New Bloom (Bloom Duet Series #1) by A.E. Gamrat ~ Review by Liz Vrchota

New Bloom by A.E. Gamrat
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was completely new to A.E. Gamrat when I first picked up “New Bloom”. I saw the absolutely gorgeous cover and just had to know what the story was that laid on the pages between them. I am so glad that I picked it up. I do have to say, it was a bit slow on the uptake at first. Once I did get into the story however, I was hooked and very grateful that the second book, “Eternal Bloom” is already available to read.

In “New Bloom” we are first introduced to Gwen. We really get the feel for her as she starts life after college. Before I really get into where this is a coming of age story and how she finds herself and her place in life I want to touch on another part of the story that really hit home with me. Ok here’s the deal, Gwen is an only child, but she also struggles with a lot of issues that an oldest child often deals with. I saw this struggle because I am the oldest daughter of three. I also saw her side of being an only child as I have just one daughter. We often tend to expect a lot of our single children as parents. Especially, those of us who wanted more, but were not able to for some reason or another. It is a struggle that I have faced a lot in my lifetime. I am not making excuses for the character her mother is. (She is a wreck and not very good with the motherly instinct. I was really struggling to not scream out loud at this woman several times.) However, I know that this is my only chance, my only time to experience motherhood and all its firsts. I won’t get a redo, or another go around. I could see where her mother was struggling with that and projecting it on her daughter throughout both of these novels. This was just as much of a strong prevalent story line in the novels as the coming of age story that was portrayed with Gwen.

With that said, this really sets the tone for things. Gwen has been groomed her whole life to be the prefect daughter. Now that she has graduated college that expectation really hasn’t changed, and she is now moving home to help out with her parents flower shop. Gwen is trying hard to find her own voice and balance her relationships. She is struggling to figure out how to do all of these things and still be everything to everyone. Then a new relationship is added to the mix when the mysterious and handsome Kame walks into the flower shop and her life one day. Something isn’t quite what it seems about him though… Watch out for that cliffhanger. Like I said though the second book, “Eternal Bloom”, is available now.

Review by @lizaileen
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