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A review by whatmeganreads
Whiskey & Ribbons by Leesa Cross-Smith
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.