Bloom

Elementals of India #1

by Sudha Kuruganti

Samantha 'Sam' Rao just wanted an ordinary summer break... until she met the boy who was anything but.

Vikram looks human. Acts human. Pretends to be human. But as a yaksha with elemental powers tied to nature, he knows the truth: falling for a girl like Sam could expose him and doom them both.

Drawn together by a connection older than time, Sam and Vikram are caught in a two-hundred-year-old curse of reincarnation, betrayal, and revenge. And this time, a faceless enemy is determined to keep them apart.

Perfect for fans of Twilight and Bollywood romance , Bloom is a clean paranormal romance inspired by Indian mythology with magic, mystery, and star-crossed love.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

228 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2020

About the author

Hi! I’m Sudha! 🌸

I write feel-good YA and NA fantasy romances inspired by Indian mythology—full of slow-burn love, family ties, and the kind of magic that makes you believe again.

My current series are Elementals of India and Legend Valley Academy. I love hearing from readers, so drop a comment or question anytime!

💌 Join my newsletter and reader group here: www.sudhakuruganti.com

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being an Indian myself, I haven't read many books by Indian authors. And when it comes to fantasy novels by an Indian author, this is my very first one in the category. I picked it up because of a reading challenge and ended up enjoying it.

A story revolving around elementals, it focused on Vikram, who is a yaksha or nature spirit. His magical ability with plants was explored in an interesting manner. However, I wish the book had given more information about the other yakshas as well. Vikram's family was also magical, so I kept wondering what their individual powers were.

I liked Samantha's character the most. She balanced her Indian and American side well. She was respectful towards the Indian culture even though she knew very little about it; at the same time, she did not give up her American roots for the sake of fitting in. She was real and unapologetic of who she was.

The book also had a paranormal aspect in terms of reincarnation, but it wasn't explored as much. The romance was limited but sweet. Though the book is marketed as Bollywood meets Twilight, I was relieved that it didn't have too much drama, angst, or cliches.

It was great reading a book where I could connect with all the little details related to cuisine, language, place, etc. Sometimes when I read books by foreign authors, I do not understand certain references, but this was a completely different experience.

I recommend the book to readers who enjoy fast-paced paranormal books with clean romance. Also, if you're interested in Indian mythology and history, you should give it a try.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very different romance

Samantha is half-Indian/half-American, and while living in the US, she feels a connection to the Indian subcontinent through her deceased father. She goes to stay with her Grandma for the summer before starting college, little expecting to be caught up in a classic folk tale, as she meets Vikram, a florist with a little extra.
Very different from the usual sweet romance, though it is sweet and it is romance. You won’t regret reading this one.

[Megan Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book and I enjoyed the storyline and characters. It was a wonderful young adult fantasy book and I enjoyed reading it. It was a great love story and I enjoyed it.

[Aizlynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love learning about different mythology. Ms Kuruganti's world of Yakshas is very interesting. This is a magical creature I was not previously aware of. I love the interplay between Samantha and Vikram. It kept me guessing until nearly the end. Overall, really fascinating and entertaining.

[Madilynn Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloom by Sudha Kuruganti

5-stars

Bloom by Sudha Kuruganti was a fabulous read! Sam is spending the summer with her grandmother and attending her while she recovers from some health issues. While purchasing a bouquet of beautiful roses to take to the hospital she meets Vikram. He is the son of the owner and seems different. She catches him doing something odd with the flowers and an argument issues. Vikram despite the disagreement can’t seem to take his mind off of her. When she returns later to apologize, the two form a bind of friendship. Shortly after that, a family secret is revealed and prophecy surfaces.

This book was addicting. I lived the characters and the setting. I felt it was creative and engaging. The storyline grabbed my attention and I loved learning about a new mythological being. I was not familiar with those described in this book and it allowed my imagination to run wild. This was a new author for me and I can’t wait yo read more from her. This book, for me was an easy 5-stars. I highly recommend it!

[Raya Whitehouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a review all written out and forgot to save often as they say to do and my PC decided that now was the time to freeze up and reboot, I wont remember all the things I had put down but here are some of my thoughts anyways.

The book was quite interesting to read. It has 2 main people that the story follows. Samantha who is visiting her grandma while she waits for college to open (her parents are dead). Vikram who is running his dad's floral shop, he has a sister who doesnt work with him but is semi-famous on Instagram.

I dont want to give too much of the story away, the author did a great job of explaining what is in the book with their description of the book,

I did enjoy this book and look forward to more later on. It does build slowly but it was still a good book.

[Kaytlen Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bloom creates a unique world in the Indian culture. It illustrates the beauties that come from living in that area of the world along with the diversity in perspectives, language, and way of life. Sudha Kuruganti takes this world and adds the elements of fantasy to make this story a unique take on reincarnation and finding true love.

Samantha is a young woman who comes to India to visit her grandmother before starting college. Vikram is the son of a flower shop owner who is looking to prove himself. Both have their own unique struggles in life. Can they work together to fulfill a 200 year old prophecy? This story is intriguing and uses fantasy and culture differences to create a plot line that draws the reader and tells of Indian folklore.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam is visiting her Grandmother in India after her parents have both passed away. Her Grandmother becomes ill and Sam goes to a flower shop to buy her flowers. Vikram works for his father in the flower shop. The flower purchase does not go smoothly. This the continuation of a story that started 200 years ago. It is a beautiful story that I did not even foresee when I started reading this book. I highly recommend this book. I was given a free copy of this audiobook at my request in exchange for an honest review.

[Angie Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sudha Kuruganti has written a 5-star book. It is about Samantha and Vikram. Samantha has gone to India to visit her grandmother before she goes to college. While in India, she meets Vikram and helps him figure out why after eating some chocolate he gets dizzy and passes out. There was a girl named Devika in the shop right before Vikram passed out and Samantha thinks she had something to do with it. Vikram thinks that it has to do with the text messages his sister has gotten. Vikram has his friend, Arjun call his uncle and get the name and address of the guy who sent the messages to Nysha, After Arjun gets the address, he and Vikram go and see the guy. Vikram is at the shop when he is attacked and if is found out that the guy who he and Arjun whet to see is the one who did it, but when asked "if he sent the chocolates and flowers" he said "No." Samantha still thinks that Devika has something to do with what happened to Vikram and they come up with a plan to see if she is right. The information that Vikram gets from Devika is what they found out. Vikram, Samantha, and Arjun are trying to figure out what is going on and Vikram's computer is on and Arjun sees a picture of Devika and said that he knew her. Arjun tells them some things about her that do not match with what they found out. Vikram tries to call his sister after getting a text message saying that she skipped school to go and have a coffee with Devika but gets no answer. He gets a text telling him that Devika has Nysha and for him to meet her at the shop at midnight and Nysha would go free. Samantha knows that it is a trap and they make a plan to get Devika. Things don't go the way they plan and Vikram finds out that Devika knew what he was and she wanted him to cure her mother of her cancer.
Can things work out between Samantha and Vikram with her going back to the States to go to school?
This was a wonderful book and I would recommend it to anyone.

I received an ARC of this book and I am leaving my voluntarily and honest review.

[Debbie Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful read! A sweet clean paranormal romance set in a unique world of Indian culture and it’s such an addictive story. We meet Sam a half Indian half white girl with purple hair whose gone to see her grandmother for the summer and Vikram who works with his father in his flower shop. The two meet and sparks fly and you get drawn into an incredible world of reincarnation and Indian mythology. It’s a lovely story of true love and magic and I look for ward to more from this author.

[Arceli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this fantasy novel. It was extremely enjoyable. I loved the world building. It was amazing. The romance was great with two awesome main characters with great chemistry. The Indian mythology meant a lot to me and it was great to see it used an a cool setting.

*I have received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Beautiful story that takes place in India. A nice blend of modern American-raised teenager that visits her grandmother in India and discovers a bit of ancient magic, a sense of family and belonging, and best of all, love.

[Amber K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read and my first introduction to this author.
I really liked the main characters and their chemistry. The Indian mythology is also new to me and I found I really enjoyed this storyline. Well written and looking forward to more!

[Jeanéva Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet love reincarnated with a touch of elemental magic.
Bloom is a wonderfully romantic introduction to Indian mythology. It's a clean and sweet romance suitable for all audiences.

[lori Updike · Rating 5 out of 5]

very diffderant and very good romance amnd it was so iteresting to read

[Sneha Viswanath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being an avid fantasy reader, I was a little skeptical when I picked this book. It was my first time reading a fantasy book written in the paranormal romance category by an Indian author and it didnt disappoint.

I liked that the author based the story on Yaksha, a uniquely Indian thing, and not something common like werewolves or vampires or witches.

I enjoyed reading about their magical abilities but I wish she had written more about the Yaksha lore, histories, back stories etc. I wish their abilities had been explored further during the course of the book, rather than just getting a cursory mention.

I liked Vikram's character, and his basic outlook on life. It was fun reading about his magical abilities and how he used them.

Vikram's family was quite interesting to read about and I wish the author had also written about his family's abilities. Since every Yaksha has different abilities, it would have been fun to read about what his family could do.

Also, that sort of left a glaring loophole in the story's climax. I mean, how could a girl with seemingly no powers or outside help manage to outwit an entire family of Magic weilding Yaksha?

Samantha started off as rude and haughty, and I didnt like her much at all, but I warmed up to her as the story progressed. She didnt have any magical abilities and was shown as a very practical, independent young woman - which I cheered for. I was glad that's she wasnt some delicate darling or a mooning puppy and she was written as a pretty realistic character.

About sam and Vikram's relationship/friendship/almost-romance - I found it quite unreal how quickly they seemed to develop such a deep connection. It felt like even their friendship started off too abruptly. I get that they had this whole "rebirth" and past life equation and all, but the way their story was written didnt feel organic. It didn't even feel like the intense love@first-sight kind of love. So the beginning of their relationship felt forced and flat. It would have made more sense had they been old acquaintances or had dreams of each other from their past life or an instant spark of connection - or just something like this.

The romance of their ancestors, Meera and Michael, shown here felt more real, honest and beautiful, much more believable than Vikram and Sam's story because the author gave us a clear first glance, and then slowly built up their relationship. Even with such short snippets of chapters that they got, their romance felt more intense, profound.

Now, for what i didnt like about this book -

1. The traditional Indian girl cliche, about her dress and hair style and kohl lined eyes - all of it made me roll my eyes. We don't want to see stereotypes in such books, as it doesnt make sense.

2. The dialogues exchanged between Vikram and Samantha in the very first chapter when she sees him whispering over her bouquet was absolutely cringe worthy. I nearly DNFd the book because of how terrible that exchange was. I mean, who looks at someone touching flowers and blames them for 'fondling' the flowers? And who says such dialogues whole talking to someone? It wasnt realistic at all. A little bit of editing could have done wonders for that first meeting between our hero and heroine.

3. The Devika/Deepika loophole - It didn't make sense to me that a family of Yaksha with varied magical abilities could be so easily caught and outwitted by a girl who was a mere human. Even her supposed motivations to do such a ghastly crime didnt really hit the target. It was strange that she went into complete psycho mode just because her necklace glowed and she had heard some stories from her ancestors. Why not wait, why not explore the situation properly?

4. Nysha- the climax that they got stuck in all happened because of how silly Nysha acted, totally out of character for her. I mean, she was shared witless about this unknown person attacking her family and threatening her, and then suddenly, when she knows she has to be careful, she ups and goes to hang out with a virtual stranger at a mall? It was so totally out of character that it made me growl in frustration. The climax, therefore felt forced again.

5. If Arjun had someone, who was a Yaksha in the police, why not take his help to deal with climax situation. It would have been fun to see another character, a policeman nonetheless handling the situation and dealing with the after effects.

Over all, the book was a decent read. I quite enjoyed reading it. Even with it's faults, the clean romance and the past to present shifting POVs made it an enjoyable read. I'll definitely read book 2 when it comes out.

[Laura Quevedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

93,5 stars

It was a cute story.

I have to admit that I didn't like the FMC at the beginning but her bratty attitude didn't last long and she apologized and I was glad I kept on reading.

I liked that there was proper communication and that when the main leads and their friends figured out that things were getting out of hand they talked to the MMC's parents.

If I have to say something that I didn't care that much for was the past life aspect, it could been taken out of the story and nothing would have changed. I think just making it their ancestors tale would have been enough... And their story wasn't as interesting to read about throughout the book. It probably would have felt more meaningful if there have been an active connection with the present, like them remembering in a dream or them finding a diary or anything that could have made an impact in the now... But besides the MMC's great-grandmother's vision we have nothing else connecting the two lifetimes...
If not, having less chapters about the past life story and more of the present one would have been better... The story supposedly happens in a time frame of a bit over 3 months but of actual story we barely get a week, there was more telling than showing.

The ending was ok, and though I understand that it was a happy one; to me, it felt a bit of an open ending were the future looks bright and promising... But it's a personal thing and I like my endings a bit more clear cut.

Overall it was a cute short story. Though I don't think I will read the next book.

POV: multiple (both MCs and their past life stories)
Tropes: slow burn romance, elemental magic, Indian culture, reincarnation (though it seemed more like and afterthoght).
Spice: none (clean romance with only a kiss towards the end)
CW: violence, mentions of death of a family member because of cancer, some mentions of discrimination. Pretty light overall, not highly descriptive.

[PAR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sudha Kuruganti is one of my favorite authors. She writes her romance with fantasy inspired by her Indian mythology. Her work is clean, and fascinating, and I would have no problem with one of my clients picking up her novels and reading them. She brings a sweet clean paranormal romance set in the wonderful Indian culture. Whenever you read a book by A.J. Sudha you know you get certain things: the book is well-structured, well-proofed and well-edited; the storyline is fast-paced, without trite or contrived scenes; the story is strongly written, the characters are complex and well-developed and the dialogue is honest and believable. The writing is fast-paced. This book is a real page-turner. I received this novel through StoryOrigin and this is my honest and true opinion.

[Essiery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It's a PNR with reincarnation and Indian mythology that's reminiscent of elves and nature spirits. I loved the taste of India that made this book different from all the Western and European stories I usually read. The story was really good and the characters very likable. The book is a standalone but I would love reading more about what happens with everyone in future books.

[Tgrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great clean romance with a little paranormal

It's really hard to find a clean paranormal romance lately. So I was very pleased to fine this author. Hopefully her other books are as Awesome and believable. I'm going to see LOL .

[Elvira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book enjoyable from beginning to the end. The characters are engaging and well developed with a smooth flowing storyline throughout the pages.

I received a copy and am voluntarily leaving my honest review.

[Tenna Chatman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait to read all her books!

This is the first book I've read based on India. It is definitely not the last! Good blending of both cultures with fleshshed out outlikeable characters. Loved the mythology woven in.

[Angel Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off slow, but by the end, I was really enjoying the read.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 1 of the series. I enjoyed reading this book and recommend. Looking forward to reading book 2 of the series