Back of the book: Hope Walker survived early breast cancer at just thirty years old, but a mastectomy left her with a lot of scarring – and some serious fears about dating. Hope owns Changing Seasons Floral, Heart Lake’s most popular flower shop. When it comes to love and relationships, she’s able to work magic through her expert flower arranging . . . for everyone but herself. Then one day a handsome contractor starts coming into her shop, but Hope knows he’d rather have a whole woman than someone like her.
When Hope stakes a plot of ground at Heart Lake’s community garden, she finds that a woman can grow all sorts of things there: flowers, herbs, vegetables, and even friendship. As she gets to know the two women who share neighboring plots, they discover that they can learn a lot from one another – not just about gardening but about life. And Hope realizes that in order to live life to the fullest, sometimes you have to take a chance on love.
My thoughts: Love in Bloom is a delightful novel. It’s message is clear: Live life.
“None of us has any guarantee. You can’t just give up and sit on the sidelines.“ – Hope’s friend, Amber.
“Listen to an old woman and live your life to the fullest. Take advantage of every good thing that comes into it.” – 77 year old Millie, the character I hope to be just like in 25 years!
Millie also had this to say: “A garden is such an amazing thing, isn’t it? There it is, the whole cycle of life played out for us every year – death, then resurrection, new buds, new life, new beginnings.”
From beginning to end, this was a satisfying book. It wasn’t preachy or maudlin. I found the characters to be realistic (in fact a few seemed quite familiar to me) and the emotions, genuine. I look forward to reading more books by Sheila Roberts.
Bookfan 