marie's Reviews > Picking Daisies on Sundays

For the hopeless, and hopeful, romantics who don’t know they’re noticed in a crowded room.

✧𓈒⋆ 4.5 stars 𓈒⋆✧

how can i even begin explaining what this book did to me? just imagine the first breath of spring weather, the warmest night spent with your loved ones, cooking dinner with your favorite person, hugging that person and just breathing in their scent — that is how reading this book feels. it brings you the warmest feelings that make you smile, kick your feet and feel so content and wholesome. honestly, i feel like the last time the book made me feel so cozy was when i was reading “the seven year slip”, so if you're a fan of that book you may check this one too. the warmest feelings envelop you in warm hug and never let you go, from the beginning to the end. somewhere along the pages you just simply give up for the vibes, spring radiates through the pages and if you're so tired of winter like myself this book really is a form of spring awaking. for me it was, at least.

the story revolves around daniella and levi, two ex-best friends who had a falling out at their prom night because of [guess what?] miscommunication. from the very first moment of this book we understand that dani is deeply in love with her best friend and the feelings only grow through the years they spent apart. four years later they accidentally meet and some circumstances make them pretend to be in a relationship. so, for now we have two of my favorite tropes — best friends to lovers and fake dating, you can imaging that this book was sold for me basically after fifty or so pages 🤭
the story starts from there and holds your attention until the beginning. the main characters feel so real, so humanly imperfect and so relatable that you can't not love them. both daniella and levi are the definition of comfort, home-like and safe characters that i'll hold close to my heart for a very long time. i'll definitely reread this book in future because of the way it made me feel — content, warm and fuzzy.

i love love, what can i say?

“You’re spring, baby. You’re more radiant than flowers and the sun and no one can take that away from you.”

“You intoxicate me, Daisy. The scent of flowers lingers on you everywhere you go, and I always want to follow.”

“The whole book,” he breathed. “Every poem in there is about you. Everything I wrote came back to you.”
​“This is about me?” ​
“Every. Single. Word.” He breathed those words like they had been prepared for months.

✧𓈒⋆ daniella daisy maria 𓈒⋆✧
⤷ i am her and she is me. dani felt incredibly relatable by hitting so close to my heart. she's not the confident main characters who knows what she wants and how to get there. she's not comfortable in relationships, she's doesn't radiate self-confidence, but she's not an awkward silly character too. dani hits so close to heart because of how real she feels, she's not special or chosen one, she's also not the shy and isolated character too — she's the normal one, just like most of us girlies. and her normalness, her realness hits different, she hits different because of that. she's a girl in her early and mid twenties and maybe that's why i was able to relate to her this much, i was able to understand her and all of her choices, even though with some of them i didn't agree.

daisy [which is the cutest nickname ever if you ask me] is an embodiment of girls that listen to taylor swift and gracie abrams; who wants to stay in rather than go out, but could go out if their best friends ask them; who doesn't know what they want from life and if they can take risks; who loves nice cloth, but also can't see herself in one of the prettiest dresses; who has a lot of friends and strong support system, but also feels kind of alone because of her self-consciousness. she's one of us and her journey in this book with finding her own voice and taking risks, believing in herself, getting to know herself evolved so beautifully. i can go on and on about that, but wouldn't it be better if you just get to know her by reading this book? believe me, dani is worth it all.

He had this smile on his face that could’ve powered the sun. The corners of his eyes crinkled with laughter; the way dough of croissants creased in the oven. His brown curls bounced with the balls of his feet, and I stared in awe.
“I needed an excuse to see you again.” ​The surprise was blatant on my face.
“Why?”
​He laughed quietly. “I could write a book on why.”

“I’m so grateful for everything I have in life, I am. But when I see you, all I can think about is how much better life would be if you were mine. I’m so infatuated with everything you do, from the color of your lips to the way you slide your hips back and forth when you dance to the way you twist your earrings when you’re upset or how you blush when I touch you and how you breathe when I say Daisy.”

✧𓈒⋆ levi coldwell 𓈒⋆✧
⤷ isn't he just perfect? he's beautiful, caring and he speaks french — levi is already a 10 out of 10 in my books. the way he talk about dani, how he comes to walk her from her evening classes even though he's not suppose to, how he basically begs her to stay in his mother's house, so that she doesn't have to call a cab because it's very late. in the world of boys he's a gentlemen. he wrote a french poems about her even after their falling out four years ago. hello, how could he be so perfect? and why isn't he real? i don't want to spoil a lot, but i could say that i'd put levi coldwell somewhere near gus everett in my romcom book boyfriends list and let me tell you that gus is like very untouchable for me!

this book is not a dual pov, but it has one bonus chapter with levi's pov and that singular chapter was perfectly wholesome. here are some quotes for you to believe me:

“Daisy,” I moaned. My Daisy.

I’d get on my knees and worship her if I could have this every day. Her hips my altar and her lips my religion.

“You intoxicate me, Daisy. The scent of flowers lingers on you everywhere you go, and I always want to follow.” She felt tense under my hand. Jesus, why couldn’t I say something normal? I’ve been in love with her since I was sixteen, daydreaming about kissing her, and now I was fucking it up.

well, aren't those quotes perfect? especially the taylor swift reference that made me scream, because false god is so danilevi coded.

“If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?” 
“Love,” I exhaled; that answer had been as easy as drinking water. It existed in all of my daydreams. “I want an all-consuming love. Not one that suffocates, but one that makes me so thankful that my chest feels physically overwhelmed with emotion. To have this silent, unspoken communication with a person through touch and gazes. I want to be noticed in a crowded room. I want to be the only person in a crowded room. I want to be wanted, truly wanted, and desired. I want to laugh and to sing and to dance with someone and not feel self-conscious over it because I love them and I’m confident that they love me. I want to be touched and kissed and held because I’ve forgotten what it feels like…and yet, I think I deserve it.”
By the time I had finished, my face had flushed, and Levi was watching me. Lips parted, eyes curious, and neck taut. His head was only inches away from mine in the dark living room. I so badly wanted to lean forward and show him how I wanted to be kissed. But it wouldn’t have even mattered because he already knew. He knew exactly how to kiss me. 

✧𓈒⋆ dani & levi daisy & vi 𓈒⋆✧

⤷ i don't know what to say here except that they are just so perfectly wholesome that it's impossible to neglect how powerful and overwhelming their love for each other is. how all-consuming and content their bond felt even after years of separation, how comfortable and cozy all of their scenes felt. i'm a sucker for best friends to lovers trope, because that's the trope that's closest to what i have in real life, so i entered this book being biased already. i know that some people don't enjoy this trope and find it kind of boring, but if you just give this book a chance you'll be surprised how well-executed this trope feels. yes, the miscommunication is the main reason for any issues here, but it feels organic, because otherwise the story would've been basically absent. besides that miscommunication, i promise, there are no issues with what dani and levi have, how content they are.

The lover and the archer, they’d call it. The girl who kept falling in love, and the boy who could receive love from whomever he aimed his heart at.

the bond between main characters feels natural and overwhelming, it's like there're only them for each other, no one compares. their chemistry is so radiant that it makes you instantly drawn to their story and how the things evolve between them. dani and levi fall into their old habits after not seeing each other for four years instantly and that's what makes their bond feel extremely believable — that's exactly what best friends do. and then when the story progresses and you uncover their true feelings it feels like eternal sunshine, like they are the most radiant thing in the whole world. it's so romcomishly cute that it's impossible not to live. well, this book is for hopelless and hopeful romantics, what can i say?

“You love me?” I whispered.
His shoulders relaxed and his eyes went weak with desire. ​“I love you more than my heart can physically handle.”

this book is going to be one of my favorite feel-good books, i'm sure of it. it brought me such a needed warm feeling and offered me the sweetest hug. i would recommend it to every one who feels like reading something so light and cute, so sweet and wholesome. this books made me feel extremely seen, probably even exposed because the story and the characters hit so close to the heart. it's a shame that this book is not as well-knows as it deserves, because i really could go and scream from the rooftops about this cutest novella. liana cincotti wrote a mesmerising story that brought me the brightest and warmest feelings and i cannot that her enough for that. so if you're looking for something to deliver you those emotions, i would definitely recommend this book. it's cozy, warm and wholesome — and for me, it's a great formula.

some quotes because i just can't gatekeep them:

She lives in between the pinks and yellows of the world, where a beautiful color is unknown to others

“I wanted to tell you that you looked beautiful because you are. I knew I wouldn’t miss you when you walked in tonight because you’re you. You’re so physically enthralling, let alone when you speak. And when you speak, all of the light in the room comes from you. You’re absolute sunshine and spring.

Romantic playlists burned into CDs. Hearts embroidered into scarves. Soft kisses on foreheads. Dark theaters on rainy Friday nights. Dainty gold jewelry against soft skin. French poems written while drunk. Protective hands against your hips guiding you through crowds. I felt all of it at once.

“Everywhere we go, people are infatuated by you, looking at you and yearning to talk to you. I,” he paused for a long moment. “I am infatuated by you.”

“You’ll know you’re in love when being around them never feels long enough. Everything you learn about them will be beautiful pockets of information, no matter how flawed. Your hands will be clammy, and you’ll trip over your words when you’re around them. But if they love you back, they’ll only think that it makes you lovelier.”

Glances, gazes, eyes following places they shouldn’t have seen / intimacy was to be seen by you; free falling was to be touched by you / there was no such thing as a crowded room where you stood

Do you hear that? That’s my heart knocking against my chest at the sight of you / I’ve never heard anything more terrifying / how could you provide me air and suffocate me at the same time?

“Because when you find out the person you’ve been in love with for your entire life loves you back, you’ll spend the rest of your life making up for lost time.”