What Lies Beneath Flowers / Natasha Díaz / Book Review

WHAT LIES BENEATH THE FLOWERS

Pippa really needs to catch a break. Working long hours at her aunt's store isn't cutting it, especially with the bills piling up as they are. She's got big dreams, after all. Yes, she needs something else, and Estella Aubergine might just be the ticket...

Not that It-girl Estella Aubergine would ever cross paths with Pippa. They run in different social circles. Very different social circles. Except that Pippa does know Estella. In fact, she was maybe the last person to see Estella before she went missing. And the security cameras didn't even know Pippa was there, skulking in the garden, searching for something botanical to add to her latest masterpiece.

When Estella's reclusive mother announces the reward, well, Pippa's got to go for it, right? She's practically got insider information. But trying to convince her best friend Bidi to drop her summer plans to get involved in a world of wealth, popularity, and influence isn't exactly easy. Not when it involves so much scrutiny. Not when it involves a missing rich girl who already has more media attention than most brown girls get. But the money on the line... Well, it's life-changing type of money.

THOUGHTS

I'm conflicted, because the bones were so good here. Inspired by Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, Díaz does a great job of capturing that Dickensian essence. But the whole time, I felt like I was just one step behind when it came to understanding the characters. Their actions felt inexplicable because I didn't quite know them, didn't quite see the direction they would take because of who they were. So I was left feeling uninvested and disconnected, and that's not the best reading experience.

PROS

Neighborhood Pride	If Dickens had really fore-fronted the interiority of the working class, instead of simply making quirky characters out of them, it would have come out something like this book. Pippa is a working class girl in a working class neighborhood that's right on the verge of being bought up by developers and gentrified to the point of pushing out those who made it home. And she's not about that gentrification, at all. She recognizes the power of money and influence, obviously, and she recognizes the siren call of the offer her aunt's received for the struggling deli store they run. But she'd rather it not come to that. This is a book about loving your community, the good and the bad, even if it is hard living. It's about cherishing diversity, about loving the strange and quirky figures who live nearby and patronize your small business. It's about solidarity and having hope for the future. And I love that.
Dramatis Personae	Not only does this book pay homage to the characters of Great Expectations by name, it also really captures the flavor of a Dickensian cast. Dickens writes dramatically. His canon is full of quirky characters, schemes and plots, and twisted and unexpected interpersonal entanglements, and every one of those things plays an important role in Díaz's book. These characters have more going on behind the scenes than the average cast of a YA novel, and they're all just a touch over-the-top in a way that could certainly be described as charming. If that Dickensian sense of character is something you love, this new take on his work might just be up your alley.
Messy Median	As much as this book is a missing person investigation (and infiltration of the bougie upper class society), it is very much about some really messy family dynamics (in a good way). When Pippa gets home from a long day of investigations gone awry, she's not home free. There are high tensions, big feelings, and unavoidable shouting matches that come with the territory of growing older and forming your own identity. Pippa lives with her aunt, who never wanted kids. Her mother abandoned them both long ago. She doesn't know her father except that he's maybe, possibly dead. Bidi's home is no less complicated. Her mom's busy taking extra shifts to make ends meet which means Bidi's on childcare duty for her younger sister more often than not (which does mean putting her own goals aside in the meantime). Her cousin Mo's crashing in the basement because his mom's a bit flighty, between apartments and with no place for him to crash when he's home for the summer from the bougie academy where he studies during the school year (on scholarship, of course). It's these messy, non-traditional, high-tension family dynamics that makes the book come alive, makes it feel real. And I love that.

CONS

The hardest thing for me when it came to connecting to this book was the fact that, frankly, I just felt a little lost the whole time. It's like I was missing vital pieces to really make it work. I understood who the characters were. I understood their actions, but I kept missing out on the when, why, and what for of it all. It wasn't that the actions didn't make sense, but I didn't quite know why these characters were doing what they were doing. I was never quite sure what the next scene would hold, because I never quite knew what the plan was. And Pippa, you know, she isn't the type of character to really have a concrete plan, which I am absolutely fine with as a reader. But in that case, I need the spur-of-the-moment passion that leads us to these crazy situations, and I just felt like I never quite got that. The characters have so many entanglements behind the scenes that the motivations were murky in a bad way, and without being able to connect the dots and tie it all together like a really-well-plotted Dickensian story has to do, I just didn't have the investment in these characters to fall head-over-heels in love with this book.	Connective Ligaments
As much as I love a cast of quirky characters, for the characters to truly work as over-the-top and melodramatic, the plot needs to match. And that just wasn't the case here, which made every interaction with these quirky adults a little chafing? The kids, I didn't mind so much. They're teenagers. Over-the-top and melodramatic comes with the territory, so when the characters are written like that, it makes sense. But when the plot isn't quite so whimsical and the adults are just consistently crossing barriers that take them out of real-world and into character-land, well, it is a little hard to read. I needed a little more grounding in these characters, a little more "yeah, this makes sense" for me to really buy it. And I didn't get that.	OTT OOC
Taking into account both the things that I loved and the things that detracted from my reading experience, I was hovering around a 6 or 7 out of ten (you know, "I liked this, and I know people who will love this!") right up until the very end. And by "very end," I do mean the final, epilogue-style chapter. And I don't want to spoil anything, because despite my own reservations, I know there are plenty of people who will still adore this book. Spoilers aren't in the spirit of reviews. But the creative direction the final chapter took these characters, and the trajectory of the plot and/or potential for a sequel, really didn't work for me. It felt out-of-character. It took a hard left turn out of the generally-Dickensian flavor the rest of the book held. And I just plain didn't like it. To the point that it really knocked this book back into a "solid middle-of-the-road" rating. So take that as you will.	Over It

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/10

Those who loved the fight for the life of a colorful neighborhood in Brittney Morris's The Jump will love Pippa's passion for her place in the world. Those who loved the campy nature of Murder on a School Night by Kate Weston will like these high-key Characters from Natasha Díaz.

Details Publisher: Delacorte Press Date: July 14, 2026 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.