Rooting for You by Roz Alexander is a contemporary sweet romance that blossoms between a botanist with social anxiety and a photojournalist travelling with her offbeat cat Dan.
The small town of Clover Hill has embraced their quirky new resident, though they don’t often see her. Sara Fisch lives alone and claims no friends in the town she chose for its beguiling biodiversity. But a botanist has to eat and eventually she manages the emotionally fraught trips to the grocery and the cute coffee shop across the street from the flower shop that both intrigues and horrifies her.
Jaeeun Kupperman has come to Clover Hill as the last stop on a series of interviews of queer scientists. Already charmed by their online interactions, she accepts the botanist’s offer of room and board while she’s in town to write. Feline companion Dan loves Fisch on sight, which makes the prospect of having to move on for her work even more problematic. Now three hearts are in danger of being broken.
Fisch’s photojournalist contact steals her breath away on first sight and then quickly steals her heart with her acceptance of Fisch’s foibles, her adorable cat, and her truly awful jokes. Jaeeun is the hot butch woman she has dreamed of, and the two quickly become close. But Fisch is has sunk her roots into Clover Hill and Jaeeun will have to resume her wandering ways for stories and pictures. Somehow, they will have find a way through their dilemma.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
Beginning with the punny title I enjoyed the clever humor throughout this book, especially Jaeeun’s endless supply of bad jokes. Fisch and Jaeeun are smart, hard working, and with zero issues being queer and butch in a small town. The attraction is immediate between the two, leaving only professional needs to work through on the way to romance. Clover Hill is welcoming to both women and openly root for them to be together.
The acceptance everyone shows for Fisch’s social anxiety is heartwarming. From experience I know that it’s a difficult thing for people to understand and generally no amount of explaining can get them to stop trying to “help” by insisting on forcing a person into social contact. Fisch also has strategies for dealing with early onset arthritis. She is self-aware and willing to put in the work to function.
Jaeeun’s cat companion Dan steals every scene she is in. She’s one of several great secondary characters, like Leslye the French-Taiwanese owner of the local pastry shop, and her cashier Kyle. He’s muscle-y and friendly and unabashedly artistic. His friendship with Fisch is a bright spot in an already shiny story. I like the all around friendliness displayed, plus the bravery showed by Fische dealing with her issues and Jaeeun coming to terms with changing from the wandering life she has grown accustomed to.
Cons And Heads Up
Nothing.
The Conclusion
If you can endure the lovingly rendered terrible jokes that Jaeeun throws out like bombs there is a lot to like about this book. Fisch has a difficult time dealing with people but that doesn’t cause her to dislike them or be outright unfriendly unless she’s shocked by their choices of plant friends. Jaeeun and her sweetie kitty Dan are quickly smitten and it’s fun to watch the growing affection between the two women.
There are some rough patches when work life tries to interfere but there is a lot of heartwarming support from the townsfolk, family and friends. Neither woman is physically close to the family and there is a touch of misunderstanding about Fisch’s sexuality, but the support is otherwise overwhelming. The women also begin to rediscover their jewish roots and embrace the mysticism and ritual that has fallen by the wayside over the years.
Excerpt from Rooting for You by Roz Alexander
She heard the camera click a few more times.
“What are those?”Jaeeun asked.
“Downy Wood-Mint,” Fisch replied, moving her body so Jaeeun could take a closer look. “They’re native to the area. Actually, almost everything in this field is native. It’s part of why I love coming here so much.”
“What’s not native? Anything you can see from here?”
“Honestly, I think it’s just the trees. Those are all European trees, but they do fine in this climate and they’re not really invasive. I mean, they won’t live as long as they would in Europe, but they look healthy to me.”
“You tell that from here?”
“Well, sort of. From the leaves and the look of the bark, but I’ve also looked at them up close before.”
“I don’t know.” Jaeeun’s face got tight, her lips cinching in. “I don’t trust those trees.”
“What? Why?”
“They look shady,”Jaeeun said with complete seriousness despite the look on her face, but ruined the attempt by peeking at Fisch out of the corner of her eye and dissolving into laughter.
“Wha-“ Fisch’s mouth hung open. “Was that a joke?”
“Obviously not a very good one.” Jaeeun laughed again, her face transforming into utter amusement.
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Series
Winning Move by Skye Kilaen
Visible Mending by M. Arbon
Rooting for You by Roz Alexander
The Heartbreak Handshake by J.R. Hart
Bits and Bobs
ASIN number: B09ZQ9L6LH
Publisher: Indie Author
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Note: I received a free review copy of Rooting for You by Roz Alexander. No money was exchanged for this review. When you use our links to buy we get a small commission which supports the running of this site
