TV-Rating would be MA for spice (open door 2 open door scenes with frequent references), language (frequent f and s words), and trigger warnings (trauma from a natural disaster)
Loved this book. The chemistry between Jack and Tansy reminded of Luke and Lorelei.

Where You’re Planted by Melanie Sweeney is a beautiful standalone contemporary romance available July 8, 2025.

A catastrophic hurricane unexpectedly hits Houston and Tansy Perkins is rescued by grumpy Jack Reid not once but twice. The floodwaters completely destroy Tansy’s home and the library she works at. Months later her library has been temporarily relocated to the botanic gardens Jack is the director of and the pair are not happy with the arrangement. Sharing space, even outdoor space, is difficult when you don’t get along. Tansy is determined to secure funding for the library’s renovation and take care of herself and her daughter Briar, without anyone rescuing her. Jack is dealing with his own struggles and is also trying to secure money for the gardens’ renovations. Although Jack prefers plants over people, Tansy’s quirky personality, endearing devotion to her library cohorts and love for Briar, becomes hard for Jack to ignore.

Melanie writes a novel that is full of nuance, found family, acts of service, love, and relatable characters. I loved how both the garden and library were dedicated to their community. I really enjoyed this story and will be reading more from Sweeney in the future.

Read this if you like:
-single mom
-found family
-forced proximity
-enemies to lovers
-acts of service
-open door 🌶️🌶️

Thank you Putnam and NetGalley for a copy of this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Hurricanes, libraries, and love are the center of "Where You're Planted" by Melanie Sweeney. When fiercely independent Tansy is saved (literally) by Jack, a grumpy gardener, when her Houston library branch floods in the middle of a hurricane, sparks don't fly. Throughout the novel, Tansy learns to adapt at work, at home, and in her love life, which isn't easy for her.

Sweeney paints post-hurricane Houston as a recovery scene for its residents, especially Jack, Tansy and her daughter Briar, Jack's park and coworkers, and Tansy's library and staff. Filled with quirky and loving supportive characters that balance out Jack and Tansy, "Where You're Planted" gives readers all the good feels and reminds them that there's hope, community, light, and love in the temporary darkness.

Loved the honest situations during and post-natural disaster, the character growth, spicy scenes, and diverse characters.

Where You're Planted by Melanie Sweeney is an emotional rom-com inspired by the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, when a Houston library was temporarily forced to operate out of a botanical garden. This is a feel good story about communities coming together in a time of need, where all the characters are supportive, if a little gruff. The story is perfect for fans of Katherine Center who are looking for emotional heft in their romance, with the added benefit of some extra spice.

This book is dedicated to the librarians, the custodians of natural green spaces, and the helpers. In a world where the government is consistently and constantly trying to tear away public spaces, this book was a beautiful ode to free places where we can read and grow.

I ADORED Jack and Tansy. The enemies-to-lovers element was well-developed, and I loved seeing how they learned to collaborate with one another and strengthen their organizations. Briar was a well-written kid; she was clearly neurodiverse (though never written with a diagnosis), and Sweeney did a nice job of exploring her PTSD from the hurricane. Tansy's anxieties and protectiveness of Briar were also explored in depth; single mothers will certainly relate to Tansy's anguish and fears of protecting a kid while finding a life outside of a kid. (Side note: single mom romance over single dad any day. It's just so much more realistic).

I kept waffling between if this was four or five stars but you know what? It was good, and I would 100% re-read it, so that makes it five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Really loved this! This follows Tansy and Jack in the aftermath of a hurricane that flooded their town. Sidebar, the fact that climate-change induced weather events is now a micro-trope in several romance books is 🙃. The world is doing greattttt. Anyways, the main plot is the restoration and rebuilding efforts of the cast of characters at the library and nature center. These efforts mirror our main characters emotional journeys of learning to trust and love in a romantic relationship after past bad experiences. There is a big emphasis on community- love to see it! The side characters are individual and well-written too. Only note, I wish Jack found out that the interns were filming and posting thrist-videos of him doing manual labor. It would be funny.

*Where You're Planted* by Melanie Sweeney is a charming, slow-burn romance that beautifully balances humor, heart, and emotional depth. Tansy and Jack’s grumpy-sunshine dynamic unfolds in a lush, quirky setting that’s as vivid as the characters themselves. Sweeney does a great job developing both the central romance and the relationships with friends, family, and community, adding richness to the story. While the beginning is a little slow, the payoff is heartfelt and satisfying. A warm, feel-good read perfect for fans of small-town romance with real emotional stakes.

i fear i read this in one day.

the premise of friendly children’s librarian versus grumpy plant dad had me sat. i was very very excited for not only a main character who loves books as much as i do, but also a setting full of the vibrancy of plant life. and melanie sweeney delivered. tansy was unafraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she believed in, and boy did she believe in her little library. tansy’s passion, not only in keeping her library afloat in the wake of a terrible hurricane-related flood but also for wanting her daughter to feel safe and unafraid in the wake of the trauma floods can cause had me believing in her and wanting her to succeed.

and jack, my anxious king! i was ready to square up with him alongside tansy for the first 20% of the book because this WAS an enemies to lovers but melanie sweeney did such a good job of slowly opening him up to readers and tansy in small ways. his growth was very lowkey and realistic!

loved how mature jack and tansy were in handling our cute little third act conflict. I am TIRED of the unneeded dramatics and i was a huge, huge fan of how melanie sweeney wrote the ending here. sometimes the conflicts at the end of rom-coms can completely ruin how i feel about a character, but not this one! loved how everyone took a step back to actually think and consider like real people.

overall, this was a super cute, funny, and occasionally steamy romance that’s worth reading.

🌿✨ BOOK REVIEW ✨🌿
📚 Where You’re Planted by Melanie Sweeney

Single mom + grumpy gardener + forced proximity after a hurricane? YES PLEASE. 😍

Tansy is all heart and hustle—trying to keep her daughter and her beloved library afloat after a storm literally wipes it out. Jack is her total opposite: prickly, private, and perfectly content with plants over people. But when she moves her library into his botanic garden and they’re forced to work together… the tension? Immaculate. 💐🔥

This book is soft, slow-burn, emotional comfort. You’ll fall in love with the quirky side characters, the spring festival prep, and the way Jack starts trying (ugh my HEART). 🥹

💬 If you love:
🌱 Grumpy x Sunshine
📖 Bookish heroines
💘 Found family + healing
🌧️ Forced proximity
…then add this to your TBR immediately.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to the publisher and @NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! 🫶💫

#WhereYourePlanted #MelanieSweeney #Bookstagram #RomanceReaders #GrumpySunshine #SpringReads #LibraryLove #PlantDaddyEnergy #CozyRomance #SlowBurnRomance #NetGalleyReviewer #ARCReview

I loved this sweet story about a single mom/librarian (Tansy) who has to navigate life after her home and library are flooded in a 1,000 year flood event. From the first scene in the book, her interactions with the Jack (whose gardens next door to the librarian also flooded) are hilarious and endearing. While he's grumpy and struggling with his own demons, he ends up having to welcome the librarians into his gardens while they try to recover from the flood. Tansy is trying to prove to the world that she's an independent women who doesn't need help from anyone, but she learns that sometimes things are better when people work together. If you're looking for a story with wonderful friendships that leaves you feeling positive, be sure to check this one out.

i was so very happily surprised by this librarian falls for the grumpy botanical gardens director romance. it gave me echoes of Nora Roberts with a flair of Anita Kelly + Kate Clayborn that really made me smile and tugged at my heart! And while a bit of a slow burn, it simmered and paid off soo well (sign me up for a romp in the green house bedroom please).

As a library worker, this is one of a few romances that I feel get the right vibe. This is a library branch that is threatened. This is a library worker who is fighting to keep her library, her colleagues, and protective of its patrons (yes, even the one who tries to summon satan). this isn't twee or silly (so grateful for this). Also, as a local government employee myself, I really felt the plight of both Tansy & Jack.

Jack's reasons for not wanting to ever fall in love again felt realistic too (see spoiler further down) and Tansy's inability to accept help and be so mad about it when she has to also felt honest, if frustrating for Jack. Her ex isn't evil, he's just not the right person for her, and I was glad to see the struggles with coparenting that never felt exploitive or evil, just hard. because it is.

Definitely give this author a try! I will be reading her debut ASAP.

Out in July 2025, thank you to the pub & author for the early copy; professional review to come for Library Journal

Tansy, a single mother wants to recover her life by herself without help from her ex-fiance or any other man. Finding that her efforts to establish a new life for herself and her daughter have been literally drowned by a hurricane, puts her in a awkward position. She really needs the help, but is too proud to ask for it. When the library branch that she manages is also closed due to the flooding, she finds a way to muscle herself and her team of librarians into sharing space with the local botanical gardens and their rough, non-nonsense manager. After several miscommunications, her feelings for Jack and his for her run through a roller coaster of emotions. Their relationship manages to blossom despite obstacles along the way.

I am not a typical romance reader but wanted to see how the author would treat a librarian as her main character. The plot is predictable and the sex scenes didn't really add anything to the overall experience of reading the story. The secondary characters of Omar and Amy are handled well and I would have liked to see more of them. Only for true romance genre fans who look forward to predictable happy endings.

Took me 0.5 seconds to decide I wanted to read this book. Librarian meets plant nerd? Always yes.

This was a lot of fun. Apparently Melanie had some struggles writing this one but it flowed so beautifully to me. I understood why she said that after mentioning in the acknowledgments that this story was inspired by her own experiences with Hurricane Harvey. Reading that her community came together to support her local library and botanical gardens made this story feel more real than it already did. I really felt like I was watching a movie while reading this. There was so much attention to detail on the overall experience of living in a town that experienced a 1,000 year flood, AND on top of that add in fun, lovable characters who all have their own unique personalities and storylines? Melanie should be very proud! This made me cry, laugh, giggle - what else do you want in a book?!

Tansy and Jack were such a sweet couple. Seeing them both knock down their walls and work together to fight for the relationship was so inspiring. Seeing Jack with Briar?! I loved their connection and how they bonded so easily. My first book by Melanie and would absolutely pick up another by her.


Thanks to the Author/NetGalley for the ARC!

I already knew going in that this book was going to wreck me. Melanie’s debut, Take Me Home, struck such a nostalgic chord in my heart that I thought I’d never recover, but recover I did - just in time for Jack and Tansy.

Where You’re Planted is a love letter to public works - libraries, parks, secret havens and hideouts of a community; but more deeply a love letter to the helpers - over-exuberant, reluctant, and somewhere in between as well as the spectacularly weird little girl that lives in all of us. This book took my breath away in so many ways, and I simply cannot wait to revisit it again and again. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC of this story in exchange for an honest review.

A touching romance blossoms between a single mother librarian and the botanical garden director. After a disastrous meet-cute during a hurricane, Tansy and Jack find themselves at odds when her librarian is temporarily housed at Jack’s botanical garden. To overcome their differences and work together when budget constraints arise, they must find a way to coexist. This is the main premise of the story.

At its core, Jack is still grappling with the life he wanted with his ex-wife, while Tansy struggles to maintain her independence despite the challenges she faces. The story effectively emphasizes the importance of human connection and the strength of seeking help when needed. The budding relationship between Tansy, Jack, and her daughter feels authentic and is a significant highlight of the narrative. While this is an open-door romance, spicy scenes can be easily skipped if you prefer a more restrained approach. I highly recommend checking out this book.

Thank you, Penguin Group Putnam | G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for providing this book for review consideration through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

I read this book in one day, and just loved it. The premise is that Tansy, a librarian, has to move her library branch to a less than ideal location in the local botanical gardens after a flood ruins the building. In addition, her and her daughter Briar’s house was also flooded and needs major renovation. Briar is also in therapy from the trauma of the flood. Tansy has a LOT going on, and the struggle she has been having as a mostly single mom doesn’t seem to be ending soon. She has neither the time nor inclination for romance. She has made herself into a strong woman and only plans to count on herself.

Then we have Jack. He is the director of the botanical gardens, which is also much in need of restoration after the flood and suddenly he is required to also accommodate the local library. He is all in his head and isn’t open to love (or any of Tansy’s preferences for the library). Though I wouldn’t call this story a grumpy/sunshine, Jack is 💯 a grump. He also has an anxiety disorder, and I relate to him so much. As someone with anxiety and panic disorder, I feel the author did a really good job of showing what it’s like to live day to day with anxiety.

This is a slowburn enemies to lovers romance, and the payoff is pretty great. It’s really well written, with good character development, and the setting of the sort of library/gardens seems like it would be a dream. Both of these characters are written like real people. They are flawed, and they have their blindnesses, but they are both doing their best, and I was really rooting for every single character. I’d LOVE to see a time jump and get Briar’s HEA when she grows up, because I can tell her story would be really great. She is such a delight.

I’ve never read anything by Melanie Sweeney, but I am definitely going to pick up her other book. Thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Group Putnam for the digital ARC.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam for my #gifted eARC!

I really liked Take Me Home by Melanie Sweeney so I was excited to receive the ARC! Sadly, I had a difficult time connecting with the characters in this one and I struggled to get through the story.

I would like to try the audiobook when it comes out to see if I can connect better with the characters.

Romance content: open-door

It took way too long to stop actively disliking the main in this one, and even when I tolerated them, I didn’t buy what they were selling. Jack seemed to change too drastically to be realistic and Tamsy just got on my nerves. Just didn’t work for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Where Your Planted is the meet-grumpy story of Jack and Tansy. They meet during a catastrophic hurricane and are later thrown together when Tansy's library, having been destroyed by the hurricane, is relocated to the botanical garden that Jack oversees.

I have lived through only one hurricane myself and have also lost my childhood library to a snow-collapsed roof. These incidents made the scenario of this book easy for me to imagine.

The initial banter between Tansy and Jack was top-tier. I love a grumpy-sunshine trope. Their emotional evolution was also masterful. Even the large cast of side characters was impressive. They were all distinct and they all brought something to the story. That's not always easy to do.

Overall, it was a great read!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

When children’s librarian Tansy meets Jack, she’s at the library rescuing the library birds during a hurricane. He’s there to close up the botanical gardens and rescues her. Later that day, he rescues her and her daughter from their house by boat. And both hope that will be the last they see of each other. But when the library is rehomed at the botanical gardens, Tansy and Jack discover maybe they’re better together than they are separate.