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katewutz's review
4.0
This book…I loved it. It’s a coincidence that I read two books about women who love two men in a week, and they were so different—More Than You’ll Ever Know being true crime and thriller-y and this one being a love letter to love itself. Leesa Cross-Smith understands that there doesn’t need to be a murder to make this sort of story a tragedy; someone is going to get hurt, there’s going to be heartbreak and loss, no matter what.
One odd thing: I wasn’t sure why the screenplay conceit in parts of it. Probably it underlines the French cinema theme, but honestly parts of it felt like she just formatted the text differently rather than changing writing styles. But overall I liked the pastiche effect of narrative, screenplay, emails and playlists (which I will now be stalking Spotify for).
One odd thing: I wasn’t sure why the screenplay conceit in parts of it. Probably it underlines the French cinema theme, but honestly parts of it felt like she just formatted the text differently rather than changing writing styles. But overall I liked the pastiche effect of narrative, screenplay, emails and playlists (which I will now be stalking Spotify for).
abookarmoire's review
4.0
“She had the baby and they’re out there somewhere and you never told me about it. You wrote a book about it instead. A whole-ass book,” Vincent said. She took two big gulps of wine.
Cillian writes a tell-all, autobiographical book revealing that when he was a teenager he had a child that was left behind in Dublin. After years of marriage, and two grown kids, Cillian’s wife Vincent is blindsided and betrayed by this secret.
Vincent escapes to her parent’s condo in Paris. Leaving reality behind, Vincent creates a cocoon of friends, art, romance, work and a new found sensual freedom.
Loup is an artist, a musician and is taking Vincent’s art class. He is enamored by her and the tension is palpable.
“I fought off my feelings for you… for a while,” she says.
“I didn’t even attempt to fight off my feelings for you. I knew I couldn’t. I didn’t waste my time trying. Ça sert à rien?” Vincent asks.
Cillian is trying all he can to win Vincent back, not an easy feat being separated by an ocean, and competing for her attention with Loup in the picture.
Vincent and Loup are trapped in their own web.
Beware of this intoxicating story. It will pull you in. Paris will enchant you. And so will Loup.
Paris, France has charmed romantics around the globe.
But.
A non-ending ending.
Why is there no ending?
When you realize you are flipping through the last few pages and there is no resolution to an intense predicament, you know it will not end well for the reader.
Unless this was an intentional full circle of Karma and what goes around, comes around - I can’t think of any other reason to not end the story. Is that it? The husband reveals something shocking from the past that upsets Vincent - which, in exchange for unintended retribution, the wife has to deal with her own complications and actions - to which we do not know what happens. Oye vey! I find that so infuriating.
Reminiscent of [b:Call Me By Your Name|36336078|Call Me By Your Name (Call Me By Your Name, #1)|André Aciman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519203520l/36336078._SY75_.jpg|1363157]. Very enchanting, tense, brief and European.
Cillian writes a tell-all, autobiographical book revealing that when he was a teenager he had a child that was left behind in Dublin. After years of marriage, and two grown kids, Cillian’s wife Vincent is blindsided and betrayed by this secret.
Vincent escapes to her parent’s condo in Paris. Leaving reality behind, Vincent creates a cocoon of friends, art, romance, work and a new found sensual freedom.
Loup is an artist, a musician and is taking Vincent’s art class. He is enamored by her and the tension is palpable.
“I fought off my feelings for you… for a while,” she says.
“I didn’t even attempt to fight off my feelings for you. I knew I couldn’t. I didn’t waste my time trying. Ça sert à rien?” Vincent asks.
Cillian is trying all he can to win Vincent back, not an easy feat being separated by an ocean, and competing for her attention with Loup in the picture.
Vincent and Loup are trapped in their own web.
Beware of this intoxicating story. It will pull you in. Paris will enchant you. And so will Loup.
Paris, France has charmed romantics around the globe.
But.
A non-ending ending.
Why is there no ending?
When you realize you are flipping through the last few pages and there is no resolution to an intense predicament, you know it will not end well for the reader.
Unless this was an intentional full circle of Karma and what goes around, comes around - I can’t think of any other reason to not end the story. Is that it? The husband reveals something shocking from the past that upsets Vincent - which, in exchange for unintended retribution, the wife has to deal with her own complications and actions - to which we do not know what happens. Oye vey! I find that so infuriating.
Reminiscent of [b:Call Me By Your Name|36336078|Call Me By Your Name (Call Me By Your Name, #1)|André Aciman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519203520l/36336078._SY75_.jpg|1363157]. Very enchanting, tense, brief and European.
ashpolo17's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
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
3.5
This book was good. It was not my favorite, but very enjoyable. I don’t think I would have ready this if it wasn’t a book club book. It definitely surprised me and I enjoyed all the twists. The ending left me wanting so much more. I wish I knew what happened.
whatkellireads's review
4.0
4.5/5 — I listened to this one on audio and loved it so much that I HAD to have a physical copy for my shelf. This book is absolutely beautiful - from the cover, to the Parisian atmosphere, to the age-gap romance, I fell completely in love with this story. It was really powerful and it touched on many deep, real topics that we deal with today in society.
I could feel the chemistry between Vincent, a 40 something year old women betrayed by her husband & trying to find her sense of self and Loup, a 24 year old charismatic artist & hunk of a man also trying to find his place in the world. Sensual, sexy and romantic. Outside of their relationship, the supporting characters were also fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat literally not knowing how this story was going to end. (I STILL feel like I need an epilogue!) This book challenged me to realize that not all in love & life is black and white, that sometimes living in the gray space is acceptable too.
Overall, Half-Blown Rose presents itself as a work of art and I think that's what made it a stand out for me. Cross-Smith intertwines playlists, novel excerpts, journal entries, text messages and emails together to create what felt like a scrapbook of Vincent's life. I enjoyed the references to food, art, music and travel and immediately wanted to book a trip to Paris when I finished!
Read if you liked "The Paper Palace" or "The Idea of You"!
I could feel the chemistry between Vincent, a 40 something year old women betrayed by her husband & trying to find her sense of self and Loup, a 24 year old charismatic artist & hunk of a man also trying to find his place in the world. Sensual, sexy and romantic. Outside of their relationship, the supporting characters were also fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat literally not knowing how this story was going to end. (I STILL feel like I need an epilogue!) This book challenged me to realize that not all in love & life is black and white, that sometimes living in the gray space is acceptable too.
Overall, Half-Blown Rose presents itself as a work of art and I think that's what made it a stand out for me. Cross-Smith intertwines playlists, novel excerpts, journal entries, text messages and emails together to create what felt like a scrapbook of Vincent's life. I enjoyed the references to food, art, music and travel and immediately wanted to book a trip to Paris when I finished!
Read if you liked "The Paper Palace" or "The Idea of You"!
kaliaddy's review
I have mixed feelings, so this is one of those rare times where I am not ready to give this book a rating. It has several features that I tend to dislike in a book. These things can be ok if there is only one or two happening, but the author put it all in here - emails, text messages, a book within a book, playlists, letters and lists. It’s a lot and I dare say too much - less would have been more. Those distract me when I’m reading. I realize that’s a “me” problem and this style may work for some. Oddly, it seemed to work better in the author’s book This Close to Okay (emails and texts are included there as well).
I thought I was going to be reading a singular love story, but instead there are multiple things going on and I found myself less invested in all of it. I didn’t care about her husband. I didn’t care what happened before they even met. I was even less interested in his son and really any of their kids. When “everything” is happening, I find it hard to care about anything. Also pregnancy as a plot point is the lowest on the totem pole for me, and this book has that. I will say when there is prose (and not a list, email, or text message) it is lovely. Having enjoyed the insular feel of This Close to Okay, I think my expectations were misplaced.
***
And my last point - which is totally my own hang up. The main character is expecting her period in the beginning of the book. She even checks for it during a dinner party when she goes to the bathroom. Yet she goes to bed with no feminine products and there’s a blood bath the next morning in her sheets. The male protagonist, who will eventually become her lover, is in the apartment because he slept over on the couch after the dinner party and he sees her in all this disarray with blood dripping.
I couldn’t get over the fact that a grown women who has been having periods her whole adult life - has two grown children - wouldn’t preemptively put a pad on or something. It’s such a dumb thing for me to pick on, but since she proceeds, on the following pages, to go on and on about how horrified she is that he saw her in that state I couldn’t help but say in my head over and over again “you should have put a pad on when you went to bed dummy - you knew it was coming and expected it because you literally just checked for it 6hrs ago!!” It wasn’t like it came on a week early! So, in closing, it wasn’t the period that annoyed me. I was annoyed by the lack of foresight the character displayed and that set the tone for me by page 60 - ok rant over.
I thought I was going to be reading a singular love story, but instead there are multiple things going on and I found myself less invested in all of it. I didn’t care about her husband. I didn’t care what happened before they even met. I was even less interested in his son and really any of their kids. When “everything” is happening, I find it hard to care about anything. Also pregnancy as a plot point is the lowest on the totem pole for me, and this book has that. I will say when there is prose (and not a list, email, or text message) it is lovely. Having enjoyed the insular feel of This Close to Okay, I think my expectations were misplaced.
***
And my last point - which is totally my own hang up. The main character is expecting her period in the beginning of the book. She even checks for it during a dinner party when she goes to the bathroom. Yet she goes to bed with no feminine products and there’s a blood bath the next morning in her sheets. The male protagonist, who will eventually become her lover, is in the apartment because he slept over on the couch after the dinner party and he sees her in all this disarray with blood dripping.
I couldn’t get over the fact that a grown women who has been having periods her whole adult life - has two grown children - wouldn’t preemptively put a pad on or something. It’s such a dumb thing for me to pick on, but since she proceeds, on the following pages, to go on and on about how horrified she is that he saw her in that state I couldn’t help but say in my head over and over again “you should have put a pad on when you went to bed dummy - you knew it was coming and expected it because you literally just checked for it 6hrs ago!!” It wasn’t like it came on a week early! So, in closing, it wasn’t the period that annoyed me. I was annoyed by the lack of foresight the character displayed and that set the tone for me by page 60 - ok rant over.
donotuse321's review
3.0
I had high hopes for this book because I saw some great reviews and I really enjoyed This Close to Okay, but it just didn’t do it for me. I was somewhat confused by different parts.. and that ending?!
I guess I was just expecting more of a straight forward story? I don’t have much more to say.. I hate saying “negative” things about a book, but I can see where others would enjoy!
I guess I was just expecting more of a straight forward story? I don’t have much more to say.. I hate saying “negative” things about a book, but I can see where others would enjoy!
imiyhaa's review
5.0
this book was an unexpected 5-star read for me! in truth, i only got it on a whim trying to meet a minimum order amount for free shipping and added it to my cart without even reading the synopsis. i wanted it to be a surprise, and a surprise it was! this book is definitely not my usual genre, however, i loved this book from beginning to end and it's become one of top favorites this year. leesa cross-smith's writing is amazing in that it simultaneously allows you to feel exactly what the characters feel while somehow also keeping you at a distance to the true emotions developing throughout the story. it keeps you hooked from cover to cover and im so glad i read this book. im a sucker for happy endings, in fact i can barely read any book, fanfic, etc that has anything OTHER than a perfect, happy ending but the ending to half-blown rose, WOW. although it may not be what other readers would have wanted i thought it was a perfect way to end the story. i can't wait to read this close to okay (by the same author) if half blown-rose is anything to account for how good it may be. perfect for those who love intense and passionate romance books with conflicting feelings.
shawna983's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lingfish7's review
4.0
This book really made me think. Leesa is one of my favorite authors and this book was more steamy than I was expecting