A review by lindsaymck
In The Weeds by B.K. Borison

emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Take me to Lovelight Farms! 

Beckett and Evelyn’s grumpy/sunshine dynamic was expected, but his softness and all the layers hidden under his tattoos and grunts was better than whatever I could’ve imagined for him. His love language of helping other people, even at the expense of his own happiness - from taking over a farm job (and giving up his dream of being an astronaut) when his dad was paralyzed to going to trivia nights that overstimulate him with his sensitivity to noise - shows just how important it is to him to put those he loves first. 

With Evelyn, there is some seeeeeerious miscommunication, or rather a complete lack of communication, on both sides about how much they each want to be together. She is figuring out that a life with him is everything she has wanted and been missing and yet doesn’t share that with him. He never wants her to leave, but never asks her to stay. I loved Luka’s 4am pep-talk in the fields as Beckett was stress-planting! 

I think having sisters makes a man a better person and that is true of Beckett. His encouragement of his sister’s art by letting her tattoo him is the sweetest, as is him becoming a foster dad for animals in need. (What a cute way to end the book with that!) Beckett’s character was really developed, perhaps even more than Evie’s. 

When he calls Evelyn “honey” … I melted every. single. time. 

Something about this book that will stick with me is the focus on Evelyn *finding her happy.* The mindfulness of finding your happy is a beautiful way to live and something that I will bring into my own life. 

“It’s okay if it takes you some time to find it again. And it’s okay if you find it just to lose a bit of it here and there. That’s the beauty of it, yeah? It comes and goes. Not every day is a happy one and it shouldn’t be. It’s in the trying, I think.” 

I clear the cobwebs out of my throat. “Trying to be happy?” 

“No.” He shakes his head once. “That doesn’t work. Trying to be happy is like—it’s like telling a flower to bloom.” He crosses his ankles and drags his palm against his stubble. “You can’t make yourself be happy. But you can be open to it. You can trust yourself enough to feel it when you stumble on it.”