Bloom

Imagine that your boyfriend is popular, drop dead gorgeous, crazy about you, athletic and wanted by every girl in high school. This is the relationship that Lauren has with Dave. Seems like she should be happy, right? Wrong. She's not. She's in the "perfect" relationship (so everyone thinks), but yet she feels so far from perfect and certainly not happy. In fact, she feels like a fake.

World History is the class she wants to get out of, however it's also where her story finally begins. As a new semester starts, Lauren dreads her World History class. It starts to get interesting when the teacher assigns seating in alphabetical order. Across from her is Evan Kirkland. The son of her father's former live-in boyfriend; a relationship that ended very badly.

As Lauren's feelings grow for Evan, she realizes everything she is missing with her boyfriend Dave. She struggles with keeping up appearances, lying to her best friend, Katie, and understanding these new feelings that Evan has stirred up. Lauren's mom left the family when she was young and her father has been in and out of numerous relationships. Now, he's hardly a presence in Lauren's life. This is also an impact on the triangle of Lauren/Dave/Evan.

Overall, I liked this book. Katie and Dave were good supporting characters, however I wanted to know more about their lives. Bloom is a good story about young love, trying to fit in struggling with doing what is expected of you, and discovering who you really are. (4/5)