My Review
Delphinium Hayes owns a florist shop in the small town of Moonberry Lake, Minnesota. Delphinium has a special gift; she can detect a floral scent from everyone she meets. This lets her know what they are really like. When a group of elderly men from a nearby assisted living start playing poker in her walk-in refrigerator, she works with the assisted living director, Elliot Sturgis, to find a solution. This being Moonberry Lake, there are little surprises and romance.
I wanted to read this book because I absolutely loved On Moonberry Lake. It made my top 10 reads list last year, and I couldn't wait to spend more time in this fictional world.
The Blooming of Delphinium is delightful! Delphinium is a wonderful protagonist. I enjoyed her gift for - quite literally - sniffing out what is good or bad in people, her work at the florist, and her interactions with Eliot.
I also enjoyed the elderly people in this book - they are treasures! And I still love the town of Moonberry Lake.
I enthusiastically recommend The Blooming of Delphinium and the Moonberry Lake series for fans of women's fiction and charming small town settings.
Book Synopsis
Making the perfect match is like arranging the perfect bouquet--and no one is better at it than Delphinium Hayes. Except when it comes to making a match for herself.
As far as hidden talents go, she is blessed with one of the more unique ones. With the slightest passing whiff, she knows someone's most admirable or weediest characteristic. This peculiar perception never fails to give her an advantage in understanding people--except for one man, whose scent doesn't seem to match his demeanor.
Prim and proper Elliot Sturgis, director of Moonberry Lake's Gardens Assisted Living and Senior Care Facility, carries the scent of violets--meaning love and loyalty--yet is strict and unwavering in his determination to stop a group of his wily residents from sneaking over to Delphinium's shop to play cards in the flower cooler. But the more glimpses Delphinium gets of the soft side beyond Elliot's harsh exterior, the more she understands his scent--and her intrigue deepens as sparks fly.
The crowd in her cooler isn't Delphinium's only problem. Behind on the mortgage payments and on the verge of losing her shop to foreclosure, Delphinium isn't sure where to turn for help. But God has a funny way of putting the right people in the place at the right time . . .
Author Bio
Holly Varni is the author of On Moonberry Lake. A native Minnesotan of strong Norwegian descent, she was raised in the Lutheran Church that Garrison Keillor made a career depicting. Though she, her husband, and their three sons live along the Central Coast of California, her beloved Midwest roots continue to haunt everything she writes. She hosts the Moments from Moonberry Lake podcast, where she shares more stories of her beloved characters. Learn more at HollyVarni.com.