Book Description 

A sexy, sapphic, opposites-attract romance with Mazey Eddings’ signature sparkling voice!

Winning the lottery has ruined Opal Devlin’s life. After quitting her dead-end job where she’d earned minimum wage and even less respect, she’s bombarded by people knocking at her door for a handout the second they found out her bank account was overflowing with cash. And Opal can’t seem to stop saying yes.

With her tender heart thoroughly abused, Opal decides to protect herself by any means necessary, which to her translates to putting almost all her new money to buying a failing flower farm in Asheville, North Carolina to let the flowers live out their plant destiny while she uses the cabin on the property to start her painting business.

But her plans for isolation and self-preservation go hopelessly awry when an angry (albeit gorgeous) Pepper Boden is waiting for her at her new farm. Pepper states she’s the rightful owner of Thistle and Bloom Farms, and isn’t moving out. The unlikely pair strike up an agreement of co-habitation, and butt heads at every turn. Can these opposites both live out their dreams and plant roots? Or will their combustible arguing (and growing attraction) burn the whole place down?

My Review 

This book was full of tropes. First of all, you have opposites attract: Opal and Pepper have very different personalities. On that note, there’s also a hint of grumpy/sunshine: Opal is optimistic, whereas Pepper is naturally suspicious. There’s also forced proximity: Opal and Pepper agree to share the farm while they figure out the ownership situation. Fortunately– or perhaps unfortunately– there is more than one bed in the farm, thus preventing our two protagonists from being subjected to the “only one bed” trope. 

Speaking of tropes, I’m sure there’s a more succinct name for it, but I can’t quite remember. Anyway, I absolutely love when characters agree to embark on a casual no-strings-attached romantic entanglement, only to end up catching feelings for each other. I have never felt more like an omniscient ancient god as I do when I see two characters promising that they are going to be able to avoid emotional connections. Oh, you foolish mortals! 

The best part about this book is that it is low stakes and there isn’t really a villain. Yes, there are clearly characters who have a history of manipulation, but part of the overall character arcs for both protagonists is the realization that they don’t have to put up with anyone’s nonsense anymore and that they have the emotional strength to advocate for themselves. I don’t want to diminish the very real anguish these antagonists have caused in the past, but the newfound knowledge of not having to tolerate manipulation reduces the antagonists to static archetypes. 

I would absolutely recommend this quirky little romance novel full of queer joy and neurodivergent representation. At the risk of sounding cliche, Opal and Pepper both have big hearts and big dreams, and it was so wonderful and refreshing to see them find happiness together. The scorching hot chemistry helped too! This is my first experience reading one of Eddings’ books, but I am looking forward to reading more in the future. 

I received a digital ARC of this book from St. Martin’s/NetGalley