She gets married.
Then she meets the love of her life.
Georgie de Luca is a tradeswoman who runs an all-female pool cleaning business in Sydney. Surrounded by a supportive group of women and a well-to-do surgeon husband, Georgieās got everything she could ever want. Life is perfect.
Or so she thinks.
Every marriage has its ups and downsā¦ but Georgie is beginning to see whatās really beneath the surface of hers. When she meets her new neighbour, Drew, a Navy pilot from Perth, she avoids his cheeky grin and shirtless torso at all costs. But over time, as their friendship blossoms and Drew becomes her closest ally, she canāt help but wonder: What if she has married the wrong man? And is her husband really the good guy he appears on paper?
To Drew, Georgie is perfect. Even his dog, Mal, adores her.
When Georgieās husband is involved in an accident and Drew is deployed to the Middle East, she has some big decisions to make ā and fast. Will she risk her integrity, and everything she has, to follow her heart? More importantly, is this the beginning or the end of Georgieās love story?
She gets married.
Then she meets the love of her life.
Georgie de Luca is a tradeswoman who runs an all-female pool cleaning business in Sydney. Surrounded by a supportive group of women and a well-to-do surgeon husband, Georgieās got everything she could ever want. Life is perfect.
Or so she thinks.
Every marriage has its ups and downsā¦ but Georgie is beginning to see whatās really beneath the surface of hers. When she meets her new neighbour, Drew, a Navy pilot from Perth, she avoids his cheeky grin and shirtless torso at all costs. But over time, as their friendship blossoms and Drew becomes her closest ally, she canāt help but wonder: What if she has married the wrong man? And is her husband really the good guy he appears on paper?
To Drew, Georgie is perfect. Even his dog, Mal, adores her.
When Georgieās husband is involved in an accident and Drew is deployed to the Middle East, she has some big decisions to make ā and fast. Will she risk her integrity, and everything she has, to follow her heart? More importantly, is this the beginning or the end of Georgieās love story?
I spotted him at the most inconvenient time.
I was rummaging through my kitchen drawers, looking for a Band-Aid and cursing the metal grater on the marble bench as hot pain seared down my hand. Wincing, I brought my finger to my mouth and sucked on it, annoyed at myself. For someone who once single-handedly catered an event for two hundred and fifty people, it was ironic that I couldnāt be trusted not to slice off the top of my finger in my own kitchen.
I grabbed a large Band-Aid and struggled to pull the packaging off with one hand.
And thatās when I saw him.
I froze, blood oozing down my finger, anger seeping into my veins instead.
Behind the sparse row of bushes that lined the boundary of our houses, I could see him through my window, standing on his front lawn.
āAre you kidding me?ā I muttered, noticing the stream of foam that was coming off the roof of his car and snaking its way across the grass, pooling at my door.
Yet again.
The guy had moved into the house next door a week ago, tops, and this was already the third time he was washing his beloved car and consequently flooding the front of my house. Normally, I couldnāt care less what my neighbours did ā and I wasnāt bothered by much that didnāt involve me. But the first time heād done it, I was coming home with a glass baking dish in my hand and didnāt see the water. Iād slipped at my front door, dropped and smashed the dish on the concrete steps, and rolled an ankle.
The guy was synonymous with pain, apparently.
My stomach turned, remembering how Byron hadnāt spoken to me for days after I broke his motherās favourite baking dish. I bit down on my lip and managed to wrap the Band-Aid around my finger, then stormed out the front door, dodging the foamy puddle this time. Iād been inside with the air con- ditioning set to seventeen all day. The scorching summer sun and stifling heat knocked the wind out of me, taking my frustration up a few notches.
āHey!ā I yelled at him, getting closer. āDo you think you could stop flooding my garden and front porch? Itās been a mud pit since the day you moved in!ā
Tone it down, Georgie ā the guy is just washing his car on his lawn.
But my rational brain was nowhere to be seen.
He glanced at me briefly as I stomped closer to his charcoal-grey Hilux, but his lips remained pressed together.
āHey!ā I shouted again, looking at the chunky tyres on the tall four-wheel drive.
He twisted the nozzle of the hose to stop the water, with something like amusement flashing across his face.
āHello, do your ears work?ā I huffed, ignoring the pain in my right hand. The heat was making my finger throb with agony.
āMorning,ā he said, casually lifting a hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun, then pointing to his left ear. āActually, I do have a bit of an issue with this one, but that comes in handy sometimes.ā He winked.
My eyes trailed south. He was wearing a pair of dark green shorts. And that was it.
Barefoot on the glistening grass, my new neighbour stood there looking at me as my gaze continued down to the V-shaped muscles on his lower abs for a split second. He didnāt have an overly defined six-pack, but he was a solid guy. Toned, a bit scruffy ā one of those outdoorsy types, not someone who spends hours working out in a gym.
I quickly averted my eyes from his tanned body and looked up again, trying to remember what I was going to say. A silver watch sat loosely on his left wrist, reflecting the sun into my eyes. I blinked.
He was trying hard to contain a smile, but the left side of his mouth was inching towards the sky. āIām sorry. Is there a problem?ā he asked.
āYes, thereās a problem! You keep flooding my garden. And my front steps. Seriously, how often do you need to wash your car?ā
He finally broke into a smile, but didnāt move. Kind of an unusual reaction to a strange woman practically screaming at him.
āAlso,ā I continued my rant, āthereās this thing called water restrictions. You heard of those?ā
It was bad enough that Byron couldnāt care less about trying to save water. Iām one person, heād say to me. What difference will it make if I leave the water running?
I couldnāt stop looking at my neighbourās muscly arms. I was sure he was flexing on purpose as he held the hose.
He cocked his head. āAnd here I was thinking that you were coming to welcome me to the street with a nice basket of muffins or something.ā
I put my hands on my hips. āItās not the 1950s. And do I look like the kind of woman who bakes muffins?ā I said, forgetting I had an apron on, and hoping he couldnāt see the bowl of muffin batter through my kitchen window from where he stood. The scorching heat and the pain in my finger were unbearable. I was sure Iād sliced the top of my finger right off, and I knew that Byron wouldnāt respond to anything less than a detached limb. That thought on top of the searing pain wasnāt helping the situation with the new neighbour. It was making me feel like a few of my screws had come loose. I knew I was being unrea- sonable. But I was in agony ā and this guy was more annoying than having to do a three-point turn in my rusty work ute, sans power steering.
āOkay, look, Iām sorry. I promise I wonāt wash my car again in this spot.ā
I lifted an eyebrow. āStarting right now?ā I said, wondering how far I could push it.
āSure.ā He shrugged again. āStarting right now.ā
Well, that was easier than Iād anticipated. My shoulders dropped a bit, and despite my annoyance, something about the neighbour made me feel at ease. He was so ... calm? Easy going? And he obviously had a sense of humour.
Too bad he was so infuriating. I hesitated, then went to walk away. Iād barely taken two steps when the water started back up, a stream of it flying past me and starting up the small river flowing down towards my front steps again.
I turned around and glared at him, but as I opened my mouth to protest, a jet of water hit me square in the chest and face. He was hosing the carās roof, whistling, like the last two minutes hadnāt even happened. His thick, dark hair sat swished to one side, like heād just been to the barber. Even his beard was perfectly trimmed, adding to his overall manicured-but-somehow-scruffy appearance. I stood staring at him with my hands on my hips again.
What a smartass. It wasnāt hard to see we were not going to be friends. I took a step towards him, then paused, thinking twice about my strategy. I looked at the green hose snaking a path down along our shared fence and into his backyard.
Game on.
I turned and went back inside, wiping water off my face angrily, not wanting to admit to myself that the cold water had actually felt refreshing. Hurrying down the hallway, I glanced to my left. Byron was sitting in our study with his headphones on, oblivious to my antics. I continued to the back door, opened it, and made my way to the garden, contemplating my next move. I grabbed onto a giant pot plant against the fence. The pot wasnāt very tall, but it was thick and sturdy. I looked around, craning my head to the right.
Car Wash Guy was still out the front, hosing. I smiled smugly to myself, feeling childish, but annoyed enough to go ahead with the plan.
I put one foot on the pot plant and hoisted myself up onto the fence. Then, in one swift movement, I launched myself over it and landed with a thud on the other side, slightly less elegantly than I had imagined. One of my shoes had fallen off. I brushed the grass from my shorts and headed towards the tap that the hose was attached to. But as I reached for it, something sparkling in the backyard made me pause. It was stunning. The expensive-looking stone around it made it look like one of those Balinese resort pools, its surface rippling with a beautiful sapphire colour. Trust me to notice it. Of all the pools I was contracted to clean and maintain, this was up there as one of the most gorgeous ones, and I wanted to jump right in, apron and all.
The rest of the garden was perfectly manicured, grass freshly mowed and gorgeous lilies, tulips and vivid yellow roses lining the fence. A stone path led to a modern-looking deck behind the house with a jacuzzi on it. The people who lived here before this guy had put a lot of money into their backyard ā it was like Iād tumbled straight into the Ritz-Carlton.
I looked down at myself. One shoe, a dirty apron, and saturated hair ā I was a sight. Plus, my injured finger was now bleeding through the Band-Aid. It was going to need a proper bandage.
I turned back towards the tap. Iād been so engrossed by the pool that I had missed the giant dog whoād snuck up behind me, the soft grass absorbing its footsteps. It was sitting about two metres away from me, next to the tap, like it knew what I was going to do and needed to guard it.
My head spun, images of a dog latching onto my leg flooding my thoughts. āJesus,ā I murmured, flailing backwards and gaping at the animal. It was huge ā one of those big black and white Siberian dogs that had no business being in the Australian heat.
And I had no business being in its backyard.
Ice-blue eyes were boring holes straight into me. It was ready to attack.Ā
Georgie is an unhappily married dog-hater... well, that is until she meets her hot new neighbor Drew and his adorable rescue dog, Mal.
Tulips from Mal was a wonderful, heart-warming romance about a woman figuring out exactly what it is she wants from her life and gathering the courage to take it. Georgie is a wonderful protagonist who is struggling with her daily rut of a life being underappreciated, underestimated, and generally ignored. Not only by her husband, but also by pretty much everyone involved in his world. To them, she's the lucky one; married to a rich, successful, philanthropic surgeon while never seeming to see her worth, or what her husband could possibly see in her.
Meanwhile, Drew, her new helicopter pilot neighbor seems to see her worth straight away. Which is a problem for Georgie since she is well and truly married. And she definitely shouldn't be ogling him while he washes his car shirtless in the brutal summer heat.
I have to address the elephant in the room at the beginning of this review to be able to move forward. One of the reasons this wasn't a four-star or higher review is because this is a romance novel featuring a married protagonist. While this didn't bother me personally, it's hard for a lot of romance readers to get over the infidelity trope and will turn some off altogether. The infidelity trope can be quite divisive amongst readers in this genre and I honestly wish the author had reconsidered this plot point, since I believe this story is genuinely great and felt it unnecessary at several points during the read.
Not only is the husband's character rarely on page, but the relationship between the two spouses is almost non-existent. It was to the point where his inclusion felt like a convenient road-block to keep our protagonists from getting together too soon. He also made a really convenient villain at several points and this resulted in his overall character falling flat to me. I would have loved if instead the author had developed him further and possibly made them fiancƩs headed towards a wedding date to heighten tension and give a real pull between the two men vying for Georgie's affections while giving her a real moral dilemma with some teeth behind it.
That being said, this is a book filled with heart. From the dedication page to the acknowledgements you can see the author's careful attention to detail. In fact, this is a book that gives back in the form of 10% of profits going toward charitable organizations to give back to rescue animals. Not only is that incredibly generous but it speaks directly to the heart of an issue near and dear to both protagonists throughout the read and makes it feel like an immersive experience.
Switching topics to the romance aspect, I did find the romance was on the slow burn side (married protagonist and all) but that it grew naturally and sweetly. It was grounded in real moments that felt like they could happen to you, or one of your friends, and these characters felt exactly like people you know. Drew had me cracking up the whole time with his not-so-witty puns and dumb dad jokes, but those were some of my favorite parts. And the importance placed on consent was a particular pleasure to see included at several points during this novel.
While the *spice* rating is only a 2/5 this book was deeply rooted in the emotional intimacy growing between these two characters and I found that fully satisfying. There may have only been one steamy scene between them that tended towards a fade-to-black but BOY HOWDY was it a long one. And I was not disappointed in the least.
What I found most enjoyable about this book however, is how Georgie found her inner strength after a series of traumatic events. While there were a couple of times I wished I could yell through the pages at her, the HEA at the end did leave me with the warm and fuzzies. I would recommend this book to dog lovers, fans of sweet romance, and those who aren't bothered by extra-marital affairs in their romance.
WARNING: This book WILL want to make you go adopt a dog from a shelter. So, you should probably stock up on kibble and chew toys right now. :)
PS- (No spoilers here) There is an event that happens about halfway through the book that may be traumatic for some animal lovers. This was not included in a trigger warning from the author and it is my opinion that it should have been.