The Florist by Serena Yates
Workplace Encounters, Book 8
Silver Publishing
Gay Contemporary
ISBN: 9781614956891
Reviewed by Cassie

Freelance florist Dylan White lives for adventure and new experiences. For that reason, he’s not sure what to do when a friend dies and leaves him a flower shop. Running it might be a challenge, but it will require him to stay in one place, something he’s never wanted to do.

Then he meets sexy lawyer Sean Mellick, and suddenly staying put doesn’t seem so bad. Problems at the flower shop might change his mind, though. Will Dylan’s wandering ways spell the end of what could be something good?

The Florist is a cute tale of what happens when what you think you want isn’t what you need. Dylan is a rolling stone, and he likes it that way. When he finds out his friend has left him a house and a flower shop, his first reaction is shock, followed quickly by horror. The day-to-day responsibility and routine sounds awful to Dylan. Going into the shop doesn’t change that impression much. Most of the employees are nice and friendly, but the manager is rude and dismissive. It doesn’t take long for Dylan to figure out that someone’s trying to sabotage the business. At the same time as he’s stressing over a huge life change, he meets Sean.

Sean works at the law firm that is handling Dylan’s friend’s estate. He’s attracted to Dylan the moment he sees him, and it’s mutual. He manages to wrangle a meeting, and a dinner date, after one of Dylan’s appointments. From there, it takes no time at all for Sean to fall head over heels. Unfortunately, the case he’s working on seems to be related to Dylan’s shop somehow, and Dylan isn’t sure he wants to stay.

Both guys are genuinely nice and caring, although they’re opposites in some ways. Sean likes roots, while Dylan tends to avoid them. I liked both of them, but Sean’s instant attachment to Dylan, while not quite insta-love, struck me as a little much. The conflict is a bit too simple and easy to solve, given what I know about the bureaucracy of the law. I would have liked to know more about all the characters, main and secondary. The Florist is a quick read with a sweet ending. It’s not deep, but it’s still enjoyable.