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sbarnes89's review
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Sexual assault
ratchel42's review against another edition
3.0
I would first like to thank NetGalley, Micalea Smeltzer, and Victory Editing for providing me with a copy of The Confidence of Wildflowers in exchange for my honest review.
The Confidence of Wildflowers follows 18 year old Salem as she experiences life after graduating high school. 31 year old Thayer and his son Forrest move in next door to Salem's family and a friendship begins between Thayer and Salem after he hires her to babysit his son when he is busy with work.
Honestly, this book was not my favorite throughout the majority, but the last 10% of the book or so put me through an emotional roller coaster that I was not expecting. Let me begin by explaining why I was not a fan through the majority of the book.
*SPOILERS*
I definitely felt like I was reading from the perspective of an 18 year old girl and could feel the immaturity. She was dramatic at parts in the book and fell in "love" with Thayer very quickly. I've never really cared about a book being a slow burn, but I felt as though the relationship in this book developed way too intense, way too quickly. There were a few tropes in this book as well that I'm not a fan of either including cheating, and the pregnancy trope. The cheating I personally cannot overlook, ,but I do feel like the pregnancy trope was done very well, granted it occurred at the very very end of the book and there was only a chapter worth of the discussion. It did however make me want to read the second book, even though I wasn't a huge fan of this one. But I want to know what happens with Thayer and Salem's story from where they left things, to Salem discovering her pregnancy.
*HUGE SPOILER*
Killing Forrest broke my entire heart, I have never experienced such sadness and pain in a book. I love when a book draws me in enough to develop a love for characters, and while it hurts for a book to make me emotional, I love when a book is able to bring out my emotions.
After finishing The Confidence of Wildflowers, I have landed on a 3 star rating because the majority of the book, I spent cringing and kind of annoyed with how quickly and intensely the relationship developed, however, I did enjoy (even if it broke my heart) the last 10-15% of the book and would like to read the sequel. I'm not a fan of spicy scenes which I ended up just skipping over, so that did not effect my
Would I recommend this book?
Yes!
The Confidence of Wildflowers follows 18 year old Salem as she experiences life after graduating high school. 31 year old Thayer and his son Forrest move in next door to Salem's family and a friendship begins between Thayer and Salem after he hires her to babysit his son when he is busy with work.
Honestly, this book was not my favorite throughout the majority, but the last 10% of the book or so put me through an emotional roller coaster that I was not expecting. Let me begin by explaining why I was not a fan through the majority of the book.
*SPOILERS*
I definitely felt like I was reading from the perspective of an 18 year old girl and could feel the immaturity. She was dramatic at parts in the book and fell in "love" with Thayer very quickly. I've never really cared about a book being a slow burn, but I felt as though the relationship in this book developed way too intense, way too quickly. There were a few tropes in this book as well that I'm not a fan of either including cheating, and the pregnancy trope. The cheating I personally cannot overlook, ,but I do feel like the pregnancy trope was done very well, granted it occurred at the very very end of the book and there was only a chapter worth of the discussion. It did however make me want to read the second book, even though I wasn't a huge fan of this one. But I want to know what happens with Thayer and Salem's story from where they left things, to Salem discovering her pregnancy.
*HUGE SPOILER*
Killing Forrest broke my entire heart, I have never experienced such sadness and pain in a book. I love when a book draws me in enough to develop a love for characters, and while it hurts for a book to make me emotional, I love when a book is able to bring out my emotions.
After finishing The Confidence of Wildflowers, I have landed on a 3 star rating because the majority of the book, I spent cringing and kind of annoyed with how quickly and intensely the relationship developed, however, I did enjoy (even if it broke my heart) the last 10-15% of the book and would like to read the sequel. I'm not a fan of spicy scenes which I ended up just skipping over, so that did not effect my
Would I recommend this book?
Yes!
nehir_ozden's review against another edition
3.0
This was definitely a guilty pleasure read. I think I needed this type of book after reading two high fantasy ones back to back with no break. This book was, ok! Like I have read muchhhhh better written books than this one. It's not that the plot was bad, it was more the actual writing of this book that caused my rating to go down a lot. The writing was super choppy, and also got repetitive at some times. To add on, although I like short chapters, for some reason the chapters in this book never felt like it flowed. Yeah, there wasn't really good flow to this book; the pacing was also a bit weird.
Nevertheless, the actual story was intriguing, and the plot twist.... MA'AM I WAS NOT READY! The author really pulled a fast one.
Anyways, if you are able to withstand mediocre writing (that I am sure will develop overtime with the author), then read this book!
Nevertheless, the actual story was intriguing, and the plot twist.... MA'AM I WAS NOT READY! The author really pulled a fast one.
Anyways, if you are able to withstand mediocre writing (that I am sure will develop overtime with the author), then read this book!
mlmac's review against another edition
5.0
Seeing bad reviews on this books makes me realize i should never judge a book based off of Goodreads reviews. To each their own but this was an amazing story. Yes, plenty of triggers. Was it the best book ever written? No.
maggiereb17's review against another edition
1.0
Just yikes. This is pretty terrible. It was kinda like a car crash you can’t look away from. I can’t believe I actually read the whole thing.
lucylnb's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
highfaehoe's review against another edition
4.0
I read this almost a year ago and it still lives rent free in my head
stef_alexander's review against another edition
3.5
3.5⭐️ - “The Confidence of Wildflowers” is a small town, grumpy/sunshine, age gap romance that follows 18-year-old Salem during the summer she graduates from high school. Salem starts nannying for the grumpy single dad next door, Thayer, and there is instant chemistry despite the fact that he’s 31 and she’s 18.
I enjoyed the cozy small town setting and the character development in this story, we get a lot of backstory on Salem that makes her seem wiser than her years - the perfect match for the older man next door. This was a fast paced read full of really sweet moments, with some decent spice sprinkled in too.
My only complaints about this novel occur at the end, we move abruptly from a pretty steadily paced novel to a handful of shocking events that land all at once. This is the first book in a series, but I felt a little confused and whiplashed during the last 50 pages of what was otherwise a sweet, steady, fun read.
I enjoyed the cozy small town setting and the character development in this story, we get a lot of backstory on Salem that makes her seem wiser than her years - the perfect match for the older man next door. This was a fast paced read full of really sweet moments, with some decent spice sprinkled in too.
My only complaints about this novel occur at the end, we move abruptly from a pretty steadily paced novel to a handful of shocking events that land all at once. This is the first book in a series, but I felt a little confused and whiplashed during the last 50 pages of what was otherwise a sweet, steady, fun read.