READERS GUIDE

Where You’re Planted Reading Group Guide
1.   Where You’re Planted opens with Tansy desperately trying to rescue two parakeets in the middle of a category 4 hurricane. If it were you, for what non-human entity would you risk your life?
2.   The book is told through both Jack’s and Tansy’s perspectives. Discuss to what extent this enhanced your read of Jack and Tansy’s brewing tension.
3.   Sweeney concocts the ultimate rom-com in Where You’re Planted by drawing a tight perimeter around a library, a botanic garden, and a heart-tingling grumpy-sunshine romance. If you were a character in the novel, what role you would play in the larger community, and how would this inform your romantic trajectory?
4.   Through Tansy and Briar, Sweeney captures the unique tenderness of the mother-daughter dynamic. How does Tansy’s role as a mother foster or hinder her ability to let her walls down?
5.   The title aptly captures some of the story’s major themes. Discuss how the title’s botanical reference speaks to what it means to settle down, and the leap of faith that’s required to give your heart to a person and a place.
6.   Jack and Tansy are the quintessential grumpy-sunshine pair. Discuss how they expand each other’s horizons. Share with the group your favorite “Jansy” moment.
7.   Informed by author Melanie Sweeney’s experience living in Texas, Where You’re Planted pays homage to her home state, and is one of the few romances that touches on climate change. Discuss how Sweeney seamlessly weaves in this important, real-world subtext through the various relationship dynamics we see on the page.
8.   A love letter to libraries and librarians, Where You’re Planted is perfectly primed for the bookishly inclined. In what ways, if any, were you pleasantly surprised by Sweeney’s rendering of Tansy as a children’s librarian?
9.   Having finished the book, where do you see Jack and Tansy now?