Helpful Score: 5
Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com
Lauren's life seems almost perfect at first. She's got a perfect boyfriend, Dave. She's not struggling with school. She's got an awesome best friend, Katie. She doesn't really fight with her father. Her life is good. Safe, but good.
She's not happy, though. Lauren doesn't know why, but her life doesn't seem like all it's cracked up to be. Neither does her relationship with Dave, who may be just a little bit too perfect. She finds a chance to make herself happy when Evan Kirkland comes to town, but is she ready to let go and take the plunge? Is Lauren ready to leave her safe, boring life behind for the passion and happiness that she sees with Evan? She's not sure. She has, after all, struggled not to be like her mother, who let herself run away to pursue what she wanted even though it meant leaving her husband and young daughter behind. But does being who she, Lauren, wants to be have to mean sacrificing her happiness just to make the choice everyone else seems to think is right?
BLOOM is a beautiful, powerful love story, a wonderful coming-of-age story, and most of all just an amazing novel told in Lauren's fresh, funny, and distinctive voice. Lauren is a strong, likeable character, and she is not the only three-dimensional character in the story--they are all fantastic. Fantastic is also a good word to describe BLOOM itself. Elizabeth Scott is a wonderful writer, and this brilliant novel makes me very excited to see what this author will write next!
Lauren's life seems almost perfect at first. She's got a perfect boyfriend, Dave. She's not struggling with school. She's got an awesome best friend, Katie. She doesn't really fight with her father. Her life is good. Safe, but good.
She's not happy, though. Lauren doesn't know why, but her life doesn't seem like all it's cracked up to be. Neither does her relationship with Dave, who may be just a little bit too perfect. She finds a chance to make herself happy when Evan Kirkland comes to town, but is she ready to let go and take the plunge? Is Lauren ready to leave her safe, boring life behind for the passion and happiness that she sees with Evan? She's not sure. She has, after all, struggled not to be like her mother, who let herself run away to pursue what she wanted even though it meant leaving her husband and young daughter behind. But does being who she, Lauren, wants to be have to mean sacrificing her happiness just to make the choice everyone else seems to think is right?
BLOOM is a beautiful, powerful love story, a wonderful coming-of-age story, and most of all just an amazing novel told in Lauren's fresh, funny, and distinctive voice. Lauren is a strong, likeable character, and she is not the only three-dimensional character in the story--they are all fantastic. Fantastic is also a good word to describe BLOOM itself. Elizabeth Scott is a wonderful writer, and this brilliant novel makes me very excited to see what this author will write next!
Helpful Score: 3
This book was not nearly as exciting as I hoped it would be. Lauren is kind of a dull character, and her relationship with Evan just sort of happens without a lot of development. Most of the book is about her fretting over what to do when we all know how it's going to end. On top of that, she's cheating on her boyfriend and not really a particularly likeable character.
