Rose in Bloom
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Rose in Bloom (Eight Cousins #2)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92  ·  rating details  ·  4,192 ratings  ·  220 reviews
In this sequel to Eight Cousins, Rose Campbell returns to the "Aunt Hill" after two years of traveling around the world. Suddenly, she is surrounded by male admirers. But before she marries anyone, Rose is determined to establish herself as an independent young woman. Besides, she suspects that some of her friends like her more for her money than for herself. How...more
Paperback, 326 pages
Published September 1st 1995 by Puffin Books (first published 1876)
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(showing 1-30 of 5,681)
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Cozette
I actually liked Alcott's Rose series much better than the Little Women series.
Laura Rogers
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 ...more
Rachel
For many years (until I read Jane Eyre the second time), this was my absolute favorite book. It is perhaps the reason I love 'nerds.' While many women grew up loving Mr. Darcy, I grew up loving Mac. He was my ideal love interest. He suffered long and noblely for love of Rose and I admired that with all of my little heart. I dreamed of being Rose. Of course, I would have accepted him at once instead of stringing him along so. ;) Regardless, after over fifteen readings (wearing out my old ...more
Sbuchler
Genre: Classics/Children’s Literature

The audio for this novel was very nice. The novel itself was just slightly disappointing after Eight Cousins, although it’s hard to pinpoint why I feel that way. This is the sequel to Eight Cousins and follows Rose and Pheobe’s trials and experiments as young adults. I guess I feel like the novel took the easy way out by killing Charlie before Rose had to decide if she could or would love him. As she says later, it would’ve been a bad match even wit...more
Jasmine D
Louisa May Alcott's novels are perfect reading for children. Her heroines are great role models for girls. And her stories are very real, and also very charming and innocent.

Rose in Bloom, the sequel to Eight Cousins, should serve as a guidebook for every young lady. It is a story of Rose, an orphan, who goes to live with her uncle and seven boy cousins. Her uncle "experiments" with raising her up and the result is a lovely young woman. Rose in Bloom is a "coming of age"...more
Teresa
Teresa rated it 3 of 5 stars
I enjoyed Eight Cousins immensely, but I have to say, I was a little bit let down by the sequel.

I myself am not even sure why; it delivers what it promises. Rose is now grown, fashionable, and responsible, and ready for romance. She attends balls and parties, and her cousin Charlie (my personal favorite) is clearly in love with her and tries to win her love.

Any given day, that would thrill me. But many of the characters seemed much changed to me, and the over all tone of the book just feels muc...more
Kathryn
Another classic from my childhood, re-reading this one wasn't quite as enjoyable as re-reading "Eight Cousins". Alcott was pretty skilled at writing about children, so even a century later the descriptions still ring true. Adults? Not so much. The emotions aren't *quite* as intense as in "Dracula", but everyone's still so darned EARNEST all the time. I totally get why Rose felt betrayed when Charlie broke his promise and made an embarrassing scene, and obviously substance abu...more
Angie
I have several aunts who are readers. And they have always looked after me when it comes to sending books they think I'd like my way. Particularly during my formative reading years. To this day, many of the books nearest and dearest to my heart came to me in the mail from one of my aunts. When I was twelve or so, my Aunt Becky sent me a lesser known book (which I had never heard of) by a very well known author (which I had). The book was ROSE IN BLOOM and it was actually the first book I ever re...more
Stephanie
Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: people who know and like Louisa May Alcott
Shelves: series, children-s, fluff
As a twenty-year-old who read Bridget Jones's Diary not too many months ago, Rose in Bloom contained some serious culture shock. It’s been ages since I read Little Women or Eight Cousins, and I had completely forgotten how Alcott is so very… pure. The narrator’s moral judgment is unassailable. Though Alcott’s forward claims “there is no moral to this story,” the moral just can’t help itself: Alcott’s views on morality, education, and character soak through every fiber of the story. She has very ...more
Megan
This book is the continuation story to Eight Cousins. I found this book rather charming, a trend I have found in all the the LMA books I have read so far. She tends to follow the same formula; following the characters moral successes and failures, a dash of familiar loss, progressive transcendentalist ideals and a happy ending.
The story follows Rose Campbell and her eight cousins as they have now entered their tender young adult years. Rose is about to come into her inheritance and is stru...more
Erin
I was really excited to find this book at a used bookstore - my grandmother bought me Eight Cousins, and I'd been waiting to read its sequel. This book focuses on the Campbell family after Rose's return from sailing around the world with her uncle and Phebe. Upon her return, she is twenty years old. Not only must she decide whom to marry, but she also has her family's fortune to worry about.

One of the things I find it hard to get past is the fact that Rose's cousins take turns woo...more
Sally906
Set in the late 1800s, ROSE IN BLOOM is the sequel to ‘Eight Cousins’ and covers Rose’s journey into adulthood and the dilemma she faced in choosing her husband.

After two years of travelling abroad Rose has returned home to the USA. Now she is nineteen Rose has come into her inheritance and has the young men calling around as young, rich and pretty girls are very popular. However Rose is a strong-minded woman and her head is not turned easily; she wants to use her money for good. Ro...more
Maya
Well, what can I say? Instead I'll quote Miranda's fist diary entry from The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, "Today, I fell in love." since it was the first thing that crossed my mind after I finished reading this book.

FYI, I've never had a fictional crush before, no matter how perfect the heroes are I still didn't feel anything for them. I'm not crushing on the perfect Mr. Darcy, and I am definitely annoyed with a certain vampire-you know who-out there instead of s...more
Karen M. Krueger
I started to read this book, but about 5 pages in I was already bored and confused with keeping the characters straight. So I decided to dump it. I love Louisa May Alcott, but at this point if a book doesn't REALLY catch my interest, I have plenty more on my list of to-reads.
Laura
Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: pre-teen
A sequel to Eight Cousins, I found that this was not as good as the first. Of course, this review should be taken with a grain of salt. I read Eight Cousins when I was a girl and Rose in Bloom when I was a teen. Still, this would be a good read for an older child.
Julia Reed
Another book down in my quest to re-visit the old lesser known works of LMA that I loved as a kid and as an adult, still muster up some warm feelings for. I never became of bosom friend of any of LMA's characters in the way I did with the works of Lucy Maud Montgomery, but still, being a good American, I have to stick up for them. It was pleasant to watch the Campbell clan grow from childhood in Eight Cousins to adults in Rose in Bloom. Some turned out well, others did not (the main message of ...more
Kristen
This is the sequel to Eight Cousins. I always love Alcott's books. I can't imagine they were all that realistic, even in their own time, but it's nice to think that people could be so noble and have such high ideals.

In this book, 20 year old Rose Campbell and her dear friend Phebe Moore, have returned from two years abroad. We are left to wonder which of her cousins will win her heart. Because of Rose's extremely pious and high-minded views, her heart is not easily won. There is also...more
Hannah
*sigh* I gave this book a one not because it was poorly written but from sheer personal bias--Charlie is my ABSOLUTE favorite character, so yeah...
Angela
similar to Eight Cousins review (below), maybe a tad more moralistic, but I also got to read this one from a nearly-falling-apart early edition that made the experience extra fun (thanks mom!)

"I have a bunch of books on my shelves that I haven't read, or else it's been way too long. This was one I liked when I was younger, and I definitely enjoyed it this time around. A tad moralistic, but the characters are fun and interesting, and it's certainly an interesting window into 1870s ...more
WendyR
This book may almost be a 4-star but there were enough drawbacks to keep it at a 3. It was a slow moving book but Louisa May Alcott acknowledges that it was not meant to be anything big. Just mainly a continuation of the story from Eight Cousins. I really liked the character Rose and the morals in the story were great. I'm glad I didn't read Eight Cousins before this because the love story was almost hard to relate to because they were cousins. I'm glad I was not acquainted with the charact...more
Lia
No thanks. Alcott at her most idealistic and sentimental. No real characters here.
kb
I have no problem with the story, actually; it's just that I'm not a very big fan of reading classics. I also forgot how Louisa May Alcott writes - so innocent and sometimes too safe. Add to that, the language used wasn't too smooth-flowing for me so I kind of had a hard time appreciating the story, which was a shame because it was about coming of age, growing up and into life, and all the things I'm very much into at the moment. "Little Women" fans would probably love this still, beca...more
Libby
I know I read and liked this, but can't remember much about it...so I'm rereading it!

As with Little Women, I found this to be preachier when I read it as an adult than when I read it as a teenager--although I found most of the preaching to be decent preaching, so it didn't bother me much! I was also amused at Alcott's transparent plug for Emerson!

Still, a nice romance story and interesting to find out what happens to all the characters from Eight Cousins. Not 100% happy e...more
Karen
I gave this book 5 stars because I loved the bits of wisdom and the way it keeps you wanting to read more. It is a book about a girl who does her best to be good amidst the worldly ways of many around her. Her challenges are not the "big" kind that most books are about, but they are of the more subtle kind that most people deal with on a daily basis. I liked to watch her character grow as she made wise choices. I really liked the love story. It also inspired me to read books writt...more
Zekkaina (LadyDragonKeeper)
The first Louisa May Alcott book read since "Little Women" way back as a "tween." As a high schooler, I think I was the right age to appreciate this book. Troubles with superficial friends, temptation to read books that parents or guardians don't want you to, wanting to make a difference with your life, using your gifts for good, trying to discover your heart and letting yourself fall in love ... Even though written nearly 100 years ago, Rose was going through a lot of thi...more
Nikki
Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Any girl
Shelves: favorites
Note: My edition of this book has a different cover. Rose and her cousins (distinguished Mac, dashing Charlie) are at the edge of a forest walking arm in arm.

Rose Campbell returns after a long voyage with her Uncle, Alec Campbell, and her adopted sister, Phebe Moore. At a family gathering to welcome the voyagers’ home Rose lines up her seven tall cousins and inspects them, a mock punishment for what they did to her many years ago. What she sees in the three eldest boys’ faces is a port...more
Suzanne
Enjoyed this as much as Eight Cousins - it's the sequel, so you must read both. Here are some quotes I liked: p. 9-10, a parent's perspective on releasing their grown child, "I've done my best to fit Rose for what may come, as far as I can foresee it; but now she must stand alone, and all my care is powerless to keep her heart from aching, her life from being saddened by mistakes, or thwarted by the acts of others. I can only stand by ready to share her joy and sorrow, and watch her sha...more
Heidi
Sometimes it feels that large print reads faster. In this case, it didn't. But I did have a lot of things going on that made it hard to get to print books. (Again.) I did not like the first half as much as the last half. The last half was more enjoyable because the story went more towards where I had expected and hoped for since the end of the previous book. Indeed, the first half rather irked me with the back-and-forth of the (figuring out of) love story. But I can't say I agree with how the ch...more
June
The Eight Cousins are older now, and of course their experiences reflect it. Think Harry and Ron and Hermione in Goblet of Fire, times 3. Come to think of it there's a BALL in Rose in Bloom! (Remember the spectacular Yule Ball in Goblet?) Rose is, in fact, marriagable age now, so wonderful happenings are bound to win out over setbacks, just as they should for impressionable girls (and grownups) reading any Alcott novel. I'll let you call it predictable IF you please promise to call it predictab...more
AngieA
This sequel to "Eight Cousins" is one of my favorite romances. I enjoy the developement of the charcters and how they continue to react in their unique ways to situations. It has it's preachy moments, like all LMA's book, but nothing I wouldn't pass on, in more modern terms, to today's young people. The values are timeless and Rose and her cohorts arene't perfect, but they keep trying to be good. Rose, Phoebe and Uncle Alec return from two years abroad and the girls are all grown u...more
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Who should Rose have ended up with? 9 46 Jan 04, 2012 01:14pm  
Rose in Bloom (Paperback)
Rose in Bloom: A Sequel to Eight Cousins (Paperback)
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Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth and May were educated by their father, philosopher/ teacher, Bronson Alcott and raised on the practical Christianity of their mother, Abigail May.

Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts, where her days were enlightened by visits to Ralph Wal...more
More about Louisa May Alcott...
Little Women (Little Women, #1) Little Men Jo's Boys (Little Women, #3) Eight Cousins An Old-Fashioned Girl

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