After a long string of abuses due to her winning the lottery, Opal decides she needs a huge change of pace...so she impulsively purchases a farm on Facebook Marketplace. She's flummoxed to find the ornery Pepper living there when she arrives. Opal and Pepper decide they can cohabitate for the time being: Opal can use an outbuilding as her art studio for her sneaker-painting business while Pepper continues to cultivate the land and her beautiful flower farm. Tension rises and it isn't long before their distaste for one another turns into lust. This is a swoony enemy to lovers story that is totally immersive. Absolutely lovable characters with history and hope.

Plot: mid. Logic: mid. Sapphic romance: freaking amazing.

The forced proximity is a little absurd, Opal’s logic for her post-lottery win life could have really been a disaster.

But if you accept the lack of logic, the sapphic romance is cute, and the main characters are fully fleshed out. The minds and misguided intentions make sense to each character. I loved the people pleasing, needs a spine, overthinking Opal. I loved the untrusting, hurt, awkward with neurotypicals Pepper.

And the flower farm setting is cute. At the end of the audiobook (and probably also in print or ebook versions) the author has a guide to symbolic meanings of flowers and how they were used to coincide with character traits, states of mind, etc.

So it’s a good 3/5 stars. Enjoyable, but I don’t think I’d encourage anyone to rush out and buy the book.

I did not post a review on Instagram, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble because of the St. Martin’s boycott. I didn’t realize the book belonged to that publisher until after I posted reviews to GoodReads and Story Graph. I’m not sure if I should delete those or not. It will be different when readers are assured of safety and antiracism.

Late Bloomer is such a fun sapphic rom-com! I loved the author's notes, especially the one about all the flowers in the book and their meanings.

Mazey Eddings tends to be really hit or miss for me in terms of her romance books. I was really hoping to like Late Bloomer because 1, it has a STUNNING cover, but also it was pitched as having amazing sapphic representation as well as characters with Autism and ADHD. All three of which relate to me as a reader. But from the very first chapter, I was not a fan. I found the content incredibly cringy and overdone.

I thought the narration and production to be fine, but nothing to write home about.

Cute queer romance but there was not enough character development for me to get invested in the storyline. Narration was very well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and the pubisher for this ARC in exhcange for an honet review.

Loved this book. 4.5 stars! Our FMCs were chaotic and I loved them.
forced proximity is one of my all time favorite tropes!

The narration was so good, I didn't know it was only one narrator.

Mixed feelings overall with this book, I loved the romance and the characters I was super into that, no real complaints from me on that front.

But I didn't understand the core conflict, like at all. Like a large part of the book is Opal buying this flower farm (and therefore the business along with it) that Pepper lives and works on. And Pepper is worried about the debt the farm is in and the orders it has to perform even after Opal buys it. But didn't opal take on that business debt when she bought the farm? Opal's buying it was shortsighted and under researched- the responsibility is on her not Pepper to fix that.
And naturally Pepper wants her land back to work, but now she isn't responsible for the debt she can apply for a business loan and buy it all back from Opal, who is a pushover and probably would have agreed? i dunno the whole thing didn't make sense to me. I'm absolutely not a finance head at all but it felt like the whole conflict of this book could have been solved in one meeting at a bank.

With all that said, Pepper and Opal are super cute. I want the stories of Opal's sisters now too. Loved the romance, loved all the characters. 3.5/5 rounded up

The audiobook narrator didn't quite work and the MC was unsufferable. Didn't work for me unfortunately.

Opal and Pepper, I will not stop thinking about you two for a long time. I loved the opposites attract aspect of this romcom. The book is cozy and fun but also covers some heavier topics (which Eddings outlined in a content warning at the start of the novel) and that just makes it feel all the more real. There was seamless neurodivergent rep which made me feel seen. This is a perfect sapphic book to read during Pride Month, like I did, or at any time of year! The narration is really well done as a bonus. Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC!

Really cute Sapphic romance! Also nice to see the neurodivergent representation. It definitely has its cliche moments, but it's a really breezy, sweet. and hot read! Thank you so much for the advanced audiobook, the narrator was also wonderful!

Late Bloomer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Macey Eddings

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Winning the lottery ruined Opal Devlin's life. She may have been able to leave her dead-end job, but now she's getting endlessly bombarded with people knocking at her door for a handout . . . and she can't seem to stop saying yes.

Opal realises she has a chance to follow her own dreams, and decides to spend almost all her new money on a failing flower farm in North Carolina where she can start her painting business. But her plans for isolation soon go hopelessly awry when an angry (albeit gorgeous) Pepper Boden is waiting for her at her new farm. Pepper states that she's the rightful owner of Thistle and Bloom Farms, and she isn't moving out.

There's not much else they can do except strike up an agreement of co-habitation, but they're soon butting heads at every turn. While they each have a reason to stay, can these two opposites find a way to plant some roots? Or will their combustible arguing (and growing attraction) burn the whole place down?

My Thoughts: All I saw was Mazey Eddings, and I said YES without any other information. I LOVE her books. Even though I am a straight person, I do enjoy reading queer romance, I think it is a tad more emotional, more combustible, and just more. I have a few queer romance authors I follow and Eddings is definitely one of them. Opal just won the lottery and now all of the sudden, everyone is her friend, and wanting a handout. Opal makes a decision to follow her dreams and buys a flower farm in Ohio, and spends most of her lottery winnings on this farm that she plans to sell her unique paintings out of. Lo and behold, upon arrival at her newly purchased land, Pepper is working in the field and claims she is the rightful owner of this flower farm, that was her grandmothers. They come to an agreement to live within the same place for the summer and re-evaluate at the end of the summer. The butt heads, cannot get along, and each has a reason to stay. Will they make it? Can they find some common ground? This follows the tropes of queer romance, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, opposites attract, and sunshine/grumpy.

This was a fun sapphic queer romance. The story is a dual narration between Opal and Pepper, from their respective perspectives. The combustible tension between Opal and Pepper is evident at the very first meeting. The angst among them is palpable. The cottage core vibes really fit this story perfectly. Opal and Pepper were chaotic, while being whimsical. Both Pepper and Opal were neurodivergent, yet the author approaches their character paths in different ways, which I loved. Both Opal and Pepper’s character had tremendous growth separately and together, it was so beautiful to watch. The author also does a tremendous job at balancing tender sweet moments with funny lighthearted moments.

Opal is a sweet, fun, lovable character that exudes sunshine. Pepper is loyal to a fault, cautious of others, and is hard to get to know, however, when she lets you in, you are in for life. The chemistry, even the angst chemistry, was off the charts for these two. The characters were created with depth, witty banter, chemistry, intrigue, and were creatively weaved throughout the story. The supporting characters of Opal’s sisters, and Pepper’s best friend really did elevate the story and hopefully an opening for another book. The author’s writing style was complex, multifaceted, steamy/spicy, swoony, engaging, and just brilliant. I loved the pop culture references throughout the story. The author does a great job with the autism and neurodiversity representation. There is also the heavy topics of grief and healing that the author approaches with grace.

I had the pleasure of having both the digital and audio ARCs for this novel. The narrator, Ellie Gossage, does an amazing job at voice variation, breathing life into the character distinctions. The pitch and flow were on point. Her voice was smooth, easy to listen to, and I was able to listen at 2x speed and had no issues keeping up. I really enjoyed this novel and would recommend to anyone who loves Anita Kelly, TJ Alexander, or Alison Cochrun.

Thank you so much to MacMillan Audio for the complimentary audio!

I have been a fan of Mazey since the first book I read by her and she has continuously wowed me. I often found myself within the characters of her pages especially those that have ADHD. She just always finds ways to make her characters relatable to the average person. And just like with her other books, Edding does such a great job with queer & neurodivergent representation.

This is her first time writing a sapphic novel and I remember when the cover was announced, I knew that it was going to be a smash! Eddings comes up with such a creative way to make you get attached to the characters and their storylines. This story was such a unique one and yes I could suspend reality that someone would actually buy a flower farm in Asheville (which by the way is such a fun town). I love that Opal and Pepper had to work together to win a competition. I love that their relationship was a progression and then when it hit, it hit. One thing Edding knows how to do is write a love scene. She wrote Pepper's inexperience with such grace and Opal was so tender towards her and only wanted her to be comfortable.

This book is told from dual POV and I thought the narrator, Ellie Gossage, did a well enough job to distinguish between the two character and their POV. Would I have loved to have two narrators? Of course it would have added to the listening experience. Her tone & cadence was enjoyable and made the listening very easy & quick.

This was not my favorite Mazey book but I did really enjoyed this & Mazey will continue to be an auto-buy author!

Read this if you enjoy flowers, forced proximity, queer rep all set at a flower farm!

This book was sweet and sappy, but I think that its biggest downfall was the lackluster climax. The smut was good, the characters were good, and the plot was interesting enough. I just can't say I was super invested in it, and I was definitely left wanting for the end.

A very cute romance title. I liked the rural farm setting. The audiobook is well narrated. I recommend this title to anyone wanting to read a cute queer/lesbian romance.

This was easily one of my best reads all year! I reccomend it to everyone. It was so cozy, cute and had me kicking my feet and laughing the whole time, this love story is unmatched 💕 it was my first by this author and absolutely not my last!

I appreciated the spice in this book as well as the representation of autism and neurodivergence. It was great to see the relationship spark between two characters with similar and vastly different experiences. I also appreciated older characters as well. The concept and humor were too cheesy for me.

3.5-4ish stars. This is my favorite Mazey Eddings book so far. I've been in the mood for sapphic contemporaries and this just hit the spot. I love the queer and neurodivergent rep along with the found family aspect. You can tell how much the author enjoyed writing this story and those are my favorite books.

Narration: This was a delightful listen and the narration was wonderful, but my pet peeve continues to be using a single narrator for m/m or f/f romances.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for my copy to review.

A super sweet flower farm queer romance with amazing neurodivergent representation! I loved the chemistry between Opal and Pepper! I normally hate miscommunication tropes but I feel like this book did it in a way that wasn't "oh my god just TALK to each other" frustrating. Can we take a moment to admire the cover too?? Fantastic read!

Thank you Netgalley for the providing a digital ARC.

I DNF'ed this at 51%. The writing didn't quite jive with me and I honestly didn't really like the characters. I finally stopped because I felt like the plot was moving along in a really disjointed way from how I perceived the characters should have acted.

This was such a quick read, I read it all in a night. I loved Opal and Pepper. Their personalities were just so fun and they were so sweet. I definitely loved it and definitely recommend!