Synopsis: A wedding florist finds love and trouble in this delightful new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Ladies’ Night.
A Savannah florist is about to score the wedding of a lifetime—one that will solidify her career as the go-to-girl for society nuptials. Ironically, Cara Kryzik doesn’t believe in love, even though she creates beautiful flower arrangements to celebrate them. But when the bride goes missing and the wedding is in jeopardy, Cara must find the bride and figure out what she believes in. Maybe love really does exist outside of fairy tales after all.
Why I Chose This Book: I received this book in a Bookish Secret Santa gift in 2014, but hadn’t gotten around to it. When I’m not sure what to read, I grab the first book on my shelf that I haven’t read, and it was this one’s turn.
First Impressions: While I really like the aesthetics of this cover, it doesn’t really fit the book. For a story about a florist, there’s not a single flower. And this whole book revolves around the flower business, so this was really a nice cover that could have been slapped on any old romance novel.
What I Liked: I really liked seeing the business side of the flower shop, and seeing someone else struggling with money really reassured my heart. I found myself wishing there were pictures of these gorgeous bouquets being described! And if anyone can show me the infamous Martha Stewart bouquet they talk about, PLEASE help a girl out! I googled for half an hour before I gave up and went back to reading.
I also feel so much better when I see adults struggling with the same things I’m fighting with, and that was very much the case here. It reminds me that I don’t have to have everything figured out right now. I’m 23, for crying out loud. I’m supposed to be a mess at this point. But to go from feeling so confident and secure to drowning in the blink of an eye, and read about someone with a decade on me feeling the same way reminded me that it’s a universal feeling, and I’m not a total failure.
What I Didn’t Like: Not too far into the book, I realized that this was one of those books that could definitely be in the romance section but had too nice of a cover to be sorted with them, instead falling into what I call the ‘Target Cover’ section. Now, these tend to be my favorite covers, and I don’t mean it negatively at all. But they’re the very pretty, typically floral covers that most ‘Chick Lit’ books about adult women have. 90% of the time, these are the books I buy, because the plot and cover usually have all my favorite things (The Language of Flowers, I’m looking at you). But this one totally should have been in the romance section, not the Target Covers section.
I know most of that seems like it should have gone in First Impressions, but it’s more about the way the story was written. It was fairly predictable in a way that romance novels are known for, and I wouldn’t have read it if not for the cover. This is one of those books that I always hear about and get rec’d, but it’s not one that I’ll read twice.
Rating and Recommendations: If you like you want an easy, adult lit book about a grown up having the same struggles poor new adults are having, this is the kind of book for you!
Final Thoughts: This was a good book, but not one I’ll be returning to in the foreseeable future.
Sound off in the comments: Have you read this book? What did you think? Who would you recommend it for? Let me know!
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