Anderson in Bloom: A Spicy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance of Love, Flowers, and Hollywood Secrets by Jennifer Dugan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After finishing The Ride of Her Life: A Novel yesterday, I was still jonesing for a good, solid romance that didn’t rely on non-communication as a plot device. I wondered if deciding to jump into Anderson in Bloom right away was a massive mistake. Would my opinions be tainted by the less than stellar previous book? After looking around at other books on my ereader (my new Kobo Libra Colour – bye Kindle Color Soft) I couldn’t decide on anything else. So Anderson in Bloom it was.

Here’s the blurb:

Former child star Anderson “Andy” Ducharme is hiding—has been for a long time, if she’s honest with herself, which she isn’t.

When she suddenly cut off all ties and left LA six years earlier to work in a flower shop in coastal New England, she wasn’t just running away from toxic relationships, embezzling agents, and all the rest of her Hollywood life; she was running to something… sort of, if you squinted, and if you accepted that what she was running toward was little more than a vacation daydream she had made up with her (in)famous ex, and former costar, Nicole “Nikki” Price. 

Then Nikki announces her plan to write a tell-all book about growing up in Hollywood and their tumultuous time on the Nik and Andy show, and Andy’s feelings of hurt and betrayal come rushing back. Emboldened by anger (and maybe one too many drinks), Andy does something very stupid: she texts her ex for the first time in years. No one’s more shocked than Andy when Nikki actually shows up to her small florist shop, looking for answers.

Andy is fully prepared to send Nikki away, but it seems Nikki has some unfinished business as well. Now that she finally knows where Andy’s been hiding, she’s not letting her go so easy. And with each passing encounter, Andy can’t deny the simmering physical attraction that threatens to boil over every time they get close.

But can the two of them really reunite without wrecking Andy’s carefully rebuilt life? Or is she setting herself up for a fresh heartbreak? 

Before I go any further, there are some differences between the blurb and the actual book. I’m not sure which is going to be the final but Nikki’s last name might also be Colletti and the name of the show might have been The Nikki and Andy Show. The book doesn’t come out until March 2026 and it was clear during reading that there are still several steps left before it’s ready to be released. Just wanted to put it out there in case you read it and want to know why the blurb is off. Anyway…

I ended up reading much later last night than I had anticipated and, had it been Friday night instead of Wednesday night I wouldn’t have stopped at all. (This will be posted on TBR Reviews on the anticipated publication date and I’m writing this in July 2025 so hello from the past!)

I’m not gonna lie, there were a few times when I thought we were going to have the same “run away instead of dealing with issues” thing from The Ride of Her Life but, in the end, it was sort of the opposite of that. We got maturity and communication. I don’t think that’s a spoiler and it didn’t happen right away.

This was a story I could relate to after spending over a year apart from the love of my life. We were also very young when we got together and also had to hide because we were in the military. Not exactly the same but close enough for me to draw parallels and feel for both young Andy and Nikki and their current day counterparts.

Without going into much detail because you’ll want to read it for yourselves, this was a second-chance romance that definitely makes it on my re-read list.

A nice bouquet of daisies for Jennifer Dugan. (Daisies are a cheerful and innocent flower that symbolize forgiveness and new beginnings.)

A huge thanks to the publisher and NetGalley!



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