At the end of the audiobook Mazey discusses the struggle with giving this book a title and one of her suggestions, Pepper + Opal 5ever, honestly felt pretty right for the story as the book was pretty low angst and felt like a coming of age kind of moment for both of our main characters. Opal is finally ready to kick her people pleasing to the curb and start living life for her, and Pepper is ready to take on improving the flower farm and her future. I enjoyed the neurodivergent rep in both of our main characters and loved the backdrop of the flower farm. I also love the story line of Pepper being. a late bloomer, but I was sad that was not more of a part of a consideration throughout the story. I expected more contemplation and processing in her chapters since the title of the book seemed to reference her as a late bloomer. I liked the general story, but I sometimes felt like not much was going on. Several times while listening to the audiobook it took me a moment to realize who was talking because I felt like their voices in the writing were very similar. It was a cute, easy rom com read that kind of reminded me of a spice, sapphic Hallmark movie.

This book is spectacular, and the naration is perfection! the voice fits the characters so well and I really feel like I understand both of the main chratcters perspectives in much more detail by listening to this book as an audiobook.

This book made my whole heart so happy. I loved the sapphic romance, the neurodivergent rep, the story. I just loved everything about it

Unfortunately, I deeply dislike Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings. I wanted to like it so badly as I love a good lesbian romance, especially given how much I love Opal, who we meet first. However, Pepper is a horrid character that doesn't take accountability for her actions, blaming her upbringing for her to emulate the adage "hurt people hurt people". There needs to come a time when the pity party ends and a person takes ownership of their life. For clarification, I am neurodivergent (recently diagnosed) and raised by an abusive, narcissistic mother, so I deeply understand the ramifications of this and how hard it is to let go of that hurt and pain. The side effects of being treated this way as a child are 100% real, but I have no patience for perpetual victims. Once you know better, the responsibility to be better is now yours. Therapy exists to help with this exact problem. But, instead of getting real help, she took all of her problems and insecurities out on Opal who, not once, did anything to cause distrust, pain, or harm to Pepper. Then, "a few years later" everything is fixed and perfect. Just...no.

Even though Pepper ruined the book for me, I still rate Late Bloomer 2 stars: 1 for narration and 1 for Opal.

Ellie Gossage is an amazing narrator! Her voices for Pepper and Opal are so distinct that it seems like there are two narrators. I absolutely love this.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ALC.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

This was such an adorable novel. I loved the flower farm setting. As someone who loves flowers ( and has done a fair bit of flower research for her own novel) I genuinely appreciated all the flower talk! I also really loved the representation in this novel. Both girls are neurodivergent with Pepper having autism and Opal having ADHD (though she said she was undiagnosed in the novel). Opal is also bisexual.! I'm unclear if Pepper said she was lesbian or pan. I think one of those was mentioned but I can't remember!

Opal was so funny and I loved how kind and caring she was. She was so patient with Pepper and understanding and I truly think they made an amazing couple together! They really balanced one another. Pepper was very blunt and unable to express her emotions at time (which I related to hardcore) but she showed up and spoke up when it mattered most so thats all you can really ask for! I also really enjoyed Opal's sisters (Olivia and Ophelia and yes, I too laughed at the O names). They were very protective of Opal and very funny.

Overall a very cute and very spicy story!

I absolutely adored the setting and premise for this story ~ flower farm + neurodivergent sapphic romance! Those things drew me to the story and kept me listening, along with the great audio narration. And while I really liked this book, I actually wish it hadn't centered around a competition, and instead had just let us get to know Opal and Dev doing flower and art things in a less contrived way? Regardless, this is a delightful spring romance with some seriously steamy open door scenes.

This book will also be featured on my Substack http://mindfullibrarian.substack.com on Saturday, April 20.

After Opal wins the lottery, she impulsively buys a flower farm. The only problem is Pepper thinks that her grandmother left the farm to her. After figuring out it was Pepper's grifter mother who sold Opal the farm, the two agree to live together until Pepper has the funds to buy Opal out. But with the obvious attraction between them, it looks like the flowers are the only thing...blooming.

I really enjoyed this book! It was sweet and authentic. Just an all-around great romance. I really enjoyed neurodivergent/autism spectrum rep. I felt seen! Particularly when it came to Pepper's character. The friends with benefits to emotional investment arc was so satisfying. And I loved the discussion of grief and loss of a loved one and how it was paired with both a legacy and a new future for the farm.

This book is definitely worth a read!

This story follows the spontaneous Opal who wins a decent sum from a scratch off and moves to a flower farm run by Pepper, who is all about routines and order. But you know what they say, opposites attract and all.

Overall a cute sapphic romance! Cool to see an autistic main character too. Unfortunately I found the characters to be a bit one dimensional and the story was nothing special. Also a little spicier than I was expecting. But it is a good lighthearted read, probably a good palette cleanser book! I did love the authors not at the end sharing how special each flower mentioned in the book was and what the meaning behind it was. Added a bit of depth to what I was thinking was a pretty surface level story!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for giving me pre-release access to this audiobook!

The two main characters in Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings each have their own challenges associated with their neurodivergence and being on the autism spectrum. As a neurodivergent person (ADHD) myself, I am so happy to see more AuDHD people represented in the romance genre.

There is so much to enjoy about Late Bloomer, from the cast of quirky, lovable characters to the charming writing style. The author provides us with a sweet story that focuses on the neurodivergence of the main characters as well as making it integral to the plot.

Where Late Bloomer fell flat for me was in the pacing of the first half of the novel, especially as it concerns the romantic connection between the main characters Opal and Pepper. I enjoyed getting to know both characters individually, but by the time they're into a full-blown roommates-with-benefits situation, I wasn't sure why (beyond mutual physical attraction). Both characters struggle with their feelings, but I think Opal's assertion that they should have a purely sexual relationship comes out of left field.

Additionally, the stakes never seemed very high for either of them. Opal, despite being ADHD and prone to word vomit (which is entirely relatable, I can say as an ADHD person myself), is a self-professed people-pleaser and steps in to help the second Pepper needs it. Pepper, at this point in the story, is barely more than a stranger.

Everything picks up delightfully in the second half of the novel. The story becomes even more relatable with both women struggling to understand the predicament they're in emotionally while still wanting to carry on working and sleeping together. The spicy moments are descriptive and sexy without being over the top.

I think this book would be a great fit for readers looking for a queer love story with autistic characters portrayed sensitively and accurately. People who want a funny, sometimes emotional, read with a good dash of spice will be at home in the flower farm with Opal and Pepper.

Although this novel wasn't a 5-star read for me, I can say that I genuinely look forward to reading more of the author's work!

**Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (3.5-4)**

Borrowing a series of wonderful romance tropes, *Late Bloomer* follows a chaotic bisexual Opal who wins the lottery and buys a flower farm in a small town. When she arrives to find the farm already inhabited by Pepper—an autistic, lesbian flower farmer who thinks she is the rightful owner of the farm—hijinks ensue.

>>What I loved: I saw the gorgeous cover for this book and I just had to read it—luckily, it was a sweet sapphic romance perfect for spring! This book has fantastic queer rep and neurodiversity. Personally, I appreciate that there was relatively low angst and drama in the relationships (sometimes we just can’t handle all the stress 😅). I also have to note that loved the author’s notes at the end, they really displayed their thoughtfulness about the choices that Eddings made with the story, down to the choice of flowers.

>>What I didn’t love: Gripes for me are mostly around personal taste: a little cringy at times, a little heavy on the pop culture references. I did feel that with these characters being adult, they felt pretty immature in a way that was personally a turn off for me in terms of connecting with either or them. I do think some of the side characters seemed like they might be really intriguing but felt really one-dimensional or stereotypical in the ways they interacted with the characters.

I think many of my friends who love queer romance would enjoy this book, and I look forward to sharing it with them!

**Acknowledgments & Disclaimers**
✨ Thank you to NetGalley, Mazey Eddings, and Macmillan Audio, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book.
✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

Late Bloomer is a novel about Pepper and Opal, who are forced to cohabitate after Opal unknowingly purchases Pepper's flower farm for her shoe painting business. (Does it get more sapphic than that?)
It was a fun read and I enjoyed the characters, despite their near constant miscommunication. I'm normally a hater of the miscommunication tropes but it was fitting for the story in this instance.

What a sweet book! Truly enjoyed both MCs and appreciated the neurodiverse rep, both autistic and ADHD. I liked the brief glimpse we get of supportive friends and family, but mostly this story just focuses on the two FMCs.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit! I binged it in one day and it held my attention the whole time. Opal and Pepper were really cute together. Plus a flower farm as a setting is kind of precious. We have opposites attract, forced proximity, and multiple POV. The author touches on autism representation which I thought was very well done. I loved how Opal and Pepper were there for each other even before they truly admitted their feelings to each other. They navigated the one another’s past coming out of the woodworks with ease. I also really enjoyed the narrator as they really held my attention! Also the cover is stunning.

EVERY GARDEN NEEDS A HOE

When I tell you I was dying laughing listening to the acknowledgments at the end of this book. I will forever be referring to this book as every garden needs a hoe.

This was a real surprise delight for me. I have liked Maisy eddings previous books but I always had small issues with them. This is her first sapphic book and all my expectations were met and then some.

This is a sapphic neurodivergent semi enemies to lovers. We have opal who is a chronic people pleaser. She is neurodivergent and bi/pan and when she wins the lottery she impulsively buys a flower farm and ditches her crappy abusive friends. Except when she gets to the flower farm does she bought from the nice old lady, she discovers that someone is already living there and doesn't know that it's been sold.

Insert Pepper. Pepper is autistic and sapphic, I can't actually remember if she is lesbian or bi but she's super duper queer. Pepper was dropped off by her abusive narcissistic mother at the flower farm when she was 16 or 17 or younger I don't remember anyway to live with her great aunt / grandma. I'm so sorry it's been a week since I've read this and apparently the small details have floated away from my mind. Anyway so she sent to live at this farm with a relative and her mom essentially abandons her. When the relative dies, pepper is under the assumption that she has to turn the flower from around and make a profit but that she is still living there. Unbeknownst to her, her mom has gone out from under her and sold the flower farm for an exorbitant money to Opal.

The two of them clash at the beginning but I wouldn't really qualify this as enemies to lovers more like enemies of circumstance. They don't actually dislike each other but it's hard to like the person that just bought your home out from under you or like the person who is living in your brand new startup life respectively. I really liked the slow growth of Pepper and Opals friendship that turned into more. I liked that both of them had their own baggage to deal with and that it wasn't skewed and one character's growth development. Both of them had things to deal with and they do.

As someone with a toxic mom, I really felt for Pepper and how hard it is to be the child of someone who generous toxic as hell and manipulative.

I saw a couple people talk about how the title is a little misleading because both of the characters know they're queer but personally I still really loved it. You know one of the characters has more experience than the other and they're both really blooming into their own identities as queer neurodivergent individuals with power. I mean learning and taking hold of your own strength is something that a lot of people have to work towards and both of these women have to do that in this book and I really liked that. I'm here for that.

Read if you like:
💐 All the flowers
🏳️‍🌈 Books that the author describes as “so gay!”
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 Queer Love
🏡 Property Drama
🌶️ Spice
🧠 Nuerospicy Characters

This book was really cute and the audio narration was well done where with the dual pov it was so easy to track between the two characters.

I really enjoyed how Mazey wrote this queer romance and as someone that loves flowers it was so atmospheric with the setting on a flower farm.

There was plenty of drama with the plot that made it a fun read!

Other than the spice, it felt like very much like a YA type of storyline and plot with both MC’s having some lacking of experiences in life and being thrust into “the real world” in this story.

So if those vibes described are up your ally I would strongly recommend taking a chance on Mazey’s fifth published novel!

Thanks so much to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a solid novel; very enjoyable, although not perfect. From start to finish there was a lot to like. The setting was beautiful and vividly described. The characters were detailed, felt real and genuine, and were believable and consistent. The plotline was relatively straightforward which made it easy to follow, yet had enough elements in play that it was able to set up a lot of interesting situations.

I loved both of the main characters (and the host of well-done side characters too!) in their own ways. Each was very well-developed and had a clear voice. They had their issues (and how!) and felt like real and complex people. I certainly wanted to wrap Opal in bubble wrap and protect her from the world, (and herself) particularly during the beginning of the novel. I loved how the characters worked together and supported/pushed each other through their character arcs.

The one part of this novel that annoyed me was how the two MC’s managed to fail so spectacularly at communicating with each other, to the extent that it was essentially the driving plot element of the novel. I understand that being bad at communicating was explicitly a defining trait of both characters, but that doesn’t make miscommunication any less annoying of a plot device. This permeated the entire novel and unfortunately took it down a peg.

The afterward where the author discussed all the potential names for the novel was a surprising delight. It was hilarious and should not be skipped.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Omg literally obsessed. This story is so good I love the whole flower farm and as a horticulture major this is now on my list of future life goals. The romance is so perfect and really shows what it’s like to be neurodivergent and navigating trying to be in a healthy relationship after a string of unhealthy ones. Opal’s identity with neurodivergence and not having a full diagnosis is really nice to read about and I think is representative of what it’s like to be in the current generation and figuring out that you’re neurodivergent. Absolutely loved this book!!!!! Also absolutely loved the audiobook narrator!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio ARC! This was a sweet romance between two neurodivergent female main characters. Opal, who dives in head first with everything without thinking, wins the lottery. She decided to buy a flower farm off of Facebook Marketplace. When she arrives she finds Pepper, the owner of the flower farm. They decide to try and make it work so Opal can live there and Pepper isn't kicked out. There's a lot of miscommunications and big feelings. I loved seeing anxiety, ADHD, and autism represented!

I loved the backdrop of this book with all the flowers. I love that not all love stories are the same. This was a good read.

Thanks Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Opal and Pepper have sparks that fly. I absolutely loved these two and their chemistry. Opal’s hair debacle was very relatable and reading about it in a book was awesome - we don’t typically get that kind of thing even in other queer books.

I love that Pepper stood up for Opal against her fake friends who just want things from Opal. Opal grew a lot as a person and Pepper helped her along through it.

The ending of this book was perfect - they were able to achieve the dreams that they were wanting!