Mazey Eddings does it again!!! This is such a sweet love story with a whole lot of spice!

The way these two characters have so much mentally to work through before they can come together fully is so honest and felt realistic to many relationships.

And the way they meet each other in the middle and care for and understand each other melted my heart.

Mazey writes mental health representation so well.

My one downside that I think was just a mood reader issue - when I was reading this I wasn’t quite in the mood for the amount of smut that was in this book. I love a smutty book, but this one felt a little too consistent and close together at times - but I do really think it was just a me thing because it was also well written smut!

This lighthearted, breezy read was a romp. The setting was one of my favorite things about the book. The cozy, cottagecore-esque flower farm was truly a dream. One might even say the vibes were immaculate. Plus, the witty, quippy dialogue was a blast. The fusion of Opal and Pepper's eccentric personalities made for some riotous chemistry. I was snorting my way through the whole thing. Personally, I would have preferred a little more focus on the odd-ness of the situation these two find themselves in legally, and/or at least a little more believeable tension. It could tend to be pretty cliché and cheesy, but hey. It's a romcom to be sure. Overall a win for us queer neurodivergents.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for a copy of the eARC.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book but the execution fell flat. Opals character was very confusing and neither one of them made me feel strongly about them. I love the themes of acceptance but I just wanted to care more about their journey and growth

*3.5 stars

I wanted to love this book...and I did really enjoy it. It hit a lot of tropes I love - small town romance, there's a flower farm, autism representation, grumpy/sunshine, etc. I loved the cottagecore vibes of the home on the flower farm, the work that was done on the flower farm, greenhouses, creativity talk (one of the main characters loved to create - painting, crafting, drawing, etc). The vibes were totally there.

However, I could not get over the miscommunication - over and over and over and over. It made me dislike the characters SOOO much at times. Then things would get better and I would think we were through it. Nope.. miscommunication again. Over dumb stuff. I hated it. I felt like it took away from the plot.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable read!

Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings was stunning! I loved her book A Brush with Love and these might be duking it out to be my favorite of hers! Escape to a North Carolina flower farm filled with found family and friends with benefits you won’t regret it!

Sweet YA story of first love. Always nice to see such an innocent take on coming into yourself as a young person.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest feedback!

Pepper and Opal 🌸🌸🌸

Mazey Eddings is the real deal. I’ve read all her books and was so excited to get my hands on this one! She’s a killer romance writer, but in my opinion, she’s on another level writing about mental health and neurodivergent people. It’s so wonderful seeing parts of yourself represented in her characters and experiencing their happily ever after.

I also loved the author’s note in the end where she discussed the various meanings of different flowers and how she incorporated them in the story. Going that extra mile to make a sweet moment in the book even deeper!

Read this book if you love:
🌸 Small town
🌸 Forced proximity
🌸 Mental health, healing, and growth
🌸 Opposites attract
🌸 Found family
🌸 Representation for all romance readers

3.5/5 stars ✨

This queer romance was incredibly cute. Honestly, I thought the cover was adorable, so I went for it and I am glad I did. This story is about two neurodivergent women Pepper who has some serious impulse control issues due to her ADHD and Opal who is autistic.

Pepper, is an artist who wins a scratch off lottery ticket and immediately buys a flower farm off of FB marketplace. Upon arriving to her newfound property, Pepper she meets Opal, a flower farmer who has lived in the farm with her grandmother who had recently died. Awkwardness ensues immediately due to all the confusion and frustration as the property was sold without Opal’s knowledge. The two women try to make sense of the situation which includes the ownership of the property as well as the finances.

Despite their frustrations about the situation of the farm, the two women decide to live together until Opal can buy the farm from under Pepper or if a will is ever found. While living together their attraction becomes palpable which leads to some sexual frustration.
This definitely is a slow burn romance with a lot of spice. It is a very sweet book, but I did find myself being a little frustrated with Pepper’s impulsivity which I found to be a little over the top.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty fun read and would say it’s an excellent spicy spring read.

I want to thank #Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing my with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title! All thoughts are my own.

This was my first read by this author and I do admit it has me wanting to read more for sure!

These characters are likeable and entertaining. The writing style caters to me ADHD brain and the banter was superb.

I love a good sapphic story, but the actual storyline felt a bit forced at times and the timeline of some of it seemed to not make sense.

Even though I didn't overly love the storyline, I did really love the characters and the neurodivergent representation! That's why I'm rating this 4 stars.

Unfortunately, did to the SMP boycott on social media I won't be posting my review. I was given access to this title prior to the start of that. I hope SMP does take action soon so we can all share and talk about books like this one and spread the love for authors and all their hard work.

What happens when all of a sudden you win the lottery and have more money than you know what to do with? If you answered "buy a flower farm in North Carolina" you'd be making the exact same choice as Opal.

With a start of cute and fluffy, this quickly switched gears and while I expected some of the tougher subjects- this fell just a smidge flat for me. I adore cute sapphic romances and the premise of a flower farm is honestly adorable. There was some disconnect between Opal and Pepper in terms of relationship growth that just didn't fully work for me. The no strings attached was fine, I was excited for the 'who falls first' turn but the work these two need to do independently before falling for anyone really took me out of the romance aspect. These are some wishy-washy characters and you've just gotta get into the right mindset to really appreciate them and the story.

“𝗙𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗔 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘆. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹.”

References to The Mummy AND Twilight? I think I’m in love with Mazey Eddings. 🥰

This book was like a warm hug and a cup of coffee on a rainy day. It was so sweet and achingly wholesome. How I wish I could go to the Thistle & Bloom to visit Opal and Pepper!

This book offers the audience mental health representation and also a cast & crew of lgbtq characters with various neurodivergence. 🫶🏻 Pepper is autistic and doesn’t really go by any sexual orientation and Opal is either autistic or ADHD, but she’s never really been tested. She’s also bisexual.

It was so nice to see this representation in the book and it was done well which I loved! I really enjoyed getting to see thoughts that are so similar to my own neurodivergent brain. ☺️💜

I would absolutely recommend this one if you’re looking for a light & fluffy romance mixed with a bit of spice!

- I adore Mazey Eddings’ writing. Her characters are such beautiful portrayals of neurodiverse people (autism and ADHD in this book), showing readers that thees people are full human beings worthy of being loved just as they are.
- The setup of this plot, on the other hand, I had a bit of a hard time wrapping my mind around. I think I just had a hard time believing that they would come around to each other, despite the incredible chemistry they had.
- Regardless, everything else about this book is lovely and tender.

Thank you Netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore these neurodivergent sapphics.

The premise for Late Bloomer already seemed exactly like I what j want in a romance novel and it more than delivered. Humor but without being too focused on making the reader laugh, dramatic premise without being too cheesy, and lots of heart without being saccharine.

The characters felt like fully fledged people and not just caricatures existing within a plot. I felt like I knew both Opal and Pepper and would be so happy hanging out with their friend group.

I also appreciated the showcasing of two different types of neurodivergence and the differences and similarities between them. I felt like the descriptions of both characters’ actions and thought process was quite realistic and did not try and act like there was something wrong with them for being neurodivergent.

I absolutely adored this book and would definitely recommend it.

A low stakes queer romance with neurodivergent leads and a dual POV structure, this felt cozy though not particularly memorable.

Opal is quite manic, naive, a bit trill and annoying, but overall very warm. She’s a lovely doormat and while I get where the author was going with her…she was just a step too far IMO. Also someone really needs to get her a financial planner. No one like her should win the lottery.

Pepper was meant to be the grumpy / prickly half and while she doesn’t quite manage that, her distrustful nature certainly ruffled my feathers and took me a while to come around on her.

Ultimately I didn’t really buy the romance between these two. They don’t make sense together, their attraction seems built solely on lust, and their character growth seems too intertwined with the romance.

Overall it was just ok and I found myself more interested in the side characters than the main ones. The spice itself felt stilted and almost formulaic instead of organic and heart pounding, which stems from the lack of believability of the romance.

Mazey Eddings is one of my insta-request authors. This one was just as good as I was expecting. More to come upon release!

I really enjoyed this book and the romance. I've never read Mazey Eddings before but after reading Late Bloomer, I definitely will be reading more of their books.

I always love Mazey's books and so of course I loved this one too. The story was fresh and fun but comfortable. I loved the representation of sexuality but also of neurodivergence. I saw parts of myself in both opal and pepper. Even though the story was fairly lighthearted the writing wasn't. I love when a book might be simple on the surface but the words pack a punch. The line about being loved just because you exist not because of whatever value you limit yourself to (bad paraphrase) was so good.

3.5 Stars

This was a cute read about Opal who ends up winning the lottery and buying a flower farm in NC. Pepper however, is currently living on the farm and had no idea it was even up for sale so the two upon realizing it come up with a plan for both of them to stay.

This was a really cute lighthearted romance between the two and I had fun reading it. There were points that felt rushed which ended up in me rating the book slightly lower. Overall, I did enjoy this one!

"𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 ... 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰. 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦."



I swear that Mazey Eddings can do no wrong.

This was such a beautiful masterpiece and I saw so many pieces of myself in both Pepper and Opal.

Pepper's abandonment issues.

Opal's general feelings of being in the way... or being a burden... or making a mess of things.

But, man. The way they stand up for each other with Trish and Laney (who are the absolute worst, by the way)... gosh, my heart. ❤️

Thank you so so much to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for this review!
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I love Mazey’s writing and character-building! The setting of a flower farm was splendid. The sapphic romance was lovely. You go to see inside both of the character’s heads and understand their viewpoint and reasoning.

My girl Lizzie and her cake-making were mentioned!!

I think it would be lovely if Opal’s sisters were able to have their happily ever afters told in the future.