I’ve never seduced someone I don’t know. Fuck, living in a place like this, I don’t think I’ve ever talked to someone I don’t know. [chapter 2]
This is one of Hibbert's earlier novels and one of her few M/M romances. Griff Everett gains more satisfaction from plants than from people: he's the manager of a small fruit farm and responsible for the wild success of its fruit cordials, and he is also openly bisexual in the small town where he grew up, and where his mother committed suicide just after his 18th birthday. He has one (1) friend, Rebecca, and has never had a proper relationship, just one-night stands.
Olumide Olusegun-Keynes is gorgeous but damaged, a Londoner through and through who's in deep depression after being outed and blackmailed. (I believe this story is background to another book.) Olu decides to take a break in Fernley, picking elderflowers at Fernley Farm. The attraction between him and Griff is instant -- but Olu's shaking when they sneak a kiss in the alleyway behind the pub...
This was an enjoyable read, if somewhat frustrating in the usual romance-novel way (could their issues be resolved by actual communication? why, yes, who'd have thought). The aspect that worked really well for me, though, was Hibbert's treatment of mental health issues. Both Griff and Olu struggle with depression, and for Griff it's all tied in with his mother's mental health issues and suicide. What they learn from one another is to love someone for who they are, regardless of how depressed that person is.
Fulfils the ‘by a neurodivergent author’ rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge.
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