Bloom

Product Information

I am also a huge movie buff and my other interests include listening to music, spending time with my dog Drax, reading, and blogging. I do notice that there is a second volume which I hope will expand on their couple dynamic a bit more since I don't feel this book got the chance to really do so, hence it felt a bit rushed and out of nowhere despite the build-up. It took me only a couple of hours to read the whole thing and I desperately wished that there was more. Author Kevin Panetta and illustrator Savanna Ganucheau tell a captivating story of young blooming love over a summer baking sourdough rolls. The food and cooking made me hungry and it did not take a huge effort to read this so I am not complaining… much.

What I believe these authors are trying to communicate is that as we are trying to discover who we are, especially as young adults, we cannot rush the process, and we must accept that we may mess up. As much as this is a romance between Ari and Hector, the book is more of a “coming of age” story for Ari as he comes out of his angry teen years and starts to step into his adulthood. In a desperate attempt to break free from a future he does not want, Ari finds a young man named Hector to work for his parents in his stead.But in the midst of interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easy-going guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. The romance between Ari and Hector builds slowly, focusing on cute interactions long before progressing to anything physical.

This relationship could be the start of something special—if only Ari's impulsive behavior doesn't ruin everything. It’s hard to believe that they fall for each other so quickly and that Hector would fall for as much of a mess as Ari. It’s not as awe-inducing as Ukazu’s work, but this one has a quieter more intense beauty that comes through as Ari matures through the story. It becomes clear to everyone that Ari’s priorities are shifting; his behavior becomes mysterious and erratic, and he is not sure anymore of what he wants or needs. Ari is young, and he battles with having his entire future stretched out before him and all the big decisions that come with graduating from high school.There is a tender and heartfelt scene toward the film’s climax where the young protagonist’s father lovingly confesses to his crestfallen son that he knows about his romance and envies the connection and love he feels. Hector, on the other hand, was almost too good to be true and I honestly think he could probably have done better than Ari. This book highlights key issues students are going through, while remaining lighthearted, which could be helpful. It did seem like it moved a bit quickly, and y’all already know how I feel about age differences relationships (here it’s a college student and a very recent high school grad so … I know that’s not a huge age difference but the HS grad is barely an adult).

However, I never had strong feelings about him one way or another, I didn’t think there was anything about him that really stuck out of enough to make him a memorable character for me. Author Panetta’s story is baked to perfection: a crush that turns to infatuation—and later love—in the confines of a professional kitchen bristling with hot stoves, stuffed shelves, and perfectly shaped spanakopita. The story could be interpreted as a coming out story, but the authors intentionally take the focus of the story in a different direction.these random leaps made the story feel incredibly disjointed and as if entire parts of the story were missing. There was one joke made about PTSD that rubbed me the wrong way, but I can't really fault it for anything else!

Bloom reads like an indie teen film (think Lady Bird or Me, Earl and the Dying Girl) with bonus baking tips. I love that it takes place in a bakery, and the chemistry between Ari and Hector jumped off the page, I was smiling like an IDIOT while I was reading this 🥹 and I actually almost cried at the end like excuse me? At Books2Door, we believe that reading is a fundamental skill that every child should have to help improve their vocabulary, grammar, and critical thinking skills. However, there are shortcomings: Where the original text may use parentheticals and asides to progress the story, the occasional appearance of parentheses in speech bubbles are a distracting reminder that comics utilize storytelling tools that haven’t been fully adopted here. This just really hit home because in that when you’re crushing on someone (no matter your/their sexuality) you’ll let them get away with SO much more than someone who is actually just a friend or has no potential.If the success of the band Beach House is any indicator, Ari and his friends are wise to want to move there. I get that the story is supposed to show him changing, growing from a boy to a man, but it happens in fits and starts and didn’t quite work as smoothly as I wanted. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms - but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation.