Book Review: Coming Up Daffy by Sandra Sookoo

Coming Up Daffy, by Sandra Sookoo, 2013, 107p
Clean Contemporary Romance, Rating=3.5 stars
Source: Received review copy from Astraea Press for an honest review

He loves me, he loves me not, he… wait, am I like a platypus?

Alice Attler has a green thumb in everything except cultivating relationships. Though she’s more comfortable encouraging green things to grow, she’s mystified that every relationship she’s had has withered. When a client’s daffodils won’t grow, she heads to the bait shop for earthworms where she meets Mark.

Mark Kincaide doesn’t know what to do with himself. His brother is on his honeymoon and he’s stuck with Grandma for company. Plus, he’s not a fan of the evil llamas. Just once he wants to do something heroic and be known as someone other than the bait guy. When the local plant specialist/florist comes calling, he can’t take his eyes off her…and it’s for more than catching a glimpse of bird poop in her hair.

An innocent trip to a river bank to dig up bulbs puts Alice in danger and Mark finally has his chance to play the hero. After things settle down, he hopes he and Alice will have more in common than just worms and a penchant for taking tumbles into embarrassing moments. (Goodreads)

Alice is a florist, gardener, purveyor of bulbs, and worker of dirt and owns her own business, Flower Power. The local kids have started calling her Daffy because a lot of her current business relates to daffodils and they see her carrying them around town and she has a habit of jumping subjects in conversation without finishing her original thought and they think it makes her sound crazy. She had planted some bulbs for a friend that were duds so she decided to add earthworms to help the soil. 

Francisville Bait and Tackle is run by Mark and his grandmother and his brother, Matthew, runs the farm but is currently on his honeymoon so Mark is helping with those chores, too. Daffy walks into his bait shop and they both know of the other person but haven't talked before. They strike up a conversation and find themselves attracted to each other. He doesn't ask her out at first and it takes a while to get to the first date.

This is a short book so from there it just focuses on their relationship, which is fun, quirky and clean (though she has slept with a previous boyfriend and they do have hormonal conversations throughout the book, but don't act on those feelings past kissing). They do hit a bump that they need to work through so it isn't smooth sailing. I enjoyed reading this since I've read a lot of middle-grade fiction lately (which I love) and was ready for a little romance.