Kevin PanettaRecensioner

"Bloom" is super sweet and soft, like a giant blueberry muffin! All the pieces fit together so well: the blue teal color palette, the coming of age/love story/family plot, and the lovable characters. Hector was by far my favorite, but nearly everyone in here (except Cameron, screw him) really lit up the pages. I also really appreciated the baking details that were included, even just simple things like mentioning laminating the croissant dough made me know that the author really knew what he was talking about.
Would definitely recommend "Bloom" as a tender, funny, heart-warming graphic novel!

I liked that they added a little body diversity, but it took me a minute to realize that it was a retcon. Serialized comics are a trip.

Still not at all worth your time.

Zero-calorie fluff, redeemed (but not made worthwhile) by the climactic girl/girl kiss. Got this and the next volume via a book exchange, and they will be going right back out the door.

I was liking it OK until about page 264, when Ari acts weirdly immature. Then the bakery immediately burns down (it's ~symbolic~ and very heavy-handed) and a bunch of other plot happens in a rush, and it lost a star. Not bad, but meh.

BREAD
bread
BREad
bread!
Bread?

bread

BrEaD
BREAD

OMG THIS SERIES.

When is the new one? Where can I get an Aries bloodstone necklace? can I totally cosplay Kim for Halloween?!

Gorgeous, atmospheric art and a lot of nuance. I wish the resolution had been a little less pat, but still a strong debut.

This book is such a quick read, I read it in my class, I enjoyed it. It wasn't what I was expecting but I enjoyed it a lot!!

Just as generic and ho-hum as the first volume as far as the story goes. Paulina Ganucheau's art is pretty great though.

The book ends on a cliffhanger, but it's been five years without a sequel, so I'm sort of doubting it will ever be resolved.

I'm impatient for the sequel to Kevin Panetta's Bloom to come out, so I thought I'd try some other of his works to tide me over. All my local library had was this children's series about magical girls fighting some evil woman from another dimension. Very generic and a bit ho-hum.

I have the second volume on hand, so I'll give it a go to see if things pick up.

Beautiful art and a mostly sweet story. Jake 4ever.

At times I found it a difficult read because I felt like issues weren't being addressed... like yeah, Ari's issues with his parents were a big reason he wanted to leave, and the source of part of it was that he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. And I can relate to that. But they never touched on how his family, particularly his father, was hypercritical of him, and how his family was pressuring him to ignore his own dreams to live a life he hated. Does Ari have issues with laziness and being inconsiderate? Yes. Does his family still treat him like an idiot and ignore his feelings? Yeah, for most of the book. And that's never addressed. Nor are Hector's issues with Ari's friends, not really. Like Hector said, there wasn't a real apology. They just moved to a different subject. Heck, Ari never apologized for his behavior, ever. And no one ever talked about how laziness is his major issue? Like it's obvious, particularly from the flat tire scene, but no one confronts him about it? Ever? Unless it's his dad getting on his case, which is tied into Ari not wanting the life his parents want him to have, so you're not exactly encouraged to want him to change his behavior. And yet we can see that his laziness and carelessness LITERALLY harms him and those around him. So the themes end up being that your parents know what's best, or it's okay to be lazy when you're not doing what makes you happy? Which doesn't exactly seem like that's SUPPOSED to be the themes of the book?

I don't expect the characters to end up perfect, with everything out in the open, and knowing exactly what to say and when. But the story so frequently touched directly on problems... but then skipped away from directly dealing with them, like it seemed to want to do. Like... Ari's dad says that Ari used to love baking with him, and that his dad feels like Ari lost his love of baking. So there's this idea that really, Ari's secret passion is baking? And maybe that's true, but like... you spent the entire book getting on his case, insulting his intelligence, ignoring him when he's talking and ignoring what he's interested in, and you wonder WHY Ari's not interested in baking with you anymore? That's not just a dead spark, that's... a whole family therapy session's can of worms.

Not to mention that Hector and Ari never reconcile the differences between their perspectives on Ari's parents. His parents ignore his interests, and his father routinely walks over him with "FAMILY FAMILY FAMILY", whereas Hector is recovering from the loss of an important family member, so Hector can see it as "Gee, you're lucky you have great family like this around, I miss mine," whereas Ari is "I have frequently literally communicated that I feel strangled by my family over and over again." So it's kind of hard to look at their relationship developing and think this is a good thing. I just think Ari is setting himself up for frustration.

I want to sort of dislike Dana, for how she frequently ignored Cameron's behavior, even if she is otherwise awesome. But again, characters don't have to be saints, and she reminds me of one too many friends, and even myself: willing to look past the toxic to just get everyone to have a good time. At least Cameron's story ended where it did.

The art is really great, though. I'm not into the baking montages, but they were nicely done. Overall, a mostly enjoyable read. Glad my library had a copy.

Ahora que ha acabado el instituto, Ari está más que listo para irse de su pueblo, y confía en poder hacerlo junto con sus amigos y compañeros de banda. Pero sus padres, que tienen una panadería, no pueden permitirse la escuela de música en la que Ari quiere estudiar. De hecho, necesitan que ayude en el negocio familiar, porque van bastante justos de dinero.
Bloom, al igual que Heartstopper, es una historia con una trama muy sencilla. De hecho, su lectura, por su desarrollo al estilo slice-of-life, recuerda a la de un manga BL muy tierno y nada explícito.

Charming, beautifully illustrated and absolutely delightful, Bloom is a tale of love, baking, family and friendship. I loved every single page.

Cute story about finding your passion

Definitely a different type of book. Took a bit to get into. Graphics were nice, storyline was a little hard to get into...another coming of age tale, a young man trying to find a purpose in life.

I liked the art work? Story was mediocre, really disliked the characters. My expectations were way too high.

This was cute, but nothing earth shattering for me. I liked the art quite a bit. Ari’s family are wonderful- accepting and encouraging even though Ari doesn’t know what he wants. Hector is also a wonderful character. The baking elements reminded me a bit of Check Please.

Actual rating: 2.5 stars
Maybe my expectations were too high, but I didn't love this one. Full review to come.

Sweet, and I liked the art, but Ari is kind of a jerk. I see how the story is about that, so... I'm mixed on my feelings. I'm glad Hector called him out on things, though.

Bloom is the story of two teen boys trying to figure out what life has in store for them post high school. A coming of age romance, the book has as its main setting the family bakery owned by one of the boy's parents.

Like many of us when high school ends, Ari longs to break away from his small town. He wants to hit the big city with his pals, looking for fame with their garage band. To make his dream a reality Ari hatches a plan. He’ll find a replacement for himself - someone who can step in and help his parents run the bakery. And so, Hector enters Ari’s life. A year older than Ari, Hector is taking time off from culinary school, loves baking, and is eager for the job.

Suddenly those big city plans don’t seem so urgent to Ari. Over the blooming bread dough at the bakery something else starts to bloom. While feelings are blossoming between Ari and Hector, Ari’s high school friends start to make their own plans and drift away. A sudden turn of bad fortune at the bakery forces Ari - with a little prompting from Hector - to question why he wanted to be somewhere else in the first place?

This is a graphic novel and the artwork is great. Done in blues and blacks on white, with the occasional swooping panels and flowery edges, it carries a lot of the story. The panels give us the character’s emotions and create a real sense of place. The attention to detail gives the book a lot of its warmth and charm.

The narrative unfortunately doesn’t seem as strong. The storyline is episodic and flat, and the characters one-dimensional. Ari’s high school friends come off as cliches. The main plot point around which the story turns seems rushed. That all means that Ari’s coming of age over the summer isn’t as convincing or as touching as it should be. Hector, on the other hand, seems as kind and sure of himself at the end of the book as he did at the beginning.

I have to be upfront here and say that this is my first graphic novel. Yes, you can call me a late bloomer (pun intended). And I am way past the target age for this YA. If I were a younger man, or more versed in graphic novelry, I’m sure I’d be more forgiving of the narrative. Still, even though I’m an old curmudgeon, I did find it a cute, quick read. I hear there’s supposed to be a sequel coming out next year. I may just have to put it on my TBR.

If you like queer coming of age stories, Bloom may just be the fun, quick, bakery store romance you didn’t know you needed. Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.

So sweet it made my teeth ache, and not because of all the delicious-looking and sounding baked goods strewn throughout. Lots of foods I've never even heard of, but now I really want to try them!

I was a little worried that Ari was going to be far too flawed and have too many issues for things to work out with Hector...which is absolutely stupid, since the happy ending was all but inevitable, but I suppose that's good storytelling. The reader *should* forget that it's a finite story with an ending already in place. The illustrations were very atmospheric, conveying the change of season with total grace, and I loved how the artist worked flowers into and among the panels when romance was "blooming" in the narrative.

I am sort of disappointed that the author never managed to work in a pun about yeast also blooming, though. ;)½

This one could have been better, so much better, with a bit more character development.

It was super fun! Sometimes it was a bit off how much they depended on Gemini to be their leader, and sometimes the paneling was a tad disorienting, but it is a tale of a sweet friendship.

apparently everyone either absolutely loved it, or absolutely hated it. and i don't know that i can personally justify either extreme?

on one hand, its not perfect. at times it's a little choppy, it feels very drawn out the first two thirds and then the whole conflict and resolution happens too quickly. ari can be frustrating as a character, as well, but i feel like he redeems himself in the end. and overall, my main sensation is that it's more of an overlook or a concept than a fully fleshed out story.

but also- its okay. you know? its a cute, light graphic novel that won't take more than an hour of your life. it's sweet and it has good vibes and it was just what i wanted on this cloudy afternoon. and aint that what really matters?

I can see what Panetta was going for: sometimes you and your friends grow apart, and sometimes you're left behind as your friends move on.

But while Hector is wonderful (mature and passionate and kind and sweet), Ari is... not. He's self-absorbed and whiny and spineless. When his friends make fun of Hector (in Hector's hearing!) he says nothing to them, and when Hector brings it up that it bothered him, Ari still does nothing about it! Why does Hector put up with any of this?

And while I don't necessarily mind it, what's up with all the monochromatic color palettes lately?