Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

Reviewed by Jesi

Lauren has a good life: decent grades, great friends, and a boyfriend every girl lusts after. So why is she so unhappy? It takes the arrival of Evan Kirkland for Lauren to figure out the answer: She's been holding back. She's been denying herself a bunch of things (like sex) because staying with her loyal and gorgeous boyfriend, Dave, is the "right" thing to do. After all, who would give up the perfect boyfriend? But as Dave starts talking more and more about their life together, planning a future Lauren simply can't see herself in -- and as Lauren's craving for Evan, and moreover, who she is with Evan becomes all the more fierce -- Lauren realizes she needs to make a choice...before one is made for her.    (Amazon product description)

Lauren’s life is perfect, but she’s not happy.  Wah, wah, wah...my heart bleeds for her.  This book is one long story of indecision;  if you know me at all, you know I hate people (and characters) who are indecisive!  She’s got this really cute boyfriend who is kind and comes from a good family, but she feels as though she has to pretend to be a different person when she is with him.  Hey, that happens sometimes.  Just because a guy is cute doesn’t mean you are going to have chemistry together.  I can see going along with it for a while to see if something develops, but when it doesn’t, move on.

Instead, Lauren mopes around about how miserable she is.  When Evan, a boy from her past, moves back to town, the chemistry between them heats up.  But rather than break up with her boyfriend and go for it with Evan, Lauren sneaks around and cheats on him, making me dislike her even more.  Her reason for staying with him (so she wouldn’t be like her mother) was lame, and the logic of it never really connected with me.  At least Evan has a conscience about his role in the cheating.  Lauren just mopes along hoping not to get caught.

It also bothered me that Lauren treats her “best friend” Katie like crap.  Katie is going through a lot in her life, but Lauren is too busy moping to notice.  (Seriously, Lauren makes Bella Swan seem like the most carefree, happy girl in literature.)  I found myself more interested in what is going on with Katie at home, but the author never really develops that story line, which is a real missed opportunity in my opinion.

This story might also have been improved by the author developing the back story of Lauren and Evan.  As children, Evan’s mother and Lauren’s dad dated and moved in together for a while.  There could have been a really cool storyline developed from that, but instead, it just sort of gets dropped.  There could have been some reason why the two had to rely on each other because of problems at home.  Or there might have been some dramatic break when Evan and his mother moved away.  Unfortunately, her dad was just a jerk of a boyfriend...end of story.

Overall, I give Bloom...

Plot - 2 1/2 bookmarks
Character development - 2 bookmarks (and the only reason I’m being that generous is because I liked Evan.)
Love story - 1 bookmark (Evan should have hooked up with Katie instead.)
Dream cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Sarah Hyland (Lauren), Cassie Scerbo (Katie), Kendall Schmidt (Evan), Hunter Parrish (Dave)