I Heart Bloomberg (86 Bloomberg Place Series #1) [Paperback]

Melody Carlson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

Kendall’s managed to wrangle her grandmother’s house—free and clear—except for the rules. No male roommates. But that’s ok, with the right ad she’ll pull in some girls, their rent and if she’s lucky, she won’t have to go to work any time soon.

For their part, Anna, Lelani, and Megan all have their reasons for wanting to move in: Anna has got to get out from under her overprotective parents; Lelani can’t take another day in her aunt’s tiny crackerbox house overflowing with toddlers and Megan needs a place free of her current roommate from Hades. Though they come with assorted extra baggage filled with broken hearts and dreams, they will discover they also have a vast array of hidden strengths.

As they struggle to become the women they want to be, they’ll find new hope and maybe even Kendall will learn a thing or two about life, love and the true meaning of friendship.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Carlson, author of more than 100 books, begins her 86 Bloomberg Place series with a novel that functions mostly to set up future storylines. Three women rent rooms at 86 Bloomberg Place: Lelani Porter is a lovely half-Hawaiian with a secret; Megan Abernathy is a Christian flirting with depression; and Hispanic Anna Mendez is anxious to escape a smothering mother. The advertised "luxurious" house, owned by Barbie doll clone Kendall Weis, is disappointingly in need of updating, and in exchange for a rent reduction, they redecorate and renovate the run-down home. Kendall turns out to be the landlord from hell, with entitlement issues, an eating disorder, a shopping addiction and a slew of (too many) other problems. It's more than the trio bargained for, but nobly they try to be kind to Kendall. The Christian element is present in the story, but lightly handled. A subplot of young women gone missing seems at odds with the beauty makeovers and HGTV-type activities. Although Carlson is careful to explain the reasons behind Lelani's absence from her home in the islands, readers may find her seemingly unemotional abdication of responsibility difficult to swallow, while Kendall's character is one-dimensional. The novel ends abruptly without resolving enough loose ends-likely picked up in book two-but leaving readers dissatisfied rather than intrigued.
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About the Author

Over the years, Melody Carlson has worn many hats, from pre-school teacher to youth counselor to political activist to senior editor. But most of all, she loves to write! Currently she freelances from her home. In the past eight years, she has published over ninety books for children, teens, and adults--with sales totaling more than two million and many titles appearing on the ECPA Bestsellers List. Several of her books have been finalists for, and winners of, various writing awards. And her "Diary of a Teenage Girl" series has received great reviews and a large box of fan mail.

She has two grown sons and lives in Central Oregon with her husband and chocolate lab retriever. They enjoy skiing, hiking, gardening, camping and biking in the beautiful Cascade Mountains.

Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589191048
• ISBN-13: 978-1589191044
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #694,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Melody Carlson has written around 200 books for teens, women and children. That's a lot of books, but mostly she considers herself a "storyteller." Her books range from serious issues like schizophrenia (Finding Alice) to lighter topics like house-flipping (A Mile in My Flip-Flops) but most of the inspiration behind her fiction comes right out of real life. Her young adult novels (Diary of a Teenage Girl, TrueColors etc.) appeal to teenage girls around the world. Her annual Christmas novellas become more popular each year. She's won a number of awards (including the Rita and Gold Medallion) and some of her books have been optioned for film/TV. Carlson has two grown sons and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and yellow Lab dog. To find out more about Melody Carlson, visit her website at http://www.melodycarlson.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First in series delightful read, June 10, 2008

By 

Christina Lockstein "Christy's Book Blog" (Oconto Falls, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: I Heart Bloomberg (86 Bloomberg Place Series #1) (Paperback)

I Heart Bloomberg by Melody Carlson is the first book in the 85 Bloomberg Place series. Kendall Weis has a great plan: she will rent out the home her grandmother has given her to three roommates and live off of the income insuring she won't have to get a job and can continue to support her designer clothes habit. But when Megan, Leilani, and Anna see the place, it's not quite the luxurious upscale home Kendall advertised. The four women renegotiate the contract leaving Kendall frustrated and angry at the reduction in income and the remodeling her new roomies plan on making. Carlson is a fantastic writer of Christian chick lit, and this book is another fab example. Megan is recovering from the death of her father, Leilani from a bad relationship resulting in pregnancy, Anna's trying to break free from her mother's stranglehold, and Kendall is devastated after her parents abandon her. Each woman is trying to mend a wounded heart and hoping that this house will be the cure. The women are interesting and multi-dimensional (even selfish Kendall). The groundwork has been laid for suspense, with several young women disappearing in the area, and romance in future books. There are so many different plotlines running through this book, I don't know how Carlson will wrap them all up in just four books, but I know that this writer can handle it with aplomb. I hope the series goes longer than four books; these are characters I will enjoy reading about as they mature again and again.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun and light with a smidgen of soap opera, June 23, 2008

By 

someone (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Heart Bloomberg (86 Bloomberg Place Series #1) (Paperback)

PROS

-A fun read with interesting enough characters and premise.

-I especially found the Megan and Anna characters to be especially well-portrayed and realistic.


CONS


-A little too much high-end product placement for my taste (Prada purses, Nordstrom shopping trips, etc.)

-The author tends not to use "show, don't tell"--I think it would have been interesting to see more action and little nuances than to have the author state everything.

-Sometimes this book comes off as a soap opera. At one point, Lelani's uncle by marriage comes onto her in a way that is random and schlocky.
Lelani's "big secret" is played out in similar fashion.

-Kendall is a completely stereotypical blonde "Barbie doll" lazy rich girl with few redeeming qualities.

-The Christian element is barely there, which was kind of disappointing for me, although the book is generally fairly clean.



Overall, not flawless but far from awful. Light, fluffy, and a slight touch of melodrama.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light read, but enjoyable., June 8, 2008

By 

Michelle Sutton (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: I Heart Bloomberg (86 Bloomberg Place Series #1) (Paperback)

I've been a fan of Melody Carlson for years now and have yet to read a book she's written that I haven't enjoyed. I Heart Bloomberg was a delightful setup for the series, which has three more books to come by 2009. In this first book you spend a lot of time getting to know the individual characters. The four women each have their own point of view. There is your stereotypical spoiled but beautiful brat, your sensible and intelligent girl, the smart and wounded but beatiful girl, and the well-rounded and attractive girl who doesn't see herself that way at all. They are a delightful bunch, and so are the men in the story.

There wasn't much of a romantic element in the book, which took away some of the thrill for me as I love great romance novels. But I'm thinking there may be some touching moments in future books in this series. It appears that the author has set things up to head in that direction, which means I will HAVE to read them to find out. Overall, I'd say this was an enjoyable read. Kind of like a clean Melrose Place--minus the gay neighbor. I zipped through it in less than two days and I never got bored with the story even though there wasn't much angst or real drama in the novel. So if you like a light, feel-good story (with few tense moments) that is about four young women trying to share a house and get along, you'll like this story. Some of the ladies had issues, but I didn't feel like I got to know them well enough to feel their pain yet. I want to read the rest of the series to see how they change as they rub shoulders with each other and learn to get along.