A review by audrathewriter
Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith

3.0

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.