Flowers for the Gardener

by Sharon Maria Bidwell

A warm-hearted rich man's son, Richard Gardener needs to overcome three obstacles: find a way the family business can run without him, help his mother cope with grief, and stop butting heads -- and other parts of his anatomy -- with the gardener.

Ethan Fields has worked for the Gardener family for many years. He's struggling with debt and the desire to leave, and has loved Richard far longer than the man would believe. Ethan can cope with most things, but his anger with Richard's mother won't fade. Until that and his feelings for Richard are resolved, he feels trapped and, alas, the idea that sex will get Richard out of his system isn't working.

To make the situation worse, both men assume too much and don't say the right words, and Ethan's offer of 'just sex' grows more complicated by the day. Can Richard and Ethan stop getting their wires crossed before their paths diverge?

Genres: Contemporary

227 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2018

About the author

During Sharon’s writing career she’s lived in a house with a Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs, shared a publisher with the creator of Roger Rabbit, and has taken a trip to Jupiter. Only one of these has been in her imagination.

The first short story she submitted — Silver Apples of the Moon — was accepted by Roadworks Magazine. The editor announced her as “a writer who is going places” and described the story as having “both a Sci-fi and horror element,” and being “strong on characterisation, and quite literary, in terms of style.” Subsequently, she was approached to write all reports and publicity material, including a piece for translation into Braille for The Really Wild Nursery and Arthritis Care Breaking Down the Barriers garden project, which took place at the Malvern Spring Show.

Since then, her work has appeared steadily in both print and electronic publications, such as Midnight Street, Aoife’s Kiss (Sam’s Dot Publishing), Night To Dawn, and Radgepacket (Byker Books). Her short story — Bitter and Intoxicating — was snapped up for inclusion in the anthology Red Velvet and Absinthe. This compilation, edited by Mitzi Szereto with a foreword by Kelly Armstrong, was designed to evoke the romantic ethos of classic Gothic fiction with a serving of eroticism. With a repertoire of twisted tales and a love of cross-genre writing, it surprised everyone (including herself) when she branched out into erotic romance. These works have been critically acclaimed and often described as ‘deeply passionate’.

Sharon’s worlds are vivid, unexpected and sometimes intensely magical. Sharon writes whatever her warped mind can come up with and is quite capable of writing something darker, grittier, and even outright twisted. Though her love for all things Myth and Legend has led her to write under more than one name, from 2019 she's using S.M.Bidwell for her Dark Fiction.

She was propelled into the Steampunk universe of Space, 1899 and beyond, winning approval of series creator and award-winning game designer, Frank Chadwick, with three books, one of which was co-authored with editor (and writer) Andy Frankham-Allen, and subsequently led to her writing for the Lethbridge-Stewart series, and a short audio story for Doctor Who, performed by Katy Manning.

She's also on Goodreads under the name Sharon Bidwell.

Reviews

[Cadiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a case of "it's not the book, it's me" but I found this hard going and I put it down a few times to read other things before finally finishing it.

There's great writing throughout, a clever study of families and emotions but it wasn't what I'd consider a romance as such, although Richard and Ethan's relationship is at the heart of the narrative.

The biggest problem i had was that I really didn't like any of the protagonists. Rich was okay but he also came across as a lot of a wet fish even though in actually he had a lot of quiet strength.

And Ethan was just a dick for most of the book with a huge chip on his shoulder about his life, Rich's life and family and his unfair assumptions about the wealth and career path Rich was taking.

There really wasn't anything or anyone to feel sympathy for, or to get on board with rooting to win, for me and I didn't actually care in the end whether they got their acts together or not.

But the writing is great, these characters are complex and the setting is well expressed.

#ARC kindly provided by the author in return for an honest and unbiased review.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I beg your pardon...I never promised you a rose garden...

‘Flowers for the Gardener’ is a bit of a quandary for me…it should have gone better for me than it did. This is an ‘enemies to lovers, second chance, starting over’ love story so much my thing. Richard (Rich) Gardener has come home following the death of his father to not only attend the funeral but he is to take over management of the family company…a company he really has no interest in, but there’s more…Rich also has to deal with a mother who while grieving the loss of her husband is one of the least sympathetic literary characters that I’ve encountered in quite a while. ‘Ruby’ is cold hearted, pretentious, scheming, manipulative, a snob…I could go on but I’m going to stop there. My point is I should have been able to find some small modicum of sympathy for this character…I mean we’re talking about a woman who’s lost her husband a husband whom she supposedly loved and sorry, folks but I’ve got nothing where Ruby’s concerned I’m pretty much a cold-hearted b*tch. I mean this woman seriously irritated me.

Among the other characters introduced in this story there was Rich’s sister, Sapphire, who was for me a definite bright spot in this story. Rosamund (Rosie) a long-time employee of the Gardener family and Christopher Talbot who proved to be an invaluable advisor for Rich in regard to the family’s marketing firm and last but not least we have Ethan Fields. Rich’s childhood nemesis and current love interest.

I was, to say the least, surprised that this story just didn’t seem to be working for me…so much so that part way through I decided to set it aside and read something else in the hopes that when I went back to it things would fall into place for me and I’d find myself enjoying the story a lot more…sadly this was not to be. I was determined to finish reading this story with the objective of at best enjoying it and at the very least understanding why things weren’t working for me.

So, at the end of it all for me it comes down to the fact that while this is a well written story that I found to be easily readable does not automatically make for a story that’s relatable and my ability to relate to either of the MCs in this story was tenuous at best.

Rich came from a very well to do British family where money was not an issue. Unfortunately, neither was having a close and loving family. While Rich somehow managed to develop a semblance of a relationship with his sister it was definitely a work in progress, but I liked that it was something that both Sapphire and Rich seemed to want to work at. Making the interactions between Rich and his sister one of my favorite parts of the story.

Meanwhile from a purely socio-economic perspective while I was more able to relate to Ethan than Rich, there were still times that Ethan just felt too embittered by the fact that he wasn’t born into a rich family, however, as the story progresses we do find out the how and why of Ethan’s feelings which helped to give perspective to them, but for me this information came a bit to late to fully mitigate my initial reaction to Ethan’s feelings.

Now, the part that held the biggest quandary for me was Rich and Ethan’s relationship. I have to admit I’ve been pondering this for a few days now and what I keep coming back to is that for me the transition from what seems to have been an angry sex relationship where Rich and Ethan claimed that they were just together to fulfill a mutual physical relationship to admitting that they had feelings for each other simply took too long. I didn’t want it to be a blink and you missed it transition but I just felt like it took to long for each man to acknowledge his feelings for the other.

In hindsight I just feel like the timing for this one was off and that to me isn’t a reflection of the author or their skill but my personal preference of the moment. Things just felt like they were happening too soon or more often too late in the story for me and I can honestly say that I know from past experience that what worked or didn’t work this time may have a completely different impact with me another time. So while this one didn’t quite connect with me. I have no doubt that I will be reading this author again in future because whether this story worked for me or not I still enjoyed the author’s writing style and look forward to reading her other works.

*************************

An ARC of 'Flowers for the Gardener' was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man this book just rips you up. So emotional. I didn't know which side I felt more bad for. Both sides were dealing with so much. I think the only thing that left me cold was Ethan's sometimes attitude. It felt so selfish sometimes, but yet it was hard to stay mad because of what he was dealing with and had dealt with.

Richard was planning on coming home at some point to start working on his dreams, but his father's death made him come home sooner. And left a lot on his plate to deal with. On top of dealing with Ethan. Too many old feelings creep up, along with some new ones. Anger, grief, resentment. As Rich and Ethan become friends with benefits, communication becomes nil. Misunderstandings come fast and hurts keep digging in. Both are afraid to say what's happened and what's happening now? But as the truth starts to come out, they have to learn to get past it all or risk losing each other forever.

When dealing with death, it's a hard thing to deal with a lot. All you want to do is grieve. And all the steps that entails. So when old bad feelings add with new bad feelings, it can lead to violitle conditions and bad communication. Ethan and Rich had bad feelings from events that happened in their youth. Things never resolved. When they decided to have a fling, for Ethan it seemed almost out of spite. Harbouring new resentments made it worse. And Rich was stuck in a fog trying to deal with everything left behind by his father. Including his snotty, hateful mother. It was a bad situation for both. Rich’s mom had put Ethan through hell, and Rich had no clue. So many things were kept hidden or quiet. It broke my heart to read. They obviously really cared about each other but too much was getting in the middle.

The one thing to learn from this book, if nothing else, life is too short. Don't let past resentments get in between you and the people you love. This was a good book but it can make you cry to read. Death is never easy. Give it a try. Just grab some tissues when you do. ;)

http://lovebytesreviews.com

[VVivacious · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords Review. This review can also be found here.

Richard finds himself dealing with major life decisions after his father’s death, but he finds dealing with his mother, Ruby Gardener most difficult. If life weren’t difficult enough, there is the added complication of Ethan Fields.

Ethan and his father have been employed by the Gardeners for many years, though Ethan now finds himself dissatisfied with his work though unwilling to leave. He finds himself resenting Ruby and he wants closure from Richard for whatever it was that they shared.

Will Ethan and Richard stop falling into bed together long enough to work through everything that still remains unresolved between them or will they just drift apart at the end of the day?

Hands down, this is unlike any story I have ever read which was completely unexpected and it totally blindsided me. I had no idea people could create a contemporary romance this nuanced. This book was like a revelation and Sharon Maria Bidwell is an artist.

Initially, I thought this book would be a nice romance counting on social differences to provide the most conflict but I had no idea what I was in for and I must credit this book on how complicated a single thread of thought can be made in fiction. I really don’t hold contemporary romance in any of my favourites lists but done the way it was in this book, I could really see myself turning over to the other side, quick.

This book was off to an unsteady start which I was definitely going to take as an omen but the beginning of this book is somewhat like climbing a rickety staircase inelegant but oddly charming. The writing of this book is... unique. There are sentences that rub me the wrong way, feel overly dramatized but then there are other sentences which even being all of the above make me laugh out loud with the images that are conjured up in my head.

There is this really long conversation between Ethan and Richard in the very beginning of the book and the scene changes perspectives a million times which made me feel like a ping pong ball in a match. Like it was hard to keep track of whose turn it was at present and it felt like I was playing a game of match the following, trying to match the emotions to their respective owners. Again this was something I found irritating but oddly charming though this is an idiosyncrasy that is only true for the very beginning of the book.

Ethan and Richard are on opposite sides of society, they are basically employee and employer and wealth will always be an issue, because while Richard can think of money as a constant for Ethan it is a very current and variable issue which does provide conflict in this story but not all of it. There is also a little bit of the rich in wealth, poor in sense thing going on with Rich not understanding how employing Ethan could put their relationship into an ethical dilemma, but I also feel like that particular issue is seen differently by these two characters. For Ethan wonders, if Rich employing him makes him look like a rent buy while Rich is only trying to make sure Ethan is financially stable even outside of their relationship. Then there is the fact that they are both dealing with loss albeit in different ways and while Rich can lean on Ethan for support, Ethan feels denied of the same privilege. Then there is the matter of Ruby Gardener, Rich’s very opinionated mother who wants things to be exactly as she wants them to be and how both characters are in conflict with her though this fact is not recognizable early in the book.

This book has to be the slowest burning romance in the history of slow-burning romances wherein the characters already share a sexual relationship, it was kind of amazing because generally, it is the UST that drives a slow burn romance but here, was one with so much unresolved tension without any of it being sexual. This book is kind of an award-winning type of book because there so much detail in the book and so much going on, though you really don’t realize it. The fact is that the more detailed a work, the more complicated it becomes though that is surprisingly not the case here. This book has challenged a lot of my pre-conceptions on writing and storytelling, it has been an amazing experience.

Now I know you might be wondering why this book only has a four-star rating if it truly is award-winning good. The fact of the matter is that I have analysed this book to the extent that I can see its faults, this book only has three well-developed characters and another character comes of surprisingly underdeveloped atleast that is what I tell myself because I just couldn’t warm up to Sapphire.

Since Ethan and Rich already had a sexual relationship I felt that they needed to realise a relationship between themselves. In most slow burn romances the UST is resolved prior to the very end of the book such that you get to see exactly what I mentioned above the realisation of a relationship. Now since this book also features a lot of unresolved tensions between our MCs I wanted these tensions to be resolved before the ending of the book so that these two could realise their full potential as a couple. Alas, this wasn’t the case and I fear I have lost the opportunity to see these two as a couply couple.

This book has been a challenge for me one that I have really enjoyed and so far it is unparalleled in the amount of nuance that went into creating this romance.

Cover Art by Written Ink Design which I really liked.

[Mari Cardenas · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars!


I will be perfectly honest here. I wasn't too sure what to make of this book at first. The language, the descriptions, even the characters felt too formal, stilted, something I expect out of a historical book, not a contemporary romance. However, I have to admit that Ethan and Richard won me over and I found myself enjoying Ms. Bidwell's writing style.

I liked Richard and Ethan, and despite being so different, they worked great together, when Richard was a bit more sensitive about their differences that is. I didn't particularly care for their misunderstanding, or how it was handled, it just made Richard seem like a jerk that he wouldn't even ask for Ethan's dad, no matter his reasons.

I won't say I hated Richard's mom, although it was a close thing, the woman was insufferable. At least we had Saffie to counteract her bitchiness.

Overall, this book was a good read, enjoyable and entertaining. It's my first book by this author and it definitely won't be my last. Recommendable!

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard returns to live at home with his mother when his father passes away. Not wanting to live in what he calls a mausoleum, he is intent on getting his mother to move. He also plans to tell her he is gay. It's just a matter of timing.

Ethan is the groundskeeper for the estate. Him and Rich had issues when they were younger, which neither have forgotten.

Rich is attracted to Ethan. When he discovers the feeling is mutual, they begin meeting in secret. Their awkward encounters notwithstanding, each man is totally taken with the other. The sex they share is good. The feeling they hide and don't or can't express is bad. It's just a matter of time till the relationship starts to fall apart.

I had some trouble getting into the book. Took time to warm up to these guys. Once I started liking them the book improved though.


Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads.

[Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a bit to get into this one as the beginning feels a bit stilted, but as the story progresses and the characters start to take shape, it did capture my interest. Ethan and Rich do quite a lot of tiptoeing around each other in every aspect of the relationship outside the bedroom. On that, they have no problem seeing eye to eye. The fact that this pair could build up so much angst without saying a word is frustrating at times, but does serve to build the angst between them. Add in Rich's stuffy and opinionated mother and we have a sweet and steamy romance that is a bit on the angsty side. The book is well-written and certainly worth the read.

[Dara Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but I had a hard time connecting with either character. I couldn’t feel this passion that seemed to Pull them together. Good storyline though.