The Alchemy of Flowers is a beautiful story of Mother Nature where an exchange between healing gardens and poisonous plants, the magic is amazing and keeps you on the edge of your seat. A fast paced story firmly rooted in everyday life. With fairy lights at sunset, late night dinners with the most amazing food and a dark castle looming that keeps drawing you back to the story.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Muse for the ARC.

Thank you Harper Muse Audio and Netgalley for the ARC!

This book was heartbreaking and healing. Giving people warning that this book talks about child loss, pregnancy loss, infertility, relationships falling apart, and SA. It talks about healing from all of these in a place that is beautiful, but also showing that one cannot heal if one always runs away from the problem. If you aren't addressing what hurts you in the first place, how can you move forward?

I loved that the FMC healed in this book via everyday things, a friendship with a woman who can relate, a man who almost died, a young girl who helped get her smile back. It wasn't some grand thing, she just slowly felt better and came out of her shell day by day while living in the beautiful garden. But, I also liked that it showed that when one isn't trying to heal, the garden can be just as dangerous.

If you want a good cry, go ahead and pick this up!

I tried with this one; I really did.

I wasn't expecting the repetitive nature of the infertility discussions, and I frankly don't want to hear about that. The romance is awkward and forced, and Eloise is just SO twee and irritating. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more as a physical book as opposed to audio—hearing the French/English combo constantly felt so pretentious and annoying. I was expecting something more cozy and magical, which sadly met neither expectation.

The narrator has an excellent voice for audiobooks, so there's that.

I don't plan on rating this on any retail sites because, clearly, I'm not the right audience for it.

What a stunning and heartfelt read! The Alchemy of Flowers is a beautifully written blend of contemporary fiction and magical realism—cozy, emotional, a little dark, at times funny, and always deeply resonant.

I listened to it as an audiobook and loved it so much that I’m planning to buy a physical copy once it’s released. There’s something so special about the way this story unfolds—mysterious in the most comforting way and full of emotional depth.

The book explores themes of love, grief, healing, and identity with a poetic and gentle voice. It touched on things that felt very personal to me, especially around loss and healing. The book made me tear up and make faces while walking home (and I am usually pretty good with managing my facial expressions in public while reading), which says a lot about how much I loved the book. The author manages to express feelings that are hard to name in any regular language, but she writes so wonderfully in the language of flowers and tea - it feels soft, safe, and powerful all at once.

The characters are full of warmth and life, each written with care and making me believe they could be real. The magical realism elements are so well done and feel completely natural. I really loved how the author worked with symbolism and all the different archetypes of woman and goddess.

As far as the plot goes I really loved the contrast of a quiet, cozy life in the magical gardens centered around croissant-eating, tea-blending, and garden-tending—until the final quarter of the book peels back the layers to reveal something deeper. As buried secrets and grief resurfaced, the story took a more intense turn, with moments of actionI did not expect. It's a perfect blend of comfort and catharsis.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more adult fiction by Laura Resau—this one will linger with me for some time. The Alchemy of Flowers is the kind of story that feels like it’s been growing somewhere quietly, waiting to be discovered. I am so glad I got to read it.

Some quotes I adored:
“I hated explaining my losses in the language of biology and medicine, when it should have been done in flowers, the language of heart.”
“Just when I thought I was whole another broken part of myself emerged.”
"You grew in my heart, instead of my belly.”
“There were benefits to being an adoptive mother. Body of a maiden, heart of a mother, mind of a wise crone. Three in one.”

This book had me looking up what Blue Lotus is and scouring Etsy to find tea made of it. (I didn't order any.)

I received the Audibook as an ARC and it was outstanding. A very unique story. If you had the opportunity to leave reality and move to a magical garden, would you?

After going through her own version of hell and a mental breakdown, Eloise finds a job opportunity in France as a gardener, but the position is a unique opportunity. No internet, off the grid, and absolutely no children allowed. This is exactly what Eloise needs to heal, so when she gets word that she's hired, she sheds herself of her old life and heads to France.

This whole book made me want to throw my phone in the trash, pack up my actual essentials, and go remote in a castle full of gardens. The descriptions of the flowers and scents made me long to have a flower garden myself. Eloise meets 3 additional individuals who work at the gardens and throughout the book, they become her family. The assistant to the owner of the garden is a woman sharp in tone, with very little kindness in her heart. No one has ever met the owner, but she and the three other goddess/ghosts stroll through the gardens every night at twilight. Because of this, all of those who work in the garden must go to their homes and not come out during the twilight time. The three figures who wander the garden may not interact directly with those who live there but they are ominous with making sure you follow the rules.

There's so much to this story, grief & healing of course, but finding oneself, learning to trust, learning to love others, learning to push the limits and to follow the rules. Learning that you don't have to cut things off immediately because of the pain.

Just a heads up, this book will also make you hungry. I am gluten free due to necessity and I am sitting her wondering how much a crusty baguette would really f me up.

The book gives vibes of The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods, which I also loved.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-ARC of the audiobook. This book didn’t resonate with me and I think it has a very specific audience. Please be aware it heavily covers the topics of infertility and miscarriages which some may find triggering.

The book felt unnecessarily repetitive and drawn out. I’d be ok not hearing about a fainting couch, how Eloise is an old croon, teas, etc., over and over again. At times, the book seemed to ramble without much purpose or direction. It didn’t feel like the plot was fully flushed out. It wasn’t fully fantasy, or murder mystery, or supernatural, but had some elements of each without fully committing. I also had a hard time with the characters. They all are just immediately best friends and in this garden under the guise of healing, but seems more like they were just avoiding their issues. And they were way too ok with previous staff suddenly disappearing and also finding a skeleton on the property and reporting to the mysterious La Patron. Also, very confused how they hid a child for years in the garden when La Patron seemed to know everything that went down in the garden.

Eloise has nothing left to lose after infertility and a bad divorce have left her reeling, so when an opportunity to tend a garden in France pops up she takes the job. As long as she follows a list of rules, she can stay and reap the healing powers of the mysterious gardens that may or may not be a part of this world. 

The blurb made it sound like a book of magical realism, where the main character is working through acceptance and grief. While there was some of that I was not prepared for the graphic and relentless internal monologue focusing on infertility and pregnancy loss. The whole book is about this. I can fully feel for the main character and the agony that comes with this type of journey but I also feel like a trigger warning or some sort of heads up indicating this was the main topic as it was not what I was expecting. You can tell the author feels passionately about infertility and she shows how isolating the experience can become. 

I wasn't invested in the love story unfortunately and didn't feel the chemistry. The 'twist' was very obvious IMO.  Outside of these thoughts there is not much of a plot so while the writing was nice the whole book felt like it was missing something.

This is not my usual genre, but I love The Secret Garden and, with such a beautiful cover, how could I turn this down? Set in France, les jardins du Paradis are described in such a poetic, beautiful manner, that it’s easy to smell the flowers that talk to Eloise. The characters are likable and, in the audiobook, Cassandra Campbell gives them all distinctive voices, with a French accent that sounds natural (I should know, my sister married a French guy). The whole first part is fantastic, with Eloise getting to know her new coworkers and falling in love with her new home. The gardens sound beautiful and enchanting. That said, the second part was too earnest for me. I’m a jaded, sarcastic and cynical Gen-Xer. I had a hard time telling my Dad how much I loved him - on his deathbed. So reading about Eloise and her friends talking about “their truth” and “living their best lives” so earnestly made me cringe. I am completely the wrong reader for that. The Gothic part, inside the castle, and the melodrama of everybody’s relationship was too much for me. Again, it’s not the book at all, it’s me. I only kept reading because Campbell’s narration was so fantastic, and I liked the setting. Eloise kept aggravating me by breaking all the rules from the beginning. Yes, they were bizarre (and intriguing), but she comes off as the obnoxious American upsetting everyone and everything, including the people she says she loves. Younger readers, and people who are in touch with their feelings will probably love this. I was just not the right reader for it.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Harper Muse.

This book was a wild ride in the most unexpected way! I don’t even know how to categorize it.

We meet Eloise Bourne as she embarks on the new adventure of becoming a gardener in the walled gardens of Le Château du Paradis in Provence after answering a job opening ad in one of her favorite magazines.

The allure of the gardens is hard to resist—even with all its rules. Walled off away from the world—and most importantly, children—Eloise and her coworkers are able to heal from the various traumas they’ve endured in life. But as enchanted as the gardens are, Eloise begins to sense that not all is right in Paradise.

As she digs for answers, breaking the rules to do so, she begins to uncover the secrets of the garden—secrets that the goddess of the garden is determined to keep hidden.

I almost gave up on this book. Because it begins with Eloise starting her job at the gardens, I didn’t really have a chance to connect with her. Her backstory unfolded throughout the story, so I wasn’t invested in her or the other characters until around 20% in.

I’m glad I stuck it out. I enjoyed that elements of mystery and trying to piece together the puzzle alongside Eloise. I was also satisfied with the way the story unfolded and the answers we got by the end. This is definitely slow to start, but I was totally invested as it got moving!

A few content warnings—s*xual self-satisfaction, one closed door scene, mild violence, and mentions of infertility, cancer, childhood SA, death during childbirth, and medicinal abortion

The Alchemy of Flowers was a completely different book than I expected it to be, and I enjoyed it more than I thought.

I was expecting a full on fantasy, but what Resau has delivered is more a story of Mother Nature a connection to the earth and a story of learning to forgive yourself, and embrace love after loss and found family. It was really quite beautiful,

Eloise, a husk of the woman she once was, accepts a job in the South of France as the gardener of the ancient Jardins du Paradis, on arrival she meets the other staff, and learns of the seemingly endless and unusual rules, and learn to combat the dark forces that seem to be at play. I was surprised at how swept away in the story I felt, I ended up really loving it.

I enjoyed the audio narration too .

Trigger warnings for fertility issues, baby loss and sexual assault.

My thanks to Harper Muse Audiobooks and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

A woman haunted by the all-too tangible ghost of infertility wanders into a dreamy nest of magical realism. There she meets a small group of intertwined strangers, all carrying their own shadows of grief. Together they build a little community of love, mystery, and of course, flowers. This book was lovely—evocatively written and thoughtfully narrated.

This atmospheric story focuses on healing, hope and how to turn ‘merde’ into flowers. It follows Eloise, who has been left hollow after infertility led to the breakdown of her marriage. She takes a job in France tending to the mysterious gardens of La Chateau du Paradis. The rules of the gardens are simple - you cannot leave, you cannot gossip and no children are allowed. At first, Eloise loves the gardens where she is surrounded by friends, botanical tinctures and space to rediscover herself. But then she starts to catch glimpses of a small, sweet face, and hear a child’s laughter, and view ghostly figures floating by in the twilight, and find dungeons for those who break the rules…

I listened to this as an audiobook and really enjoyed it. The writing style creates a vivid sensory setting, so you can almost smell the flowers, taste the teas and tisanes on your tongue. Anyone fascinated by the idea of tree house living, natural remedies and whispering plants will enjoy this tale.

The mystery of the ‘goddess of the gardens’ is eerie and interesting, and the raw hurt of Eloise’s pain seeps through into the magic realism, tinging it with sorrow. The romance is believable (though I do think things move a little fast towards the end) and the found family is strong, bonded by shared space, openness, honesty and appreciation for nature.

The ending is definitely not what I was expecting, but it gives closure to all the questions raised throughout the book. I’d read another book by this author in a heartbeat and will keep an eye out for more of her work.

To desire is one of the hardest things a person can do. It can shape you in the best of ways—or it can shatter you beyond recognition.

In the case of our FMC, Eloise, it broke her. Worn down by grief, loss, and a body that betrayed her deepest longing, she leaves behind the ashes of her old life and follows a whisper of hope: a job in the South of France tending a secluded, walled garden called Jardins du Paradis. But what it truly offers is something she’s long been searching for—peace, stillness, and solitude.

What Eloise finds beyond the gates isn’t just beauty. It’s a world of quiet wonder, strange rules, and questions that bloom as wildly as the flowers she’s meant to care for.

All she wants is to forget why she came and disappear into the rhythm of soil and silence. But something otherworldly stirs in the shadows—something childlike. A flicker of laughter. A glimpse of something small darting between the trees. A little girl.

Or perhaps her heart and mind are playing tricks on her. Perhaps it's just the phantom of what she longs to have been—a mother. The appearance of this child, real or not, is a fate almost too cruel to bear.

Are the fates or furies toying with Eloise? Because she feels drawn to this little wildthing—protective and determined to understand what is truly happening within the garden walls. Something is not right.

And as the truth unearths itself layer by layer, like petals peeling open, Eloise begins to realize that her sanctuary may not be a haven at all, but a trap. One that will demand everything she has left to protect the only family she’s ever truly known.

The Alchemy of Flowers is a novel to be slowly sipped and savored. It’s a story of healing, of finding solace, and above all, of discovering hope in the most unlikely places.

Beyond the mystery, this novel weaves together beloved tropes such as:

-Found family

-Fish out of water

-Second chance at life

-Magical realism

-Gothic undertones

-Slow-burn romance

-Grumpy/sunshine

-Single dad

I give this book a solid 4.5 stars. I didn’t know what to expect when I picked it up, but I’m so glad I did. The narration was engaging, the accents were unique to each character, and the supporting cast each had beautiful storylines of their own—each one healing in their own way.

I really loved the idea of this book. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be romance or mystery or thriller.. and it was kinda all of the above. I really loved the premise that got our FMC to the garden in France. All of the characters were great and the narrator made it so easy to know who was who. There were enough surprises without anything feeling like it was coming out of nowhere. I will read from this author again!

Trigger warning: This novel explores themes of grief and fertility struggles, which are central to Eloise’s journey. Her path through loss, identity, and healing is written with sensitivity, but may be emotionally difficult for some readers.

The first half of this book completely enchanted me. The prose is lush and lyrical, the setting—a wild, magical garden in rural France—is utterly transportive, and the French language is woven in so naturally that it adds real depth. You can tell the author is fluent and has lived this experience.

Cassandra Campbell’s audiobook narration was also a standout. Her performance was beautifully nuanced, with distinct character voices that made listening easy and engaging.

Unfortunately, the second half didn’t quite hold together for me. The story lost focus, branching into too many competing plotlines, and the central romance felt underdeveloped—more proximity than chemistry. A few lines of dialogue also pulled me out of the story with their awkwardness. Ultimately, I decided not to finish.

That said, the author’s talent is clear, and this book felt deeply personal. I’d be open to reading more from her in the future, especially if future works are more tightly edited and streamlined.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I don't often listen to audiobooks all the way through in one straight shot unless I'm driving, but I did with this one. I felt like this story was really unique and will likely stick with me. I liked the writing style and felt like all of the characters were well thought out, getting to know the side characters was so fun. I also appreciated the production of the audio book. Cassandra Campbell had a really pleasing voice and spoke really clearly so I was able to listen to the audiobook at 2.5x speed, which is my preference.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of magical realism, but I would definitely recommend checking trigger warnings!

LOVED this one!!!! I was given an advanced reader copy of this in the audiobook. I give this one 5 stars!! Thank you to NetGalley, Laura Resau, and publisher Harper Muse!!! I was especially interested in this one because of my past dealing with infertility and I knew Laura would touch on this in this book. This book did bring back raw emotions, but it ended beautifully. It is a modern take on the Secret Garden sprinkled with magic, healing, and love! The book is available for pre-order and will be released on July 29th. I hope you order it and love it as much I did!!!
#NetGalley
#thealchemyofflowers
#harpermuse
#HarperMuseAudio
#cassandracampbell

THANK YOU!!!!!!!! This book will live rent free in my head and heart from here on out!! Holding hands with you in spirit Laura!

This book broke me apart into a million pieces and then carefully placed me back together, whole and new.

Following Eloise (which happens to be my daughter’s name), this book plunges us into French gardens full of healing, magic, and mystery.

With lush prose, romance, and a journey to healing for many broken people, this book has me crying, laughing, and yearning for a garden of my own.

I highly recommend some knowledge of the French language for the most enjoyment, but I think it’s written so that you could enjoy it without.

I listened to this book on audio, and the narrator did a fantastic job. Character voices, accents, and wonderful acting. It wholly enhanced the experience.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

After sleeping on it, I am going to downgrade my review to 2 stars... sorry...

First reason: this book features infertility and pregnancy loss as a MAJOR theme. MAJOR MAJOR. It's mentioned on like, every other page, and there are GRAPHIC descriptions of infant loss. I cannot FATHOM why this wasn't mentioned in the book description because this is 100% going to trigger the ever loving shit out of someone who isn't prepared for it. The description mentions that the book is about healing, which it is, but she is healing from her struggles with loss an infertility. This isn't a spoiler, its lowkey harmful to not even mention this in the description. Maybe the final version will have a trigger warning, but I don't remember one in the audiobook into. READ WITH CAUTION. Other than this, overall there was so much of this book that didn't work for me.

What I liked:
-The prose. The writing style. SO gorgeous and beautiful, and the writing style is the perfect choice for...
-The setting of a magical garden in rural southern France. Literally, i wanted to be here and the book really makes you feel like you're in it. The setting itself was 5/5, so fucking good.
-The portrayal of trying to have normal conversations in your non native language and how French was integrated into the book. The author is fluent in French and it shows.
-The portrayal of the expat experience
-The audio narrator - Cassandra Campbell was AMAZING
-The first 50% of the book

What I didn't like:
-The second 50% of the book. Because shit just kinda goes off the rails, especially at the end for no reason whatsoever.
-The fact that there is like, 7 plots. EDITORS PLEASE
-The entire romance. It exists because of forced proximity, the characters actually have no chemistry with each other.
-There were some really weird and cringe lines. Like, cringey enough I can remember them specifically. The whole "fresh and fertile" thing? The fact that she basically says "might as well enjoy my perky breasts and flat stomach cause i've never been pregnant?" like, ew?

In conclusion, this book needs a trigger warning / blurb refresh and a bunch of editing. I really loved the setting and the author's writing style and it was clearly evident that this book was SO personal to the author. I would definitely give her work another shot, as this definitely had a lot of potential, but ultimately I didn't feel like the good parts made up for the bad.

A story of power and pain, love and heal,

It was really good. Easy to empathize with the main characters. Lovely relationships.
I loved the beautiful whispering flowers of paradise.