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whatmeganreads's review against another edition
5.0
I finished this book a couple of weeks ago and I am still thinking about it. I loved it so much, and for so many different reasons-some personal, some literary-that I’m so afraid I’ll just ramble on and on incoherently and never be able to succinctly express my thoughts. I’m going to try to break it down below...without the incoherent rambling. :)
Plot & Pacing: At the most basic level, this is a story about a woman (and new mother) trying to figure out how to live and love after the death of her husband – a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. The story uses multiple POV and pivots around a central moment in time – a snow storm – while weaving in flashbacks to flesh out the characters and backstory. And honestly, at the risk of sounding completely corny and cliché – ya’ll, I mean it, this is going to sound completely corny and cliché — this book is paced like a snow storm. NO SERIOUSLY. It really is! Follow me here: much of the book is in slow motion – there’s a feeling of being suspended in time, curled up and watching the story slowly come together and build, bit by bit. There are also segments of swirling chaos, raw and raging, and then moments of absolute crystalline beauty. It comes together wonderfully.
“I think of our breaking hearts sounding like the snow—so quiet we can barely hear them, but after the right amount of time we can look around and see how everything is changed.“
Characters: These characters. I adored them all! I felt like they were real people. Flawed, funny, imperfect, relatable, completely authentic. I loved them all, but especially Dalton, Eamon, and Evi. I adored those three equally – I can’t pick a favorite.
“Grief made me want to give up. Other people had prayed for me to be strong but that wasn’t the prayer I prayed. The prayer I prayed was Jesus Christ, take it take it take it.”
Writing: This author has a completely singular style. It’s lyrical and descriptive without being a barrier to the movement of the storyline. Cross-Smith has a way of describing things in such a way that I found myself mentally saying, “Yes! Oh my gosh, I never thought of it that way but that’s EXACTLY RIGHT!” She lays grief bare and makes it a tangible thing you can pick up and examine. Reading it during a time of the year when I feel loss very deeply, I used up a whole pack of post-its to record the quotes I related to and wanted to keep close.
“I was glad to be next to him. I was glad to be in his presence. I hoped that by simply being close to him, I could take some of whatever burden he was carrying, hoped he could feel the lifting.”
On top of all of the above, this novel is set in Louisville, Kentucky during a snowstorm. I have to tell you that I read the majority of this book in Kentucky. During a freak spring snow storm. We even had thunder snow….which happened in the book too. I have to confess, I had a little Bastian in The Neverending Story moment – it felt so REAL, as if the story was unfolding at that very moment, just an hour down the road. It was uncanny. And undeniably magical.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
Plot & Pacing: At the most basic level, this is a story about a woman (and new mother) trying to figure out how to live and love after the death of her husband – a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. The story uses multiple POV and pivots around a central moment in time – a snow storm – while weaving in flashbacks to flesh out the characters and backstory. And honestly, at the risk of sounding completely corny and cliché – ya’ll, I mean it, this is going to sound completely corny and cliché — this book is paced like a snow storm. NO SERIOUSLY. It really is! Follow me here: much of the book is in slow motion – there’s a feeling of being suspended in time, curled up and watching the story slowly come together and build, bit by bit. There are also segments of swirling chaos, raw and raging, and then moments of absolute crystalline beauty. It comes together wonderfully.
“I think of our breaking hearts sounding like the snow—so quiet we can barely hear them, but after the right amount of time we can look around and see how everything is changed.“
Characters: These characters. I adored them all! I felt like they were real people. Flawed, funny, imperfect, relatable, completely authentic. I loved them all, but especially Dalton, Eamon, and Evi. I adored those three equally – I can’t pick a favorite.
“Grief made me want to give up. Other people had prayed for me to be strong but that wasn’t the prayer I prayed. The prayer I prayed was Jesus Christ, take it take it take it.”
Writing: This author has a completely singular style. It’s lyrical and descriptive without being a barrier to the movement of the storyline. Cross-Smith has a way of describing things in such a way that I found myself mentally saying, “Yes! Oh my gosh, I never thought of it that way but that’s EXACTLY RIGHT!” She lays grief bare and makes it a tangible thing you can pick up and examine. Reading it during a time of the year when I feel loss very deeply, I used up a whole pack of post-its to record the quotes I related to and wanted to keep close.
“I was glad to be next to him. I was glad to be in his presence. I hoped that by simply being close to him, I could take some of whatever burden he was carrying, hoped he could feel the lifting.”
On top of all of the above, this novel is set in Louisville, Kentucky during a snowstorm. I have to tell you that I read the majority of this book in Kentucky. During a freak spring snow storm. We even had thunder snow….which happened in the book too. I have to confess, I had a little Bastian in The Neverending Story moment – it felt so REAL, as if the story was unfolding at that very moment, just an hour down the road. It was uncanny. And undeniably magical.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
melanie_page's review against another edition
5.0
This review was originally published at Grab the Lapels
Content Warnings: death of a spouse.
Leesa Cross-Smith’s first novel, Whiskey & Ribbons, released this month by Hub City Press, was a priority on my to-read list. It’s based on a short story from her collection entitled Every Kiss a War, which I loved. In fact, the it is one story I remember in detail. It is also called “Whiskey & Ribbons,” and you can read it Carve Magazine.
The novel is narrated by three people: Evangeline, Eamon, and Dalton. Each chapter cycles through these three in order, so if Evangeline leaves a cliffhanger, you have to read Eamon’s and then Dalton’s story before you get back to her. In the beginning, readers learn that Eamon was a police office killed in the line of duty. He and Evangeline had been married a couple of years, but the real tragedy is Evangeline is 9 months pregnant when he’s killed. The baby is born 16 days after his father’s death. Eamon’s brother, Dalton, moves in to help care for his sister-in-law and new nephew.
Evangeline narrates the present, and Dalton and Eamon take us to the past: when Eamon and Evangeline first met, how Dalton and Eamon became brothers after Dalton’s mom committed suicide and he didn’t know his father, through Dalton’s tepid relationships with his on-again/off-again girlfriend, and the news that Evangeline is pregnant.
The relationships of the three characters are beautifully complicated. In Eamon’s sections, we learn he’s an endearing, stand-up guy. But in the present, Eamon is dead; will Evangeline and Dalton fall in love now that they’re living together and co-parenting? Should they? They loved each other before as in-laws, so are they already loving/in love? Or should Dalton pursue a relationship he’s invested in with his co-worker, because by living with Evangeline, he’s putting his life on hold due to a promise he made his brother? There’s no doubt Evangeline grieves for her deceased husband. This scene is from shortly after his death, but before the baby is born:
Whiskey & Ribbons is unique. The cast is made up of African Americans, but this isn’t a novel about race (which Cross-Smith points out on Twitter, wondering why people feel it had to be). More surprising to me were the healthy male relationships. Dalton and Eamon express emotion, yet do guy stuff; they talk about women’s appearances, but are respectful overall. The brothers aren’t competitive, either. Recognizing their differences, they support each other. Most surprising is Evangeline’s admission that she was a virgin until marriage. I know it’s not common, but it’s also a chunk of the population that’s ignored/dismissed in fiction.
Cross-Smith writes beautifully throughout, creating words that fit together like a language collage that makes perfect sense. When Evangeline and Dalton kiss on page 3, Evangeline explains: "It was a kiss of ownership. It was a hot, dripping wax seal. The kiss was a lock and key. The kiss was a creaky gate in the wind." In one of his chapters, Eamon finds out a secret that he wasn’t meant to know. He describes his feelings about knowing what he does: "And now I was burdened with a secret that was never mine. A secret on loan. A ghost, haunting the wrong house."
A lovely, dreamy, challenging yet uplifting novel about family and love, Whiskey & Ribbons is not to be missed.
Thank you to Hub City Press for sending me an ARC of Whiskey & Ribbons in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings: death of a spouse.
Leesa Cross-Smith’s first novel, Whiskey & Ribbons, released this month by Hub City Press, was a priority on my to-read list. It’s based on a short story from her collection entitled Every Kiss a War, which I loved. In fact, the it is one story I remember in detail. It is also called “Whiskey & Ribbons,” and you can read it Carve Magazine.
The novel is narrated by three people: Evangeline, Eamon, and Dalton. Each chapter cycles through these three in order, so if Evangeline leaves a cliffhanger, you have to read Eamon’s and then Dalton’s story before you get back to her. In the beginning, readers learn that Eamon was a police office killed in the line of duty. He and Evangeline had been married a couple of years, but the real tragedy is Evangeline is 9 months pregnant when he’s killed. The baby is born 16 days after his father’s death. Eamon’s brother, Dalton, moves in to help care for his sister-in-law and new nephew.
Evangeline narrates the present, and Dalton and Eamon take us to the past: when Eamon and Evangeline first met, how Dalton and Eamon became brothers after Dalton’s mom committed suicide and he didn’t know his father, through Dalton’s tepid relationships with his on-again/off-again girlfriend, and the news that Evangeline is pregnant.
The relationships of the three characters are beautifully complicated. In Eamon’s sections, we learn he’s an endearing, stand-up guy. But in the present, Eamon is dead; will Evangeline and Dalton fall in love now that they’re living together and co-parenting? Should they? They loved each other before as in-laws, so are they already loving/in love? Or should Dalton pursue a relationship he’s invested in with his co-worker, because by living with Evangeline, he’s putting his life on hold due to a promise he made his brother? There’s no doubt Evangeline grieves for her deceased husband. This scene is from shortly after his death, but before the baby is born:
Backyard-wandering, full-moon pregnant in my turquoise maternity dress and tobacco-colored cowboy boots, I’d lose my way. Dalton would find me. He was always finding me. He’d try to lure me inside with lemon water, with sticky, stinky cheeses or a small green bowl of almonds, the darkest chocolate chips. He would shake the bowl, like I was a kitten waiting to hear the rattle of food.In this scene, the grief is for Eamon, but the focus is on Dalton’s care for her. Leesa Cross-Smith beautifully makes clear the love there, even when the characters don’t see it. Which can be one of the more frustrating parts of the novel. Evangeline — in the present — asks Dalton who he last had sex with, if he has a crush on his co-worker, if he wants to move out of her home. Her emotions wrecked, she could sound like a dependent high school girl with low self-esteem. But she is dependent. And she is broken by her grief. I plowed through her rude questions and comments and accepted that she doesn’t have to be likable.
Whiskey & Ribbons is unique. The cast is made up of African Americans, but this isn’t a novel about race (which Cross-Smith points out on Twitter, wondering why people feel it had to be). More surprising to me were the healthy male relationships. Dalton and Eamon express emotion, yet do guy stuff; they talk about women’s appearances, but are respectful overall. The brothers aren’t competitive, either. Recognizing their differences, they support each other. Most surprising is Evangeline’s admission that she was a virgin until marriage. I know it’s not common, but it’s also a chunk of the population that’s ignored/dismissed in fiction.
Cross-Smith writes beautifully throughout, creating words that fit together like a language collage that makes perfect sense. When Evangeline and Dalton kiss on page 3, Evangeline explains: "It was a kiss of ownership. It was a hot, dripping wax seal. The kiss was a lock and key. The kiss was a creaky gate in the wind." In one of his chapters, Eamon finds out a secret that he wasn’t meant to know. He describes his feelings about knowing what he does: "And now I was burdened with a secret that was never mine. A secret on loan. A ghost, haunting the wrong house."
A lovely, dreamy, challenging yet uplifting novel about family and love, Whiskey & Ribbons is not to be missed.
Thank you to Hub City Press for sending me an ARC of Whiskey & Ribbons in exchange for an honest review.
catladyreads's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
readingbetweenthewines's review against another edition
5.0
I really LOVED this book. I waited a couple weeks to write a review of this one because I don't really think I can do justice to this one, but I'll give it a go...
Whiskey & Ribbons follows Evi, a recently widowed ex-ballet dancer and new mother, still grieving the loss of her husband Eamon, a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. This book basically just takes place over one snowy weekend, but Cross-Smith's storytelling through 3 narrators - Evi, Eamon and Eamon's adopted brother Dalton - and a lot of memories gives you all the context you need. This is basically the story of the age old love triangle, the issue being that one part of that triangle is the seemingly perfect and unfortunately deceased Eamon.
While the plot doesn't sound entirely original or groundbreaking, somehow through Cross-Smith's lyrical prose the raw emotion of this story shines through and you can't help but jump all in. My heart ached in all the right ways while reading this book; I wanted nothing more than to just join Evi and Dalton in their grief and consume this book over a snowy weekend, glass of whiskey in hand. Sometimes you have just to sit and enjoy the vast range of emotions that exist to get from point A to point B and that's what this book made me remember.
Heartbreaking yet hopeful, and such an easy read - Whiskey & Ribbons was a pure joy to inhale and has made me a true Leesa Cross-Smith believer forevermore. I'd recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate a good cry, a good glass of whiskey (or wine!) or a good book that can make your heart break and leap in joy in the same hour... or all of the above.
Thank you to Hub City Press for giving me this book to read and review. While I received this book for free, all opinions are my own.
Whiskey & Ribbons follows Evi, a recently widowed ex-ballet dancer and new mother, still grieving the loss of her husband Eamon, a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. This book basically just takes place over one snowy weekend, but Cross-Smith's storytelling through 3 narrators - Evi, Eamon and Eamon's adopted brother Dalton - and a lot of memories gives you all the context you need. This is basically the story of the age old love triangle, the issue being that one part of that triangle is the seemingly perfect and unfortunately deceased Eamon.
While the plot doesn't sound entirely original or groundbreaking, somehow through Cross-Smith's lyrical prose the raw emotion of this story shines through and you can't help but jump all in. My heart ached in all the right ways while reading this book; I wanted nothing more than to just join Evi and Dalton in their grief and consume this book over a snowy weekend, glass of whiskey in hand. Sometimes you have just to sit and enjoy the vast range of emotions that exist to get from point A to point B and that's what this book made me remember.
Heartbreaking yet hopeful, and such an easy read - Whiskey & Ribbons was a pure joy to inhale and has made me a true Leesa Cross-Smith believer forevermore. I'd recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate a good cry, a good glass of whiskey (or wine!) or a good book that can make your heart break and leap in joy in the same hour... or all of the above.
Thank you to Hub City Press for giving me this book to read and review. While I received this book for free, all opinions are my own.
ordinary's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Tender, exquisite, hopeful and heart breaking. I’m uneasy when I read love stories but the writing here was exceptional.
mwilsner's review against another edition
5.0
oh my god, this book! the first chapter absolutely wrecked me immediately, and then the rest of the book slowly killed me again. just outstanding.
glitteringeyes418's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0