The Bloom Girls

by Emily Maine Cavanagh

A tender, heartfelt story of three sisters, their late father’s painful past, and the power of forgiveness.

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.

Arriving in their father’s small coastal town, the Bloom sisters can’t help but revisit the past, confronting the allegations against their father that shattered their family nearly twenty years earlier. As they try to reconcile different versions of their childhood and search for common ground, they’re forced to look at their father’s life—and their own lives—with new eyes, or risk losing all they hold dear.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Womens Fiction, Audiobook

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 14, 2017

About the author

Thanks for checking out my Goodreads Author page! A little about me: Originally from the Boston area, I now live on the island of Martha's Vineyard with my husband and two daughters. During the day I work as a middle and high school English teacher. When not teaching, parenting, reading or cooking, I write contemporary fiction. My writing tends to focus on family, motherhood, relationships, work and career angst, sibling rivalry, and other messy stuff. My first novel, THE BLOOM GIRLS, released in 2017 with Lake Union Publishing. My second novel, THIS BRIGHT BEAUTY, releases March 1, 2018. Want to hear more? Read more about my work on my website (www.emilycavanaghauthor.com), sign up for my author newsletter. or follow me on social media.

Reviews

[Always Pouting · Rating 4 out of 5]

The three bloom sisters father dies and all three of them are at cross roads in thier life so the book is just them dealing with thier father's death and making life changing decisions. I liked the characters and the writing but I wish there was more substance to the book. Things could have developed more subtly and I wouldn't mind having to read more the book would have been fine longer. I enjoyed it though and if you like stories about people figuring thier lives and feelings out this is a good book to check out.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to thank Amazon Publishing and Goodreads Giveaways for a Kindle copy of Emily Cavanagh's "The Bloom Girls."

Who designed that gorgeous cover for this book? Obviously, someone who didn't read it. Who wrote the description for this book? Obviously, someone who didn't read it. Needless to say, the storyline was not what I was prepared to be reading. I felt like I was promised one thing and given another.

Yes, this is a story about three sisters named Cal, Violet, and Suzy, named after flowers by their mother. Upon hearing of their divorced father's untimely death, they journey up to Maine from Boston to make plans for their father's wake and funeral. I found all three of them to be extremely self-absorbed and plainly inconvenienced by the interruption.

The reader relives the Bloom sisters' past turmoils in their individual lives, which are not pleasant--sometimes shocking, depending on your moral compass, and watches as each one struggles with important decisions that will determine the rest of their futures and the future of their family.

For a debut novel, I thought the storyline flowed quite well and was an easy read. The plot was somewhat interesting and would probably appeal more to young adults; however, my issues with the book as a whole was with the way it was presented to the potential reader by the cover but more especially by the description. For this reason, I have to take away a star.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bloom Girls
Emily Cavanaugh
Narrated by Emily Sutton Smith

Emily Cavanaugh’s The Bloom Girls is a poignant and realistic family drama about love loss and forgiving featuring three sisters with very different personalities. Take it from the oldest of three sisters, this intuitive author does a bang up job with these girls from the drifting apart the petty disagreements to the protective loyalty and all the minutiae that goes on between siblings growing up and as adults. The plot is powerful the dialogue conversational and every female reader with sisters will be able to place herself in one of these sets of shoes. Each sister has her strengths and weaknesses although Violet has a few more flaws that her sisters and readers will find themselves wanting to thrash her more than commiserate with her. I liked Susie the best but as the oldest myself I associate more with Cal.
Narration:
Emily Sutton Smith does a fabulous job as the narrator with a clear accurate recounting and an outstanding Boston accent, pus the emotions she expresses when portraying the sisters is spot on. She also does a good job with the male voices.

The three Bloom sisters haven’t been close for a long time but when their father dies suddenly they’re all forced together to deal with arrangements and to deal (or not) with each other-

Calla Lilly, Callie the oldest an attorney and overachiever the typical first borne who is married with two young daughters and the closest with her father is wondering how she’s going to fit mourning and saying goodbye into her incredibly busy schedule.
Middle child Violet has always been restless, always after greener pastures than what’s in front of her has just broken up with the only man she’s ever loved and has no idea if it’s a bad decision or a good one.
Youngest sister Suzie, a chef, like their father is trying to figure out just who she is when she learns there maybe a mini Susie to care for in nine months time. That is if she decides to keep it.

[Jennifer Blankfein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with The Bloom Girls, this lovely debut novel by Emily Cavanagh.

When the Bloom sisters, Suzy, Violet and Cal, were young and in school, their father was a caring teacher and swim coach. Due to horrific accusations by some of his students, he was forced to resign. The stress and embarrassment of being in the spotlight combined with an unspoken personal secret lead to the break up of his marriage. The relationships with his daughters changed dramatically and became fractured as he tried to rebuild his life in a new place, always feeling the void of his beloved family.

Years later, Suzy, the youngest, now in her late 20s was living with her own secret, Violet, the middle daughter was rejecting her loving, unconventional boyfriend, and Cal was feeling unsatisfied with her job and overwhelmed with family responsibilities. After hearing the shocking news of their father’s unexpected death, the girls are devastated and are faced with questions, unspoken words and regrets. The Bloom sisters come together for his funeral where they learn more about him through his community. Mourning together provides the girls with time to understand his painful past, process how it impacted their young lives and to find forgiveness as they make decisions for the future.

This was a heartfelt story of sisters, complexities in families, and how secrets can eat away at happiness and poison relationships. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey of The Bloom Girls and look forward to Emily Cavanagh’s next novel.

[Linda Zagon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank NetGalley, and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC of "The Bloom Girls" by Emily Maine Cavanagh for my honest review. The genre of this novel is Women's Fiction. I find that the author describes her characters as complex and conflicted.. The novel revolves around the death of the father of the three Bloom daughters. Each of the sisters, Cal, Suzy, and Violet, have their own individual emotional baggage, and are not really close. Cal was the only sister who regularly kept contact with their father, after their parent's divorce.
The father had lost his job when there were some accusations against him, and he moved away. To Violet and Suzy, his moving away from them caused much resentment.
In this story, the women are struggling with their individual issues, and their memories of their life with their father when he was alive. They have feelings of guilt, anger, confusion and are mourning.
The author describes a dysfunctional family searching for answers of the past, current, and future . This novel is about family,love,growth and hope. I would recommend this novel for those that like Women's Fiction.

[Christine Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Christine Nolfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant and heartfelt, The Bloom Girls offers a complex accounting of secrets hidden inside a family. Cavanagh weaves an unforgettable tale of three memorable sisters, and the truths they must uncover to find healing and forgiveness. Highly recommended.

[Susan Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this tender-hearted book very much. When their father dies suddenly and unexpectedly, three sisters, Cal, Violet and Suzy, are each at a crossroads in their life. Cal, the mother of two young daughters and a successful lawyer is struggling with balancing the demands on her life. Violet is living on a friend's couch, having recently broken up with her boyfriend. Suzy has just found out she's pregnant, undecided about her own future as well as that of the child she carries. As the sisters gather in Maine for their father's funeral, they must each come to terms with their relationship with each other, as well as the guilt, regret and sorrow they feel about their father. The characters in this book are each so clear; their passions, their emotions, their insecurities, and their love are evident in their thoughts and actions. The Bloom Sisters is a compelling look at a grieving family, and the relationships between three very different sisters. I was very lucky to be approved by Net Galley to read this book.

[Orly Konig]

A touching story about completed, real characters and the truths we avoid about ourselves and the people we love. A beautifully written debut!

[Jane Healey · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading Emily Cavanagh's poignant debut novel, THE BLOOM GIRLS, I kept thinking of these words from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Cavanagh's story-telling perfectly captures the complexities of one unhappy family that must face their past and each other in order to move towards the future.

Cavanagh tells the story of the Bloom sisters - Cal, Violet and Suzy - as they come together to deal with the death of their father, estranged from two of the three sisters after divorcing their mother years earlier. The characters are well-developed as are the relationships between them. The sisters deal with long-buried family secrets as well their own individual baggage, and you root for each one as they figure out their relationship with their deceased father and their place in the world.

I highly recommend this heartfelt debut!

[Samra Muslim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Families and secrets - extremely common and usually complicate things!

A simple story of three sisters (narrated by each of them in parallel) who unite for the untimely death of their father and his funeral. Over the next few days, tensions unfurl, secrets unfold, insecurities come forward, relationship dynamics are explored and bonds rebuilt for them to move on with life stronger, braver and wiser.

Sounds cliched but the author has kept enough twists & turns in the story to keep it extremely engaging - after all what's a family without their secrets?

Honestly The Bloom Girls is not just about the it's about how one deals with them and learn to rise above the tides and tests life throws our way!!

Got a review copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I generally read YA and am used to more in-your-face prose. The Bloom Girls takes a big well-seasoned pot, adds the flavors of three unique characters, and simmers the whole thing slowly. Moody and evocative, it was the perfect post-inauguration read.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway, need to be more care about giveaways. This is not my kind of book. Homosexuality, illegal immigrants, sex in the first 20 pages. I liked the cover, don't judge a book by it's cover.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love life stories and reflections on the past, especially when those reflections lead to personal growth. This book satisfied some of my continual hunger for complex life stories. The girls dealt with many moral and life issues and the author did a good job of addressing them humanly instead of pushing one way or another. Being a Christian I found myself rooting for the girls to land on my perspective of certain issues (and did find victory in one particularly glaring issue), but where the author and I disagreed, I did not feel as if I was being forced to comply with her worldview. Overall, a well-written story.

For those who read using audiobooks, I will forewarn: the narrator for this book is overall a good narrator. However, she seemed to struggle with really forming a good "accent" for the girls. I think she was going for an almost Southern accent but it didn't really work. Thankfully, much of the book is the girls' thoughts, so the poorly formed accent appears much less than it doesn't.

[Nicole Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story of the complicated relationship of sisters and how they deal with the loss of their father.

I truly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. The story and lives of these three very different sisters pulled you in right from the start. A realistic journey of how different each ones relationship was with there father how those relationships shaped their lives with him and each other. Facing their own regrets and learning who their father really was. I look forward to more books from Emily Cavanagh.

[Patty Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was provided with an ARC through NetGalley. The Bloom Girls are 3 sisters who travel to Maine for their father's funeral. The story shows how Cal, Violet and Suzy are affected by their father being accused of sexual misconduct as a teacher and coach. I loved this book. Each chapter is devoted to one of the sisters and I loved how the author developed each character throughout the story.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading The Bloom Girls. This book follows three sisters as they learn about and cope with their father's death. While this book only tells the story of the girls during the week of the funeral, it retains great depth both in plot and in character. Also, the book isn't nearly as depressing as the plot summary might lead you to think. While the characters' flaws are painful to read about at times, their humanity makes up for their imperfections.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

[Debra Oliva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit that the book was not what I expected but I really enjoyed it. Three sisters, for different reasons, are going through difficult periods (pregnancy, working mother stress, romantic break-up) in their lives when they are notified of the unexpected death of their father.
As they process the news and learn more of their father’s life, from whom they were emotionally estranged since their parents’ divorce, they begin to devise ways to overcome their difficulties and become closer to each other and their mother.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this ebook thanks to a Goodreads giveaway.

This is not normally the type of story or premise I'm drawn toward, but I really enjoyed this book. I found the characters to be authentic, similar to people I know, and honest. I appreciated the storytelling that wove different time frames and perspectives smoothly- a premise I usually find clunky. I cared about these characters and their experiences, which is a testament to Cavanagh's talent, prose, and intention. The pacing was slow and enjoyable, and appropriately captured the erratic passage of time in the days preceding a funeral. Maine was a lower-tier character which worked well, the bleakness of Maine winter on the coast was a fitting backdrop. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and am glad I got the opportunity to read it.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bloom Girls is a perfect example of how you should never judge a book by its cover. When I saw the bright floral pattern, I assumed this would be a light chick lit read about sisters, however, it covers so much more. This is a story about the complexity of family relationships, how our perceptions can blind us to the truth and how kept secrets can ruin even the strongest bonds. Suzy, Cal and Violet Bloom drop everything when they receive the call that their father has passed away. Suzy and Violet have been estranged from him for years after he divorced their mother and left town under a cloud of scandal. As the three sisters gather at their father’s home in Maine, they learn about the man he had become and the new life he had made for himself. It is also the first time they collectively explore what happened all those years ago and come to terms with their own feelings, accusations and behaviors. I really enjoyed this book and give it 3.5 stars.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Cal, Suzy and Violet hear the news of their father's death they react a little differently but all head to Maine for the funeral. Cal is a lawyer and juggling her career, her husband and daughters and her unhappiness. Violet is in love with the man she has just broken up with and regretting her life choices. Suzy has just discovered she's pregnant and unsure if she can raise the baby alone. As they get together for the funeral they also have to face the past and the reasons for their parents divorce. A good story of family life and how being sisters you go the extra mile to help each other. This is Emily Cavanagh's first novel and I am looking forward to her next book.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 very different sisters find out one day that their Dad has died.
Suzy and Violet did not see their father much over the years as he divorced their Mom and then moved away.
There was no reason- once he embarrassed the family with a scandal in their school where he taught and the girls attended. Could it have been true? It must have been since Dad resigned .
Oldest daughter, Cal, always kept in touch with her Dad and is "falling apart" over this tragic news.
When they go to plan the funeral service, these young women learn more about their Dad and who he really was, but ,more importantly, more about themselves.
I really did enjoy this book as it touches on so many lessons that we could all follow in life.

[Suzanne Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

I attended a book talk with Emily Cavanagh this past week, which is what inspired me to read one of her novels. The description of The Bloom Girls appealed to me for many reasons: the Massachusetts setting, the complicated family dynamic, and the subject of loss, particularly of a father. I can relate to all three of these topics.

What I wasn’t expecting was how entirely engrossed I would become with the plot, and the emotional connection I would feel toward the characters. From the very beginning when Suzy has to call her sister to tell of her father’s death, I felt my eyes welling up. This happened several times during my reading of the novel, and what I’ve concluded is that Cavanagh has an uncanny ability to create believable and beautiful scenes that speak genuinely to human experience. This, to me, is what strong writing is all about.

I am a sucker for coming-of-age stories, and I felt this novel could share an audience with young adults and adults. The story balances adult complications with flashbacks of pivotal adolescent experiences and how they shape who we become. I was completely invested in Cal, Violet, and Suzy’s stories, both past and present, and was transported for a couple of days into their world. It had been awhile since a novel allowed me to escape entirely, and this one did just that—and I welcomed it wholeheartedly.

I am looking forward to reading another one of Cavanagh’s novels.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covering only a short span, from the day the three sisters learn of their father's death to the day they return to their "regularly scheduled" lives after his funeral, this short novel manages to address the complexities of family relationships, the ways we see ourselves vs. how others see us, and the ways we think about our pasts. Each chapter alternates viewpoints, so the story is told through the eyes of each sister, giving the reader the opportunity to understand how each sister sees herself, her father, and their family history differently. The book intermingles the sisters' remembrances of the past with the present--the funeral and the days leading up to it--focusing on how the past has influenced their present relationships with each other and their father. They each walk away from the funeral toward a big change, giving the novel a feeling of hope and progress, but I ultimately found it to be more of a story about perspective and about the sisters' coming to terms with the past, themselves, and their family.

(Thank you, GoodReads and Amazon Publishing for a copy of this book.)

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about sisters with all the drama, love, jealousies and shared experiences as seen differently by each, Cal, Violet and Suzy are characters with depth. When they hear the news that their father has suddenly died, all three make their way to Maine where their father remade his life after a divorce from their mother. Written at times with tenderness, but always with realism. I really liked this one and would recommend it, particularly if you have sisters.

[etherealfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindle Unlimited e-book

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book was entertaining and touching, but nothing I haven't read before. I liked the relationship between sisters and watching them each grieve their father in their own way. At its premise, this is a very basic story-- 3 sisters come together and try to deal with the deal of their father and they make big life decisions as they figure out who they are. However, there is the added element of their father's past and I thought it was realistic, but not very well developed. There's a rape story in this book that seemed underdeveloped. It either needed to be explored more in the aftermath or it needed to be excluded in my opinion. Overall this book was perfectly good, just nothing great.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
This book is about Suzy, Cal and Violet. They're 3 sisters that come back together when they hear of their father's sudden death. Their parents are divorced and their mom lives in London and Cal is the only one who really kept a relationship with their dad. When they come together, we get to see where each of them are in life as well as their relationships with each other and their father.
Suzy is a chef. She identifies as lesbian but she sleeps with both guys and girls. She had a relationship with her female boss, but when that didn't work out she fell into the arms of her ex boyfriend and now finds herself pregnant. She was planning to get an abortion, but the day of the appointment is the day she found out about her dad so the decision is put off. In the end, she decides to keep the baby. We also hear of a story when she was raped in high school and how coming back to her hometown makes her fearful of seeing the guy. I don't know that it added a whole lot to the story having that in there.
Cal is a wife and mom of 2 girls. She's a lawyer and is very rigid and takes life very seriously. She's always the leader and organizer of everything, but when she learns of her dad's passing she completely checks out and just goes to bed for days on end. In the end, she comes around, but she just hit a breaking point. She's not sure she likes her job in law and she needs to make a change.
Violet is a poet who teaches poetry to high school and college kids. She broke up with her boyfriend because she's scared of commitment and she wants to leave things more surface level, but in the end she ends up back with him and realizes commitment isn't so bad. She briefly has an affair with her old tutor, but he's married and he helps her realize that she doesn't want to keep doing these sex only affairs forever.
Their dad used to be a high school teacher and coach of the boys swim team. However, he got fired when he was accused of sexual harassment of some of the boys. Long story short, the boys made it up because they found out he was gay and didn't want a gay guy coaching them. He lived in the closet for his whole life because of his Catholic beliefs, but he had a boyfriend who he ran a restaurant with. He wasn't even out to his girls, though some of them suspected it.
In the end, everyone's secrets come out and theres a nice message about accepting and loving your family for who they are.

[Judi Easley · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Disclaimer:

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book. I am voluntarily providing an honest review in which all opinions are fully my own. I am not being compensated in any way.

~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review

My Review: ✰✰✰✰⭒

I’m always thrilled to find out an author whose book I like is a near neighbor of mine. I’m here in Southern New Hampshire and she’s just down there on Martha’s Vineyard. This is Ms. Cavanaugh’s debut novel, which came out in March of this year. I struggle over how to classify this type of book. They seem to fall under Women’s Lit or Coming of Age a lot. I keep looking for a better classification for them.

Here we meet three sisters of the Bloom family. Each sister has been named after a flower. There’s Cal (Calla Lily), Violet, and Suzy (Black-eyed Susan). Each one has her own struggles with her past and current life. They have just found out that their father died of a heart attack. Their mother lives overseas. So the sisters make plans to go take care of their father’s funeral.

Each of the sisters starts a mental house cleaning of things related to her own relationship with her father and how the situation will be once they get to his house. Each of them is focused on herself and how this has affected her. They all have questions about their father and whether or not he was really gay, even though he denied it. The sniping and bickering reveal all the tension beneath the surface. Finally, their mother arrives and they settle a bit now that their Mom is there to stabilize them. But their drama continues and it takes a near-death incident and a botched one-night stand to bring all of the dirt to light and get all four of the women together and talking enough to get at the truth of what happened “back then”.

Parts of this were really tough to read. This was a family story, and yet Violet was pretty disgusting. I was glad in the end all the dirt came out so that she could really heal. There was excellent character development of all the characters. And the storyline was tops. Poor Barry, so alone in the end. I felt so bad for him. There was no resolution, no path ahead for him.

Ms. Cavanaugh has another book coming out in March of 2018. I recommend reading this first one and looking forward to her second one later on. She seems like an author to watch.

[Robin Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t know if I was going to like this book...especially with the Boston accents! (Reminds me of my friend, Janet, who LOVES to read!). But I stuck with it, listening while I was in my car...and pretty soon it grabbed me! Three sisters, all different and unique! One father, died, and the memories these daughters shared. Except the BIG secret. Even the youngest daughter didn’t know the secret about her father. The divorced and remarried mother comes from England for the funeral. She has nothing but good things to say about the dad. They divorced when after accusations were hurled at the dad, he didn’t fight...and then he became hard to live with and the mom couldn’t take it. But she believed him all along.

The dad ends up owning and operating a Vegan restaurant in Portland (Maine? Not too good with geography, but I know it wasn’t Oregon) where he lives his life. He grew up Catholic and has a very staunch belief in the church and the rules, etc... but he can’t get a decent relationship with two of the three sisters.

It’s so good in the end, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.

[Gena - My Book Reviews for You · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.