Flora Wilder makes her home in Eastern Washington, where rolling wheat fields and wildflowers inspire her stories of love, belonging, and community. She runs a flower farm with her husband, shares her home with three spoiled cats, and spends every spare moment dreaming up more tales of Haven and the people who live there. Haven: Where the Flowers Bloom is her debut novel, and the first in the Haven series.
Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite
Where the Flowers Bloom: Haven by Flora Wilder is a deeply romantic and adventurous novel that explores the idea of leaving one’s past behind and making a new start. Determined not to repeat her mistakes, Chloe has packed up her entire life and moved to the outskirts of a small, isolated country village, where she hopes to start again and build a flower farm that will celebrate her love of flowers and signal a rebirth for her. As in most small towns, she finds an odd collection of eclectic characters, some of whom welcome her with open arms and others who would rather poke into her private business and spread gossip about her. Most of all, though, Chloe finds a caring, loving soul in the hardware shop owner, Leo, who even offers her a second chance at romance and love. Chloe must decide if she has found her forever home here in Haven; if she has found her tribe.
I am a sucker for a good romance, especially one that is filled with oddball characters, which Where the Flowers Bloom certainly has. Author Flora Wilder has constructed a wonderful cast of quirky characters so typical of small-town life, and in Chloe, she has created a character who is strong, independent, but also incredibly vulnerable. I particularly appreciated the overarching message that life, with all its twists and turns and surprises, should be grabbed and cherished, whatever the circumstances. I enjoyed the delicate balance in Chloe’s psyche between embracing the opportunities and new experiences life in the country had to offer and her shame and fear of the past. This made for a wonderfully multifaceted character that was easy to identify and empathize with. The romantic scenes were beautifully constructed with the emphasis being very much on sensuality, romance, and pleasure. The descriptive, character-driven narrative allows readers to feel like they are truly in Haven, witnessing the passing of events as a bystander, which, to me, is the sign of an excellent tale. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
