Scan barcode
A review by thatsoneforthebooks
Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith
5.0
Fives. Fives across the board.
When I started reading this...I was unsure. But I very quickly fell in love with this quirky, beautiful book - full of love, light, and personal exploration.
This book takes up shortly after Vincent, a 44-year-old woman, flees to Paris after her novelist husband, Cillian, makes a big life-changing reveal in a book he's just published. Vincent is searching for herself now that her kids are grown and she's not sure if she can trust her husband. Meanwhile, she meets Loup, a 24-year-old Parisian, full of passion and energy, and despite her best efforts, she isn't able to avoid him. Throughout the book, Vincent must decide who she wants to be with and who she wants to become.
Half-Blown Rose is just SUCH a work of art. Cross-Smith weaves in playlists, excerpts from Cillian's novel, journal entries, text messages, and so many little excerpts of life. In some ways it felt almost like a scrapbook entwined with the novel, bringing in these beautiful pieces of Vincent's life. The book is rich with references to music, food, art, travel, and more. Because of this, I think it would have been hard to jump right into the audiobook, but when I did, it was a feast for the ears.
On a deeper level, the book explores liminal spaces, or the spaces in between. To me, this is where the book came across as absolutely brilliant. The book highlights those in-between places and moments - trains and planes, life transitions, and so much more. Especially as my kids grow and I'm getting closer to 40, I found it so inspirational to see the ways in which life can continue to deliver, surprising you with new adventures and joys.
This book is slow and sensual and so beautifully descriptive. It places with sound and language, with repetition and absences, with feeling and all of your senses. In places, it's absolutely steamy and then it pulls back again to reveal the small joys of foods and places and sounds surrounding us.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: literary fiction with f/m romance
Location: Paris (mostly) with some London, Amsterdam, and other destinations
Reminds me of: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Pub Date: out now
Read this if you like:
⭕️ books filled with travel, food, music, art, etc.
⭕️ reading about the "in betweens" of life
⭕️ multidimensional women
⭕️ slow burns with lots of description
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and #netgalley for an e-copy and physical copies of this book!
When I started reading this...I was unsure. But I very quickly fell in love with this quirky, beautiful book - full of love, light, and personal exploration.
This book takes up shortly after Vincent, a 44-year-old woman, flees to Paris after her novelist husband, Cillian, makes a big life-changing reveal in a book he's just published. Vincent is searching for herself now that her kids are grown and she's not sure if she can trust her husband. Meanwhile, she meets Loup, a 24-year-old Parisian, full of passion and energy, and despite her best efforts, she isn't able to avoid him. Throughout the book, Vincent must decide who she wants to be with and who she wants to become.
Half-Blown Rose is just SUCH a work of art. Cross-Smith weaves in playlists, excerpts from Cillian's novel, journal entries, text messages, and so many little excerpts of life. In some ways it felt almost like a scrapbook entwined with the novel, bringing in these beautiful pieces of Vincent's life. The book is rich with references to music, food, art, travel, and more. Because of this, I think it would have been hard to jump right into the audiobook, but when I did, it was a feast for the ears.
On a deeper level, the book explores liminal spaces, or the spaces in between. To me, this is where the book came across as absolutely brilliant. The book highlights those in-between places and moments - trains and planes, life transitions, and so much more. Especially as my kids grow and I'm getting closer to 40, I found it so inspirational to see the ways in which life can continue to deliver, surprising you with new adventures and joys.
This book is slow and sensual and so beautifully descriptive. It places with sound and language, with repetition and absences, with feeling and all of your senses. In places, it's absolutely steamy and then it pulls back again to reveal the small joys of foods and places and sounds surrounding us.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: literary fiction with f/m romance
Location: Paris (mostly) with some London, Amsterdam, and other destinations
Reminds me of: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Pub Date: out now
Read this if you like:
⭕️ books filled with travel, food, music, art, etc.
⭕️ reading about the "in betweens" of life
⭕️ multidimensional women
⭕️ slow burns with lots of description
Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and #netgalley for an e-copy and physical copies of this book!