Bloom is a lighthearted, slice of life, romance taking place in a beach town where Ari is looking to move on from his family bakery. In an attempt to convince his dad to let him leave, he hires a young baker on a break from school. The two work together, slowly reigniting Ari’s love and appreciation of bakery, and growing closer to each other. This was a quick and easy read I finished in a single sitting, just over an hour and a half, and was a perfect to be able to turn off my brain for a bit of time and just relax. 

That being said, I had a hard time connecting to Ari, I do believe characters do not have to be, and should not be, perfect, but many of Ari’s actions throughout the novel seemed to exceed how people reacted to them. A notable example being the climax and resulting scenes. Ari’s had a tendency to take things too far and oftentimes these actions were resolved with little more than an “I’m sorry.” While I was not a fan of Ari, Hector was a delight. His character felt very genuine and I enjoyed getting to learn more about him alongside Ari. I feel as though both of their individual storylines came to a conclusion that made sense for them and also showed their growth from the beginning.

The setting of the story was breathtaking, and there are pages from the novel that I would be interested in having as prints. The art style brings so much to the story and was genuinely beautiful.

While Bloom may not have been for me, I did still enjoy my time reading it, and will be keeping my eye out for other novels Panetta puts out.