In Bloom by Eva Verde

 

Delph has kept herself small and quiet as a form of self-protection, ever since the love of her life Sol’s untimely death left her pregnant and alone at the age of twenty-four. Theirs was such a once-in-a-lifetime love, that the loss of her soulmate broke her heart ‒ and almost broke her, too.

Years on, Delph’s protective bubble bursts when her daughter Roche moves out of the flat Delph shares with her partner Itsy and in with her estranged nan, Moon. Now that it’s just the two of them, the cracks in Delph and Itsy’s relationship begin to grow. Feeling on the outside of the bond between her fierce-yet-flaky tarot-reading mother and volatile martial-arts-champion daughter, Delph begins questioning her own freedom.

Is her life with Itsy all it seems? And has keeping small and safe truly been her choice all these years…?

In Bloom is the first book that I have read by author Eva Verde and looking at the pretty floral cover never would I have thought there was such a raw and touching storyline of a families fractured and tormented lives that holds so many years of secrets and hurt.

If I am honest the structure of the book took me a little while to settle into as it jumps between our three main characters, three generations of strong women Moon who is the eldest her daughter Delph and her daughter Roche. Not only do we alternate between each of these women at times we go back in time too but by the time I was a quarter of the way through I found myself relaxing into the story and developing a bond with our characters wanting to know why there was so much turmoil amongst the broken relationships of these three women.

There are many sensitive topics that our characters have been affected by from sexual abuse, grief and volatile controlling relationships and each subject has been explored in gentle detail raising awareness and opening the readers eyes to the effects of each situation has but we also see how strong and resilient these women are and the importance of love, guidance and support can help to reshape lives and protect others with foresight from experiencing the same things in their lives.

I was touched by each of these women, at times I was frustrated with them but it just highlights it is easy to sit on the sidelines and judge but when you are in their shoes they don’t see another way.

For me the title In Bloom really come into light as we see Delph slowly turns from being a small hidden bud of a women to gradually find her way into blossoming into the bright creative and loving person she always was supressed inside.

Available to Buy here.