Flower Girl

The Donovans #2

by Lily Kate

I’ve never been on great terms with my sister, but things definitely hit rock bottom when she asked me to be the flower girl in her wedding. Keep in mind, I’m thirty-one. I’ve got a 401k, an apartment in New York, and a decent amount of cleavage with the right push-up bra. I am not exactly flower girl material.

The only thing worse than getting asked to be the flower girl in my sister’s wedding is coming face to face with my older brother’s best friend while I’m decked out in twenty-five pounds of chiffon. Of course Noah Donovan is looking like an actual god while I’m looking like Tinkerbell chewed me up and spit me out with pleasure. Of course he’s in the wedding party, and not as the ring bearer. Of course that standoffish, beautiful man has the guts to wink at me while I walk down the aisle performing the duties of a three-year-old.

I’m only in town for the wedding for a week. Nothing bad happens in a week. Not really.
Except I’m wrong. Apparently I can make plenty of bad choices in seven days, and sleeping with Noah Donovan tops the list.

But can things really be that bad if I’m desperate for more? As it turns out, nights with Noah Donovan are downright delicious. And the mornings, to my great surprise, turn out to be even better. So when our little agreement to sleep with one another to get the attraction out of our system falls apart, could it be possible we’re left with something real?

Genres: Romance

349 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2023

About the author

Lily Kate works a pretttttty boring day job and writes books filled with heat, heart, and humor by night. When she’s not writing books, you may find her watching Christmas movies before Thanksgiving, eating whipped cream from the can, or hanging out with her family.

Reviews

[Susan Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

heart, humor, love

Flower Girl is the perfect combination of heart, humor, love, and passion! The steam level is high, but so is the level of care, concern and tenderness between Noah and Ellie! I loved returning to Fantasie, and look forward to the next Donovan book!

[Shasta Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this story! I love the humor in all of Lily Kates' stories. I definitely had all the giggles and goosies in this one wonderful read.

Ellie Turner is your quintessential book worm/creative artist. She excels in her craft and wants to share it with the world. Her family? Not so much. Her family is the complete opposite. The Turner family (minus Ellie and Aidan) thrive on society and how they look and stand in that society. Ellie only wants to blend in and not get noticed. However. The one person she does want to be noticed by is her brothers best friend, Noah. Ellie had the biggest crush on Noah from a very early age. Yet. Ellie somehow knew that she would never stand out in Noah's eye because she was just the little sister of his best friend. Growing up, she soaked every minute she could up like a sponge around Noah. Little did she know that Noah was doing the exact same thing.

Fast forward 10 plus years, and Ellie and Noah are reunited for Ellies sisters' wedding. Chemistry and closeness are a shocking suprise to both Ellie and Noah. Now it's time to either explore these new and similar feelings or chase a dream that was now in Ellies reach. What dream and what journey would Ellie take? Or could she somehow have both?

What a lovely and beautiful story with humor and laughs and all the steamy moments combined.

5 fabulous STARS 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Lisa Spofford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flower Girl by Lily Kate USA is a brother’s best friend/best friend’s little sister/secret childhood crush/wedding party romcom. The main characters are Ellie and Noah. Ellie’s sister was getting married and asked her to be the flower girl in her wedding, despite the fact that Ellie is in her thirties. Noah’s mother agreed for him that Noah would be a groomsman in the wedding because the groom didn’t have enough friends. The two see each other at the wedding shower and it rekindles the secret attraction they have each had for the other, and they decided to engage in a secret physical only “arrangement.” The rest is history.

I am huge fan of Lily Kate’s work and I was excited to have the opportunity to read her book as it has been some time since I’ve seen anything new published. Ellie was one of her quirky, funny, sometimes awkward heroines. Noah was a super swoony dreamboat. It was fun reading his POV. The chemistry between the couple is super hot and the happily ever after gave me warm and fuzzy feelings. I recommend this book to lovers of romantic comedy. It wasn’t the author’s funniest book, but it was an enjoyable read. I am voluntarily submitting this honest review after reading an advanced complementary copy of this book, thanks to the author.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellie Turner is reluctantly back in her hometown, Fantasie, to be the titular (and very much adult) flower girl in her sister’s wedding in which Noah Donovan has been been coerced by his well-meaning mother to be a groomsman. Though they haven’t seen each other much over the years, their shared history comes back in full force, including many unrequited feelings, so they agree to a friends with benefits arrangement and the rest is history.

Just like the first book in the series, Flower Girl sparkles with a cinnamon role hero and spunky heroine, small-town goodness, charming characters, and a whole lot of heart. Ellie and Noah’s connection was steamy, though it felt like a rather abrupt shift from being uncertain about revealing their feelings to being perfectly comfortable getting intimate. It was fun to return to Fantasie and get better acquainted with another Donovan brother and some other townspeople. I’m looking forward to the next installments in this series, including Finn and Josie’s story!

Thank you to the author for gifting me with an ARC to review. I adored it!

[Melenareads · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading and loving Taco Bout Love, I was excited to read the second book in the series, and it was a fun, entertaining story.

Ellie is back in the town of Fantasie, Maine for her sister's wedding and she has a role in the ceremony, not as a bridesmaid, though. Instead she is the flower girl, despite being an adult. Being back in town and part of the wedding also reignites feelings between her and Noah. The two of them had great chemistry from their first meeting, and I really liked them together. It was fun watching their relationship develop and how they found their HEA.

Lily did a nice job balancing the humor, emotion, and romance. It was also nice to see the residents of Fantasie. They added so much to the story and I can't wait for more in this series!

Thank you to the author for providing an ARC for an honest review.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great addition to the Donovan series with Ellie and Noah’s tale, in this best friends little sister romance. Even though Ellie has lived in New York City for some time, she still has an innocent side to her that refreshes Noah’s crush that he’s been harboring since his teens. Nothing wrong with that as Ellie herself has had the same feelings for Noah. Maybe all they need is some forced proximity in the form of a family wedding and the sparks will fly. It’s not long before things get steamy and Ellie finds she quite enjoys Noah’s sexy dirty talk. It’s not all about the fun and games in the bedroom, this book focuses on family, loyalty and has a great small hometown feel about it. Throw in some humor and it’s a terrific book to read.

[JOYCE PITTARD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Series

Loving the Donavan's Noah and Ellie were childhood friends along with Ellie's brother. But as teenagers they loved each other but never let it be known. As adults they meet up after several years and the feelings hadn't changed. He comes from a loving family and home. Ellie and her brother Adrian not so much. Both left home as soon as they could. She to NY and he California. All three meet up again when the chosen sister is getting married. Fun, loving and emotional parts in book. Grea read and series.

[MrsK]

Dnf’d at 38%.

Loved the first book in this series but this one fell a bit short.

Liked both MC’s but didn’t realise this was going to be a FWB scenario and that’s not really my thing, especially when there’s clearly feelings on both sides.

My bad though as it’s clearly on the end of the blurb - I just hadn’t read it as was excited to read this…….

Will definitely read the next one as enjoy this author’s writing.

[Brontee (bookswithbibi) 🍉 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sweet, quick summer read. I enjoyed the main characters and their connection well enough and enjoyed the side characters and the friendships. I also liked coming back to Fantasie, however, I did like the first book better, and I am particularly excited for Josie's book.

Overall, a solid read for the summer.

I was gifted an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Manda The Eclectic Mood Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up. This is the second book in the donovans' brother series, but it can be read as a stand-alone. This book was so sweet and spicy, I'm such a sucker for friends to lovers, and Noah made it way too easy to love this book. I felt for Ellie and her family troubles deep in my soul, and Noah coming to make her happy was so great.

[Anne Turnley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprise

I rarely give a five star rating. There have to be no typos, bad grammar, or punctuation, plus characters you come to care about. This book passed all my tests. The lovers are friends first, knowing each other throughout their childhoods, with a simmering sexual attraction.

[Lisa Blackman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice story!

Loved the characters, except her mom!!! I would give 4 1/2 stars. Loved the way the emotions of everyone were expressed. Noah’s family was great! The side stories left you wanting more.

[Lauren Fit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun read! Second book from this author and I’m loving it. I think I’m going to read all of the books the author puts out.

[Heather Padgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm obsessed with Ellie and Noah's story!

[amour feza.]

Never finished it couldn’t tell you what it’s about

[Caitlin Boyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story. Some typos but the characters were cute and liked the plot. Would read more from this author

[Maral · Rating 5 out of 5]

cute

Loved this second story of the series. Funny, sweet and full of heart. The happily ever after was a bonus.

[Bri’anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was fortunate to get an ARC of this and was really excited to read and unfortunately found myself a little disappointed. I really liked Taco Bout Love and was expecting to love this one. Though I really liked the characters of Noah and Ellie, I didn't quite enjoy their story. There was something missing for me. I could tell I wasn't really into this book because it took me a week to read when normally I could read something like this in a couple of hours :(

I keep trying to pin down what exactly it was about their story that I didn't like and I am struggling a bit. It almost felt like there was a lack of action throughout. I think part of why I felt that way is that in Taco Bout Love, Lucas had his own side story with his client Hannah but for Noah his side story was him just pinning after Ellie.

I also felt like them falling in love was a bit rushed. I thought Lily Kate relied too much on them having this life long friendship with them both secretly pinning for each other and didn't actually show them falling together once they got to act on their mutual attraction.

That being said, I am very much looking forward to the third book in the series and finally seeing Finn and Josie falling in love. I actually thought this was going to be their book based on the title.

[Gwen|| Bookish Blondie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first one in this series as an ARC and loved it. I did not like this one as much. It just didn't feel like the same town or even the same people in it, despite other townsfolk being in it.

I also hated how annoying Ellie's sister and mom are. I normally really enjoy subplot with difficult family members and overcoming it, but it just became Ellie being a punching bag for the entire story with no real payoff.

Noah is lovely though.

[The Book Scientist · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved me some Noah! ❤🥵 And please tell me Aiden & Katie will get their own book!?
⭐⭐⭐⭐
HEA? yes
3rd act break-up? Yes
🌶🌶🌶/5