This was a really cute and sweet sapphic small town romance and I really adore the cover!

It was the right level of lighthearted and dramatic and the characters felt believable. I much preferred Peppee to Opal,I think I’d find Opal annoying in real life but they worked well together.

Would recommend, it’s not setting the world on fire but it is a solid romance,

Oh my students are going to love this! Two string female leads, who support and challenge each other but are also comfortable being vulnerable too. Add in this swoon-worthy rom com setting and you have a truly enjoyable read.

This is officially my favourite Mazey Eddings book! What an amazing story - I’m obsessed!

I loved Opal and Pepper so much!! The way they were so open and vulnerable with each other was adorable.

I genuinely can’t recommend it enough! This is such a cute, fluffy read; conflict is minimal and when it did happen, Opal and Pepper tried her best to talk things through, which I really appreciate.

** Slight Spoiler Warnings**

I have mixed feelings about this one! I liked the set-up and the flower farm as a setting and it made for a unique forced cohabitation set-up. The romance was cute and the sex scenes were well written but my favourite part had to be the way both women's neurodivergence was represented. Eddings did a pretty good job of representing two different shades of a similar neurodivergence and the way those differences caused both synergy and friction in the relationship. Pepper and Opal were a very sweet couple but I'm just not sure I connected with them AS much as I could've and I think this comes down to the number one weakness of this book. The cringe. Particularly in the beginning, Opal was just.... a bit too cringe for me in the beginning, which kind of soured my entry into this story (though this does improve throughout the book).

It's kind of hard to review because I can acknowledge that Opal's naivety and impulsiveness could be put down to her (undiagnosed or treated) neurodivergence... but at the same time, it feels infantilising to assume that her dumbass behaviour is due solely due to this? and like if it IS the cause of her behaviour then like... it's a pretty good sign she probably does need to seek an actual diagnosis and some kind of treatment, since it's definitely not healthy adult behaviour to drop 300k on a FARM sight unseen. That level of impulsivity is dangerous yet this isn't reflected upon (which I wouldn't expect from a stock standard romance) but this book makes a point of being very focused on their mental health so like..... why not reflect more on this? ESPECIALLY when Opal admits that while the idea of her being ADHD or Autistic was floated by a councillor in high school, she never got an actual diagnosis because of how expensive the testing is. But like, she now has 100k left of her winnings that she could use a small chunk of to GET that diagnosis and some help. We see that Pepper has some great strategies to help her regulate so it would've been cool for Opal to see that and be positively influenced by it and seek some assistance. I am NOT saying she needed medicating but even just seeing her learning coping strategies so that she can live a less chaotic life would have been nice.

Especially since I think it would have been really powerful commentary about how the world is pretty much set up to disadvantage neurodivergent people and that proper help requires HUGE amounts of money which makes it inaccessible to most - particularly in the US. Opal's self-worth is shattered due to a lifetime of thinking she ruins everything and no one likes her etc all because she's trying to win a game that's rigged against her.

So yeah while I did love the way the neurodivergence was represented and wound through the story, I do think there was a bit of a missed opportunity here.

But all in all, this is a cute, heartfelt romance that has a lot of originality and I think it's a really fantastic example of the richness and freshness that can be injected into a genre when we uplift diverse stories. This makes for a nice change in a genre like romance which is currently overflowing with TikTok books telling the same three stories over and over again.

Thank you to Netgally and Headline Eternal for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Late Bloomer is a cute romance, there's a lot I liked about it. The cover is beautiful, the autistic and neurodivergent representation was wonderfully done and I liked how the writer explored the grief plotline.

I think it needed more plot and more depth overall though, the plot meanders around and doesn't have a clear direction. Even after finishing the book I still don't know <i>why</i> Pepper and Opal liked each other. They just sort of fall together by circumstance and are attracted to each other, I don't feel like they got to know each other and I don't really know them either.

I recieved an eARC in echange for my honest opinion. Thank you Netgalley,
Headline Eternal and Mazey Eddings for this oportunity. All opinions are my own.

Basic data:
- Contemporary FF romance
- Double POV. First person. Single timeline.
- Standalone (At lest at the moment I read it)

Tropes/Hooks:
- Sapphic romance
- Forced proximity
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Opposites attract
- Neurodivergence representation
- Grief representation

My opinion:
- Generally speaking I enjoyed the book, but I didn't feel obsessed with the story or the characters. The book is well written and reads fast.
- I loved the flower farm setting of this book, I don't think I read anything like that before. I especially love flower glossary at the end.
- The book was pretty much character driven and not much had happened plotwise, even though there were some subplots related to family relations and flower farm managment. Generally speaking this book is on a slow pace side.
- It's a low angst, low conflict, feel good read, so if this is something you are looking for this one is for you.
- The premise of how Opal came into owenship of the farm and that Pepper just kept staying there seems kind of unreal, but since it's a book I am willing to overlook it.
- I loved both Opal and Pepper, their relahionship and the spice was definetly spicing. It's very heartwarming how Opal and Pepper were protective of each other and were helping each other. I also loved secondary characters like Opal's sisters and Pepper's frineds. It's true that for the majority of the book it's just Opal and Pepper, but when secondary characters appear they do it in the best way possible.
- In my personal opnion (without me being an expert on the topic) the representation of grieve and neurodivergency was well done.
- Opal starts as a people pleaser and it's nice to see how she starts to love and value herself. Pepper's jouney to overcome the grief is also an interesting one to follow.

I am a bit conflicted, because whilst I loved this book overall, I found both characters so irritating, it was difficult for me fully enjoy it.

Don't get me wrong, both Opal and Pepper grew on me eventually, and I found them endearing - but still so incredibly aggravating.

Opal starts off a total pushover, with no backbone. It's hinted that she's actually selfless and generous, but at what cost? I found it sad, rather than sweet.

Then Opal suddenly turned into this confident sex Goddess, completely out of the blue, giving me whiplash.

What I can't fault is the chemistry and spice, because that was all amazing, with multiple explicit scenes. I loved Opal and Pepper as a couple, with the whole opposites attract vibe.

I didn't like the confusing and pointless arguments coming out of nowhere, but they were always resolved fairly quickly. Just when I was getting very frustrated, things would turn around nicely.

There was also a lot of insight into both character's neurodiversity, but I found the constant inner monologues a little exhausting and a little too much at times.

I absolutely loved the flower farm setting, but the plot was a little weak, because we barely got to see any of the prep for the competition, and it was all over so quickly.

Pepper was also dealing with the loss of her grandma, and overcoming grief, and that was handled beautifully.

Overall, this is definitely a smoking hot queer romance, I just wish the plot was developed a little more, and for some reason I just could not bring myself to fully like these characters.

I can’t even begin to articulate the pure joy I felt reading Pepper and Opal’s story. The sincerity, character depth and setting (I absolutely adored the flower farm) were just a few of my favourite aspects of this story.

This is my first read by Mazey Eddings and I am eager to go back and read her prior stories as well as silently praying for more Sapphic romances from her and for Opal’s sisters to have their own books too.

Read if you enjoy:
🌸 Sapphic Romance
🌺 Grumpy v Sunshine
🌸 Forced Proximity
🌺 Small Town Setting (Flower Farm)

Favourite quotes:

𝑴𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐.

𝑴𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕; 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒚.

𝑶𝒑𝒂𝒍'𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒗𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒔.

Thank you NetGalley and Headline for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.25⭑

Tropes;
- grumpy x sunshine
- roommates with benefits
- small town romance
- sapphic romance
- neurodivergent rep
- dual POV

Late Bloomer follows Opal, who has just won the lottery and decides to quit her boring job and buy a flower farm. Upon arrival at her new farm, she discovers that she has been scammed and someone already owns it. Pepper is the grumpy flower farm resident who worked there with her late gran.

Opal and Pepper decide to try and make things work for the two of them by being roommates and getting on with their own lives. But with meddling friends and a forced proximity they decide to try and get their feelings out of their system with a friends with benefits style arrangement.

This was a very cute book. I loved the setting of the flower farm and the spring vibes. I really liked both main characters and enjoyed reading about the friendships with all of the side characters.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the relationship development between main characters and felt like some things were missing in the story. Opal mentions that she creates shoe art on numerous occasions but we never see her do anything like this? I also thought it was odd that we don’t get to see any sort of investigation or justice at the fact that Opal was scammed 300k!!! I mean if I paid someone 300k and learned it was a scam, you’d bet I would look into getting that money back.

Overall, I still liked the book and have always enjoyed Mazey’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is my first Mazey Eddings book (it’s just respectful to start with the gayest one okay) and now all the others are staring at me from the tbr shelves upon which they perch, desperate to be read and loved at some point. And yeah it’s gonna be soon for the rest cause oh my word I loved this!!!

If there is a single bean alive on this earth that doesn’t want to find themselves suddenly thrust into a sapphic romance on a flower farm, are they okay? There is no better scenario I could possibly imagine

Also it’s technically roommates to lovers which I’m unhealthily obsessed with. I mean the whole scenario was perfection - let’s just live together even though we don’t know each other but one of us definitely owns this flower farm so we should both be here to totally not fall for each other!

Basically Pepper and Opal stole my crusty greying heart and returned it to me shiny and actually working. I loved these two.

I loved Opal’s hair disasters, I loved Pepper just being Pepper, I loved every one of Pepper’s friends and Opal’s sisters.
The spicy chapters were outrageously delicious, but it was the many emotional ones that had me wiping away the tears and probably ultimately ruining my kindle which is apparently not waterproof

I could picture the end flower instalment so vividly, and I don’t think I’ve ever not physically seen something before that was so beautiful 🥰

My big sapphic heart is full good day

I LOVE SAPPHIC ROMANCES AND MAZEY EDDINGS CAN HAVE ALL MY MONEY FOR THEIR FUTURE RELEASES. The chemistry, the romance, the plot everything was amazing. It has been a while since I have loved a romance this much. i would recommend it to everyone who is looking for something exciting which is filled with love

3.5 ⭐️ DNF

I got most of the way through this and read the majority in one-sitting, but since I put it down I’ve had no desire to pick it back up. Sadly, I was loving the vibes & the characters were fun, but I just got a bit bored.

This reader stands with #SpeakUpSMP Review will be published once St. Martin Press meets the demands of the boycott. #FreePalestine

This was an absolute dream to read. Opal is probably one of my favourite characters in a romance novel I've read in a long time. She is the quintessential golden retriever character. She's funny, sweet and I loved the spicy side of her. Pepper was a little harder for me to get on board with, she wasn't my favourite at parts, but I adored the dynamic between the two. The setting of the flower farm was genius, my imagination ran wild whilst envisioning the house. Overall a beautiful read

Opal is stuck in a rut, she keeps going back to her toxic ex and her so called best friend uses her every chance she gets. That stops now, she quite literally won the lottery. She put that money to good use getting a dreamy flower farm where she plans on starting up her business. Maybe the deal was too good to be true, once she gets there she meets Pepper who claims to be the rightful owner of the property. Eventually they strike up an agreement to temporarily cohabitate but that won’t be easy as the pair keeps butting heads and argue at every turn.

An absolutely gorgeous setting, representation, extremely likable characters, and a compelling plot what’s not to love. I’m obsessed!!

There is so much representation built into the story. The main characters are obviously part of the LGBTQ+ community and so are a lot of the side characters as well. You’ve got to love that! Mental health, autism as well as dealing with the loss of a loved one is also brought up. Two young women making their way in the world after a rough patch, that’s empowering and inspiring to read about.

There’s something for everyone emotional scenes, moments to lighten the mood and also quite a lot of spice. To make it even better there’s a dual pov, an amazing friend group, the opposites attract trope and so much more. I also have to mention the cover it’s absolutely gorgeous, easily one of my new favorites.

Can’t recommend it enough, this is a must read I my opinion!

was it a little cringe? yes. was the couple cute? yep! did i enjoy the book? not really.
don’t get me wrong: i’m sure this book will be a hit with lots of people! unfortunately it didn’t work for me and i wasn’t really invested in the main characters to really enjoy the reading experience :(
but it does what it promises: a lighthearted romcom with some spice and cute girls.

a big thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing this arc!

📚 r e v i e w 📚
late bloomer - mazey eddings

you know when you finally found the exact book you’ve been looking for? i found it with late bloomer!
if you’re on the hunt for a sweet, sapphic romance this spring this has to be on your radar. was it a little cliched? was it a little cheesy? yes. but that is just part of its charm!
meet opal, the bookish equivalent of a golden retriever and pepper… the bookish equivalent of one of those pups that look perpetually grumpy but are actually super soft. if the grumpy/sunshine wasn’t enough, we also get forced proximity in the form
of a flower farm opal accidentally buys not realising it’s pepper’s home. what transpires is super sweet, occasionally heart breaking, full of banter and relatable moments. all that and more substance than you would normally expect from a romance - plus it has neurodiversity rep!

if you pick up one romance this spring make it this delightful story! late bloomer is out 16th april. thank you @netgalley for the
early copy!
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#bookworm #bookblogging #bookblogger #fiction #readerlife #readersofinstagram #bibliophile #bibliophilelife #bookstagram #reading #bookstagrammer #booklover #booksbooksbooks #bookreview

‘Late Bloomer’ by Mazey Eddings is a gorgeous romance novel which follows Opal and Pepper as their relationship blooms from a rocky start (I love a good enemies-to-lovers tale and I read in the author’s note that the book was almost called ‘Anemones to Lovers’ which made me giggle!)

At the start of the book, Opal is stuck in a dead-end job which requires her to don a waffle costume, an unfulfilling on-off relationship with selfish Miles, and an unequal friendship with user-extraordinaire Laney. Though she has two amazing sisters who care, she feels lonely and directionless until she wins half a million dollars on a scratchcard and decides to plant the seeds of a new life. Unfortunately when she arrives to move in toaa Thistle and Bloom flower farm with the newly purchased deeds in hand, she meets a woman who is already living there: a stunningly beautiful, totally closed-off woman called Pepper who might just destroy her fresh start… or break her heart.

Opal and Pepper were both layered and loveable characters and I enjoyed the dual POV structure of this book. I appreciated how Pepper’s autism impacted her without defining her and related to Opal’s feelings of not being enough for anyone. Once they opened up to each other, I adored their witty banter and their affirmative, lyrical and sensual dialogue in their intimate scenes.

I also loved:
- Opal’s sisters - the beautifully named Olivia and Ophelia - were unconditionally there for Opal in a truly heartwarming way
- Pepper’s friends - they were supportive superstars and represented what friendship should look like
- All the references to flowers which formed a bright and wonderful collage in my mind
- I want a pair of Opal’s painted shoes!!!

I’m never a huge fan of a third-act break-up and I think the last 15% of the book felt a little rushed, but giving this a solid four stars

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Headline Eternal via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Such a cute, queer romance. Opal wins the lottery and uses the opportunity to follow her dreams and spend her money on a failing flower farm in North Carolina. She likes to paint and hopes that she can start her painting business here. Her planned isolation is soon interrupted by the previous owner of the farm, Pepper, and she isnt taking this sale lying down! They cohabitate and what starts as dislike and arguing soon turns to a blooming (!) romance between the two.

Loved the sizzle and fire of this couple. Well done Mazey!

3.25 stars

I've read Mazey's other books and while this one was nice, it wasn't a new favourite. I really loved the flower farm setting, and I liked Pepper and Opal (and their emotional journeys) but I think I needed more scenes of them hanging out, just being friends and doing fun things together (more like the birthday party-esque scenes), to really love the book.

I think you could really love this if you love the books in the Delilah Green/Astrid Parker series.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for an arc to review!