Review: Sea Blooms by H.P. Lane

Sea Blooms
by H.P. Lane

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
A heartfelt cozy urban fantasy about family, identity, and fighting for the place you call home.

In a modern day San Francisco where magical beings live openly among humans, Odysseus “Oddie” Saltbrook, a merfolk man in his twenties, has built a careful life on land, helping run Maple Street Florals while secretly crafting ocean inspired arrangements in his free time. He tries to live up to the expectations of his traditional merfolk parents while quietly nursing feelings for Lily, his human best friend. When his boss announces the shop has been sold to a charismatic real estate developer, Oddie’s safe world begins to unravel. As neighborhood businesses vanish and strange magic stirs beneath the surface, he discovers the takeover hides dangerous secrets that threaten more than just his job.

Determined to protect the shop, prove himself to his family, and finally claim a future of his own, Oddie must step beyond his fears to confront a mysterious enemy. Perfect for fans of Legends & Lattes and The House in the Cerulean Sea, Sea Blooms blends cozy magic, wholesome romance, and friendship into a warm, character driven fantasy about belonging on your own terms.

My Review

I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

I first saw this book in another author’s newsletter and the cover and premise immediately caught my eye, this sounded exactly like the type of book I like to read. I was lucky enough to get a review copy and started reading it shortly afterwards. I had such a fun time reading Sea Blooms. Sea Blooms follows merman Oddie who works at a flower shop. Then one day he gets the news that the shop is sold to a developer instead of Oddie getting the chance to take over the shop like he had expected. Oddie is determined to stop the sale and find out what’s up with this developer.

I really enjoyed this book. It had all the cozy fantasy vibes I wanted with the flower shop theme and Oddie making his own sea themed flower arrangements. I also liked the found family theme with Oddie making some close friends among whom are a moth called Rosalind, a human called Lily and later on a bird man named Cal. Oddie’s real parents are traditional merpeople and don’t really get him workign on land and try to set him up with a merlady. So there’s a plot line with that going on as well.

I liked seeing the plot play out and seeing how Oddie developed and changed throughout the story. The ending of the story was really well done and his all the right notes. It definitely went in a direction I hadn’t expected, but I really liked how things got resolved and there was a fun twist that took me by surprise.

I liked seeing Oddie change throughout the book. Oddie is determined to save the store and eventually finds his inner courage to really fight for what he believes in. At first I sometimes struggled a bit with Oddie with the way he lied to his parents and didn’t stand up for himself. And even how he seemed to believe humans are better and he sees himself as a monster and he can be a bit judgmental about Rosalind’s moth’s traits. But I think the way this was set up just made his character development feel all the more satisfactory as he finds the courage to fight for what he wants and appreciates his friends and his self esteem grows. I liked reading about him and seeing how he handled it all. I also liked his romance with Lily, which is mostly a subplot and most of their friendship was established before the start of the book,but I think that worked here. I liked seeing them interact and things slowly moving toward romance.

Another thing I really liked was reading about all the monster creatures in this book. I liked how Oddie is a merman and he looks like a merman even on land. He has this creme he needs to apply to his scales so they don’t dry out and he has a tail and gills. I also liked reading about Rosalind who is a moth and loves sweet drinks and bright lights. I thought all the monster creatures were interesting to read about and how they all actually look like monsters instead of mostly human with some monstrous touches.

To summarize: I had so much fun reading this book. This book had some great cozy fantasy vibes with the flower shop theme and the found family theme. I liked reading about Oddie as he tries to stop the sale of the shop he works to a developer. Oddie could be a bit down on himself and other monsters and doesn’t have a lot of self esteem, but I liked seeing his character development throughout the story and seeing him fight for the shop he loves. I liked how the plot played out and some twists toward the end took me by surprise, but I really liked how things got resolved. There’s a romantic sub plot line which was sweet and I liked seeing them figure things out. I liked how the monsters in this book actually look like monsters and they were interesting to read about. All in all I had a great time reading this book and look forward to more books by this author.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.