Genre: YA Romance
Age Level: 7th grade & up
# of Pages: 240
Award Winner:
Publisher: Simon Pulse (April 24, 2007)
Lauren’s life seems perfect. She has the most popular guy in school pinning after her, she just got her first jazz band solo, she is doing great in school, and she and her best friend Katie have gotten seats at the coveted table at lunch. Lauren’s outside appearance of happiness is in total contrast of the inner turmoil that she faces daily. She isn’t happy and she can’t figure out why. As she analyzes her life she realizes that her boyfriend, Dave, is just a little bit too perfect and his ultra-religious parents only add to the misery. She wants to get away from the perfection in her life and move toward the happiness that she knows is out there for her. The only problem is, she doesn’t know how to gain that happiness without hurting people around her, especially Dave. She doesn’t want to be like her mother who left Lauren and her dad behind when she was little to pursue what she wanted. Yet after meeting Evan Kirkland, Lauren sees that passion and happiness are hers for the taking and that she can leave behind the safety and monotony that her life currently has.
Lauren and Evan quickly find that they have a connection that is on a much deeper level than that of any relationship she has had before and that both excites and terrifies her. She begins making decisions to pursue her happiness and in the mean time begins lying to everyone around her and losing those who are closest to her, especially her best friend Katie. Lauren is faced with the decision of going against what she has always known to avoid confrontation or following her heart, and Evan, and gaining the happiness that she constantly craves.
Bloom is a wonderful coming of age story as well as a powerful love story. The tile gives the reader a glimpse of what is to come in this story through Lauren’s voice. I love Lauren in this book because she is so relatable. She is funny, strong, well written character whose distinctive voice and likeability make this an easy read. This was one of those books that I read in a day because I just couldn’t put it down. Lauren deals with things that even adults deal with in life even though the circumstances may be different. We all want to be happy and Elizabeth Scott has done a wonderful job using Lauren to show how happiness isn’t always easy to come by. Scott is a wonderful writer and this being my first read of hers only excites me to see what else she has coming our way!!
Visit Elizabeth at http://elizabethwrites.com/
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