I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I couldn't get into this one, except that I think my 16 year old self would have really enjoyed this, and knowing that makes me feel old 😭😭😭
I am not a fan what I feel is the typical YA writing style(1st person, present tense etc), but I think the real issue I had was that I could not suspend my disbelief. My bestie says that this is because I lack whimsy, which might be true, because aside from the teenager-y bits, I also didn't appreciate the magic garden. I mean, I enjoy magic plant stuff, but I feel that it could have been more, well, magical? I think the magic garden bits could have been improved with more descriptions. I found it hard to visualise the garden, because the layout and overall atmosphere of the garden was not very established in its first appearance(or ever). Also kind of a weird nitpick, it bugged me that most of the magical plants are useful, I would have liked to read about some cool plants that just exist and don't further the plot in any way.
Moving one from garden stuff, the main point of this book is definitely the romance. What can I say about it. The love interest came on WAY strong. Like, y'all just met, and the LI is trying to rizz up our main guy 24/7 like it's his full-time job. Not gonna lie, some of the lines made me cringe, I think I felt more embarrassed by them than the MC, Quill did. However, I enjoyed very much when our boy snarks back and forth with him, very fun. Aside from overly strong come-ons, Liam(love interest) takes initiative to engage with Quill and remains thoughtful of his needs. Although he does act somewhat selfishly once, its for a pretty good reason imo. One things that bothers me is that Liam is um, well, good looking. I do not like when love interests are depicted as very conventionally attractive, I prefer it when the characters are just not into each other initially before slowly gaining attraction. Not that there's anything wrong with being hot, and it could argued that Liam just appears attractive strictly from Quill's perspective, but I don't think so. But I think the book manages to establish that Quill is not into Liam solely on the basis of attraction, so I guess its fine.
Speaking of Quill, he's very ... teenager-y? He is impulsive and says regrettable things and has shit taste in entertainment (he likes watching documentaries about the royal family, which is just. no). I do appreciate his motivations, and his choices felt realistic to me, like if I were a teenage boy who had never been outside, not even once, I think I'd act like that too. In regards to the way Quill approaches his relationship with Liam, he is completely oblivious to Liam's interest. Like, he feels embarrassed and blushes at his come-ons, but genuinely has no idea that he's into him. On one hand, this is completely insane, but on the other, Quill has never gone outside before, so I'll cut him some slack. This is random, but Quill drops the F-bomb multiple times, yet refers to the middle finger emoji as an emoji "with a single finger sticking up". YA books say middle finger challenge!! (IMPOSSIBLE)
Aside from the writing style being very YA-core, I think the prose and certain sentences could have been improved. For example, there is a sentence that starts "I get so angry at her", which is just weird, something like "I find myself getting angry" or "I start getting angry" would be better, and there was another one that was like "it's too dark to let him see me blush" my brother in christ do you suddenly have light-controlling powers now?? I annotated a lot more of these, but I'm gonna stop here, because this should the editor's job, which is either unfilled(hire me lmao) or the editor has been majorly slacking.
The pacing is also off, like the first three quarters are somewhat consistent, then the last quarter ramps it up too drastically too quickly, and the tone completely changes.
There's a lot more that I can discuss (world-building, Quill's family, his ridiculous name etc), but I'm going to stop here. If you are a teenager who wants something romance-focused with some urban fantasy, and does not mind poorly structured sentences or lack of depth in terms of world-building, I mean, an easy read, then this is the book for you.

** review will be posted on socials closer to release day. This review is for the publisher only.**

Evergreen is a beautiful story about trying to find your place in the world while balancing family and responsibility.

Quill is the first male Dryad born in his family. Unlike the rest of his family, he doesn’t have any magic. His whole life, he has been made to take care of his family’s century old magic garden. After years of repetitive schedules and seclusion Quill hungers to experience life as a normal kid. Enter his new neighbor, Liam.

Quill and Allan get off to a rocky start but become fast friends, but as their relationship grows, Liam starts to lose focus and his family’s garden - their source of magic - is threatened.

This was a fun, magical read. The frustration of Quills life and rooting for him to have experiences of a normal teenager while also screaming at him to quit messing around and focus.on.the.garden!

I love how Liam is genuinely excited to introduce Quill to new experiences. Their relationship developed nicely. The awkward flirting was top notch.

I wish we could have seen more of the garden and its inhabitants.

I wanted to love this book. The blurb immediately grabbed me, the story was promising and whilst I know that others are going to love this book for the same reasons I would have, the reason I didn't love it had nothing to do with the actually story. The story itself was sweet and moving, but it was the inconsistencies in the writing. A couple I can overlook but there were many that negated something established just one page ago, for instance Quill has his phone taken away by his mother, his sister gives it back to send a text but takes it back immediately and the next morning he ahs his phone again. In another chapter the kiss scene is mentioned to have happened a few days ago, but the next page Quill says it happened last night. I still want to love this book, but those inconsistencies took me out of the story every time. If there were none, this book would have been a solid 4-5 stars for me.

I feel about half like and half dislike for this one. And some of that has to do with the marketing for this book being a reimagined Secret Garden. I simply could not really relate this story to the classic in any way besides the fact that, indeed, there is a secret garden in this tale.

Quil is a male dryad. He is one of a kind due to the fact that all other dryads have been female. His mom keeps him undercover and away from the outside world and it's humans by keeping him inside their apartment and often working in the beautiful magical garden. When he meets his neighbor, Liam, Quil begins to learn more about himself and the world he lives in.

My main issue in this was how I never felt like each separate variable really added up. It's definitely an odd read, and I do think many would enjoy this, but it just wasn't for me. It felt a little on the younger side of ya and used language that gets on my nerves. And, trust me, I use bad language.... for some reason, it just got on my nerves in this book. Maybe the less mature side to the writing and the story coupled with plenty of f-bombs just annoyed me.

However, I do really feel like many would enjoy this. These are just my personal thoughts.

Out January 16, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

I loved this book so much, I devoured it. Loved the writing it was such a quick read for me definitely recommend

Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the perfect read! Not my typical high fantasy, romance read. But definitely worth picking up!

I found it to be a heart warming read, with some drama! The relationship between Quill and Liam is just adorable!

I do wish the story had a bit more to it, but I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for romance with a sprinkle of fantasy.

3.5

I honestly enjoyed this so much. It was a very easy read and I finished it in about a day. I will say when the twist happens, it was abrupt and did not meet the pacing of the rest of the book and it was a bit jarring.

I want to thank Netgalley, entangled publishing, and the author for a chance to read this ARC.

It took several chapters for this one to gets going, but once it did I more or less enjoyed my time with it. The characters are charming, and the romance is quite cute. It was an enjoyable read, but it certainly doesn't re-invent any wheels.

The biggest issue I had with the book was the overall lack of world building/explanation of the system of magic. You're not really told much about it aside from a few barebone instances, and the lack of it all brought down what I otherwise would have called a four star book. It's not something that ruined the book for me, I just would have preferred a little more substance to that part of the world.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and the time I spent with it. It's a fast read with a cute romance and a decent little magical adventure.

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing this book!

It took me a couple chapters to get into the book. I went into it expecting a book similar to The Secret Garden and this book, in my.opinoon, is not similar.

When I got over my.initial expectations, the book was easier to get into and I fell in love with the florist/secret acopolary setting and the characters. Quill and Liam are so easy to fall in love with!

The book could use some editing, more sbout the family history, their sruggles and powers.

Recommend.

This novel is as magical and enchanting as the synopsis makes it seem. It has a fun storyline, lots of intrigue, the cutest characters, and a heart-wrenching love story. It takes a few chaoaters to get into, but after that, it is very hard to put down. I absolutely loved this novel. I would be thrilled to have it in my classroom library, my students would love it.

Really, REALLY simple prose - I think another reviewer described it as 'amateurish', which, yep, that hits the nail on the head. There's nothing special or interesting about the first-person narration (begging the question, *why must it be in first-person?*) and although the premise is great, the execution is almost apalling. There's no wonder to all the magical plants, the worldbuilding around the dryads is embarrassingly (and mindnumbingly) simplistic, and the plot is so contrived no amount of suspension of disbelief would ever make me buy it. To say nothing of the very lame, often actively bad dialogue. No thank you.

Thank you senior NetGalley for this arc. I always appreciate it.

I read this because it was pitched as a The Secret Garden reimagining. I love The Secret Garden. It has a special place in my heart as one of my childhood favorites. And sure, let's make it a fantasy. And sure, let's make it gay. These are all things that I enjoy and would enjoy reading together.

Unfortunately, I can't say I enjoyed this all too much.

It's just amateurishly written. The world and magic do not feel very thought out or fleshed out. Merely following the plot requires an absurd amount of suspension of disbelief, and I only have so much disbelief to suspend. All the things that would drive me to a book with this kind of hook --fantasy secret garden retelling-- were all woefully undercooked. The gay bit? There was nothing particularly memorable about the romance. The pairing wasn't bad, it wasn't like I was rooting against them or anything, but they did not endear me enough to keep reading. I'm sure if I was a gay teenager I would feel differently, but judging by the quality of the book, this is the sort of young adult novel that cannot appeal outside of its age range. Which is fine. I guess. To a certain degree. I really do wish it was written better, though.

If anything, it's a very quick read and easy to consume. Thematically it means very little. Many different ideas are raised throughout the story but they do not connect very much and some big things that definitely would require introspection are raised and never given that much needed introspection. It almost read like a first draft that had only been subjected to line edits. It needed a lot of developmental work.

I really really really wanted this to be better. But alas.

I was hopeful for this one, but the first 5% or so didn’t grab me. I am not opposed to checking out other works from this author in the future, though. I guess we will have to see.

The Secret Garden is gorgeously reimagined in this deliciously dreamy urban fairytale about a dryad who risks immortality for love, from debut author Devin Greenlee

I didn't know I needed a queer Secret Garden retelling until I saw this book and now I"m not sure how I lived my life this long without one. This was stupidly good and I wish I was still reading it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy. I loved the idea of it and the cover is undeniably gorgeous. But, after about 90 pages I lost interest and I stopped caring.

A retelling of Rapunzle with a tid bit of fantasy. It was very young adult, more on the younger side. It was a slow moving book but it shows promise. It would be great from a teenager who enjoys light reading without a complicated plot line. It took me longer than usual to finish this book due to my lack of interest. I feel like this isn’t a reflection on the book itself but own genre tastes.

I received this ARC via NetGalley and Entangled Teen in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was such a good book, thanks for the arc. It was a book that it was such an easy read.
It’s like I felt like tangled and the secret garden. The beauty of the garden, but as rapunzel stuck in a tower △⃒⃘Lways wanting to leave but can’t.
It completely shocked me who was the evil person. I really thought it was one person but turned out to be the other.
It’s about this kind name quill, that’s been wanting to explore the world, but his mother won’t let him. Until he met this one guy name Liam, who showed him the simply things we take for granted, going outside, going to the movies going out on a drive.
The mom had very much reasonable intentions but at the same time a little overboard. Which I get I’m a mom myself, so I can see where she’s coming from.
I will definitely will buy this book.
Thanks again for letting me read this arc,

Evergreen is a romance with a sprinkle of fantasy and mystery elements thrown in. I hadn't quite realised that going in, as it wasn't tagged romance, so I had expected fantasy first with the usual romance sub-plot. This isn't the case, the whole plot points are centred on the romance/feelings conflicts, which I'll admit isn't my thing, the mystery sitting very much on the back burner.
The characters are sweet, the world is clear and simple, the romance is clean, the conflict is all about finding your independence from your parents, a perfect teen read, I just wasn't the audience.

This book was promising, but unfortunately just fell flat for me, I had to DNF as I was not enjoying it, it's not what I thought it would be.

Rounded up to 3 Stars on this one because it was very cottagecore and I love that.

Evergreen is very young at it's heart. It's about youth, about family, about first loves and finding out what it means to be ourselves. Quill, a male dryad, is a rarity in his culture and his mother is incredibly protective to the point of smothering -- at least from his perspective. His sister, Laurel, has a gift for life and plants as dryads should but Quill feels like a bit of an outsider in his own home and family run floral shop. He eventually meets Liam, a half-human who at first irritates and then entrances him, and together they must find out who is behind the intrusion into Quill's family garden.

This was very sweet. It was easy to read and very cozy, with lots of plant action and light-hearted, earthy magic. The romance was adorable and I enjoyed getting to understand how their magic worked and how they were tied to their plantlife. Overall, I wish there had been a bit more depth. I thought the villain was rather uninteresting and the climax felt a little flat for me. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that of course we get our HEA but the stakes just weren't there for me. But it was a very cozy, fun read, and I think it will appeal to younger audiences looking for an escape.

I'd love to see other books from this other later on. I think it can only get better from here.