Like a Flower in Bloom by Siri Mitchell

★★★★★
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For years Charlotte Withersby has worked as an assistant to her father, an eminent English botanist. As she approaches the old age of twenty-four, her father pushes her out into society, swayed by an uncle who believes God's only two roles for women are marriage and motherhood. When one of the Withersbys' colonial correspondents, Edward Trimble, returns to England, he's drafted as the new assistant so Charlotte is free to marry. This suits Edward's plans quite well, since the last thing he wants to do is reunite with the family he is ashamed to call his own.

Though Edward proves himself vexingly capable on the job, Charlotte won't surrender the job without a fight, and schemes with her best friend to regain her position. Perhaps if a proposal seems imminent, Charlotte's father will see his error and ask her to return. Charlotte tries to make headway in her town's social life, but reveals herself to be unaware of all the intricacies of polite society. Though Edward pitches in, tutoring her in society's expectations, she just seems to make things worse. And the more she comes to know of her father's assistant, the more trouble she has imagining life without him. Caught in a trap of her own making and seeing the hopelessness of her prospects, will Charlotte get to keep her work or will she have to cede her heart?

Reading Siri Mitchell’s Like a Flower in Bloom made me so very happy and left me smiling like a fool. I just loved everything about it - especially Mitchell’s main character and narrator, Charlotte Withersby. She grows up studying botany, assisting her father, and knows the science inside and out. Yet, suddenly her father decides the time has come for her to marry and her life turns upside down. Charlotte definitely does not know as much about social interaction as she does about plants, which provides many awkwardly entertaining situations. As Charlotte searches for a husband and finds herself, her story is a fun read and I would recommend it to any fan of historical romance. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more from Siri Mitchell in the future.

Thanks to Bethany House, I received a copy of Like a Flower in Bloom and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.