Barnes & Noble has selected Leesa Cross-Smith’s Half-Blown Rose as the latest pick for its book club.
Cross-Smith’s novel, published Tuesday by Grand Central, follows a woman who travels to Paris after learning that her husband has been keeping a big secret from her. A critic for Kirkus called the book “charming and lively, if somewhat predictable.”
Barnes & Noble praised Cross-Smith’s novel as “an intimate take on lust and longing, [that] is perfect for fans of Seven Days in June and The Light We Lost.”
In a guest post on Barnes & Noble’s website, Cross-Smith said her novel was inspired by a trip to Paris she took with her family before the pandemic.
“I set out to soak the reader in Paris the same way French films do,” she wrote. “Instead of a camera, I’ve used language to create the same feelings as slow-motion close-ups of important moments as the music swells. I wanted to write a book that felt alive in every possible way and my hope is that the reader feels that on each page.”
Cross-Smith’s novel was also the first selection for Sarah Selects, a new Amazon book club from the company’s editorial director for books, Sarah Gelman.
“Hopeful, empowering, and sexy, this is one of those books you never want to end,” Gelman wrote of the novel. “The ultimate summer romance, it’s a tribute to the possibility of a second chance at love. Like the main character, I fell head over heels.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
