"The Bloom Girls" by Emily Maine Cavanagh tackled lots of great topics- family bonds, hiding being gay and its implications on the family and career, religion, as well as sisterhood and parenting. A tender story of closure after the passing of the dad, secrets uncovered, and new, constructive discoveries of moving forward. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the copy for review, all opinions are my own.

"When the news of their father’s death reaches them, sisters Cal, Violet, and Suzy Bloom have to set aside their own personal crises, and their differences, to gather in Maine. Responsible Cal, the oldest and closest to their dad, is torn between taking care of her family and meeting the demands of a high-pressure law career. Impulsive Violet, the estranged middle child, is regretting a messy breakup with a man she’s just now realizing she truly loves. And Suzy, the sweet youngest daughter, is anguishing over a life-altering decision."

An enjoyable book about how sisters Cal, Violet and Suzy Bloom deal with their father's death and the fall out that ensues.

I really enjoyed this book! I liked the way the relationships between the three sisters were portrayed. Cal, Violet, and Suzy are sisters. They have learned that their father passed away suddenly. They travel to Maine to attend to his funeral services. During the days they are together, the girls fall into the old patterns of their relationships as sisters. The past is brought back up and new information is learned. The girls address what happened when they were younger to them, as well as what happened between their father and mother. Painful memories resurface and are shared. With their father’s death, they realize how quickly life can change. And this also leads to the women facing their own personal lives. One by one, they make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. The three sisters’ characters are fully developed. The novel is told in the third point of view in alternating stories of all three of the sisters. I found this novel an enjoyable read with its every day, relatable characters, and the surprises that appeared throughout the story.

Cavanagh has woven a brilliant tale that readers will be enthralled with. This will be on the most-talked-about booklists of 2017!

I did not finish this book, even though I tried. It had potential, but I wanted to move on to another book.

Such a beautiful and colourful cover! I thought it was going to be a story about a flower shop until I read the synopsis and found it was about three sisters, their late father's painful past and forgiveness. A touching read, even though it was a little slow in parts. I would read more novels by this author.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers. This was my honest review.

Reviews can be seen on Goodreads and Amazon.

A nice read for any girl who has grown up with a sister. Enjoyable story that brings up memories of the fights and attachments found between sisters.

The Bloom Girls is a well written story of sisters and secrets. The three sisters rush home after their father's death, and what follows is a story of forgiveness, of broken promises, broken relationships and broken dreams.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

What to say about this book? I enjoyed the journey but never felt strongly compelled to pick up the book. While I was reading it, I was perfectly content but out of sight, out of mind.

This book is an addictive gem which could have been even more, had the style been just a little more subtle. I would have liked a bit more suspense, though clearly this is more psychological at family/relationship level.

The characters each have a complex baggage and get to know each other throughout the book, even though they are family. This just stands to prove how important communication between family members is.

There is a continuous emotional struggle at individual level, juggling between memories before the father's death and after. Cal, Suzy and Violet are the Bloom girls and they couldn't have been more different from one another. They each mourn their dad in their own way, finally coming to terms and getting to know him better after he was no longer there.

I recommend this quick read to anyone, can be a very good summer/holidays book too. There are lots of issues and points thatcan be discussed also in a book club. Very curious to read others' thoughts on it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for sending this thought provoking book to my Kindle. Three sisters, not very close, are brought together to plan a funeral in Maine. This book covers the few days between learning of the death of their father and returning to their own lives immediately following his funeral. Only one of the sisters had kept in touch with their father regularly.
Many years earlier, their father was wrongly accused of sexual misconduct at the school where he taught. This caused the break up of the family.
Whilst staying in Maine to arrange the funeral, the sisters first learn about the accusations, and also that there was no truth in them, but their father had taken the view that to contest would bring unwanted scrutiny on the family, so chose to sacrifice his marriage to allow the girls and their mother to stay together and continue their lives without him.
The sisters deal with this in different ways, and the book tells their stories sympathetically. I really enjoyed this book!

well written and highly readable novel that hits a lot of issues at a top level during the course of a weekend where three sisters gather to bury their father. Each of these women- Violet, Calla, and Suzie- have a problem and choices to make. Cavanagh did a nice job of capturing the essence of the individuals quickly and engaging you with them. The big cipher is their Dad= but that's sort of the point of the whole thing. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC- highly recommend this for the storytelling. There's no moralizing, even with things that so often become flashpoints. My one quibble is with the title; I would have called it "the Bloom Women."

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I am surprised how quickly I read this considering it was a deep read. There sisters brought together because of their Father's death. We learn secrets and heartache surrounding not only each of the girla, but their Dad as well. This is very well written and I enjoyed getting the story from each of the sister's POV. It was wondering how each sister had such wrong perception of the past. I pretty much devoured book. Very enjoyable read.

When Cat, Violet, and Suzy's dad dies, they must go to Maine and settle his affairs and plan a funeral. All three sisters lead different lives and rarely see each other. Also adding to the mix is lots of family secrets. I really enjoyed this book and read it in an afternoon and evening since I couldn't put it down! It is a great story of sisters, family, life, and love. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me an ARC for an honest opinion.

The Bloom sisters, Suzy, Violet and Cal, are all struggling with their own problems in life when they get the news that their father has died. Cal is the only one who has really kept in touch with him after he divorced their mother and moved away following allegations made about him at the school where he was a teacher but it is a shock to all of them that he is dead

Barely seeing each other the three sisters come together at his funeral and find that they learn more about him that they have known from the community where he lived and it means a lot of soul searching from them as they finally understand the man and some of the pain he went through

A good novel exploring problems of dysfunctional families and how breakups can affect individual members and sometime what it takes to bring people back together again

I really enjoyed reading this book. The Bloom sisters are all named after flowers. Each one is having issues in their lives when they have to come together in Maine upon hearing about the death of their father. Secrets come out and the sisters are forced to see their father in a different light. . Each chapter is told in a different sisters voice. This was a quick read and I always enjoy reading books about the dynamic of sisters.

Well, I finished the book a few days ago but just had to think about it awhile. When I read the description, I was excited, as I thought that it would be a heart warming, emotional family story about three sisters. However, the story devolved into a family secret about their deceased father's life.

The only sympathetic characters were the mother and Suzy. The other two sisters were immature and behaved more like teens rather than grown women. There were times when I just wanted to shout, "Grow up!" to them. Cal and her husband were blessed with two beautiful daughters after struggling with reproductive issues but they argue over which one must stay home when one child has a fever. Cal hid in bed and refused to speak with her child via telephone. Violet engaged in immoral behavior from a young age. Were we supposed to feel sorry for her when her tutor treated her badly, despite the fact that she knew he had a girlfriend and still threw herself at him? Yes, teens are young and impressionable, but most should have a definite set of moral values by then, along with a firm sense of right and wrong. Since when is being with someone's boyfriend acceptable? Violet chose her actions and then paid a high price for them. Although she professed to love Luka, she was with a man from her past. Oh, Luka, he was definitely too good for Violet. She did not deserve him and did not appreciate him. And, was something wrong with him, that he wanted someone like her? Maybe he did not know about her narcissistic issues and her dubious history with men?

There were parts of the book that I chose to skim over, such as their father's disgusting behavior. He was a married man and had absolutely no respect for his wife, a woman who bore him three daughters. Towards the end of the story, it was explained that he did not fight the accusations against him in order to spare his family the public humiliation. Really??? If he was truly concerned about his family and their welfare, he would have honored his marriage vows or had an honest conversation with his wife, allowing her the opportunity to free herself from his toxicity. But no, he did not choose either of those options. Rather, he behaved in a cowardly manner, engaging in such behavior with a colleague, at the school where he was employed. Finally, I was not convinced that he did not do the acts of which he was accused. Maybe the boys did perceive something wrong? Was the author trying to elicit sympathy for the man? If so, he did not come across as deserving of anything close to sympathy. He left his family and started a whole new life, as if none of them existed, except the one daughter Cal, who maintained contact with him.

What happened to Suzy when she was a young teen was terrible and I did not want to read about it. I skimmed over those paragraphs, reading only enough to discern what happened to her.. Characters refer to her unborn baby as "it" for most of the book. Again, no reason to like any of these people.

The ending felt abrupt and I wanted to at least know what happened when Suzy told the baby's father her news. The other two sisters found their happy ending but I had just about no more patience for either of them by that time.. I wanted to like the book but did not. I would not read it again and would not recommend it to others.

What a wonderful book! After reading several books that would fall under the category of psychological thrillers, books with twists, and a book about the White House Chiefs of Staff, it was nice to read a book that didn't leave me guessing about what was to come. It was a book about people dealing with a sad reality of life.

The Bloom sisters, Cal, Violet, and Suzy aren't exactly close. Sure they talk but their lives aren't exactly entwined. Each is living their own life in their own way and it works for them, seeing each other on holidays.

Their parents divorced when they were younger and the event had a different influence on each woman's life. Cal was in college already, unaffected by her father's leaving, remaining close to him throughout her journey into adulthood. Violet, the middle child, was 15, an age that is already hard to begin with. She struggled, especially since she held onto a secret of her father's, unsure if she should share it with her sisters. Finally, the youngest Suzy, the only one who had to visit her father in his new home in Maine due to her age at the time. The sisters had different relationships with their father that all come to a head one day.

They each get a call that their father has died. Losing a parent has to be hard. Its not something most people look forward to. Even if one isn't exactly close to their parents, suddenly not having them can be jarring.

The Bloom Girls is a tale of 3 sisters coming together at one of the toughest times in their lives. Losing their father is going to change all of them. This book explores not only their relationship with their father but with each other. There are flashbacks to their childhood which help to shape each girl as she grows into womanhood.

This is a great novel about the toughest time in someone's life, the death of a parent. I look forward to reading more from Cavanagh.

I received this ARC from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

The Bloom Sisters, it was their father's idea to name them for a different flower. As adults, their dad suddenly dies and they are left to sort through the bits and pieces of family secrets and lies.

The story line sort of reminded me of a Seinfeld show (without the humor), a show about nothing.

2.5☆ rounded up to 3☆

The book has a very good storyline, and the author did a good job of beginning her character development, however as the story progressed it appeared that she rushed to finish the story, attempting to tie up the loose ends for a happy ending. In doing so, the characters she had developed became less important than the rush-to-the-end storyline. The author is a very good writer; I would encourage her to slow down and take more time to ensure that the book is more complete and her characters allowed to evolve.