i liked this book a lot! the cover is gorgeous and i found our characters to be loveable and the representation is just *chefs kiss* it was very low stakes and a good comfort, cozy read if you want a happily ever after

Cute and swoony springtime f/f romance and my first book from this author.

Main character wins the lottery and decides to buy a flower farm. Love interest works on the flower farm and the farm has been in her family for years. They work together to enter a flower competition. Both are at a crossroads. Both are neurodivergent.
Main character is bisexual and ADHD. Love interest is lesbian and autistic.

What worked:
-Neurodivergent rep
-Smut scenes
-Swoony and cute
-Dual POV

What didn’t:
-Wasn’t interested in the flower farm and flower competition aspect
-Main character was chaotic and sometimes tediously so. I cared more about the love interest and wish she was the main character instead
-The title Late Bloomer didn’t really reflect the main character’s experiences - more so the love interest, so my expectations going into the book didn’t match its contents.

Publishes April 16, 2024. This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The writing was fab and I loved the realistic look at floral farming. (The instagram accounts I follow make it look so easy!) Opal and Pepper had their flaws, but in a realistic and lovable way.

I was very happy to have the chance to read this ARC by Mazey Eddings. I have read several of her book previously and really enjoyed them. This book is no exception. It was very wholesome that shared a story about two people who found each other in the most unexpected ways. Pepper and Opal had different personalities and seemed to bring out the best in each other. I love the development of their story as they both realized what type of partner they were looking for. This was definitely a sweet story that I would recommend to others!

There was so much love I have for this story, the COVER alone makes me wanna give it 5 stars. The autistic and neurodivergent representation, with the sunshine versus grumpy main character -YESS it wins with the tropes. The most beautiful writing, I did love it so much to be honest. Honestly there was nothing bad about this book. The light hearted moments, and forced roommate situation. It was such a beautiful story, THE EPILOGUE I AM GOING CRAZY!!!

4.25 stars outta 5 rounded to 5 stars

This was gifted by Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

In this book, we are following Opal. Her life has not been the greatest. She works a minimum wage job and she’s just all around not having a great time. When suddenly her luck changes and she wins the lottery. Suddenly all of these people are wanting things from her and she’s having a hard time setting boundaries and saying no so naturally she decides that she should put her money somewhere that people can’t ask for it, a struggling flower farm. Does she know that this flower farm is about to change her life and even bigger ways than winning the lottery does. She meets Pepper, the owner of said struggling flower farm. Opal wants her to move out, but Pepper has no intentions of going anywhere. South east two strike up and agreement to try to work together and coexist. The banter, neither one of them expects the growing attraction to come to a head, but what will they make of it?

This book is absolutely adorable. From the cover, which is gorgeous to the writing to the setting and the plot overall, I just really loved this book. It felt like the perfect mix of everything that I want in a sapphic romance story. If you like flowers, romance, queers, and an adorable story then I highly recommend checking this book out. I can’t wait for everyone to have their hands on this one!

What do you do when you win the lottery?? Not the Mega Millions lottery, but a cool couple hundred thousand from a scratcher that your "friend" gave you for your birthday.

Well, if you're Opal you buy a flower farm. I mean, that's not spontaneous (she buys it sight unseen from a Facebook Marketplace ad) or anything, right?

Imagine Opal's surprise when she gets to the farm and finds someone already living there. Pepper has lived and worked there since her mom abandoned her in her teens with her grandmother. She's devastated to find out her mother has sold the farm to Opal without letting her know.

What follows is two adult women coming into their own while also falling in love, against their better judgment. They're opposites who are both neurodivergent and not the best at communicating.

This book was cute, a little too cute at times for me, but overall a sweet read with some spicy scenes as well.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book made me feel all the feels. Some of it was a bit cheesy like the lottery and Opal’s friends/Tish but moved the plot and only made their love more clear to the other. Loved the pop culture references like Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.
I would love to have a flower farm mostly for pleasure so I felt like I could feel Pepper’s love for the farm and how cozy and beautiful it would be.
Rare to read a book with lgbtq content without homophobia and loved how they just existed.

While I love books with multiple POV, it also makes me so annoyed when the whole book it’s obvious the characters just need to get out of their heads and talk to each other. I know a lot of that is likely also the author portraying neurodiverse characters. I enjoyed getting those perspectives, but I also really just wanted them to talk to each other. This was a sweet book overall and I loved the flower definitions at the end.

4 stars!

First off, the cover is stunning!

I always enjoy a good sapphic romance, even more so when there's some neurodivergent sprinkled in.

I loved the premise of this book, a flower farm, are you kidding me?!?! I loved learning about all the flowers and getting a sneak peak into the life of a flower farm (the good and the ugly).

I loved the relationship between Pepper and Opal and I also enjoyed Opal's sisters and Pepper's friends.

I will say that I found this book slower paced, I tend to enjoy a faster paced book.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

i don’t think i’ve read such true autistic representation, and very rarely have found romance with the autistic character not being infantilized. pepper and opal’s love story is so sweet and strange and silly, this was such a good read

What a delight this is for all readers, especially angsty, neurodivergent queers! Late bloomers is a gorgeous and delicious queer romance with some of the very best neurodivergent rep I’ve seen on the page. Opal is the quintessential chaos bi, and Pepper is such a beautiful prickly cactus who is nothing but mush inside. Her journey of self discovery is so honest and often underrepresented in queer lit. What makes this a true triumph, however, is the neurodivergent rep. Eddings has created two deeply complicated and endearing characters who get to be their entire selves. By allowing both characters to be candid and honest gives us insights not only in how they see and feel the world, but also in how they see each other. As a result, their careful dance around one another makes the intimate scenes all the more potent.
All the stars.

I. Loved. This. Book. As soon as I saw that this book was available on NetGalley, I HAD to have it. Mazey Eddings is one of my favorite authors, and this book is no exception. The concept was unique, the plot engaging, and the characters were compelling from page one. If you are looking for a fun sapphic book to read this upcoming spring, please pick this up! I will be getting a physical copy, which is how you know I enjoyed an e-book.

I appreciate getting an advanced copy of this book but I had to DNF @ 30%. I’ve loved Edding’s books prior to this but I wasn’t feeling the pace nor the relationship. I couldn’t become invested in their relationship like I previously had with the other relationships Edding’s has focused on. I really wanted to enjoy this but I couldn’t.

I enjoyed reading this book! It was my first book by this author and it will not be the last. As a mood reader, I sometimes struggled to get into the mindset of the flower farm. I enjoyed seeing the trust grow and build between the characters. The ending felt a bit rushed, everything tied up really quick. But I enjoyed the book and was grateful for an early copy.

I love the neurodiversity representation in this book! I feel like it is rare to find a book that captures the experience of being a queer neurodivergent woman. I don't always love when stories are told from two different perspectives, but I think it works well in this case. I do feel like I wanted to get a little deeper on Pepper' past and there were parts of her stories that I felt could have been explored more. Overall though, this was a cute little read and I would recommend it to anyone who is considering reading this book.

3.5 stars rounded to 4- This book has so much promise but needs more development and editing. “Late Bloomer” by Mazey Eddings is a cute, queer book. Many of us dream of escaping to flower farms in the country to get away and that is what Mazey’s character Opal has done. The idealism is short lived, however, as she finds that someone is on the farm she just purchased. Opal and Pepper go through the classic “enemies to lovers” situation as they are forced to share the property’s cabin, as well as go through the stress of entering a flower competition together. It is a cute book, with a fairly predictable plot. It isn’t a book I would run out to buy for all my friends, but I’d recommend it for a short, light read, with a few steamy scenes.

I am glad for the representation in the book, but this is also where my biggest criticisms lie. The characters are both underdeveloped and overexplained at the same time. Opal is bisexual, both Opal and Pepper are neurodivergent, and there’s different types of family structures represented. As someone who is also bi and neurodivergent, I did appreciate the representation, but I also felt it was a bit heavy handed at times. So many interactions or miscommunications were explained over and over in terms of their neurodivergency. It often felt stilted and overdone. It could have been more integrated into the characters and plot, rather than having to be explained many times to the other characters, and in turn the reader, as if we couldn’t understand for ourselves how their neurodivergency played into their characters or interactions without explanation. I was grateful that the bisexuality was integrated seamlessly and was never made to be a big deal or plot point. There was some mention of alcoholism and drug use. Opal’s past alcohol use also felt forced and didn’t feel as congruent with her character. It only came up a handful of times, and didn’t really play a major role in the book or the character development. I thought it would be used as a point of contention with Pepper, given her mom’s drug use, but that oddly never came up. I think maybe the author was trying to fit too many things into one book, which resulted in it feeling forced and not well-integrated given the simple plot and length of the book. It was a good easy read but could have used more editing to make the characters stronger and their stories more seamless. I would give it a 3.5/5- which I’m rounding to 4. I had higher hopes for the book, but it was a fun, light read nonetheless. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first book of Mazey’s that I’ve read, but it won’t be the last. I loved the neurodivergent representation in this, and that it is a WLW book. Opal and Pepper were fun characters to root for, and reading as they fell for each other was a delight. I appreciate that we’re getting more and more books of characters with different issues in their lives.

Thanks as always to NetGalley for the ARC.

First thing is I will definitely be picking up more Mazey Eddings novels in the future.

Sapphic romance: check
Metal health rep: check
Opposites attract: check
Atmosphere: beautiful
Vibes: right on
Spice:🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Opal Opal Opal I feel you so much. I have felt so many of the things Opal feels while talking and interacting with other people. This is one of my first reads with a great representation of autism and neurodivergence. There were parts where it could have been toned down a bit but it didn’t distract to much from the story.

Thank you NetGallery and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy.

4⭐️Thank you to St Martins Press for the ARC!

this book is so freakin adorable!! I adored both main characters and all the funny side characters as well:)