AbiReadThat

Ahhhhh my goodness did I love this book!
Thank you to NetGalley, Ashley Poston and HQ for the opportunity to read this wonderful book in exchange for a review.

We meet our main character Sophie. A budding gardener who has moved into Lilymoor as Head Gardener for the summer. After losing her dear friend, she decides to go and pursue her dreams and heads out into a new city away from her little hometown in Maine.
As she made her way through her initial project, we begin to learn of a mysterious door to a secret garden – and the mysterious man sat inside.

This book was whimsy and a silly goofy time including Damnit the Goose. Characters that make you giggle and have their own funny little personalities all made for a wonderful reading experience.
The chemistry and romance between our FMC and MMC was slow which I’m so here for, but it felt a little off in the beginning from both perspectives. Then, the romance appeared and it felt almost like a 20 to 100 in 0.5 milliseconds.
I loved the untranslatable words at the top of each chapter, with a special shoutout to a chapter titled ‘Cwtch’ which is Welsh for cuddle. Being from North Wales originally, I saw that and had a little happy squeal!

Poston has this way of forming whimsy and magical realism and tying it into the real world in such a seamless blend of it almost feeling effortless. She has an ability to remain light and fluffy in some aspects but deep underneath there’s a subtle nod throughout to grief and moving on after losing someone so dear to you,

We had a third act conflict which was also finally not anything to do with miscommunication and was actually plot related which I ADORED!
This is absolutely a novel I’ll keep thinking about and will recommend out to family and friends.
4.5 ⭐️