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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
Generally speaking, I don’t generally like traditional literary fiction. When I read the summary of Half-Blown Rose, I wasn’t particularly excited. Mid-life crises and affairs in Paris are pretty standard fare for the genre, so I was surprised that Leesa Cross-Smith managed to take these well-worn and often irritating storylines and turn them into something compelling. I adore Jane Eyre, the novel from which HBR takes its title, and the literary allusions to that novel elevate this one, opening it up to some fascinating interpretations. I had so much fun considering this as a very, very loose retelling: who is Jane? Who’s Rochester? Bertha? St. John? The mix of narrative styles makes for an interesting read, and the overall impression is that of a mixed media experience (more than once I paused to listen to a song from one of Vincent’s many playlists). I found the pacing a little off—the end moved very fast, and ends on a somewhat unfulfilling cliffhanger—but on the whole this is a good one. Novels about failing marriages and foreign flings are never going to be my thing, hence the lower star rating, but on the whole this was a win.
I read and listened to this book at the same time- which I think helped but if I had just listened, this book would have been slightly difficult to keep track of and it was incredibly difficult to get over the fact that the main character was a female and her name was Vincent. Overall, this book was incredibly entertaining. Your main character is living in Paris following her recent separation from her author husband after he revealed a large secret in his book without telling her first. This book was incredibly well done as we follow a 44 year old women who is thrown into a sudden adventure far away from her old life- and how she discovers so much about her self. This book has so many layers, definitely recommend if you love books about a later in life self love journey- and also an age cap romance as she falls for a 24 year old.
DNF. Leesa Cross-Smith writes beautiful prose, but I just didn't buy into Vincent's main struggle, and none of the characters sounded like real people.
This is probably one of the only books that I've ever pushed through because it was my book to read on a commute. I liked the premise of the story, what I did not like was the amount of repetition in the story. Like one sentence or one word could be repeated 50 times on that page and it drove me nuts. I wanted to love this story but there were so many times where I sat there thinking can I just fast forward? But I couldn't do that because then I would miss something and I can't miss something because it's actually a decent story. If all of the repetition wasn't in it I would give this four stars but because of the repetition it's only getting three
4.5? Well, that was a wild ride. I really disliked the writing style, like, a lot. But loved loved loved the story. It gave me extreme anxiety, and I couldn’t put the book down!
An engrossing romp thru the inner workings of a complicated sistah and her outer journeying in Paris. The ending made me almost throw the book across my living room, but still did what good books do: gave me (like Bonnie Raitt would say) something to talk about.
Jaw dropped open multiple times. Betrayal. Secrets. This beautiful swirling love and confusion. Vincent is (mostly) a woman to root for but the ending is challenging, both expected and unexpected, and I suppose that is the point: The uncertainty of life and the evolution of love and people, a rose in various states of bloom. But I do wish the rose had formed a bit more in the end.
Oops. Thought this was going to be about maturing and travel. Turned out to be about affairs and romance. Good for it but not what I was necessarily looking for.
This book is a dreamy escape to Paris. Vincent is a fresh take on a FMC, 44 years old and completely sure of herself. I loved the inclusion of her journal entries, as well as the playlists (which are on Spotify if anyone's looking). One of my least favorite tropes was introduced in the last part of the book, but it was in line with the theme and I could see it coming, so it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. The audiobook, narrated by Mela Lee and Tim Campbell, is fabulous.