Following the highly acclaimed release of THIS CLOSE TO OKAY, Leesa Cross-Smith returns with her third novel, HALF-BLOWN ROSE. Set in glittering, romantic Paris, the book tracks the highs and lows of marriage, love and self-acceptance.

Forty-four-year-old Vincent Wilde thought she was set for life with her brilliant, handsome husband, Cillian; their two adult children, Colm and Olive; and her own career as a jewelry maker. But when Cillian released his latest novel, a critically applauded work of autofiction, he revealed an unexpected plot twist: his main character, based strongly on himself, fathered a child in Ireland before coming to America in his teens…and so did Cillian. Vincent is a modern, accepting woman. While she could welcome and even love a blended family, she cannot accept Cillian’s dishonesty and cowardliness in telling her not in a face-to-face conversation, but through the pages of a novel that she had to buy from a bookstore just like everyone else.

"Cross-Smith is a confident, deft writer who is comfortable exploring any dynamic as long as she has a strong character to start with. Lucky for her, this too comes naturally, making her grander exaltations of love and passion feel every bit as fate-driven and heady as they do grounded and deeply raw and human."

Ever since the release of the book --- titled, painfully, Half-Blown Rose after her favorite Brontë line --- Vincent has been in Paris, crashing at her artsy parents’ flat and teaching a course at an art museum. She also has built up a vibrant and eclectic collection of friends with whom she hosts dinner parties, discovers and explores new art and artists, and, best of all, can live outside of the shadow of her famous parents and husband.

Although Vincent still loves her husband and can even understand what he did, she finds a great sense of freedom in Paris, where she is not Cillian Wilde’s wife, or even Colm and Olive’s mother. She is simply Vincent. And the version of Vincent that Paris unlocks is wild, free and unrelentingly attractive to men, including her 24-year-old student, Loup. Loup himself is sexy in a very Parisian, Timothée Chalamet-esque way, but more than that, he presents a relationship that is full of potential and entirely without baggage or pain. Vincent tries her best to avoid him and the temptation he provides, but their affair seems like it is written in the stars, demanded by fate.

Before long, Vincent finds that she loves Loup while continuing to love Cillian and is starting to truly love herself. But her visa in Paris is not forever, and with her time there coming to an end, her husband begging for clarity and Loup fearing destruction, Vincent will have to make decisions about who she wants to love, how she wants to love them, and how she will let these loves transform her.

Written in three acts, HALF-BLOWN ROSE charts first the dissolution of Vincent and Cillian’s relationship, then the heady, sensual rise of her affair with Loup, and finally, the arrival of her son’s wedding, where she must reunite with Cillian and decide who she will spend the rest of her life with: Cillian, Loup or herself. As Vincent falls in and out of love with each man, she builds stronger bonds with friends, her children, and even Cillian’s secret son and former love.

Some readers may find Vincent’s reaction to her husband’s secret too self-pitying and outlandish, while others may think that Loup is too childish and impossible, but I doubt that anyone can deny that there is something endlessly compelling about each of Vincent’s great loves. Cillian is handsome and self-assured, head-over-heels in love with Vincent and the family they have created. Loup, meanwhile, is a bit like a puppy: always happy and in awe of Vincent, eager to learn and be learned. Whether or not you enjoy affairs in fiction, it’s easy to see the allure of each man, particularly Loup.

But what makes HALF-BLOWN ROSE absolutely ripe for conversation, introspection and self-discovery is the way that Cross-Smith does not hold one type of love over the other, exploring instead the ins and outs of all different kinds: grounded, foundational love that has seen you at your worst and kept loving you; new, shiny love that is weightless and full of only potential; and the love that comes with seeing yourself at your lowest and building yourself back up. The notion of blended families is also heavily explored, as are open marriages and flirtatious friendships.

It may seem like a lot to handle, but Cross-Smith is a confident, deft writer who is comfortable exploring any dynamic as long as she has a strong character to start with. Lucky for her, this too comes naturally, making her grander exaltations of love and passion feel every bit as fate-driven and heady as they do grounded and deeply raw and human.

Much like THE PAPER PALACE, I don’t expect that HALF-BLOWN ROSE will be for every reader, but that statement has little to do with Cross-Smith’s talent, which is an undeniable fact. While some will love the book immediately and want to whisk it away to Paris, it is those who are made uncomfortable by the story and the topics it explores who need it most of all.

Perfect for readers of Miranda Cowley Heller, Emma Straub and Georgia Clark, HALF-BLOWN ROSE is a guaranteed summer steamer and a surefire book club pick for readers of all ages.