Bloom

Bloom
written by Elizabeth Scott



I had heard nothing but good things about this book. In many ways, it lived up to my expectations, and in others, failed completely. Lauren, the protagonist, is a pretty unlikeable character. She may embody much of the teenage population of the world, but she certainly doesn't speak for me. The only thing about her that I liked was that she was a reader, volunteering & planning to work at the library. Elizabeth Scott broke barriers, I felt. I've never actually read a YA book in which a main character is religious (save for Miriam's Well, but that's a totally different story). The backstory Lauren has with Evan is also incredibly fresh. And then there's the cheating. I've never read a YA book with such huge instances of cheating on another person. There has been emotional cheating, sure, but like this? No. I didn't like it. The break-up with Dave could have and should have happened sometime earlier, instead of dragging it out for no reason. It would have given room to resolve many issues that are never really given an ending--Katie's issues with her family, Marcus with his, Lauren and Mary, and most importantly, we'd have more time to spend with Lauren and her father, the central relationship (to me) in the book. I liked the first person aspect of the book, it let you clearly see everything, while at the same time, skewing everything to fit Lauren's point of view. It worked very effectively. Random formatting notes to close this off: I adored the flowers throughout the book, and I loved the texture of the cover! Almost felt like a hardcover, all smooth, didn't it?

Rating: 4/5

This book & PD 10 made me realize that instead of going directly to the bottom of my TBR pile, maybe I should be reading from the top down :P