Half-Blown Rose

February 1, 2022

Though she's still hurting from secrets revealed by estranged husband Cillian in a best-selling memoir, fortyish Vincent loves living in Paris, where she's an art lecturer with engaging friends and a prospective young lover named Loup. But she's compelled to see Cillian again at their son's wedding, and soon she's caught between the blandishments of Cillian and Loup. With a 30,000-copy first printing; from the multi-award-winning, multi-award-nominated author of This Close to Okay.

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April 11, 2022
A woman grapples with love and the emotional turmoil that comes with it in the long-winded latest from Cross-Smith (This Close to Okay). In Paris, 44-year-old Vincent works as an art teacher. She also makes jewelry, entertains friends in a posh apartment, and is embroiled in a love affair with Loup, one of her students. Though her life may seem like an expat’s dream, she’s there because her estranged husband, Cillian, published a bombshell of an autofictional novel revealing his past relationship with another woman, which involved a secret pregnancy. Now, Vincent emails with Cillian’s ex, Siobhan, and Cillian and Siobhan’s son, Tully, with whom she unexpectedly becomes fast friends. After Vincent’s work visa expires, she is forced to choose between her former life with Cillian and the new one she’s built in Paris. Cross-Smith offers a refreshing take on a woman’s story of midlife upheaval, but there isn’t much in the way of narrative momentum, and Vincent’s vacillation between Cillian and Loup ends up feeling like the author is merely spinning her wheels. This has its moments, but it’s not Cross-Smith’s best. Agent: Kerry D’Agostino, Curtis Brown.

April 15, 2022
In her third novel, Cross-Smith (This Close to Okay, 2021) continues to weave spellbinding tales of love and lust in the wake of adversity. Vincent, named for Van Gogh by her artistic parents, leads a monied life in Kentucky with her successful author husband (and college sweetheart), Cillian, and their grown children--until the publication of Cillian's latest book exposes a past he has kept from her, which includes a child from a relationship in his teenage years back in Ireland. Vincent escapes the explosion in Paris, where she indulges her creative side and attracts the attention of Loup, a man 20 years her junior. Their chemistry is undeniable, and before long, they're enmeshed in a very sexy affair. While Vincent is pulled in different directions by the two men in her life, she also finds her own space, discovers things about herself, and thoroughly enjoys Paris. Cross-Smith never allows Vincent's indecisiveness to come off as naivete or weakness; she is an utterly appealing heroine. Another winning novel from Cross-Smith.

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June 1, 2022
A woman flees her recently torn-apart marriage to Paris, where she reevaluates her life. When Vincent Wilde's husband, Cillian, a renowned author, publishes a novel that tells the thinly veiled story of their relationship--and reveals the existence of an illegitimate child he fathered at age 15--she finds solace in temporarily relocating to Paris, home of her namesake, Van Gogh. In Paris, she can be "simply Vincent, not Vincent the wife or Vincent the mom or Vincent the daughter or Vincent the sister." Vincent stays in her artist parents' lush apartment; hosts dinners attended by a cast of cultured acquaintances; and teaches a class on journaling. The pleasant rhythm of Vincent's routine is interrupted, though, when a friend introduces her to the energetic, violently attractive Loup--a 24-year-old who, like his wolfish namesake, symbolizes a force equally captivating and dangerous. Loup is instantly enamored with Vincent, and as he's woven into her social circle, the attraction between them grows stronger and harder for Vincent to resist. Meanwhile, she tries to process frequent apology letters from Cillian, who's seeking reconciliation, and strikes up a surprisingly heartfelt correspondence with her husband's estranged son. Vincent and Loup finally initiate an affair whose intensity is entirely befitting of Paris: wandering through the city aimlessly at night; meeting at Loup's band's smoky, busy shows; and discovering one another physically. But as Vincent's son's wedding approaches, ensuring a reunion between her and Cillian, she's compelled to reevaluate the person she's become during her marriage and must decide whether her time in Paris will prove life-altering or nothing but a brief, beautiful mirage. Though its plot sometimes proves predictable--the love triangle at the book's center is its almost-exclusive focus, and it presents few unexpected turns (or character developments, at least on the men's parts)--this is a smoothly written, enjoyable novel that gives due to the social and emotional complexities of middle age. Vincent is a lovable protagonist; the narrative is also interspersed with her diary entries and letters, creating a self-aware, three-dimensional character. Cross-Smith sensitively explores the many permutations of romantic and platonic love and the idea that, especially in Paris, one's love may not be limited to a single other person. Charming and lively, if somewhat predictable.

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