Where Flowers Bloom by Nikki Vale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kendyll is an author who writes books about finance and managing money, but under a pen name, she writes about whirlwind romances and love, but her life has not been as easy as some think, she has an overbearing mother with strict rules, a fiancé Vance who treats her differently in public to when they are home alone and all while being insecure about the colour of her skin and how she has been brought up to believe she is less than she is, not to mention the snippets of dreams she has had all her life, but everything she knows is about to be thrown into upheaval.

Kendyll has made the hard decision to move with Vance to a new palace in North Carolina and leave her family in New York behind, as well as her friends, so she has headed there early to go house hunting, but hasn’t had any luck due to Vance’s exacting standards of what he wants, that is until she is shown a run down mansion by her realtor and as soon as she sees one particular part of it, she knows that it is the perfect house, even though it ticks none of the boxes and it used to be a plantation, but she ignores all of that and immediately buys it, it also helps that the current owner think that she is the perfect buyer as well.

As soon as the sale goes through Kendyll packs up her things and leaves the hotel in which she has been staying during the search, but runs into a rather handsome man on her way out, she feels strangely comfortable around him and cannot deny that she is attracted to him, however when she is propositioned by him, she declines and explains that she is engaged and almost sadly moves her designer luggage and belongings into her rental car and heads to the house where unbeknownst to her, her mother and sister are waiting for her, this is a surprise, but not a welcome one, she starts to regret telling her sister about the house. Her mother wastes no time in being her usual condescending self and complains about everything and anything she can find, she is more than shocked when the past owner introduces herself as the cook and this almost pleases her mother, Kendyll daren’t tell her that she is still living there, but not as a servant.

When Kendyll’s relatives have left, she talks to the realtor about getting a contractor called Wes in to start on the necessary renovations, so when he turns up a few days later to introduce himself, it turns out to be the man she saw in the hotel, but the circumstances are less than favourable and they both end up being embarrassed at the situation. After that second introduction, Kendyll finds herself drawn to the man and feels confused when Vance comes to see the house and eventually moves down there and the distance between them that was there before starts to disappear. As time passes and the work on the house continues, she is becoming closer to her realtor and now friend as well as the older lady and the only troubling thing is that the dreams are becoming longer and more detailed, as well as other strange things happening when she is alone, but her feeling of comfort with the Wes.is making life more uncomfortable as the time goes on, but will she be able to keep herself away from him, or will she end up having to make the tough decision between Vance who she knows better than anyone else and Wes who she feels a deep and strong connection to and will she ever find out why she is having these dreams and what they mean?

This is a romance with the added twist of the troubles those with differing skin tones and opinions have to endure, but with a historical aspect which is hard to deny and as the different aspects of the story are revealed, you get hooked on finding out the truth of the situation as well.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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