Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, May 31, 2022

Format: paperback

Pages: 384

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

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.

My Review:

Thank you Grand Central Publishing for the copy of this book!
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Read if you like: character driven books, self-discovery
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Vincent is a woman who goes to Paris to take space from her husband after he breaks her trust, and while there she engages in a passionate love affair with a much younger man. The book follows Vincent’s self-exploration journey as she figures out what she wants out of her life.
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I really loved Vincent and how imperfect she was. I also thought it was refreshing to have a protagonist that was older and in her 40s! Also this book made me really want to go to Europe and travel!
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CW: sexual content, adultery, separation, pregnancy