I Heart Bloomberg by Melody Carlson, Reviewed
June 9, 2008
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
David C. Cook (April 1, 2008)
by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Melody Carlson is the best-selling author of more than 100 books for adults, children, and teens, including three of her latest, These Boots Weren’t Made For Walking, A Mile In My Flip-Flops, and Mixed Bags. She and her husband, the parents of two grown sons, make their home near the Cascade Mountains in Central Oregon. Melody is a full-time writer as well as an avid gardener, biker, skier, and hiker.
Favorite Bible verse: John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” It’s the “whosoever” part that gets me. That’s who I write for – “whosoever” and to me that means everyone and anyone.
Carlson, author of more than 100 books, begins her 86 Bloomberg Place series with I Heart Bloomberg that functions mostly to set up future storylines. Three women rent rooms at 86Bloomberg Place:
ABOUT THE BOOK
Kendall’s managed to wrangle her grandmother’s house-free and clear-except for the rules. No male roommates. But that’s ok, with the right ad she’ll pull in some girls, their rent and if she’s lucky, she won’t have to go to work any time soon.
For their part, Anna, Lelani, and Megan all have their reasons for wanting to move in: Anna has got to get out from under her overprotective parents; Lelani can’t take another day in her aunt’s tiny crackerbox house overflowing with toddlers and Megan needs a place free of her current roommate from Hades.
Though they come with assorted extra baggage filled with broken hearts and dreams, they will discover they also have a vast array of hidden strengths. And they struggle to become the women they want to be, they’ll find new hope and maybe even Kendall will learn a thing or two about life, love and the true meaning of friendship.
If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE
SALLY SAYS:
I may be showing my age here (which I didn’t think was that high), but here goes.
I Heart Bloomberg is a light summer read, and halfway through it–knowing I had to review it–I wasn’t sure what I was going to say.
On one hand, the characters, most fresh from college or in their mid-twenties, are dealing with scenarios that as a mom and mother of two and 2/3rds 
I felt way past. Granted, one was dealing with the loss of her dad, but even her character moved past that quickly, and her struggle throughout the book dealt with getting along with her roommate. And then there was the one character that annoyed me to no end with her shallowness. I kept wishing someone would shake her. And then shake her again.
I finally decided that my problem with the story was that I felt way too old for the book. Their problems with each other seemed petty, and I had a hard time being patient with them and identifying with them as a reader. I don’t say that arrogantly, but I’m in a different phase of my life than they are. And so what matters to them didn’t matter to me.
But on the other hand, I wanted to find out what happened. The farther along in the book I went, the more I read — in other words, I couldn’t put the thing down.
So hmm. What does this mean?
I Heart Bloomberg is a light, fun read. If you love light and fun (which I do) and stories about being footloose and fancy free and worrying about hair, makeup, and expensive clothes, you’ll enjoy the book. If you crave more serious, issue-driven fiction like I do, you may not care for this book as much.
But whatever you think of those characters three chapters in, I’d like to see you put the book down.
Comments
4 Responses to “I Heart Bloomberg by Melody Carlson, Reviewed”
So, I wondered when you were going to announce the 2/3rds…..
Congratulations !!!
Hope all is going well.
Great job! I felt EXACTLY the same way. This review is a finalist for the mag. You did a great job expressing what is so hard to express. No real substance — but you still can’t put it down.
It really is amazing how your own place in life can affect the way you enjoy–or don’t enjoy–a particular novel. I’ve had the opposite experience, too. There are books that I hated in college, when I was forced to read them, that I love now. I know it’s because as a twenty-year-old with little life experience, I just couldn’t identify with the old fogey characters and their struggles. But boy, I can now!
Sally,
are you expecting???? We just had our 4th in Feb. We had a little boy names Hudson John. If you are then congratulations.