Author: Leesa Cross-Smith
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing | Hachette Audio
Publication Date: May 31, 2022
Book Description: An irresistible story of a woman remaking her life after her husband’s betrayal leads to a year of travel, art, and passion in Paris, from the award-winning author of This Close to Okay.
Vincent, having grown up as the privileged daughter of artists, has a lovely life in many ways. At forty-four, she enjoys strolling the streets of Paris and teaching at the modern art museum; she has a vibrant group of friends; and she’s even caught the eye of a young, charismatic man named Loup. But Vincent is also in Paris to escape a painful betrayal: her husband, Cillian, has published a bestselling book divulging secrets about their marriage and his own past, hinting that when he was a teenager, he may have had a child with a young woman back in Dublin—before he moved to California and never returned.
Now estranged from her husband, Vincent has agreed to see Cillian again at their son’s wedding the following summer, but Loup introduces new complications. Soon they begin an intense affair, and somewhere between dinners made together, cigarettes smoked in the moonlight, hazy evenings in nightclubs, and long, starry walks along the Seine, Vincent feels herself loosening and blossoming.
In a journey that is both transportive and intimate, Half-Blown Rose traverses Paris, art, travel, liminal spaces, and the messy complexities of relationships and romance, with excerpts from Cillian’s novel, playlists, and journal entries woven throughout. As Cillian does all he can to win her back, Vincent must decide what she wants . . . and who she will be.
Rating: 4 Stars
Book Description: This book is an intimate portrait of a woman whose marriage is at a crossroads when a secret her husband has hid for over 20 years comes out. Taking some time Vincent decides to go to Paris for a year to work on her business and to teach while deciding what is next for her and her life. While there, Vincent, starts making friends and then meets Loup, a man 20 years her junior, and they start something Vincent is not sure she wants to end.
At the core, this book is all literary fiction. There is not a lot of plot, but a narrative of a woman taking back her life and figuring out what will make her happy.
This is the third book I have read from Leesa Cross-Smith and I am 100% in for any book she writes in the future. Her writing is simple, engaging and unforgettable. This is a slow burn of a book, but oh so satisfying.
Thank you NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing and Hachette Audio for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Obsessed Bookaholic 