The Bloom Girls

The Bloom Girls was a book about family relationships and unselfish love. Exploring the complexities and dynamics a family often keeps hidden from the world, this story considers what happens when the balance is disturbed. Funny and sweet, this contemporary romance is all about what happens when life happens.
Gabi and her mom are close. After her parents’ divorce, Gavi never doubted her dad's love for her, but because of his traveling around the world, he was not involved in her daily life. Now that Gabi has graduated, it is time for her to build her photography portfolio on a trip alone to Europe. But when she has an unexpected meet-cute with a boy in Ireland, Gabi’s promise to not get involved with anyone falls apart.
Now returning home 2 months later, Gabi and Ethan are engaged. Most of the story takes place in Chicago, where both Gabi and Ethan’s parents live. Gabi’s engagement isn’t the only family surprise. Her mother, Alissa, a pastry chef is nearing her 40th birthday and is pregnant and keeping it a secret from Gabi, just for now. With Alyssa’s ex wanting her back and Gabi’s upcoming whirlwind wedding, this close family will have to embrace the unexpected.
Funny, with lots of well-meaning family input, Gabi and Alissa figure out what their new normal looks like. I especially like how Gabi didn’t put her career or herself on the backburner for her relationship. The author did a great job explaining Jewish traditions that both families practiced. Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

What more could you ask for? This book has it all - romance, mother/daughter dynamics, self-discovery angst, and cupcakes! I could not put this book down. The storytelling was excellent. The character development phenomenal. I can't wait to read the next installment. Kudos to the author for such a wonderful novel!

This was a really sweet book. I enjoyed Gabi, Alissa, and Matt and watching them struggle to figure out what would make them truly happy in life. This book does a great job of capturing how tricky family dynamics and relationships can be. Yet even while covering some heavy topics at times, it has enough humor thrown in to keep it light. This was a really enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading more Amy Pine books in the future. I REALLY hope there is a follow up book to this one. I received an ARC from netgalley, and this is my honest review.

Totally enjoyed this story of Gabi and her mom Alissa and the life choices they are facing. This novel reads "light and enjoyable" and still has some depth to it as both characters decide what they "truly" want from their life and what they are willing to trade to get it. You'll definitely see some similarities to The Gilmore Girls and yet Gabi and Alissa are their own people with their own histories and futures to plot.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review..

Amy/AJ Pine is a new favorite author of mine. I love how she puts a story together! The Bloom Girls is written with humor and heart. Gabi and her mother, Alissa, are facing different life-changing events and are reluctant to share their worries and doubts. Growing up and becoming an adult is hard! The way everything plays out in this Jewish multi-generational, multi-family story is heartwarming, funny, and full of angst and drama.

The Bloom Girls was an absolute treat to read filled with romance, mother-daughter relationships and hysterical family drama. Amy Pine, aka A.J. Pine, is well known for her love and cowboy romances, but here she delves into a Jewish family’s dynamics with smart, relatable humor.

This book sucked me in after just a few pages, and I ended up reading it in a day. I completely related to all the female characters from all the generations. This book has heart, and you could feel the love the characters felt for one another oozing off the page, even when they were untruthful or hurtful to one another.

Pine, a Chicago resident, brings the suburbs of Chicago and city to life. She honors the city with shout outs to Lou Malnati’s, the Botanic Gardens and some other less iconic places in the city. It’s always fun to read about your own town in fiction. I just wish the bakery mentioned in the book was real! Wow, it sounded good.

I read this on my kindle, so I never saw the cover art. As I sat to write this review and pulled up the cover, I was disappointed. It had little relation to the story and nothing that screamed read me! How about Gabi’s camera, the bakery, a pretzel ring, a pregnancy test, Ireland…? Sorry, had to get that off my chest so that no one lets the cover judge the awesomeness inside. The story ends with a “mic-drop”, so the reader knows that book number two is on its way. I can’t wait for it.

This book was a fun read. It read a little bit like the Jewish Gilmore girls.

I wanted to read something light that I could get through in a few hours.

Gabi Bloom decides to go to Europe for a few months and do some travelling and take pictures of all the places she wants to see. She comes prepared with a list of places to see and she has an itinerary her trip in Europe. While she is in Galloway some boof plows into her on his bike and falls of his bike and get hurts. She proceeds to check on him to see if he is ok. Turns out he has the most beautiful blue eyes she has seen.

The scene written with Rabbis was pretty funny.

Want something easy to read and cheerful this is one you can add.

I absolutely adored this. It was the perfect blend of an authentic family dynamic, humour, and romance. Following a mother and daughter, it highlights the reality that age doesn't provide the answers in life, that sometimes the happily-ever-after doesn't come easily.

Alissa is 39, single, and unexpectedly pregnant again with the baby of her ex-husband. When their firstborn, Gabi, announces her engagement to a boy she met while travelling in Ireland, it's a continuous tiptoe around their secret as they attempt to keep the focus on the upcoming Jewish wedding. With a second chance romance and newfound love blooming alongside each other, I loved the parallel conflicts of fighting for happiness.

Filled with sweet gestures, hilarious mishaps, and heartfelt discussions, these characters stole my heart. This was such a feel-good story that showcased an imperfect family filled with love and support. And that ending! I cannot wait for more.

If I hadn’t already been a long-time fan of Amy Pine’s books, the promise of ‘Gilmore Girls meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ would have immediately piqued my interest since those are among my all-time favourite TV shows and movies. That’s a lot of hype to live up to, and while I tried not to go in with my expectations too high, I wanted to love this book...and I did. Oh, I did. I’ve been searching for 20 years for a book that captures that Gilmore Girls feeling; some have come close, but none have succeeded in the way Amy did with The Bloom Girls. Side note: can we get Amy to rewrite the last season of GG...and maybe the reboot too?

This book perfectly blended family dynamics, romance, and real life, and did it with a whole lot of heart and humour. I loved the mother-daughter relationship, the romances, the friendships, and the extended family dynamics. Alissa and Gabi were easy to connect to and relate to because they felt like real people with real thoughts, feelings, and struggles. I loved the generational differences between Alissa and Gabi and how they both realized no matter how old you are it still takes time to figure things out, it’s okay not to have your act together, you’ll make mistakes despite the best of intentions, and it’s never too late for a fresh start. Life can throw you a curveball at any time, but it’s how you deal with it that matters.

Mixing old love and new love, second chances and fresh starts, The Bloom Girls was a delight from beginning to end.

This was a fun multi-generational book about family and love. It’s follows a mother and daughter dynamic and their love antics. (Think Gilmore Girls!)

Gabi is 22 and traveled to Europe only to find love with a main who lives in the same city as her. Her mom, Alissa is almost 40 and pregnant again.

This book started off really slow for me and the first couple chapters I was sure it wasn’t going to be believable. BUT, it quickly turned and I ended up enjoying the heck out of this book. Gabi and Alissa have the mother-daughter relationship that I hope to have with my girls one day. It’s sweet. Their antics are fun. And their big Jewish family is hilarious.

What a fun book and great summer read.
I loved the story’s connection between a mother and daughter and the challenges each is facing in the days and months ahead for their future. The bloom girls are mother and daughter, one is navigating a first love and what she wants in life and the other looking back on a first love and what the future holds. I could not put this book down, there was humour, romance, tears, and love and best news there will be another book coming . Can’t wait to head back to see where life takes this family.

You had me at Gilmore GIrls meets Big Fat Greek Wedding! In short this is the story of mother and daughter, Alissa and Gabi as they prepare for Gabi's wedding.

My thoughts: I really loved this story. It had all the elements of the family stories I am enjoying right now, mixed with romance and humor. It exceeded my expectations and had me calling my mom often to discuss the book. The love and friendship between mother and daughter really hit home for me. I loved their friendship and banter.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. History repeats itself when Alyssa finds herself pregnant. Again. By the same man she fell in love with when they were just kids themselves over 20 years ago. And this occurs just as her beloved amazing daughter Gabi with whom she has an fabulous open healthy relationship with has just graduated college. Yikes. Now her beloved daughter is coming home from a trip overseas and bringing home a fiancé. What is going on??? Relationships, love, family, mother daughter relationships, career desires, discovering who you are, growing up, being true to yourself and so many other things explored in this book. Its light, well written and narrated beautifully. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

This book is for every lover of Gilmore Girls. I saw so much of the show in this book from the big elements, from the funny holiday shenanigans (um, the crazy Thanksgiving with all the families). I could not keep from picturing the cast as these characters and I am not mad about it.

I really enjoyed seeing Alissa and Gabi as mother daughter and as individual women. I liked seeing them figure out life and also realize that no matter how old you may be you’ll still be figuring it out.

Other favorite things - the supporting characters of Becca and Miriam. The way they supported the main women through everything and helped them realize their dreams.

I also really liked the men - Ethan and Matthew. I mean they really proved themselves.

Another thing that was just lovely, the Jewish rep. Just some Jewish people living their lives and the battle of the rabbis (that scene had me giggling).

I am looking forward to Becca and Sadie’s book - how their lives will intertwine, and what their stories will bring.

Overall definitely recommend this one for anyone looking for a family drama/romance.

This story have me Gilmore Girls vibes in that we are getting the drama, romance, and more from both mother and daughter. However, this is definitely a unique and engaging story all its own.

Gabi is returning home from Europe with a surprise - a brand new fiance her parents have never met. Her mother Alissa has a secret of her own. She's pregnant and the father is her ex-husband Matt.

I loved this book! It was a great blend of humor and heart with relatable characters and realistic drama. It was really nice to get Alissa and Gabi's POVs as they both face huge life changes. Things are not always easy or straightforward and they both have struggles. Their personal growth was as big a part of the story as the romance.

I have read and enjoyed a number of the author's other books, too. She does a wonderful job creating relatable and interesting characters and a story that is impossible to put down. The story wraps up in a satisfying way, but drops a few bread crumbs for book two. I can't wait to find out what happens next!

I’ll admit that the reason I grabbed for this book was the comparison to The Gilmore Girls, a show that my daughter and I watched regularly (and found surprisingly similar) to our own relationship and life. And this did not disappoint in that regard. Alyssa is the eldest sister of two, her younger sister is married, a doctor and the apple of her mother’s eye. Alyssa is, however, has a more difficult relationship with her own mother, and has thrown her entire life into raising her daughter, Gabi, despite having her daughter’s father in and out of their lives after their own split. I liked Alyssa instantly – she's doing her absolute best to raise her daughter and be there – as a friend, support, parent and example – even as she’s pushing Gabi to be all that she can be. But, with all the changes, she’s also wondering just where her own life will go – particularly since she’s discovered she’s pregnant – with her ex-husband's child. On the day that Gabi returns from her post-graduation trek through Europe.

Gabi isn’t just returning with memories and tons of photos, though. She’s bringing home her fiancé that she met in Galway, but not really mentioned to her mother before they appear out of an uber from the airport. From that first rather tense (and calamitous) introduction, and her father’s newly shared decision to move back in town and stay put this time – there are plenty of decisions and opportunities for growth, change and laughter to come. Not a fully ‘smooth’ ride as the characters navigate these changes, the story is engagingly written and flows smoothly, and it’s easy for readers to see themselves in each character – or to empathize with the situations, and challenges keep dropping only to be overcome just as another appears. At the core of the story, however, is the love – you may not always “like” those you are related to – but there is that combination (and knowledge) that you do love them, even in the worst moments, and that, despite the challenges, love and family are powerful allies in this thing called life.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aXu /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>