A very, very sweet book, my first by Louisa May Alcott (I know I should have started with Little Women but it was for a special reason). I enjoyed this book, but I couldn't connect with Rose, the main character. She is annoying sometimes, and I felt as I could hear the author's voice in my head, not the character. Yes, I should have read Eight Cousins first, and perhaps I would be able to connect with Rose and her issues. But it was sweet all the same because of Uncle Alec and Mac... Both bookish and queer in their ways but so lovingly and lovable that I couldn't help falling in love with them both. Also loved the side stories, Phebe, Archie, Steve Kitty, and Charlie (poor Charlie). I liked the teachings and peace of wisdom that we can find in the book as well.

This book is like drinking sweet tea—so full of refreshing wholesomeness and wisdom. I love how Alcott dived into the different characters and made them deeper than they were in the first book.

This book made a deep impression on my as a child and it was one of the only books that made me cry as a child. This is the sequal to, "Eight Cousins". As an adult, I am sure I would find it over sentimental, but, I loved it so as a child, that I must still recommend it. Sweet and endearing - give it a try.

I was right, I read this last week - the first time since childhood.
It is very sentimental and borderline annoying to read as an adult. Rose is too good. While my childhood self found much to admire and copy - my adult self sees her as perfectionism gone bad. Still a good pick for an old fashioned read...I like "Little Women" so much better though. The March sisters have depths that Rose just doesn't reach.

I was already a hardcore fan of Little Women when my mother pleased me very much one Christmas by giving me a matching hardcover set of the two Eight Cousins books which I hadn't as yet read (why not? I'm sure they were in the local public library). I thought they were great, just as good as Little Women in their way, and I confess that at that young age (something like 11) I wanted to be Rose Campbell just a little bit more than I wanted to be Jo March. Rereading them for the first time as an adult (not the same copies -- though I remember them fondly for the sake of my mother's thoughtfulness, they were not particularly attractive modern reprints, and they fell by the wayside at some point in the last three decades), I discover that really, nothing Alcott wrote is ever going to match up anywhere close to her most famous book. The attractions of rich pretty Rose and her bevy of adoring cousins and the good times they have remain, but the moralizing preachiness of the books stood out and got in the way far more than it had in my memory. Perhaps I was better at tuning it out back then? Perhaps I simply whole-heartedly agreed that frivolity and any amount of alchohol, even a sip of wine, was unequivocally bad? (I was a rather prudish child).

I suspect that as a child I reread Eight Cousins rather more than Rose in Bloom. Although I remembered all of the outcomes for the older set of cousins (save for Steve's sweet little romance) there was much in the book that felt fresh. I found Rose's complicated feelings about Charlie surprisingly nuanced, and I appreciated things like Rose having a philosophical awakening after reading Emerson. The ending was satisfying, and makes me feel that preferring to be Rose rather than Jo is actually a pretty savvy choice.

So I enjoyed it, but wonder if I will ever reread these books again. This makes me wish that I had completed my collection of the very attractive Little Brown early 1900s illustrated editions of Alcott's works before reading this one. Rose in Bloom is the only one I lack, but I mistakenly thought I had it -- otherwise I wouldn't have embarked on the reread. Now I'm faced with this quandary: is it worth spending money on a pretty book you will most likely never crack open, except to look at the pictures? A final minor note on editions: I really like the cover of this paperback I've shelved that I checked out of the library. There is Rose looking pre-raphaelite (as described at one point in the text) and there are the little statues of Cupid and Psyche. The illustrator clearly read the book to the end and paid attention!

Rose, the title character and heiress to her branch of the Campbell family, is the epitome of moral perfection, and boy does she like to show it. Now I, being the filthy degenerate that I am, have always tended more towards characters of my dissolute kind, in fiction; but that does not mean I don't enjoy a good moral character when it comes along my way - I did love Jane Eyre, after all. However, what I cannot stand, what fatally annoys me, is a preachy moralist.

So, it can be said this book was off to a rough start.

The Paragon Of Human Perfection™, being absurdly rich, finds herself drowned in men wanting to bone her, left and right; but, woe and desperation, Rose struggles to find those who like her for her instead of liking her for her money (ah, the problems of the rich). Her cousin Charlie seems like the obvious candidate for her hand, having been in love with her for many a year, since they were playmates in childhood. But he has one HUGE problem: he partakes in the devil's alcohol! He stays up until late! Oh tragedy! Oh horror!

Rose cannot POSSIBLY fall in love with a man such as this; but he is her cousin, and she loves him as family all the same. She, then, sets out to "fix" him. Maybe then - who knows – she can actually fall in love with him.

But, Louisa May Alcott tells you, some people cannot be fixed, and he will be a degenerate his whole life. Fortunately, she can just kill him and move on with Rose's life, and that's exactly what she did. Rose ends up falling in love with her other cousin, Mac (which, I must confess, is pretty much the stuff of dreams - maybe I'm weird, but I do love a socially awkward nerd / poet). And they live happily ever after: in the ending, she gets engaged to Mac, while the other other cousin, Archie, gets engaged to her empoverished bestie, Phebe, and the other other other cousin, Steve, marries... some girl named Kitty which really isn't very important to the story, I guess. In the end, all women live happily ever after by finding the meaning of life: marriage! And Rose finds fulfillment in a life of rejecting parties and frivolities (which our dear Alcott will criticize to no end) and dedicating herself to a life of philantropy.

Honestly Charlie, I think you dodged a bullet when you went and died halfway through the story.

Ok, so maybe I've been a bit overdramatic with this review. But honestly, Miss Alcott started it when she wrote this book.

It's very sweet - too sweet. Cloying in fact. I really can't relate to this sort of preachy telenovela plot, and I certainly can't relate to this mortally dull main character that thinks getting drunk one night is the pathway to Hell. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go have a drink.

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I won't rate this book, dnf at 45%.
I didn't feel a connection to the characters and couldn't get in the flow of the story.

I'm really sorry, Louisa May Alcott. Please don't come back from the grave to haunt me for this one-star review. But CMONNN.

I really really enjoyed Eight Cousins. I loved the atmosphere, the fun day-to-day life, and their experiences. Rose In Bloom takes place 2 years later after Rose has spent time abroad with Uncle Alec and Phebes. Apparently, during those 2 years, every character in the book died on the inside, because this was insufferably BORING.

I'm definitely gonna have to take a long mental break from Alcott before I read Little Women, and hopefully this bad taste in my mouth will go away after some time.

Again, regarding this book, sorry, Ms. Alcott, it's not me, it's you.

First, do not expect Little Women. Rose in Bloom can’t possibly measure up. Secondly, expect a great deal of moralizing and priggishness. If you bear both of those warnings in mind, you’ll find the sequel to Louisa May Alcott’s maudlin and unbearable Eight Cousins just this side of tolerable, if still pretty preachy.

Pollyanna-ish Rose Campbell is all grown up, as are several of her seven boy cousins. Rose in Bloom, as the title implies, follows Rose’s young womanhood and her decisions about philanthropy and love. The parts of this “improving novel” that dwell on the mating rituals of the New England upper classes are pretty interesting, but I would have enjoyed the information better in a social journal than in this book — if that tells you anything.

Hahah this will take me at least 3 business days to recover from. Full of moral dilemmas and figuring out who you want to be as a 21 year old and questions of love and deep friendship, Rose in Bloom was everything a good book should be and so timely. Also I forget that no one is doing romance like the classics. It had me internally “roaring and dancing jigs” like Jamie in the barn

I liked this one less than Eight Cousins for several reasons.
First, unless in special cases I disaprove of cousins marrying.  And also I don't feel the thing with Charlie was well resolved. He was just killed off because the author was tired of him, and couldn't properly redeem him. *sighs*
I really liked Archie and Phoebe together. I think Archie is the type a lot of people are unfair to. Just because he is serious and does what is right doesn't mean he is "too old for his age" "too serious" "I like to see a bit more boyish romance in him" etc. Is annoying. It isn't fair. Than when he does get romantic and exciting, everyone is majorly annoyed. *rolls eyes*
Charlie I was irritated with, but I felt sorry too, and was enraged with what happened.
Mac I pretty much felt the same for.
Steven I liked a tiny bit better.
No thoughts of Will and Geordie.
Jamie still has the unfortunate thing for saying things not meant to be said:-)
So it was an okay book.

So I guess I have a new favorite author now