I really enjoyed Melanie Sweeney’s debut, Take Me Home, so I had high expectations for her sophomore book, Where You’re Planted. My expectations were blown out of the water. Where You’re Planted inserted itself right into my chest. It is definitely in the top 5 books I’ve read this year. Melanie Sweeney writes with tremendous emotional intelligence. This book is a love letter to libraries, gardens, and the public employees who create public spaces and build communities. It’s for the people who hate to ask for help and the people who go on rescue missions because they have a boat.
Jack rescues Tansy twice during the hurricane that starts Where You’re Planted. The first time he was so grumpy about it that she almost refused the second rescue. Tansy’s desire to protect her daughter and elderly neighbor overcome her reluctance be saved by a grump. Things continue to look less than promising after the hurricane when Tansy and Jack are competing for scarce resources. Tansy is a children’s librarian at a branch that was flooded in the hurricane, and Jack is trying to get funding for flood mitigation at his botanical garden. They each recognize the value of their own public space and are frustrated that they have to work so hard to convince other people, including each other. Tansy has finagled a space in Jack’s garden as a temporary library, hoping to stave off the decision to close the branch for good. Jack is trying to improve the condition of the botanical garden and kids running around in his plants isn’t helping. But the seeds of their relationship are there. They are both so passionate, and when they begin to work together, better than they are separately.
Tansy and Jack are my favorite kind of love story – difficult people who soften for each other while they are falling in love, but don’t become less complicated. Tansy is hyper-independent. As a single mom without much support, she’s had to be*. Jack shut down emotionally after his divorce, but for those inside his circle of concern, he is generous and nurturing. Tansy’s daughter, Briar, wriggles her way into Jack’s circle, and as he warms up, so do Tansy, the library, and its patrons. Of course in a romance there’s an expectation that the lovers will end with a happily ever after, but there was a moment in the third act where I let out a sigh of relief because I knew that Jack was going to be ok, no matter what happened with Tansy.
If you wonder what Tansy and Jack would be doing in the face of cuts to libraries and science programs, I feel certain that these fictional public servants would be advocating for the restoration of funding and building community to help their neighbors impacted by the cuts. Because these two are the helpers that Mr Rogers said we should look for.
“I love it. Everyone thinks you’re this cheery, sweet children’s librarian, but you’re actually vicious.” Jack, to Tansy.
*Tangent time! Tansy resists help when she objectively needs it, but is the first person to offer non-judgmental help when she sees someone in need (like Jack). Some readers are going to feel like that’s unrealistic, but I assure you, it is not. Ask any therapist, including mine, and they will tell you it’s a classic combination. Or check on the friend that’s always there to help, and offer to help them with something. You may see a look of horror on their face before they assure that they are fine.
I received this as an advance reader copy from P. G. Putnam and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.