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!

I loved this sapphic romance between two neurodivergent women who just don't really fit in. But they sure fit in together! I couldn't put this down as their love story unfolded. it was beautiful!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Review published on September 20, 2023, to Goodreads and Storygraph. Additional content will be published on release day on Instagram.

3.75⭐️

Late Bloomer is a small town, enemies to lovers (kinda), sapphic romance between Opal and Pepper! The book follows Opal who after winning the lottery, decides to move away from her city life, to a flower farm to escape and paint shoes in the nature. Problem is, Pepper doesn’t know that her farm that she lives in got sold. This story follows many ups and downs with Opal and Pepper who are trying to coexist in the farm. This book was super fun and engaging, wondering what would happen next in their relationship. I loved all of the representation that was present. Pretty good book!

Favorite Quote:
“I look back at the flower clutched in my hand. There’s one petal left.”

Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a woman/woman positive love story with a great deal of attention placed on neurodiversity. The lottery win and ridiculous real estate purchase took me out of the story initially (hey, taxes!?!) but I did enjoy the romance between Opal and Pepper. There was a lot of very good writing related to spectrum disorder issues that I felt elevated this book over average. It’s a fun fast sexy read.

Such a cute read! Mazey Eddings did exceptionally well with this one! It was so fun and had me hooked from the start! Plus the cover is so beautiful

Listen. I’m all for unlikeable characters. I love a morally grey silly little lad bumping around making poor choices full of messy drama. However, I cannot stand *poorly written* unlikeable characters and that’s unfortunately a large driving force for why this book was just okay for me.

The story starts off cute enough: Opal wins the lottery, making the risky decision to leave her life behind to purchase a flower farm to run her art business…unfortunately Pepper, resident of said flower farm, is already living there, and these two sapphics must learn to make peace with their living situation until something can be figured out.

Pepper is easily my favorite of the two characters; she’s practical yet flighty due to her past trauma and as with her past books, Mazey Eddings does an amazing job unpacking the nuances and choices that are twisted within a character well entrenched in neurodivergence and trauma.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the same care was given with Opal’s character. Her character development and choices feel disjointed and stagnant, to the point where the disconnect with her growth is jarring: Opal exists in a duality of being the same character she was in the beginning of the story while also feeling like she made drastically out-of-character choices. There’s also something to be said about how the grumpy x sunshine trope drastically underperforms in this story, but that’s a whole different can of worms.

I’ve enjoyed Mazey Eddings books in the past, and I will likely read other books she writes in the future, but this one was a miss for me.

This book was very cute. Although a little predictable, it was written so well and the characters were so interesting that you hardly realized it. I would recommend this book without a second thought. I cant say enough good things about the writers voice and style.

Late Bloomer is a bright and lovely neurodivergent love story, and Mazey Eddings' layered storytelling continues to showcase the complicated beauty of love. Three and a half stars!

Another amazing 5 star read from Mazey Eddings. She does not disappoint. Something about this one felt extremely real, raw, and relatable.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

This was a fun, enemies to lovers story. I liked the characters of Opal and Pepper better than I liked the story. But it was still a good and fun read.