover!!

Mazey Eddings just gets better and better. I loved LATE BLOOMER with my whole heart, from the punny title (and Mazey's delightful backmatter about title selection and flowers) to reading as Pepper and Opal learned to advocate for themselves and let someone else care for them. There really is something to be said for watching as neurodivergents discover that they aren't a burden, that they deserve more than the way they've been treated, that they're capable of so much more than people have given them credit for. It's wholesome and lovely and refreshing.
Mazey handles the topics of grief, manipulative non-friends, and narcissistic mothers with aplomb - allowing her characters the time to process and find a way through the hurt. But for as important as those topics are, they don't overshadow the central romance, rather adding dimension to it. From forced proximity to a slow burn roommates with benefits (but definitely no feelings allowed), each new trope gave Pepper and Opal space to work through things, while offering gentle support and acceptance as well as they could. The sex scenes were a delight, equally steamy and communicative. I could go on, but suffice to say, I'd really like to move to the Thistle and Bloom and spend all my days surrounded by flowers.

A Brush with Love was one of the books that got me back into reading, so when I saw this beautiful, Sapphic cover I was very excited. Then it was opposites attract and feminine and adorable and everything I wanted. This could be my favorite romance book of the month, or even the year.

Everyone dreams of winning the lottery but nobody realizes how stressful it can be! Opal was down on her luck, overachiever and people pleasure when she got a scratch ticket and she had won! She takes this opportunity to get a fresh start, try something new and follow her passions to be an artist. She bought a beautiful flower farm and along the way she found love. This book is very well written Pepper and Opal are the cutest and throw in the flower farm it is a wonderful story!

TLDR: I'd recommend this to people who want a chill, funny, fan-fiction type read with low stakes and queer people having fun and being silly. Otherwise, you are NOT gonna be happy with this!

I was super excited to get an ARC for this. I've been in a litfic era for a minute, and I was excited to read something contemporary and fun. This definitely fits the bill! It's funny, flirty, and a fairly quick read. If you're tired of every single Sapphic book being SUPER angsty and sad, this is a welcome departure. I will say, and I don't mean this in a mean way-- it reads like good fan fiction. It has that quality where the events are super convenient, and a lot of stuff falls back on tropes. Again, I actually really enjoy that about this book! I like how it doesn't put pressure on itself to be something other than a sweet, ~spicy~ romance. I will say though, because it did fall back on tropes, I would have liked to see the characters developed a little more. Their voices felt a little homogenous to me. That was the main reason this was a 4 star read for me.

I'll definitely be interested in seeing what this author publishes in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advanced copy!

Ooh, this was a fun one. First: look at that cover! If you’re into fun grumpy/sunshine romances with a quirky premise and two neurodivergent love interests, Late Bloomer is definitely the book for you.

Both Opal and Pepper are very likeable and relatable — they’re also both neurodivergent, which was a pleasant surprise; Pepper is explicitly autistic and it was great to see an autistic woman as a leading lady of a romcom, and well-written representation too. I feel like a lot of people can relate to both of the main characters in different ways.

One thing I didn’t like so much about this book was that the humour was so … 2023 chronically online (derogatory), and it definitely feels like it will be dated, and a lot of the comedy didn’t land with me.

This was a lighthearted and fun sapphic book, and definitely very cute.