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A review by christinemomo
Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
It’s like a Disney Princess with a thesaurus narrated this, but it doesn’t feel clever or funny enough to be satire. All telling, infodumps, and 2D characters without much personality.
1.5 stars.
It could’ve dug into patterns of toxic relationships and domestic abuse in a meaningful way but stayed surface level and trite, and every interaction happened back-to-back mere days apart in a way that felt profoundly implausible.
Instead of seeing lived in characters, we are left to assume “I guess all of this must make sense because her ex cheated or else this would be really bad writing, huh?”
When something interesting was finally happening near the end, we get a several month time jump so that instead of seeing the hypothetical horror story we get ANOTHER info dump pages before it ends. That made me so much madder than I was a chapter before.
The only way that would’ve been forgivable was if the author included a hand-written confession in her own blood that said “Writing the interesting scenes instead of telling you they happened between chapters is punishable by death where I live, so sorry.”
This whole book is like someone inviting you over, making you a PB&J, and telling you how they made a much better meal last night when you weren’t there so you should assume it’s true and agree they are a great chef. Why list the scenes you could’ve written that would’ve been interesting instead of writing them?
If you want to mix horror and romance well, both elements have to be able to pass muster on their own, and neither did for me. If I had never read any queer horror before, or any books about abusive relationships, or any books dealing with cannibalism, maybe I would’ve been like “Woah you can do that!?! 5 stars!” But cmon, this isn’t doing anything well, it’s summarizing the ideas for a better written story.
1.5 stars.
It could’ve dug into patterns of toxic relationships and domestic abuse in a meaningful way but stayed surface level and trite, and every interaction happened back-to-back mere days apart in a way that felt profoundly implausible.
Instead of seeing lived in characters, we are left to assume “I guess all of this must make sense because her ex cheated or else this would be really bad writing, huh?”
When something interesting was finally happening near the end, we get a several month time jump so that instead of seeing the hypothetical horror story we get ANOTHER info dump pages before it ends. That made me so much madder than I was a chapter before.
The only way that would’ve been forgivable was if the author included a hand-written confession in her own blood that said “Writing the interesting scenes instead of telling you they happened between chapters is punishable by death where I live, so sorry.”
This whole book is like someone inviting you over, making you a PB&J, and telling you how they made a much better meal last night when you weren’t there so you should assume it’s true and agree they are a great chef. Why list the scenes you could’ve written that would’ve been interesting instead of writing them?
If you want to mix horror and romance well, both elements have to be able to pass muster on their own, and neither did for me. If I had never read any queer horror before, or any books about abusive relationships, or any books dealing with cannibalism, maybe I would’ve been like “Woah you can do that!?! 5 stars!” But cmon, this isn’t doing anything well, it’s summarizing the ideas for a better written story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Sexual content, Stalking