Reviews

Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell

jessicarosee's review against another edition

2.0

It was truly so so cute and did so many things so so well. But I think that lack of any real stakes/excitement made it a bit blegh for me

booksbydann's review against another edition

3.0

3.5⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Teen for the E-Arc!

A beautiful debut. It's perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Allison Saft.

Flowerheart is a cottagecore fantasy romance that had me completely immersed in its pages. The vibes in this book are something else. There's magic in the pages of Flowerheart and that is a great point in favor of Catherine's pen. Although it is a world inspired by the Victorian era, we found a world that is queernormative. It makes me very happy to find more and more queer fantasy books set in worlds without any prejudice towards queer people.

I loved Clara, she is a character that grows a lot throughout the book. Also, this book has bisexual rep and here we love a bi main character.

If you like flowers, teenage angst, romance, discussions of mental health and a beautiful and magic setting you need to give this book a try.

smallesttrashcan's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

doogsley's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

a surface level, lighthearted, cottagecore palette cleanser. i think this would generally be great for younger readers. it balanced cutesy and doomer quite well, but lacks depth across the board. imagining this story as a studio ghibli film made it so much more alive, but did not cure its Meh Factor.

some other thoughts: it was bit heavy-handed with the anxiety/depression parallels. the queer-normative world made my heart fuzzy. the ending had me shed a single tear. my favorite part was exploring clara’s magic! lots of flower linguistics for green witches to enjoy.

also the love interest had no rizz and zero (0) memorable qualities.

literarychingona's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was really fun! I enjoyed the premise and appreciated the plot and characters for what they were. I did feel as though the romance element was rushed and a bit random. Clara is a teen girl trying her best with magical powers she doesn’t know how to control yet. Highly recommend as a fluffy, light, cozy read! I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic!

kng_writes's review against another edition

This book has next to no worldbuilding, terrible pacing, and a manufactured, trite conflict that I just could not get with. I know as a twentysomething that I’m not the target audience here, but I really do love a good YA book as an escapist guilty pleasure. Maybe when I was 15, I would have felt some empathy for this whiny, immature main character, but I doubt it. This book’s repetitive dialogue and action statements just made me feel I was going circles instead of in any plotted out direction. There are better ways to write anxious, repeating thoughts without boring your reader. Honestly cannot believe this got published. 

fernmage's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sweatpeameesh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was immediately drawn into the story from page one—seriously, it goes right into it and by page three I’m crying over Clara and her childhood best friend. It was fast-paced, sweet, and had a bit of mystery that I loved trying to figure out. The mental health themes throughout was so good and well thought out! This is definitely a book I would recommend for a young reader. 💝💝

And oh my god I loved the warm feeling of the world Bakewell set up. Pair this book with a nice cozy reading place and you’ll totally be hooked like I was! 

clemslibrary's review against another edition

3.5

this was a cute witchy story about identity but i felt like we never got enough depth about anything and the story was very surface level. i did love the queer normative world and how many characters within the book are queer!

aklovekorn's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Body horror