Mazey Eddings has swept me off my feet once again. Late Bloomer is a beautiful sapphic romance. The story follows the sunshiney Opal who is too quick to trust and easily taken advantage of by her “friends” and Pepper who is a neurodivergent flower farmer with a grumpy attitude and traumatic past.

A decision to make some drastic changes to her life leads Opal to Thistle and Bloom which is a flower farm that has been in Pepper’s family for a long time. They are opposites and definitely have a bit of an adversarial relationship to start.

There is so much I love about Opal, Pepper, and their growth as individuals and a couple throughout the story. I would rate this a 2.5 spice 🌶️ so you get a great balance of a meaningful romcom with some steam.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Mazey Eddings is such a talented romance author and I love her stories. While Late Bloomer wasn't my personal favorite, I will read anything this woman writes.

Late Bloomer was a really sweet and heartfelt story about two women finding their way in the world and growing and healing from their pasts. I loved the bones of this story and was totally rooting for Pepper and Opal the entire time.

That being said, I didn't entirely feel the spark between Pepper and Opal, especially in the beginning. There's forced proximity but not much else leading to their first hookup. It just didn't feel believable that these two women with a lot going on in their personal lives, as well as in their own heads, would start a sexual relationship without much bringing them together and the reader feeling very little chemistry between them.

The other thing I struggled with was the fact that it was often hard to tell which POV I was reading. I had to flip back a few times to see if it was Pepper or Opal's chapter because the characters didn't feel incredibly flushed out. I totally recognize that people are fluid and personality traits vary in certain situations but there were times I'd find myself thinking, "that's really not something I'd expect Pepper to say" only to realize that it was Opal's POV. Their voices were just a little too similar at times.

This one is spicy and there's a lot of humor. Some of the jokes felt too millennial-esque and a little cheesy and over the top at times, but I did do quite a bit of chuckling. Also the cover is an absolute stunner!!!

The way this book made my flower loving sapphic heart so happy while also appealing to my neurodivergent brain!!! I read this book in one sitting and I have zero notes. Opal and Pepper are perfect and I love them so much.

Late Bloomer is a sapphic romance that takes place on a FLOWER FARM… how cute already, right?

I really enjoyed this book because of the character development. Neither MC is perfect but what they bring to the story is depth and a desire to support those around them. The chosen family aspect of it, too, was one of my favorite moments. Recommended if you like queer romances, plants and fun friends.

Late Bloomer was a great book for representation of both bisexuality, anxiety, and autism. Also featuring our mains in an enemies-to-lovers sapphic relationship, and many different queer relationships from the secondary characters. The dual POV was a bit hard for me to follow because Opal and Piper's voices were so similar in their anxiety, and because they revolved around each other, keeping track of whose chapter it was ended up being my main annoyance. Other than that, I loved it. The vibe was very cute, and I'd probably suggest it to friends looking for a flowery queer book.

I was honored to have been given Early Access to this title and I'm so excited for everyone to get to read it once it releases on April 16, 2024

i truly enjoyed the story and it was a refreshing take on the grumpy -sunshine Thrope.

Our sunshine character is optimistic and overall, a ball of sunshine with fantasy colored hair., I loved her btw, she seems to have the worse luck as of lately, surrounded by a cheating lying ex and the worse type of "friend".
its not until she is gifted a scratcher as a belayed birthday gift that her luck begins to turn.

she decided to change her life after winning a big price from said scratcher and she does so by buying a flower farm where she will start her shoe business.

we meet our grumpy character, which is on the spectrum, and while she is definitely a grumpy one, i also loved her. she recently lost her grandmother who is the only blood relative she cared for and she is struggling with a business that is on the verge of collapsing.

this was my first sapphic romance and while before i had DNFed other books because of lack of plotline or no chemistry, this one is definitely a page turner.
i did not want to say goodbye to the characters.

they were so cute together but the connection they had sold me. i love it and you should keep an eye out for it, it releases on April 16, 2024
i already pre-order mine so i can add it to my physical bookshelf

I loved Pepper's backstory, her autism, her relationship with her Grandma Lou and her working through the trauma with her mother. Opal winning the lottery and buying a house was a fun premise. This was a sweet story. The flower farm setting was magical and I will definitely recommend it to my romance readers.

This sunshine/grump sapphic romance is my favorite thing I've read in ages. I cannot express what the representation means to me. FLOWER FARM ARE YOU SERIOUS? What a beautiful setting for a beautiful book. The roommate trope is executed to sweet sexy perfection in Late Bloomer. I am going to have a book hangover. Thank you Eddings from the bottom of my heart for this sweet read.

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE THIS BOOK AND ALL OF ITS BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN SAPPHIC GLORY. This was such a sweet and adorable love story!

This one just wasn’t for me. Some of the side characters were cute but I found the plot to be lacking and it did not hold my interest. This is a rom-com but the characters choices and the way things played out were more anxiety provoking to me than fun. Opal and Pepper seemed to have the same personality and neither of them think things through.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I had trouble getting through Late Bloomer because the characters, while well drawn and interesting, tested my patience. They come across very young and careless, which is painted as a symptom of neurodiversity, but tested the limits of plausibility. It's a cozy, sexy sapphic read, but I'm not the target audience. Which disappointed me as a queer, neurodiverse reader.

I absolutely fell in love with this book. The premise, the plot, and the characters were all magic. I kept taking breaks from reading to hug my iPad.

I never imagined I would connect so much with this book but especially Pepper.

The lush descriptions of Thistle & Bloom made me feel like I was there.

I can’t wait to own this book!!

"Late Bloomer" is a very cute rom com that checks off all of the boxes: twee setting (flower farm), ecclectic friend group, mild stakes (winning a floral competition), grumpy/sunshine trope. Eddings has created a very simple world where everything turns out okay. It's completely escapist even though I did have to suspend reality a bit too much for my taste - Opal wins the lottery and there's no mention of a third of her earnings going towards taxes?? But that's just me being a party pooper. This is a great palate cleanser with plenty of lusty scenes if you're looking to get hot and bothered. Don't let the darling cover fool you into thinking this is a G-rated romance :D

This book evoked so many mixed feelings for me.... It was beautifully written, but also hilariously funny, full of T.Swift moments, and also just heartbreaking -- I've never gone from laughing to crying, to laughing again so quickly in my life. I love the enemy to lovers trope, but I especially love it when it comes with flower puns and such a beautifully crafted story. Mazey Eddings has quickly risen to become of my favorite new authors.

Opal and Pepper are satisfyingly quirky in their own ways, and their love for each other comes alive through the pages. The writing also reveals a deeper trend which I am seeing more and more in books throughout all genres -- the acknowledgement that not all people are equal and that neurodiversity exists, and that you can still love and BE loved even if you are self-diagnosed as neurodivergent.

The representation of various themes here including motherly abandon, scammers being scammers, and the true meaning of chosen family has truly led me to cherish many of the passages in this book.

I saw another reviewer who mentioned that they would love to see a 3-book arch including Opal's 2 sisters... Mazey Eddings, can you PLEASE make this happen? ASAP? If you do, I promise this will explode in the sapphic world -- Ashley Herring Blake, step aside. Opal and her sisters have the makings to become a more iconic sapphic representation, overshadowing Iris Kelley, Astrid Parker and Delilah Green.

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC so that I may give my honest feedback and review****

Opal is floundering in indecision in her mid-twenties— stuck at what she promised herself was a short-term job, recently single, living alone and broke in her hometown. When she wins a life-changing amount of money, she puts it all towards a flower farm where she can pursue her dream of being an artist. However, she arrives to find that the farm is already occupied by a disgruntled gardener named Pepper. Her new start on life quickly complicates as the two women find that they have more in common than they realized.

Such a sweet relationship develops between the two main characters, the reader can’t help but fall in love along with them.

While there are certain aspects that I wish the author spent more time on, such as Pepper’s chronic migraines, or her complex relationship with her mother, I do appreciate that the books limited handling of these issues maintained its overall feel as a gooey, feel-good romance. This novel has no homophobia, internalized or otherwise, which is a very welcome deviation from most other contemporary lesbian romances, and allows the reader a lovely true romance novel escapism experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and for the opportunity to honestly read and review the eARC of Late Bloomer.


tw
- death of a grandparent (off page, but grief is central to novel)
- narc parental abuse
- complicated relationship with alcohol
- explicit on-page sexual content


rep
- chronic illness (migraines)
- autistic LI
- neurodivergent mc
- non-binary sc
- wlw main relationship
- sapphic side relationship
- mlm side relationship

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC copy of this book.

I am not sure that the description of this book gives it justice, then again I’m not sure how else to describe it.
This story isn’t necessarily deep. Is the plot somehow new? No but that doesn’t matter. This is the first book that I have ever read that gives a good heart felt depiction of what it’s like being autistic. I never feel truly seen in stories, but this was a lot closer. I am grateful that I didn’t toss this book aside. It is a true delight! It’s cute and charming. Truly a good one for those of us who are hopeless romantics.

This was absolutely adorable! I can’t move forward without acknowledging what an outstandingly gorgeous cover this novel has. It is breathtaking and encompasses this story so well.
I fell in love with both of these main characters and thought they complemented each other’s personalities so well. While this was marketed as “enemies to lovers,” I didn’t really feel as much hostility between the two at any point in the plot.
My only note was that all of the conflicts seemed to tie themselves off and resolve rather quickly in order to get to the end of the book.

I am so glad I was able to receive an ARC of this novel and look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

Sparkly banter, neurodivergent representation, and found family ✔️✔️✔️ I love modern romance when it’s done this well! The opening premise was a stretch for me but the way Mazey set up the character’s personalities made it work. The romance itself was almost too spicy for my preference, but perfect for fans of Tessa Bailey and similar authors. The extra sections at the end about her search for the perfect title and the types of flowers mentioned in the book made me love it even more!

I was so excited to be approved for eArc of this book after reading the synopsis. I was not prepared to be as blown away as I was. I have never felt so seen and represented while reading a book!

Obviously this is a sapphic novel. However there is neurodivergent rep, non-binary rep, the list goes on.

There are books I’ve read where I think about the characters very often and I don’t think Pepper and Opal will ever be two I forget. This book made me laugh, cry, giggle and also blush.

The plot is intriguing, the pacing is great, the character development is so organic. Most of all, the book feels so extremely real. As someone with AuDHD Pepper and Opal both are so fucking relatable. I want to scream from the rooftops of every building for people to get this book when it drops. It’s so incredible and I will definitely be rereading it!

Pepper and Opal are the literal definition of opposites attract! The forced proximity of becoming reluctant roommates was incredibly entertaining! It took a while but the build up to the relationship that developed between them is perfect!

Ps the epilogue is top notch!!

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley! Thank you for the opportunity!