The PERFECT Sapphic romance!

I often hate books that take place in North Carolina because they don't make sense geographically. I grew up in Asheville and was TERRIFIED when the book moved there after a lottery winning artist bought a flower farm from the estranged mother of the woman running the flower farm. The romance was perfect and lovely. I even listened to the book AFTER reading the whole thing, I enjoyed it that much.

I recommend giving this a chance. It is wonderful!

The narration is also great!

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for the ARC.

3 ⭐️

It's okay.

There's nothing wrong with the book at all. The characters are fine, the romance is fine, and the subplot is fine, but unfortunately, there's nothing special about it either.

It also didn't help that I'm kinda tired of reading about sad people second-guessing/freaking out about any sign of positive affection in romance novels.

"Late Bloomer" by Mazey Eddings is a heartwarming tale of self-discovery and embracing one's own pace in life. A delightful read!

Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings was an adorable sapphic romance about Opal who wins the lottery and buys an old flower farm off of Facebook Marketplace only to discover that Pepper is already living there. The neurodivergent representation in this book was really amazing. I felt like especially Opal's ADHD was written more authentically than most stories I have seen. This book had a lot of depth touching on mental health, anxiety, grief, and abuse whilst never straying from it's upbeat & happy vibes. Overall, it was a super fun read. My only complaint is that I would have like a little bit more time spent in the conclusion, but that could be partly because I didn't want to leave their story.

The audiobook did a fantastic job in giving both Opal and Pepper unique & recognizable voices, especially since the chapters often alternated narrators.

Thanks to Net Galley, Mazey Eddings, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review this Advanced Audiobook!

I received a copy of this in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Can I just start by saying the cover is SO cute!?
I've found there to be a shortage of well-written sapphic romances, so I was SO VERY excited to get the opportunity to read / listen to this.

The two MCs are ... just so amazing. Their characteristics and dynamics are fabulous.
The storybuilding here was brilliant. The side characters were also great!

To put it simply, I enjoyed everything about this book. Truly. And i cannot wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to @NetGalley for letting me listen to the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I love the different representations of characters, ASD, nuerodivergant, and variety of sexual orentations. The main characters had unique backstories which was fantastic. However the plot was so slow without much happening other than different varieties of miscommunication. I wish there was more depth to the plot and overall more to the story.

What a delightful unexpected romance. Finding happiness in rubble of their lives. Both Opal and and Pepper were at points of their lives where they were lost and a little broken. Finding peace, love, and acceptance is a journey worth listening too.

It took me a bit more to get into this one compared to the rest of Mazey's books. I love love love the cover, but it ended up being the best part of the book for me. I did love the flowers, but I just struggled with the main couple.
I did find that the audiobook helped me to keep going in the story. Ellie Gossage did a wonderful job with the narration and I would absolutely listen to another book read by her.

<b><i>"Sometimes I hate myself, I hate my meekness and my boldness, my fear and my audacity to try. Sometimes the hate digs its roots in so deep it feels like it </i>is<i> me. I </i>hate<i> that hate. I have endless grace for everyone in the world but, none for myself."</i></b>

I felt this so much. So many people have struggled with loving themselves and this quote just really resonated with me. This is a story about two young women who struggle with feeling they deserve love. I truly fell in love with these characters, their lives, and their faults. Both FMC are so relatable, but each in different ways because they really are so opposite.
This book is a reminder to love yourself and that you deserve to be loved.💖

To be completely honest, I was a <i>little</i> skeptical of this book in the beginning. Opal was <i>so</i> naive, and I felt like buying the farm was totally unrealistic and not believable. This is just about the only negative thing I need to say about this, and really it makes sense once you get to know her character lol.

If you enjoy queer romance, close proximity, strangers to lovers, friends with benefits, flowers, gardening (this one got me), imperfect characters, neurodivergent characters, and just good people - this one is for you :)

Audiobook: Literally incredible. I listened at 1.75x speed. Ellie Gossage has done an impeccable job with this one. Both characters truly feel like they are independent of once another, I love the voices she has for Opal and Pepper. I have nothing negative to say about this one. 10⭐

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this audiobook, read by Ellie Gossage, and published by MacMillan Audio

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillian Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook!
While this book was not something I would typically read, I did enjoy it! The writing was good, and I liked the narrator. If you are someone who enjoys nice romance books/audiobooks, then this would be perfect!
Thank you again for the early access to Late Bloomer!

I know this book will find the right audience, I just happened to be the wrong one for it. I feel much older than I thought as their love story evolved. The tone of the book is aimed at younger generations. Not a YA, but just cracking the teens to 20s feels. The newness of love, finding self, finding your niche, it was hard for me to get into this book because those roads were long ago for me and I couldn't quite attach to their journey. And their journey? Was a bit tepid. Steamy scenes? Hot, but the development of their relationship as they sort through life separately and then together fell a bit... flat?

It is a cute read, a great performance by the narrator- enjoyed the nuanced voice changes for each character, and love a neurodivergent MC as I am 100% on that same brainwave. Bear in mind it's a younger love story and try it on for size for a sweet, light footed HEA.

This book admittedly let me down. I wanted to love it so much, and I was so so excited when I gained access to the audiobook. The narrator, Ellie Gossage, is incredible and does a fabulous job of alternating between all the different characters, so props to her! However, I had some serious issues with the book, and they didn’t get better as the story progressed.

The novel builds up this sense of sexual tension that is supposed to burn between Opal and Pepper, but it reads as no connection beyond the physical. I didn’t know why they were interested in each other besides sexual attraction, and that felt pretty flat. The characters didn’t really have anything in common barring their neurodivergence, self-loathing, and inability to communicate, and what am I supposed to do with that? Plus, these issues of communication continued throughout the book, and only fully resolved itself at around the 94% mark of the book, which feels FAR too late in the game to be learning to speak to each other honestly.

Moreover, the discussion of neurodivergence was really disappointing. I appreciated the author’s attempt to normalize and show the diversity of what neurodivergence looks like, and differentiating between the often-conflated ADHD and autism. But, as a few other reviews note, the constant framing of both characters as “walking disasters” (a direct quote from Opal, referring to herself) who cannot get their shit together or be successful, open, or loved, played into stereotypes implicitly that I found incredibly damaging. This is completely separate from the characterization of the protagonists beyond their neurodivergent characteristics: I found them to be gullible (Opal), far too closed off and borderline rude (Pepper), and pretty weak-willed for the majority of the story (kinda both of ‘em). I wanted more from both of their personalities, and didn’t get much growth beyond them just learning to say “I love you” to one another.

Overall, this was a bit of a letdown, and I give it 2.5⭐, rounded to 3 on Goodreads.

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I found the two characters to be really developed. Loved the representation. I hated the third act break up because it really wasn’t necessary at all. It just made both characters be extremely annoying for absolutely no reason.

Thanks to Saint Martin’s Press for providing me with an audio ARC for this book. I will not be posting a detailed review of this book until they address the petition from Readers for Accountability. Islamophobia should not be tolerated and they need to openly discuss safeguards that they have in place to protect marginalized voices.

https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/speak-up-st-martins-press

🌸🌻🌷🌸🌻🌷🌸🌻🌷🌸🌻🌷
♡ ᴀʀᴄ ᴀᴜᴅɪᴏ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ ♡
ʟᴀᴛᴇ ʙʟᴏᴏᴍᴇʀ
ᴍᴀᴢᴇʏ ᴇᴅᴅɪɴɢs
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️

•sᴀᴘᴘʜɪᴄ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ
•ɢʀᴜᴍᴘʏ x sᴜɴsʜɪɴᴇ
•ғᴏʀᴄᴇᴅ ᴘʀᴏxɪᴍɪᴛʏ
•sᴍᴀʟʟ ᴛᴏᴡɴ sʟᴏᴡ ʙᴜʀɴ

Happy release week to this beauty! Read / listen if you enjoy cheesy (yet funny) banter with lots of pop culture references and disability rep 👏🏼 The attraction was fantastic and the characters were very unique, along with the plot as it unfolded. It was a cozy hug in a book for sure, way more emotional than I was originally expecting.

Some of the character development felt off to me. How does a character instantly go from being a meek pushover to an outgoing alpha who says what she wants? Anyways, it was a cute listen that I still recommend.

🌸🌻🌷✨🌻🌷🌸🌻🌷🌸🌻🌷🌸

This is a lighthearted and enjoyable sapphic romance between two people who unexpectedly become roommates when they each believe they are the rightful owners of the same flower farm. They wind up as lovers while living together and working on a big project.

Both Opal and Pepper are characters that are easy to like for their own reasons, and the building of the romantic and sexual tension was well done so that I was ready for them to finally get together when they did.

If you're looking for a romance with a bit of drama but also a happily ever after (and are willing to suspend some disbelief about how two people might actually deal with a situation where they thought they owned the same house) then this book is a good one to pick up.

Thank you to SMP Romance and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy and to Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy. These opinions are my own.

I am so pleased that Mazey Eddings wrote a sapphic romance featuring two neurodivergent characters. Opal wins the lottery and decides to buy a flower farm to use as a studio for her art. But when she arrives, she finds that Pepper lives there and believes she owns her grandmother's farm.

I absolutely loved all the discussion of flowers and art. I love to garden and all the puns and growing really spoke to me. I was also a huge fan of the found family that Pepper has. It spoke so well to the kinds of safe spaces that queer people can create. I equally enjoyed Opal's sisters and would have loved to see more flashbacks of Pepper's grandmother. The secondary characters really stole the story for me.

But some parts of the book felt a bit too outlandish for me. I struggled with suspending disbelief from the initial lottery win through some of the various choices that followed. And the climax in particular really lost me.

Ellie Gossage narrated beautifully and captured the spirit of both main characters. I expect many people to love this book.

3.5 stars rounded up

When Opal wins the lottery all sorts of “friends” come back into her life out of nowhere. As a notorious people pleaser, Opal struggles with this new popularity and decides the best way to protect herself is through a fresh start. So she buys a flower farm on Facebook marketplace. When she arrives at the farms she’s surprised to find Pepper is already living there and claims to be the rightful owner. They strike a deal, Pepper can stay there while she tries to save the farm from bankruptcy and eventually buy the farm back from Opal, meanwhile Opal will also stay there and start her new show business. But how can they cohabitate when they seem to argue over every little thing?

I just love Mazey Eddings’ writing - her characters are always incredible and authentic. They are a bit chaotic and messy, but also so compassionate and caring at heart. Opal and Pepper are the perfect examples of this. This book features autism and ADHD representation and is done so beautifully. In so many ways, both Pepper and Opal are misunderstood, but as you get through their many layers, you find the sweetest characters and I wanted them to succeed in life from page one. I loved the premise of this - from Opal winning the lottery and chaotically buying a flower farm, to her teaming up with Pepper to save the farm, this was the grumpy and sunshine romance of my flower loving dreams. I want to visit Thistle and Bloom farm immediately - or at least buy a bouquet from them. This was the sweetest journey of two women healing from their past traumas and finding their paths in life and I loved that they were able to find those paths together.

I loved the audiobook narrated by Ellie Gossage. While she did a phenomenal job bringing the story to life, I do wish there had been 2 narrators to more clearly distinguish between Pepper and Opal’s points of view. There were a few times I got confused about who’s perspective I was listening to.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copies.

I don't think I'm in my romance era anymore.

This had so much promise in the first few chapters, but then it started going downhill. The insta love was a bit much, the plot line of Opal's hair was unnecessary and distracting, their deal felt forced and an excuse, and the MULTIPLE third act break ups were insane. On the plus side, the audiobook narration was good.

The two characters, Opal (who wins the lottery and then buys a flower farm and moves to Asheville) and Pepper (granddaughter and current resident of said flower farm) were both pretty complete characters. Were they a little similar, yes, but in general I felt like they had distinct personality traits that felt real. Opal was a compulsive people pleaser, Pepper has deep-seated trust issues stemming from a trauma-filled childhood, and both of these things were reflected in the choices they made throughout the book. So that's one good thing.

Opal is compelled by... something... to bleach her hair fairly early into the story and she ends up over processing it and burning her hair causes some of it to come off in clumps in her hand. This becomes a thing throughout the rest of the book. Her commenting on her bad hair, trying to cover it up, more pieces coming off, her dying it again to salvage the look... why? Why is this important or relevant to the story? If it were a thing of like "Opal tries to assert control in her life but it goes awry and she's left with the consequences and struggles to make do with it and accept her situation" ok, but that's not really the character arc she's going on. If anything I would say that Opal needs to learn how to control more of her life. If it's a comment on her recklessness and impulsiveness, she just bought a flower farm that she saw on Facebook without seeing it first. We don't need another example of this. It just doesn't make sense and I don't think it served any purpose.

The deal that Opal and Pepper come to at around 50% of the book is their excuse to have sex despite their relationship still barely being developed. And while I really enjoyed how the sex scene played out (communication, vulnerability, acceptance), I still hated the fact that it felt like it was happening because that's what's supposed to happen in a romance novel. To all the romance authors out there: It is OK if it takes time to get to a sex scene, in fact it is better if it takes time because the payoff and connection between the characters are better. And yearning is an essential part to the sapphic experience!!! We need yearning in sapphic romances that lasts longer than two weeks.

I know we talk about how we hate the miscommunication trope, but this was too much. It was people purposefully misinterpreting the other person to hurt themselves. Pepper I understand because she has autism and her reasons behind her responses and actions to Opal made sense - even if some were also annoying - but Opal was just unhinged in her deliberate misunderstandings of Pepper. The final third act break up was so stupid and so forced that I actually said "shut up" out loud. It didn't need to be there! The drama was already there, you didn't have to do that on top of it.

I'm just so frustrated because I want to love these sapphic romances coming out, but they're falling victim to the romance blight. I have other sapphic romances on my tbr that I do want to read, but I'm hesitant to pick them up now.

TLDR; this was sweet, but very annoying.

Such a sweet and comfy romance that took so many tropes and made me them their own thing. This book felt fresh and unique in a genre that can get predictable. I felt like the audiobook made it feel more YA, but otherwise an excellent narration.
I know some people get annoyed with pop culture references but for me, this felt like just a little slice of life, with characters I could really connect to. I want more AUDHD representation so I’m so happy to read it when I do!
Thanks to net galley for the audio arc, full review to come.