I recently finished reading Megan Tady’s novel Super Bloom.

It’s a novel about friendship and reinventing yourself when life doesn’t follow the path you thought it would. 

It’s a novel about writers and romance books. 

It’s a novel that offers a behind-the-curtains look at the massage industry as told from the point of view of our main character, Joan, a massage therapist.

It’s one of those novels that keeps you turning pages, because you just have to find out what happens next. And for me, it started with the first sentence — “I harbor a secret fantasy to go apeshit at work.” 

Here are a few of the passages that caused me to pause and mark the page with a sticky note and a yellow highlighter:

“…I love that muscles speak their own language and I can spend hours coaxing them to reveal themselves to me.”

“Instead, I imagine my clients’ private lives and then write down the stories, envisioning their secrets and passions and hurts based on the slope of the lower back, the elasticity of skin, the rigidity of muscles. My hands pass over bodies as if I’m reading braille, and their worlds unfold.”

“My smile is my best asset, looks-wise, though it’s as shy as a shadow-spooked groundhog. When my full smile emerges, it reveals one crooked tooth that appears to be leaning out of a Rockets chorus line to see what everyone else is doing.”

“It’s been sixteen years, but I still remember writing this thing at my parents’ kitchen table. They were both at work, and the house was quiet. As the words flew out of me, I experienced an oncoming rush, as if I were on a roller coaster inching to its highest peak, the noise of the wheels grinding against steel, wind whipping my hair, until I crested, and from there, for a split second, I could see for miles, a perspective where everything made sense, the entire story coming together before I plummeted back toward Earth, my stomach in my chest, my chest in my throat, my thrilled yell not audible from below.”

“I’m fighting for my livelihood by working on The Project — paying off my debt, keeping my day job. But when I write for myself, I’m fighting for my life, because remaining debilitated, angry, or bowled over without a moment’s notice by sadness is no way to exist.”

“Maybe, just maybe, I can still be a writer. Maybe it’s not too late for me. Don’t we all have dormant potential coiled up inside of us? Greatness lying within, waiting to be tapped?
“Just like Samuel’s super blooms. Seeds holding out for perfect conditions: soil, sun, rain.
“What I need is a hefty dose of willpower. A readiness to try my hardest and possibly fail. That’s the only way to bloom.”

“Was it the writing?
“Or was it simply that the forces of nature couldn’t destroy me? That nothing could stop me from pushing up to the surface, because something innate in me wanted to survive. Not only survive but transform, so that I was a better copy of my original self.”

Dear Readers, Has anyone else read Super Bloom? Were any of my favorite lines also your favorite lines? Feel free to share passages that you loved!

Please note: I am including a link to buy the book that I’m highlighting this week. If you use my link, I do make a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost to you. I am working with Bookshop.org which also sends a portion of the profit to support local, independent bookstores.