I loved this book. It was raw, emotional, and romantic. This bi enemies to lovers, opposites attract romance was so good.

The writing was beautiful and you can’t help but root for Opal and Pepper. I loved the autistic and ADHD Representation and the dual-POV’s too. This book had a great balance between grief, being neurodivergent, dealing with difficult family and friends, and also amazing romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review!

A really wonderful book! I was pleasantly surprised I would rate this book 3/5 thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a copy of this book to read.

I've been waiting for this book since Mazey talked about it first and it wasn't even titled Late Bloomer, so yes, to say that I was anticipating it is a big understatement.

Opal and Pepper are the softest girls ever. If you're familiar with Mazey's books, you will know what I mean. Her books are so delicate and just feel so comfy. I've loved all of her books but this one has become a comfort read for me. I always feel more connected to sapphic romances and I felt like both Opal and Pepper were real people. I think this also happened because Mazey's characters are flawed and relatable. Both girls are neurodivergent so it takes them a bit of time to adjust to each other. Opal's character development was a big highlight for me. She's always let everyone step on her just so she can have ''friends'', but in this book she learns to only give her time to the people who love her as much as she loves them. Pepper's development was also great. Facing a toxic parent is a terrible experience and I was so glad when they both confronted Trish!

I don't know if this will be a standalone or Opal's sisters will also have books, but I would LOVE it. Diksha and Tal were amazing characters as well and I loved Diksha so much. I wanted more scenes of her with Opal. Opal deserved a friend like her so bad. Opal and Pepper's romance is adorable, steamy and as mentioned, so soft. I always trust Mazey to deliver the best kind of heartfelt reads.

tw: grief

Rating: 5/5
Steam level: Open door, 4-5 scenes, medium/high level of detail

ARC provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley. Opinions are my own!

I had to DNF it. It was good but not good enough to keep me hooked to this book.

I am glad i got approved for his book but i just couldn't finish it somehow.
The 40 % book i read was cute and if you are into it you will probably like it but this book just wasn't my cup of tea and i really wish i could finish reading it. So you might as well ignore this review of mine.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I will happily leave a review for this when the racist remarks by one of their employees is addressed. I want to support the author, but also want to know they don’t support this behavior.

Excuse me this cover though??? Immediately drew me in, imma sucker for a beautiful cover.

Plus as a florist/flower lover if there is a book about a florist, flower farm, gardening or anything flower related im going to read it and Late Bloomer did NOT disappoint! I loved the growth for both pepper and opal throughout the book. This is my first book I’ve ever read from mazey eddings but definitely won’t be my last! 🌈

Thank you st. Martins press and NetGalley for this wonderful ARC!

I am probably biased as I really love anything by Mazey Eddings. She is a phenomenal writer, who can captivate you in any story she writes, whether it be from her straight romances or her queer ones. I absolutely loved this book, as a bi gal with AuDHD, I not only felt represented, but I felt seen. Another fabulous book, I cannot wait to pick up her next book.

Opal and Pepper find themselves thrust together (wink) at Thistle and Bloom Flower Farm after an epic misunderstanding and a swirl of mayhem with Pepper’s mom’s latest con. Mazey Eddings continues to craft the most incredible descriptions of the setting, including dream-worthy mountain fields full of flowers. If you love The Office and Schitt’s Creek, you will fall head over heels for the hijinks and awkward encounters that Pepper and Opal (“the chaos demon”) experience! Just like the other novels from Eddings that we love, the accompanying characters are incredibly developed and hilarious. Prepare for several really hot sapphic love scenes! Mazey Eddings is an auto buy for me, mostly for her swoon-worthy and poetic declarations of love. And we get to see several of these in Late Bloomer! #sapphicromance #forcedproximity #neurodivergentromance

This was a pretty low stakes book with little conflict and no third act breakup which I loved! It was also such a beautiful and unique sapphic romance book. I never would have thought to write about someone winning the lottery and buying a flower farm. How do you think of these things Mazey?! Watching Pepper and Opal's relationship grow and change from enemies to lovers was so cute. The mental health and neurodiverse representation was also really good and so nice to see. I wish we could have had more scenes with Opal's sisters though, but maybe they'll get their own books???

This was overall such a great read. I very much enjoyed the story and the growth of these characters.

Unfortunately I did not like this book at all. I was fully prepared to be obsessed with this book and have the glorious cover faced out on my bookshelf. But unfortunately it was so wildly unrealistic, insta-lovey, and filled with horrible characters that I couldn't enjoy it at all.

The more I read this author’s books, the more I fall in love. She has got such a way of writing! She writes for everyone. Her characters show it is ok to not be ok! You can still persevere and find love and happiness! She makes everyone worthy. If you haven’t found this author yet, do it.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

Never met a Mazey Eddings book I didn’t love! One of my favorite things about her writing is her portrayal of beautiful, messy, neurodivergent characters and how they’re equally deserving of love. Opal, in particular, with her ADHD/maybe Autism/but definitely neurodivergent, I related to a lot and it’s so important to see that kind of representation in art. I adored Opal and Pepper so much and couldn’t stop reading, all the stars!

Wow, where do i begin 😭 maybe with the fact that i can't believe i could read one of my most anticipated 2024 releases before the end of the year. sorry to everyone who has to wait until April because this book is INCREDIBLE.

Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings is her first sapphic romance, and it is as beautiful on the inside as the outside. (Can we take a second to just stare at that beauty of a cover? Absolutely perfect.) It follows Pepper and Opal, and has the good old trope "we both believe we own this property so we just have to co-exist here until we solve that problem" which I'm obsessed with. It's like the roommate trope but with added drama and tension. Opal wins the lottery and she buys a flower farm - a flower farm Pepper lives on and thinks belongs to her after her beloved aunt passed away. So they decide they'll stay there until Pepper can pay off the money Opal bought it for. Of course, along the way, they pine after each other, fight their love with all their might, and decide to get rid of the tension by sleeping together.... without catching feelings, of course.

It is grumpy/sunshine goodness, has autistic rep, queer rep obviously, is emotional, raw and real, steamy, and sweet, and the two of them are everything to me. It is relatable, almost painfully so at some points, and utterly charming. Like I mentioned, it's set at a flower farm so it's going to be the perfect spring read. It also has great side characters.

If it isn't obvious, I absolutely adored this book. I might have shed a few tears at the end. Mazey Eddings' books have such a strong personality, and she really knows how to create characters who feel so real, they might as well be my best friends. This was just overall incredible, and y'all need to read this when it comes out - for the grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, sexual tension, beautiful spring setting, and a beautiful romance where two women who have been badly hurt before finally find a home within each other. Just perfect.

I love everything Mazey writes and this book is no exception. I loved this book so much. The neurodivergent representation, the romance and the found family were absolutely everything to me.

I enjoyed this lighthearted read overall! The setting was incredibly tangible; the flower farm was such a beautiful and fun setting for a romance with relatively little tension. I also appreciated that the plot once at the farm was very believable and natural. However, I struggled with following the characterization of both of the main characters to some extent. It seemed at times that Pepper, and especially Opal's personality and way of interacting in the world would change from chapter to chapter. While some of that can be chalked up to people seeing us differently than we see ourselves, it seemed extreme to the point where at times I had to check whose perspective I was reading to keep track.

4.5 stars

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book was much as I did, but I LOVED the setting and both MCs.

Opal and Pepper fit together so well and complement each other in every possible way. Their interactions were beautiful and mesmerizing. Pretty much an unputdownable book which I relished. Pepper is uncomfortable around Opal and dislikes her from the start. Opal in her own words- is a chronic people pleaser, ready to do anything to help Pepper even though the situation is not to her liking either. This is somewhat of an opposites attract romance and I really enjoyed it.

There's some great mental health rep thrown in there and Eddings has given adequate emphasis on the backstories. I instantly liked the MCs and the side characters and rooted for them. Nothing about them was a red flag and the way the showed their care and affection for each other was endearing. I liked the way the climax was resolved too, everything felt cozy and believable. My only issue was with Trish, and her initial portrayal verses the image Pepper painted later on. I'd like it if there was some light shed on her background too.

Eddings has put together a list of book titles that were on hold in the writing process as well as the significance of the different flowers referenced in the book. I was certainly not expecting that, and it was a pure delight to get that added joy to my reading experience. My first book by the author and it won't be my last!

This book made my heart hurt and I felt so much for each character. Opal, a quirky artist, has always been "walked over" and doesn't feel like she has any true friends, so when she ends up living in the same house as Pepper, a flower farmer struggling to keep her business Thistle & Bloom afloat, she wants to help and make a connection. When that connection slowly opens up, blooms, and catches fire in a lovely sapphic romance that respects late bloomers, who are just learning what they desire, I fell for this book. Pepper's found family, memories of her grandmother Lou, combined with Opal's sisters fierce and protective love gave this book such a lovely well-rounded cast of characters. Throw in a floral art installation competition and I was a goner! Give this book a try!

Opal has just won the lottery. So, of course, she buys a flower farm just outside of Asheville. The only problem is that the farm apparently comes with Pepper, the daughter of the woman who sold Opal the farm. And Pepper doesn't like change. But the two of them strike a (somewhat) uneasy deal: they both stay at the farm, and Pepper slowly buys Opal out. They'll enter a big flower competition together, and if they win, the prize money will go toward Pepper buying the farm back from Opal.
And then they strike another deal, one that will hopefully help with the tension building between the two of them. And it does help, but it also makes it harder for both women to ignore their feelings.

Mazey Eddings is one of my favorite authors, so I had high hopes for this book--and it ended up being every bit as good as I expected. The characters felt very real (including Opal's pretty online way of speaking, which felt very natural and not at all forced, which is always a worry). I loved that the sunshine was sometimes grumpy and the grump was sometimes sunshiney--it really added to both of the characters to have them be so multi-faceted. I also loved that Pepper was explicitly stated to be autistic, and that Opal was more vaguely undiagnosed neurodivergent (but that she knew and acknowledged that). Both were written very well and both of those are things we need more good representation of.
And, on top of the rep and the characters feeling so real, it was just all-around sweet and fun (and at times frustrating and heartbreaking, as complicated family and interpersonal relationships can be). Late Bloomer is (unsurprisingly) another really good Mazey Eddings book.

Late Bloomer does such an exceptional job at representing sapphic love between two neurodivergent women who are unapologetically who they are. It's a slow burn, which isn't everyone's cup of tea, but for this story, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. The pacing is done well, the setting is so immersive, and the overall read is warm and comforting. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a heartwarming sapphic romance.