The Daisy Chain Flower Shop by Laurie Gilmore - Book Review

HOPE F MCGEE

A new genre, a lower reading level, and a New York Times best seller. Thank you Laurie Gilmore for you are my guinea pig. 

Today, I saw an infographic depicting the “5 Finger Rule” when describing reading levels in children. The idea is to quickly determine a book's reading level by flipping to a random page and having the child put fingers up for how many words they didn’t understand: 0-1 too easy, 2-3 perfect for learning, and 4-5 too difficult. So by this measure my amassing Olly Richards collection is far too difficult and Laurie Gilmore is too easy. This is not how I will be measuring these stories but is something I will be experimenting with on my next trip to the bookstore.

And yes this is a romance book I picked up from Target alongside pocket edition hardcovers “Wuthering Heights” and “Sense and Sensibility”... that I still have yet to read. I don’t typically read romance. I’ve never read any book from the romance genre. As a kid I was the most interested in wizards and apprenticeships, in my adolescence I would read poetry and plays, and in recent years non-fiction. In recent months I have become increasingly interested in reading classical literature. So… romance… how did we get to Laurie Gilmore? Simple. I’ve been rewatching Gilmore Girls to decide where I want to start on my classical literature journey thanks to the lovely Rory Gilmore… walking through a Target in Connecticut looking for an HDMI chord… and there she was “Laurie Gilmore”, “#1 New York Times Bestselling Author”, “The Greatest Love is the One You Never Expected to Find”. Sold.

Never underestimate the power of a name, a good hook, and adorable artwork. I’d love to tell you that I read the back before I bought it, but I skimmed it at best. Enough to know it was a romance book and to be aware that there might be sex in it but there might not be. I had no preference either way. As I further ventured into this new world I was delighted to find mysticism. The title is a pun. I love a pun. Long standing traditions passed on through generations. Clairvoyant mayors. Crystal magic, references to herbology, superstitions, and yes a curse that must be broken. Still a small town romance, but in a semi-modern New England. 

I only say semi-modern because the protagonist does initially reject the magical practices of her family and her hometown -despite their history- due to her upbringing. An upbringing which was probably altered by fear of previous persecution of practitioners. This is indicative of schooling without unrestricted access to the internet. Thanks to the internet connecting young minds in ways never imagined, all modern practitioners young or old now have access to information that never would have been available to them without a University Library Card. Religious freedom is the new frontier. And practitioners are brimming.

Spoiler or not, there is sex. Sex, however, is not the entire book. And I will be purchasing her newest release, not from Dream Harbor, but from her new town Maple Hallow. I’m in the middle of a “Wizard of Oz”, “Gilmore Girls”, “Supernatural”, “Sherlock”, “Dr. Who”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Harry Potter”, “Star Trek”, “WandaVision” binge… and Laurie Gilmore’s new book is being released tomorrow (I just finished the book today - September, 7th, 2026) and is titled “The Big Bad Wolf”. Woah. I have no words. And I will see you at the bookstore tomorrow.