First, thank you to Harper Muse and NetGalley for the chance to read The Alchemy of Flowers in exchange or an honest review. All in all, I feel like the blurb was not entirely representative of what the book was about. Whilst it properly hints the background of the main character, this book really is about dealing with infertility, child-loss, and other dark topics that I wasn't expecting-- I can't relate to these topics in a way other readers might. That said, I feel like it needed to be explicitly stated before you venture into this book because it's a topic that comes up on literally every other page. I was looking for a story with more magical elements, and a greater focus on the fact she could speak to flowers. Instead, it's used more as a way for Eloise, our main character, to get information as the story continue because no one ever tells her anything. That said, there are positives: the prose was great (no, like, genuinely. It's why I gave the book three stars last night before rereading the blurb once waking up this morning and immediately feeling betrayed because I thought I missed something.), the setting was great, and the French was integrated decently well (and so unlike Emily in Paris). I don't like the romance; forced proximity has always seemed icky to me given the whole "forced" of it all, but it really didn't help that Eloise has no chemistry with the love interest. I also struggled with Eloise's friends, because their entire relationship is vaguely trauma-bond-eque, but I also admit to having to skim bits and pieces in the second half of the book. There's also an underlying theme (with like 20 other themes, mind you. Why were there like 10 stories happening at once.) that rubbed me the wrong way. Due to the very frequent mentions of infertility, it felt like I was constantly being told that one's job as a woman was to create, which I understand is how Eloise feels but it was still a little too heavy-handed as the reader. I also couldn't continue with the audiobook after the awkwardness of the phrasing of "au-to pay" and "my stom-ach tight-en-ing" like five minutes into the audiobook. All in all, I didn't have a good experience with the book. It took me almost a month to read, and though I can say the pacing sped up in the latter half, the general chaos of themes and plots, the mediocre and chemistry-lacking romance, and the semi-predictable conflict, I can comfortably say this book was not for me.

Needing an escape from her life, Eloise takes a job at a mysterious garden in France because of one strange rule. No children allowed.
The gardens can heal, but they can also harm. Can Eloise ignore les bizarreries and just exist in this little heaven on earth with her new friends?!
This book is part magical realism, part mystery.. It's cozy, emotional, and terrifying. The characters are lovely, each trying to escape their own trauma. The food sounds delicious. The gardens are a dream. I loved every second of this book.