I had the privilege of getting an audio version from Macmillan Audio through NetGalley. I gave this a 4 stars, It was cute and funny. This story has to do with Opal winning the lottery and she quits her dead end job and people all around her start asking her for money and handouts, being the nice person she is, she helps them out. Later she decides to purchase a flower farm and wants to move into this place on the farm to start a painting business. When she gets to the farm, she meets Pepper and at first they don’t get a long. She says she is the rightful owner of the farm so they agree to co exist on this farm and they end up falling for each other.
In the epilogue you find out Opal saved money for Pepper so she could go to college. Such a sweet story, I would definitely recommend this book.

Genre: contemporary romance

When 24-year-old Opal wins the lottery, people who have never really cared about her come crawling out of the woodwork and her “best friend” (who gave her the scratch-offs for her birthday many weeks later as an afterthought) is hounding her to be a better friend. All Opal wants to do though is use this opportunity to get a fresh start on life. She sees a Facebook Marketplace ad for a flower farm in Asheville, NC, and jumps: property investment is a great way to spend her new wealth, right? Only, when she arrives at her new home, it’s already occupied by Pepper, a prickly 26-year-old woman whose grandmother owned the farm. At odds with one another over everything, Opal and Pepper need to figure out how to save the farm from bankruptcy and get along despite their smoldering attraction.

This was a messy joy to read. What a fun premise and I loved seeing the way Opal and Pepper battle hard with themselves to be able to love one another. Opal is a neurodivergent artist, bubbly, and a little directionless. Pepper is autistic, and personality-wise is the opposite of Opal in nearly every way. Opal’s ADHD makes her impulsive… but honestly, her age does as well. Ultimately, the ages of the characters made this book more difficult for me: they felt age appropriate but also so young. So while they were vibrant and real, I really struggle with stories about 24-year-olds who feel directionless because in all honesty, I’m not sure how many of us had direction at 24.

The joy in this book is palpable. From Opal’s energy to Pepper’s bluntness, the characters are as vibrant as the flowers they grow on their farm. The book is told in first person dual narration, which can have its challenges. Eddings does an excellent job writing the characters and their inner monologues clearly, so I never wondered whose perspective I was reading at a given time (I’ve read some books where I struggle with this even when the characters are the opposite gender.) The audiobook narrator does some excellent voice work for the dual POV, and honestly, I’m glad this doesn’t have two narrators.

This book was so good.. I have a thing for forced proximity I swear anyways.. Loved both characters and how the attraction was totally instant but of course they fought it.. Would love to read more from this Author totally a 4.5 star book.

this was so stinkin’ CUTE!!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

💭 overall thoughts:
everything about this book was like sunshine - the MCs, the side characters, the competition storyline, & the flower farm setting 🌼🌸

(except Pepper’s mom & Opal’s “best friend” & ex 😒)

📖 story:
Opal wins the lottery, buys a flower farm, and shows up there to find Pepper living & working there.
The farm belonged to Pepper’s late grandmother, and without being able to find her will, it went to her mom (who sold it off to Opal).

They decide to live together until Pepper is able to buy it back, and work together on a flower competition in order to win some of the money.

🎨🌷 MCs:
I adored both Opal & Pepper & their quirks - I really enjoy reading from POVs of neurodiverse characters, I find myself relating in many ways to how their brains work (especially those with ADHD).

I also wanted to give both of them hugs! I’m so glad they found each other 🫶🏼

🤍side characters:
I love the support Opal got from her amazing sisters, and Pepper from her closest friends. They each took in the other and really became a close little group 🥰

🎧 audio thoughts:
Ellie Gossage did such a phenomenal job with both MCs + all the side characters - she really added a lot to the story!

tropes + topics:
🌦️ grumpy sunshine
🏠 roommates/forced proximity
🌸 flower farmer
🎨 textile paint artist (on shoes!)
♾️ neurodiverse rep
❤️‍🩹 grief & loss
💞 dual 1st person pov

🫶🏼 books with similar vibes:
•Set the Record Straight by Hannah Bonam-Young (sapphic, neurodiverse MCs)
•Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner (sapphic, neurodiverse MCs, forced proximity)

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press & Macmillan Audio for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.

First would like to say thank you so much for allowing me to be an arc reader.

This was one of my favorite reads of 2024 so far. I have never identified with a character in a book so much. The way you portrayed mental health was so on point, I thought you were writing about me! I was able to relate and fall in love with the characters myself. I really enjoyed seeing the personal growth Opal and Pepper go through, it is truly inspiring. It has just enough spice to keep me engaged and a plot that had me listening all day!

Another banger from Mazey Eddings.

Sapphic JOY!!

Opal has been not having the best time of it- keeps going back to her shitty ex, not content in her work life so when her “friend” gifts her some scratch off lottery tickets for her birthday and she wins big! She buys the damn farm! Literally a flower farm where she intends to create and sell her artwork. But when she gets to the farm the current tenant wasn’t aware the farm had sold and isn’t going to just hand over the keys willingly.

Some of the conflict was miscommunication which is one of my least favorite tropes but the way it was done in this was endearing. I loved the romance, the flowers and both main characters so much!

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listening copy.

DNF by first chapter…Opal is super annoying and can’t deal with her people pleasing tendencies. I usually love this author’s writing style but this doesn’t work for me.

This book was so cute! A grumpy x sunshine sapphic love story between two neurodivergent women, and it takes place on a flower farm. The characters were well developed and had so much growth throughout the story. The relationship was adorable, the side characters were charming, and the setting was so gay (compliment). The author portrays different types of neurodivergence in a realistic manner, and I think everyone can see some of themselves in Opal and Pepper. I listened to this book as an audiobook and thought the narrator was amazing. Her accents were cute, and she did a great job changing her inflection, so we always knew what character was talking. The book was beautiful overall and had so many different types of representation. This story was the funny, adorable, (spicy), lesbian romance I needed.

Two women fall in love on an Appalachian flower farm despite the con that brought them together in Mazey Eddings's steamy sapphic romance, Late Bloomer. Artist and flailing adult Opal is surprised when her terrible roommate gives her a belated birthday gift: a scratch-off lottery ticket and she's absolutely shocked when she wins $500,000.
Impulsive Opal serendipitously sees a flower farm for sale on Facebook marketplace and jumps at the chance to start over and finally pursue her art as a career. After only short conversation and an exchange of check for deed, it comes as no surprise to the reader that the sweet, generous woman who sold Opal this dream wasn't exactly straightforward.
Grieving farmer Pepper has been searching for her beloved grandmother's will ever since her death a few months earlier, but when no will was found, the courts ruled that the farm belonged to Pepper's grifter mother... and apparently now it belongs to Opal.
Eddings skillfully takes a far-fetched premise and turns it into a funny, heartfelt romance. Sunshiney Opal and grumpy Pepper find common ground in both their worries about failing as adults and their experiences with manipulation by those closest to them. Opal's sisters and Pepper's spirited queer friend group provide comic relief and the support both women need as they work to find a way out of the farm's dire financial straits.
Late Bloomer enchants with humor and heat, nuanced neurodivergence representation and an especially swoony grump with a heart of gold.
Narration notes: Ellie Gossage did a great job narrating this audiobook. It's often difficult in dual POV audiobooks with same-gender pairings to tell the narrating characters apart, but Gossage made it easy. She captured the melancholy/loneliness and humor really well, too. Though I've loved her other books, this was the first time I've read a Mazey Eddings book on audio and I highly recommend it.

I loved Pepper and Opal! Loved to see neurodivergent main characters who love each other and strive to communicate and work together better!

Late Bloomer is the book my heart has been yearning for…achingly tender, heart wrenchingly relatable—this was BEAUTIFUL. It had me crying almost immediately and barely a moment of dry eyes all the way through. Both the queer rep and the neurodivergent rep were so, so good. Books like this, where I feel so seen and a little less alone in my experience of the world, are…everything. They’re everything. I need more stories from this author and will absolutely be picking up her previous books and keeping an eye out for new ones!

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of listening to the audiobook. The narrator did a great job of differentiating the characters in a natural way so it was always clear which perspective each part was in, which I always appreciate.

A sapphic neurodivergent romance set on a flower farm... the ideal spring read!!

Sweet, spicy, and full of emotion, Opal and Pepper's story begins when Opal unknowingly uses her lottery winnings to purchase Thistle and Bloom farms- Pepper's farm - and the two are quickly thrust into an unlucky roommate predicament. The neurodivergent rep (autistic & adhd/audhd) was beautifully done, and the care that Eddings puts into her writing is evident on each page. Both characters are able to grow independently in their understanding of self, and their neurodivergency helps them to better connect with each other.

While I loved the characters and their relationship, I struggled with the plot and ended the book wanting more from the story. The conflict was too minimal to really feel the payoff of a happy ending romance. There was potential with the secondary characters for a higher-stakes climax, and without it the plot skated too smoothly.

Ellie Gossage as audiobook narrator elevated the book's multiple pov's, as with each chapter's perspective switch, her clearly defined voices for Opal and Pepper carried the listener eagerly through the story. Her narration was strongly reflective of both women's internal monologues and emotions, amplifying the connection at the heart of the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio arc!

Solid 4 star romance.

This was my first ever sapphic romance and I really enjoyed the background of this book! There were parts that were laugh of loud funny to me. Opal and Pepper are truly the golden retriever x black cat trope and it played out so perfectly in this story. Which now I'm thinking about it Opal is a bright white stone and Pepper is black so their names I guess were literal representations of their personalities (lol). I felt like the characters were really fun and well thought out by Eddings. I absolutely LOVED the idea of saving a flower farm, it was so so sweet. I haven't read any stories with that detail! Also, the autism and neurodivergent representation was so well done.

Tropes: grumpy x sunshine, forced proximity, found family
Spice: 3/5

I loved the cozy cottage vibes and the cover is GORGEOUS! I received the audiobook arc and the narrator did a great job. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan audio.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the early audio for a chance to listen and review.

This is my second sapphic book and I was intrigued with the premise of flower farm meet lottery winner. What I got was a neurodivergent girls who can't talk to each other, which I guess is fitting? Overall I really liked this story, there was a lot of the miscommunication trope partnered with maybe a bit of being a little too immature on both fronts.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship, the angst included, and the build up to the big contest. The narcistic mom was a touch that added more drama to the story, and made more sense why Pepper was as she was. This was a combination or finding your true self, and learning how to stick up for yourself.

I really enjoyed this narrator, she did a great job of doing the different voices, and especially the southern accent!

Technically a DNF at 89% - I just didn't care enough to finish it, honestly.

I read a ton of sapphic romance and was very excited for this based on that amazing cover and the setting of a flower farm. Finding out that both characters were neurodivergent was a huge plus as well! What a big disappointment it was, though. The MCs seemed to have little actual connection beyond the physical, which is fine, but I don't know how you go from no-strings-attached to I-love-you's just by having lots of sex. Some of the characterization was inconsistent, too - I couldn't tell you what Opal's actual main characteristics are other than the brightly colored hair. The plot was nearly non-existent, honestly, which is why I didn't care to finish the last ten percent of the book even after investing that much time in it, which is something I rarely do.

I will not be posting my review on social media until SMP adequately addresses the boycott.

Late Bloomer is an adorably cheesy, neurodivergent sapphic romance like you won’t be-leaf. After winning the lottery, Opal takes stalk of her life and realizes she needs a fresh start. She puts almost every peony into buying a wilting flower farm. She certainly wasn’t expecting a thorny woman named Pepper to be there when she arrived. What in carnation!? Despite the less than ideal circumstances, they find each other iris-istible. After putting their tulips together, it’s harder to deny how head clover heels they are. However, deeply rooted traumas trample their communication. Pepper tries to backpetal, afraid of getting hurt, but Opal wants to put the petal to the metal.

Mazey Eddings rose to the occasion with this book. At first, I thought it would be garden variety, but as the plot thickened, I lilac-ed the ability to hit pause. Don’t let the cuteness deceive, this book will talk dirt to you. I loved this book and recommend it if you have the thyme.

So i’ve never read a FF rom before and I throughly enjoyed this one. it was light and fun. As a first time FF reader, (I have read plenty MM and reverse harem) it was a great intro to that relationship dynamic.

Summary:
“Winning the lottery has ruined Opal Devlin's life. After quitting her dead-end job where she’d earned minimum wage and even less respect, she’s bombarded by people knocking at her door for a handout the second they found out her bank account was overflowing with cash. And Opal can’t seem to stop saying yes. With her tender heart thoroughly abused, Opal decides to protect herself by any means necessary, which to her translates to putting almost all her new money to buying a failing flower farm in Asheville, North Carolina to let the flowers live out their plant destiny while she uses the cabin on the property to start her painting business. But her plans for isolation and self-preservation go hopelessly awry when an angry (albeit gorgeous) Pepper Boden is waiting for her at her new farm. Pepper states she’s the rightful owner of Thistle and Bloom Farms, and isn’t moving out. The unlikely pair strike up an agreement of co-habitation, and butt heads at every turn. Can these opposites both live out their dreams and plant roots? Or will their combustible arguing (and growing attraction) burn the whole place down?”

Writing:
Great story and super cute. I appreciate the flower farm main setting because I never think about the fact that flower farms are real and they are necessary.

Characters:
This is the first time where one of the main characters has autism and talks about it but it’s not her complete personality. I appreciate that texture sensitivity topic that was briefly mentioned, it was well placed and gave more insight to Pepper as a character. Opal is the cutest thing I have read. I picture her as this tiny woman with rose gold hair that looks like she wouldn’t hurt a fly but could beat you up if you made her mad. She was the perfect person for Pepper.

Audio:
While it is a FF I wish there were two different narrators. Sometimes I get confused when it’s the same voice for the two main characters. It did help that she used different voices but there were times when I had to look at the chapters POV

Tropes:
💐FF
💐Grumpy x sunshine
💐Forced Proximity
💐One Bed


Listened through ALC

Opal Devlin ends up winning the lottery when her friend gifts her the ticket as a belated birthday present. Once people find out that she’s won money, Opal is contacted by more than one person calling to insert themselves into her life. She decides she needs a fresh start and purchases a flower farm in North Carolina where she plans on painting nature for a living.

What Opal doesn’t expect when she arrives at her new farm is to already find it occupied. Pepper Boden lived there for years with her grandmother and on her own after her grandmother’s recent passing. Opal has the deed to the house and land, but Pepper assures her that the farm was meant to be hers albeit she hasn’t found her grandmother’s will. They agree to share the living space until they get it sorted out, not knowing if the space is big enough for the two of them.

I enjoyed this listening to this narrator and would definitely listen to other narrations that she has done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to an ALC of this novel. #NetGalley #LateBloomer

“Late Bloomer” by Mazey Eddings is a heartwarming story about newfound purpose and unexpected love. Opal’s journey from lottery winner to flower farm owner is filled with humor, chaos and heart, especially when she begins to fall for Pepper. Their unlikely partnership and eventual romance make for entertaining and heartwarming reading.

However, what sets Eddings apart is her portrayal of Pepper as more than just a character defined by her autism. While Pepper’s struggles with a large break in her routine and letting new people into her life are integral to the plot, Eddings focusing more on her estranged mother and how the flower farm is the only place she’s been able to call home goes beyond stereotypes to create a fully fleshed-out character with depth and complexity.

Since I refused to put the story down once it started, I doubled up and began listening to the audiobook as well! Ellie Gossage’s narration is so genuine that it’s easy to get lost in their world. Her portrayal of both main characters adds depth and authenticity to the characters, making it feel like you’re alongside Opal and Pepper as they navigate the ups and downs of life on the flower farm.

While some plot points may feel rushed towards the end, “Late Bloomer” ultimately delivers a satisfying and uplifting read that will leave readers rooting for Opal and Pepper long after they’ve turned the final page. If you’re looking for a fast paced read to welcome the beginning of Spring, this April 16th release is for you!

PS. If you have the ARC, read the author’s notes so you know why I picked this song for the post! I’ll admit I’m usually one to ignore these, but Edding’s notes were an excellent companion to the story!

I am so in love with Mazey Eddings books! She never misses!!!

Opal was so lovable, creative and relatable. Her neurodivergent tendencies were the story of my life and I loved her outlook on life. I felt very connected to Opal and thought he was a wonderful MC.

Pepper was the autistic lesbian flower farmer of my dreams. I loved getting her POV during the story as well. The way she perceived and processed things was written so accurately and lovely.

The plot itself was adorable, such a classic tale of misunderstandings and such. I loved every minute of this lovely story.