Emotional, tender, beautifully written. I loved reading Rosewater. As a Londoner, it made me homesick for my area because the writing took me right to those familiar places. I always find a frustrating main character a little bit difficult but you do get behind Elsie in the end. I think the beginning tries to do too much too quickly but the pay off is worth it. I'm always looking for Black British and queer stories to offer my students. I'm so happy this was written.

I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the decisions that were made in this one but the heart was fully activated by the end!

I really did enjoy this story although it was at a slow pace. Elise is a mature and better version of Queenie. This book gives off Queenie and Luster vibes but well written. If you enjoyed both books you will definitely enjoy this one. the storyline was quite strong, the representation of black queer people was amazing.

Why did I wait so long to pick up this book? I loved how lyrical it was with all the poetry intertwined within it and the realness of it too. Such a brilliant mix. Elsie’s character was so very flawed and frustrates you at times but you just can’t help but adore her. It was also quite saucy, which I wasn’t expecting but loved it.

This book had me hooked. I loved the strong female lead. The descriptive writing was very impressive and I wanted to find out more and more. I found this book hard to put down. I cannot wait to read more from the author. Thankyou for sending me this.

I raced through this book and finished this in one day! The pacing was great and I was very invested in Elsie's life and her relationships. I loved the focus on black and queer culture. Although I understand very little about poetry, the poems interspersed through the story were beautiful.

The ending however felt very slightly rushed and almost a bit out of place, so I have to give this 4 stars rather than 5.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An underwhelming debut novel!

Rosewater is a poetic novel following a young, black, queer person navigating life in London.

Elsie is struggling to pursue her dream of being a poet, whilst also struggling to maintain the relationships in her life.

Ultimately, the author tried to tackle too much in this story. Whilst some themes were dealt with successfully, others felt underdeveloped.

The romance felt unsatisfactory and the ending was lacklustre.

Overall, Rosewater was good, but not great.

This book was really beautiful and may be one of my favourite books of the summer. The cover is gorgeous and the writing is so lovely

I enjoyed this read but at times it was predictably what would happen next. At times it didn't flow easily and felt disjointed. But overall I would recommend.

I loved this book. New author, new approach, great characters.
It's easy to fall in love, isn't it?
Best friends and life's ever changing circumstances....... A past, a present and you'll hope for a future.
More please xx

This is in my top 5 books this year. A modern coming of age story which features a friends-to-lovers romance which was as infuriating as it was satisfying when the book tied together at the end! I love the use of poetry within the writing it really added another layer to the book. This book was funny, emotional and the characters felt so real and engaging.
This book will make everyone else feel like they have their lives together!

Thanks to an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley. It initially took me a while to get into this book, after picking it up again I thoroughly enjoyed Elsie’s character a late twenty something trying to figure life out and the many complex relationships with friends, family and partners. While the poetry wasn’t by the author it was mesmerising and loved the inclusion of it.

This book starts with our main character in crisis- overdrawn, at risk of homelessness, and struggling to work out who she is. Lurching between complicated relationships and a desire to keep her writing going as the thing that gives her purpose, she makes a series of decisions (good and bad) which propel her through the very real turbulence of modern life.

However, I did find it a little fragmented in parts, with a few too many easy coincidences making the conclusion of the book start to feel a little predictable at times, and with some of the key themes or plot points not consistently followed through on.

This is not to take away from the freshness of Little's voice, but it just didn't pack the punch I felt like it had the potential to deliver.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a reqlly good read. Loved the story and the voice behind the words. I was fully engaged throughout. It wasn't a fast read for me I took my time with it. I would definitely suggest this book for someone who wants a modern day voice.

I was excited for this debut, in part due to its beautiful cover, but it unfortunately fell flat for me. The poetry by Kai-Isaiah Jamal is beautiful - I could hear so clearly in my head how it would work in performance - but unfortunately it does highlight the weaknesses in the prose. Whilst the prose has some moments where it shines, most of the time it’s rather clunky, and the dialogue in particular feels stiff. We get quite a hefty chunk of backstory up front, rather than it coming up organically, and later on in the novel Elsie develops feelings for another character that also seem to spring out of nowhere, and don't feel satisfying or earned. Elsie is quite difficult to root for - she’s selfish and has just a few brief moments of self awareness. She’s called out several times on this by other characters, but never makes an effort to change her behaviour or grow as a character. We do understand somewhat why she behaves this way (thanks to the exposition) but solutions to her problems just seem to fall into her lap, meaning she never has to think about or change for the better. This means her struggles never truly feel like there’s anything at stake - she loses her flat within the first few pages (in a powerful and moving scene - one of the books best), and her job not long after that, but always seems to have enough money to go out for drinks and dates, is able to find somewhere to stay almost instantly, worries about her career as a poet but lands opportunities from the very first time she performs. The enormous debt that incites her being evicted by bailiffs is pretty much just used as an opening device, being mentioned again later very casually, in a throwaway line.

It was refreshing to have a character be so secure in their identity - I loved how unashamedly, proudly lesbian Elsie was, but the novel categorises characters who are clearly bisexual poorly (calling them either ‘straight except for Elsie’ or defaulting to assuming they're now actually gay), which is particularly disappointing from a queer author, who handles the matter of non-binary characters pronouns so sensitively throughout.

Many of the side characters felt two-dimensional (a love rival in particular, who almost reaches cartoon villain heights near the end) but this was amusing in places. Bar-regular Maggie and Elsie’s grandmother Cherry are two of the side characters who are more fleshed out, and I’d liked to have seen more of both - and explore the topic of queer, Black history and elders in the community more, an idea that is touched on and then abandoned. Juliet is also well drawn, one of the more interesting characters in the novel, but we don’t get a huge idea of why Elsie loves her, apart from how she makes Elsie feel about herself (comforted, safe), which just fuels Elsie’s depiction as a selfish character.

The novel is almost plotless, which is something I usually enjoy, but I found myself putting it down and not wanting to pick it back up again - given the length of the book it took me longer to finish than expected. It takes a slightly frenzied turn towards the last third, when the author almost seems to panic that she’s not written a plot and just throws a bunch of events (parents divorcing, an affair being disclosed, someone getting pregnant) at the wall to see what sticks, with no time to really resolve any of them - and they have little bearing on anything that happens after they’re introduced. It takes an even stranger twist towards the very end (when the book is about 95% finished), when a huge, almost cliche, plot event arises at the last minute that, yet again, allows Elsie to get what she wants without any sort of character growth or consequences for her behaviour.

I enjoyed the London setting largely because I’m familiar with the areas the novel takes place in, but wish it felt a little better drawn for those who may not be, and also felt the sense of time was a bit off - I was unsure exactly when the novel was set, as there are contemporary references, but certain things (like the minimum wage Elsie is paid in her job) felt out of date.

The blurb states that the book explores feeling lost in your late 20’s, another topic I usually enjoy, but this also felt lacking - Elsie was a mess because of her own actions, which never got resolved. Overall a disappointing reading experience for such an anticipated debut- I’d still check out Little’s next novel, but cautiously.

Not my usual sort of reading matter but I thought I should broaden my horizons. This book gave me an insight into a different way of life. Sensitively written and worth reading.

Elsie is a queer, black poet who works nights at an old dive bar on the verge of closing. She is sexy, funny and appears to be confident on the outside but her life is falling apart.

This book has had me feeling all the emotions. Cried, laughed, burst of anger , even had me hot and bothered. The way Liv writes I truly felt everything on the page. I felt my heart breaking for Elsie, really felt her anger, her guilt,her pain, and her joy. There were a few parts that made me want to call my mum.

This is the kind of book I feel would make a fabulous movie!

This is one of my favourite reads this year, I’ve recommended it to loads of people and I got through it so quickly, I never wanted to put it down. I look forward to more of Liv’s writing in the future. Thanks to @dialoguepublishing and @netgalley for an advanced copy with a delayed review 😅

One of my most anticipated of the year but sadly ended up quite disappointing. The writing was overly descriptive and quite clunky at times and emotional beats lose depth because of this. It started off a very slice of life story but veered into melodrama later on in the novel and these two vibes didn't mesh well.

I was very excited to read this book as I’m a big fan of liv little and gal-dem and, although it didn’t quite meet my (high) expectations, I wasn’t disappointed!

right from the jump we’re thrown into the mess of elsie’s life, and it really sets the tone for the rest of the story and elsie’s character in general. her relationships are messy, her family is messy, her career is messy, you see where I’m going with this? it’s interesting to watch elsie work these things out in her own (slightly infuriating) way, and her mistakes and issues only make her completely human.

I found the second part of the book a lot more intriguing, especially as you learn more about elsie and her relationships with others. I loved the character of maggie and her wisdom and knowledge of queer communities, she was such a great addition to the book.

this was definitely a great read and very easy to get through; although it was pretty slow-paced you find yourself reading more to see if elsie works her way out of her situations.

that being said, for some reason the writing style reminded me a little of fan fiction? I can’t pinpoint why and I may be completely alone on that, it’s also definitely not a bad thing- just not my preference! I couldn’t really shake that feeling whilst reading so that brought my rating down a little. But, as I said, that’s not a bad thing and others may love the style!

overall I’m rating this 3.5 which I would usually round down for goodreads- but I’m rounding up because it’s liv 🩷

First I would like to say thank you to Dialogue Books for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I won't lie, when I read the synopsis of Rosewater, I said to myself 'oh another one?' There are quite a few books with Black British main characters with similar depressing experiences, and very few have found the right balance that makes hard stories great to read. I was hoping this book would be the one that didn't let me down, but unfortunately, Rosewater's lack of plot development and character growth makes it hard to enjoy.