I’m very into gardening at the moment, thanks to having just moved to a house that has a garden – the first time I’ve had proper earth space to plant in nearly two decades, and the first time I’ve had any sun to grow in. I’ve been looking for good books that centre gardening, ideally memoirs, but I’ll take what I can get (if you have any gardening memoirs to recommend I’d love to hear about them). This is a novel that’s set around a community garden in LA, so obviously I was interested.
First, the good parts. I loved that this book does indeed wax lyrical on the topic of gardening. It not only includes accurate discussion of growing particular plants, but also expresses what gardening can mean to different people and how it can connect people. That was brilliant, and leads into my second point. I really enjoyed the relationships between different members of the community garden. Some have known each other a long time, some don’t really know one another at all yet, but will soon. Some are new additions. But they’re all united in their love of plants, of seeing things grow and tending to their needs. Many have been helped through difficult times by their passion for plants. Others have been given a way to relate to other people through them. For all the different reasons people are brought to this garden, there are as many ways that gardening can offer people what they need, even if they don’t know what they are looking for.
The actual story itself is somewhat predictable, but good. The community are faced with an outside threat in the form of an offer to buy the land it’s situated on, effectively ending hundreds of people’s access to the earth they’ve been tending, in some cases for decades. It’s a huge blow, but one that none of them are going to take lying down. They’re forced to come together as never before, put aside their differences, and fight this common enemy.
While all this is going on our main character, a damaged woman called Lizzie who does not trust anyone after a bad breakup, is falling for a new addition to the community, against all her better judgment and survival instincts. This makes her very uncomfortable, even as she’s feeling stirrings of excitement and happiness. Because of these stirrings, in fact.
The story goes on from there, with lots of twists and turns, newly found alliances and assumptions challenged.
I did enjoy this book. It was a different take on a romance/big guy vs. little guy conflict and I enjoyed the setup and context a lot. The story wasn’t exactly groundbreaking, but there’s good character development throughout and the story does work. It’s entertaining, and pulls on the heartstrings as it’s meant to. Other than being a bit predictable, it did move slowly, both at various points throughout the book, but mainly at the end. I kept thinking I’d reached the end, but then it kept going, missing a few good places it could have stopped in favour of spelling out all the conclusions rather than leaving anything for the readers to fill in for themselves. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it could have been done much faster and more tightly, rather than dragging on. I also found (as I often do) the actions of some of the character a bit much (some eyes were rolled) and the decisions made by some characters didn’t seem entirely realistic.
But I can forgive it its failings, because in spite of them it was mostly a decent romance, and I loved the setting so much that the gardening shone through any issues in the writing. I think most romance fans would enjoy this, and anyone who is into gardening and looking for it in a literary context could find a lot here to enjoy. It’s a great light summer read, and one that definitely passed a few hours of listening enjoyably!
If you thought community gardening was nothing but pulling weeds and planting seeds think again. In this fresh and delightful debut, Christy Wilhelmi shows that there’s more to gardening than merely keeping pests at bay …
Each time Lizzie steps through the gates of the Vista Mar Community Gardens, she knows she’s left the chaos of the outside world behind. Here, the rows are even, tools are properly stored, and each season brings new life. But even the shiniest apple can hide a worm, and behind the leafy green façade there is hidden heartbreak, tomato hornworms, and inter-garden political powerplays.
And to make things worse—a long forgotten loophole enacted by a nasty neighbor brings the outside world crashing in. The members are feuding, Lizzie’s budding romance is wilting on the vine, and the very existence of Vista Mar is threatened. Can Lizzie and her fellow gardeners fight to save their urban oasis while they struggle to stay grounded in this chaotic city
Garden Variety is as much about growing food and flowers as it is about life’s growing pains, and how a community rallies and comes together to save their own. – Goodreads
Book Title: Garden Variety
Author: Christy Wilhelmi
Series: No
Edition: Audiobook
Published By: William Morrow Paperbacks
Released: February 1, 2022
Genre: Fiction, Romance, Gardening, Community
Pages: 368
Date Read: July 21-23, 2023
Rating: 5/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.69/5 (177 ratings)