'It’s clear that Tansy and the, ahem, Plant Daddy have chemistry. They might even have a future if they can navigate the debris left by previous natural disasters in their personal lives.' —NPR, Books We Love 2025

He hates me . . . He hates me not.

Single mom and children's librarian Tansy Perkins only has room in her life for her daughter and her library. And maybe the next book to add to her collection. But after a catastrophic hurricane severely damages her library, she's forced to temporarily move her branch into the adjacent botanic gardens, where the new director happens to be Jack Reid—the world’s grouchiest gardener, who rescued her and her daughter from the flood.

Jack has always preferred plants over people, having successfully avoided relationships ever since his divorce. So, Tansy and her quirky band of bookish colleagues’ encroachment into his carefully kept territory is a little more than irksome, especially when it means sharing his already-scarce resources.

When Jack and Tansy are tasked with working together, they have no choice but to call a truce. And soon their newfound professional partnership gives way to a deep intimacy that they've both been silently craving. But Tansy has lost too much to risk her heart, and Jack has sworn off real love. When an opportunity arises for funding that both the library and gardens need, will their loyalties lie with the futures they'd always planned for, or the new spark they've found with each other?