Childhood classic. My grandmother had it tucked away when we came through on a cross Canada trip, and offered it to me. The book had a broken top cover, but I didn't care. Owning any book was like owning a jewel.

Morbidly moralistic. 19th C literature at its absolute worst.

I had a very mixed time with this book. I enjoyed the characters in the family, but I didn’t always agree with the author’s interpretation of the situations she put Rose and the rest into.

There are lines I highlighted because I loved them … and there were bits I highlighted because of how problematic they are. Ex: Trying to leverage a bad-boy’s attraction to you to entice him to change and grow in virtue? One of many situations in this novel that doesn’t hold up well.

There are parts of this book I’d give 5 stars, and parts I’d give 1 star (Charlie’s plot resolution? out of nowhere). Unexpectedly, this book was a strange swirl of these two flavors, so it gets a low 3 stars from me. Still enjoyable, but could have been better.

3.5* for this audiobook edition. Marie Therese did an adequate narration but mispronounced certain words which bothered me a little (for example, "vague" with a short a to sound like bag instead of a long a).

I did enjoy the story despite the moralizing streaks.

What I like in this book?

1. Sweetness. That kind of narration which one finds in Louisa May Alcott, L.M. Montgomery and Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey. And if one feels the need to sweeten a day one should take one of their books.

2. A story about growing up, becoming adult, first love and so on. Although I felt a few times it was a bit too much exaggerated in some points. Nonetheless, I forgive it because I see a bigger purpose.

But, I have made one mistake. I have read it after Eight Cousins. I think when I was younger (I mean when I was teenager) I could read these kind of books one after another. Now I know, that they have the best charm for me when I read them from time to time. Otherwise, I am too censorious and sadly, I am easy bored.

So, I am aware that I give this book only three stars, when most of my GR-friends seem to love it very much. But, sometimes so it goes. The right book in the wrong moment.

Świetna i tyle

As a young girl I adored Little Women and read it about 50 times - no exaggeration. My next favorite books by Alcott were Eight Cousins and it's sequel, Rose in Bloom. Though not as good as LW, they had a charm I really enjoyed. I drew maps of the Aunt Hill and planned everyone's lives in great detail. It's been years since I reread this book, and fortunately I still enjoyed it. It's sentimental and preachy, but I don't mind. It was delightful to watch Rose, her friend Phoebe and the seven boy cousins begin their lives as adults.

So, I kinda thought the preaching was done when I started this one. Rose is grown up, she and Phebe and Uncle Alec have just returned from a year abroad, where Phebe has trained to be a singer. Now Rose is ready to be launched on society, and most of the boy cousins are grown.

It starts out very promising, and though I never normally root for cousins to marry, here you're rooting for Rose to choose one of her brilliant cousins and live happily ever after. But of course it's not that easy. First Rose has to make the very hard decision of whether or not she will enjoy a brief, restrained season of frivolity, complete with wearing nice gowns and dancing. Though it pains him to see her waste her time in this way (when she could be reading improving books or watering the houseplants), Uncle Alec allows twenty-year-old Rose to attend balls and parties, where she discovers to her horror that a) her cousin Charlie is really in love with her and b) he DRINKS ALCOHOL AND STAYS UP LATE.

Rose spends the rest of the book buying clothes and housing for orphans, preaching the evils of frivolity, and simultaneously demanding that her cousins prove they are morally and intellectually good enough to even hold her hand, and arguing that she isn't good enough for anyone to love. It becomes exhausting, and annoying. I shan't spoil anything, but I will say that she finally gets off her high horse and ends up with the person I knew she should have ended up with in EIGHT COUSINS.

This was such a charming sequel! I enjoyed the first book, and this one didn’t disappoint, either. The 8 cousins are now young adults and begin falling in love. I know this was written in the late 1800’s, but I’m pretty sure it was frowned upon in America even then to marry your first cousin. Yet that’s exactly what Rose does. One Uncle does say he doesn’t like the idea, but the other relatives are all for it as they want both her and her money to stay in the family. I found that a bit distasteful, but I know it was common back in the day.

The word “bookworm” was used several times in the story as well. I wonder how long the word has been around?? My first tattoo says that. There was also a quote I loved in it, “Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all”. All in all, this was a darling little book that I loved. I read it on my Kindle, but I have a physical 1926 edition that I’ll treasure even more now that I’ve read it

Louisa May Alcott's introductory paragraph warns that Rose is not necessarily a model girl and this book was written to entertain as well as instruct, should instruction be desired. I agree.

Morals are thick but good. Another reader may say they are good but thick. Another may howl over them. Oh well. No one can please all. I enjoyed reading in the literary style of the time and discovering the ideals Miss Alcott most prized, though not the prejudices.

The discussions between Rose and Kitty, and later between Mac and his cousins and Mac and the room of men at an engagement party, regarding men's and women's behaviors and the dichotomy of acceptance was beautifully done. Standing ovation from this reader for that point.

I also enjoyed the quotes by Thoreau and Emerson shared between characters in one of the chapters near the end. I'm not a student of Milton or Uripedes so those quotes sailed over me, but those I knew were fun to find. It had me wanting to pull out my college books to reread those favorites. Unless I sold them at the end of that particular semester. Hm. Thank heaven there are libraries.

Such lovely characters and stories. A little too didactic and sugary sometimes, but it is to be expected...a lovely story, made me laugh. made me cry and just smile so often. I will miss this little world Alcott created.

This has a vague spoiler in it. Fair warning.

Much as I love Eight Cousins, I find my pleasure in Rose in Bloom lessens as I age. Not so much for the 'preachiness' of the virtues you find in all of her books- they are, after all, meant to be pleasant ways to learn to be a good person. But I felt her decision to remove the one love interest from the story was taking the easy way out in resolving both the love triangle and that character's personal faults. Most of Alcott's books deal with the loss of loved ones, so it was not unexpected. I simply felt like she was punishing the character for being self-destructive, rather than having him deal with his internal demons. (I have the same problem with Dan in Jo's Boys. I feel the lesson that 'if you are wicked and repent, you will still come to a bad end' is not one that should be taught.)

If a sweet (and at times, bittersweet) romance of Victorian youth and idealism is what you're in the mood for, this is a lovely one to reach for.