reviewsbyerin

Poppy Bloom lives a quiet life helping manage her family's farm. She loves everything about growing fresh produce and helping manage the different aspects that keep their small farm up and running. If only she could somehow help more with the other similar outfits in their part of the state.

Harrison Coulter is ready to make a run for the governor's office. But his political advisor is firm—his chances of gaining enough votes would be much higher if he was married. That's just how things are in a small, conservative state. There isn't much time to meet someone and fall in love—and besides, after having his heart broken once, he doesn't want to risk it again. But he can't stop thinking about his friend from high school. Would Poppy be open to a marriage that was a little unconventional if there was enough benefit for both of them?

When Poppy first hears from Harrison, she's confused. She had a crush on him for years that was unrequited in the worst way. Why does he want to reconnect now?

Marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes, and I can't recall ever reading one in a contemporary setting before. That's one of the reasons I knew I had to read this book. I thought the set-up was pretty good. I wished the story had a little more emotion to it. It's a given with marriage of convenience that a certain amount of practicality has to be on hand, but even in their interactions with other people, it seemed Poppy and Harrison were a little flat. I wish we'd been able to feel things with them a little deeper.

I thought the strongest part of the novel was Harrison's grappling over his votes as a state senator. That felt very real and the decisions he weighed as he looked at both sides made sense to me. I'd hate to be in his position, and that's why I'm not a politician.

Looking forward to the next novel in the Bloom Sisters series!