The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman

genre: contemporary fiction

Four years ago, Lilian lost her husband in a sudden and tragic accident.  With two young daughters counting on her, she's keeping it together, but just on the surface.  With the rock solid support of her sister Rachel, she's making life as a single mom work enough.  When her illustrator job requires her to take a gardening class for a special project, it feels like a fun thing to do with her girls and it ends up being so much more than that.  With a quirky group of amateur gardeners and their patient instructor, the Lilian's gardening class soon becomes a place where it's safe to explore your own deeply buried issues.

This is just cute.  I read it in a little over a day because the plot moves right along and the dialogue is witty and fun.  I loved the sister relationship and Lilian's daughters are delightfully quirky.  There is romance, yes, but it's not a typical romance novel - it's far more an unwrapping of pain and loss and learning how to move forward with the help of people (both family and therapists) that you can trust.   It's only not getting five stars because by the end, I did WANT a little more romance but I still walked around my kitchen cleaning up while reading it until I was done, so it definitely kept my attention.

content warning: strong language and sexual innuendo