Book Review: Wildflower by Becky Jenkinson

I read the synopsis of this book and was hooked by the comparison to Ella Enchanted. I absolutely adored that book when I was a kid and was more than willing to try reading this book for that reason alone. But then Fliss and Will stole my heart and I wanted to defend those two to the death against every wrong and attack in this book and I fell in love with the story and the people in it. They were messy and sincere and everything to drive home a tale about a girl that finally figures out how to keep things for herself and to fight for what she wants and that she is so much more than a girl with a curse when it finally comes down to it.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I absolutely adored this book. It was just that good.

Wildflower follows Felicity "Fliss" Farrow, a young woman working as a florist who has the ability to draw out the magic in flowers, enhancing every bouquet she makes with the sentiments each flower stands for, hoping to ease heartache, offer sympathy or bring joy to the people who receive them. Fliss is also cursed to tell the truth and as a result of that, she has had to contend with various forms of distrust from the people around her,  with everyone unsure of what Fliss could probably inform the Queen about them. Fliss receives an anonymous request one day for a flower she has never heard of before and determined to prove herself as trustworthy and reliable, Fliss heads into the forest on her own to find the flower. She ends up having to ask Willoh Vane for help, a sorcerer who has been in a feud with the crown prince for the last few years. Fliss has been there as witness for many of their fiery encounters as a result of her best friend being the fiancé to the prince and tensions are running higher than normal because of rebels stealing from wagons in the north and the wedding being only weeks away. As more anonymous requests arrive and Fliss and Will continue to work together to gather these flowers, Fliss begins to wonder what the recipient would want these powerful flowers for when no one seems to know for certain what these flowers together can do. When Fliss starts to believe someone has a wicked plan that requires those flowers, she tries to stop them with Will's help, hoping to save her home, family and friends before it's too late. 

When the book starts, it felt like the familiar cozy fantasy setting, filled with magic and secrets. Within pages readers learned about the strain that Fliss dealt with on a daily basis living with her curse and how it affected her each and every interaction. The citadel is on edge because one of their soldiers died in an attack and the royal family is claiming that everyone will be kept safe within the walls of their home. Every detail fills in this isolated existence that Fliss has been forced to lead, her loneliness leading her to take risks to find her mysterious requests because she just has to do this, no one understands what it means to her to be able to fulfill these requests. At the same time, when Fliss takes those chances and goes out on her own, she's finding that her life in the citadel is confining, and as result, what she knows about the outside world has been affected because the whole truth doesn't reach the citizens of the citadel. Every point about the world helps to highlight themes that start to take shape and grow as Fliss moves on from her role as a florist into someone able to take charge and save the kingdom.

As for the characters, Fliss and Will were the absolute best couple to follow for this tale. Fliss and Will each had their own personal hardships and the fact that they were able to have fun together made me smile because a couple like this is everything fantasy readers could want. Fliss had determination and a stubborn streak a mile wide and I wanted to slap her upside the head when she risked her life but I loved this young woman so much. Will quickly became a favorite the moment he stepped onto the page, his banter with Fliss making me smirk with him because his charm was enchanting and I could see Fliss thawing towards him every time they came together. I was disappointed with other characters, particularly Card and Bash, Fliss's best friend and the prince, who kept a very narrow view of everything happening in the book. I was ready to chuck them out the window but I was confident that Jenkinson would do something brilliant with them because of the fact that I felt so against them and their actions. If I could love Fliss and Will and then want to throttle Card and Bash for their treatment of Fliss and Will, I was sure their development would get to where it needed to go.

Which brings me to the more adult characters in this book. If I wanted to wring Bash's neck, that was nothing compared to what I wanted to do to Queen Fern. The Queen had been calling Fliss in to report directly to her anything she felt she needed to know and because of Fliss's curse, the poor girl could not refuse to give the information. Fliss was forced to learn the limits of her curse, how to withhold things to keep certain facts safe and the fact that this started when she was still almost a child was appalling. There was also the lack of communication with Fliss's mother, Lilibeth, who refused to ever explain why Fliss ended up cursed in the first place. The treatment of Fliss by these adults made me want to pull my hair out because she was a child that was being taken advantage of and as the victim of the curse, she deserved some answers. These women highlighted the theme of trust, or rather the lack of it, to believe in Fliss and to treat her with respect instead of as a tool. This treatment helped Fliss in gaining agency over her life, to understand that she was worth more than the information she provided by being forced to tell the truth. She wasn't something to be discarded if she had nothing to report or even to be disregarded because they would rather doubt her words than truly face what was right in front of them. For a cozy fantasy, these instances elevated the story for me and I was ready for Fliss to take a stand and prove just exactly who she was and how important she could be, cursed or not. I was cheering for Fliss and for Will every step of the way. 

In the end, Wildflower was exactly the kind of romantic cozy fantasy I was hoping to find. Read this if you're looking for a story about a young woman who manages to push the boundaries of her world and learn that to the right people, you are enough, faults and all.

Rating on my Scale: 10 Stars. The vibes on this one, cozy and romantic and inclusive, everything made me get to that ending and made me get a little teary-eyed. When tears make an appearance, it's an automatic 10 Star read for me, no questions asked. 

My thanks to NetGalley, Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore and Becky Jenkinson for the eARC of this book in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.