Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Flowers for the Gardener
AUTHOR: Sharon Maria Bidwell
PUBLISHER: JMS Books LLC
LENGTH: 227 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2018
BLURB:
A warm-hearted rich man’s son, Richard Gardener needs to overcome three obstacles: find a way the family business can run without him, help his mother cope with grief, and stop butting heads — and other parts of his anatomy — with the gardener.
Ethan Fields has worked for the Gardener family for many years. He’s struggling with debt and the desire to leave, and has loved Richard far longer than the man would believe. Ethan can cope with most things, but his anger with Richard’s mother won’t fade. Until that and his feelings for Richard are resolved, he feels trapped and, alas, the idea that sex will get Richard out of his system isn’t working.
To make the situation worse, both men assume too much and don’t say the right words, and Ethan’s offer of ‘just sex’ grows more complicated by the day. Can Richard and Ethan stop getting their wires crossed before their paths diverge?
REVIEW:
Man this book just rips you up. So emotional. I didn’t know which side I felt more bad for. Both sides were dealing with so much. I think the only thing that left me cold was Ethan’s sometimes attitude. It felt so selfish sometimes, but yet it was hard to stay mad because of what he was dealing with and had dealt with.
Richard was planning on coming home at some point to start working on his dreams, but his father’s death made him come home sooner. And left a lot on his plate to deal with. On top of dealing with Ethan. Too many old feelings creep up, along with some new ones. Anger, grief, resentment. As Rich and Ethan become friends with benefits, communication becomes nil. Misunderstandings come fast and hurts keep digging in. Both are afraid to say what’s happened and what’s happening now? But as the truth starts to come out, they have to learn to get past it all or risk losing each other forever.
When dealing with death, it’s a hard thing to deal with a lot. All you want to do is grieve. And all the steps that entails. So when old bad feelings add with new bad feelings, it can lead to violitle conditions and bad communication. Ethan and Rich had bad feelings from events that happened in their youth. Things never resolved. When they decided to have a fling, for Ethan it seemed almost out of spite. Harbouring new resentments made it worse. And Rich was stuck in a fog trying to deal with everything left behind by his father. Including his snotty, hateful mother. It was a bad situation for both. Rich’s mom had put Ethan through hell, and Rich had no clue. So many things were kept hidden or quiet. It broke my heart to read. They obviously really cared about each other but too much was getting in the middle.
The one thing to learn from this book, if nothing else, life is too short. Don’t let past resentments get in between you and the people you love. This was a good book but it can make you cry to read. Death is never easy. Give it a try. Just grab some tissues when you do. 😉
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