Love and Other Perennial Habits is a lush Regency romance. It is lush in green plants and vibrant flowers. It is lush in emotion. This book does not have a lot of action. It is about creating new lives, be they plants or injured humans. Meg has survived cold and mean parents who used her as a bargaining chip with her marriage to an older earl. He was an awful man who abused her throughout their entire marriage. By the time he died, Meg was a husk of a person. He left her the dilapidated dower house. Meg ran as soon as she could to her inheritance in the country, and began the intense work needed to rebuild the home and herself.

Oliver was a second son of a marquess until his elder brother died from illness. His death precipitated his mother’s death shortly thereafter, leaving Oliver and his father sitting in great grief. Oliver’s plans had been to be a scientist, specifically studying plants. His father gave him a month in the country to mourn, get used to the idea of being the heir and everything that meant, and to conduct a final study he planned. The family’s cottage neighbors Meg’s property. The two encounter each other at the local pub. Later, Oliver visits Meg to see if her can collect manure for his samples, sees the difficulty she is having trying to tame and plan her overgrown grounds, and offers to help by using his expertise and elbow grease. The embers are stoked, and a relationship begins.

The time the couple spends together in the country is full of pining and longing, which their physical relationship only intensifies. They are besotted with each other. But Meg especially still is working on finding the person she lost. (An aside: the constant use of consent before and during lovemaking is hot.)

There are troubles later in the book. That part felt a little drawn out, but it didn’t dim the rest of the book for me. Sometimes I felt like I was rolling around in the big feelings and intimate, vulnerable conversations. I mean that in the best way. It was wonderful.

If you don’t need a plot full of action, and great feelings, emotions and growth are appealing, this is a book for you.