Rosewater tells the story of Elsie, who we first meet as she is being evicted for not paying her rent. Elsie is a poet who works part time at her local queer bar and doesn't have the safety net of family to fall back on (though I wonder how much of that was her own stubbornness?). Elsie was a completely authentic character: at various points throughout the book I wanted to shake her for being such a mess, then scoop her up and give her a hug. The full cast of characters were fully fleshed out and felt very real, and it felt very true to life as a young person.

A brilliant debut novel which is both, sexy, chaotic and authentic, Rosewater completely enthralled me.

I'm really disappointed to say that I'm disappointed. There's a lot to love about this - great characters, great setting, great premise - but it's weighed down by overwritten prose, stilted dialogue, and some clanging cliches. There's a plot moment which had me say 'really?!' out loud at my kindle, which is ... not good - and it could use a strong edit.

However: Little writes good sex! That's no small feat; sex scenes can so easily be cringe, but Little's are definitely not, and are even genuinely sexy. And I ripped through it fast given its length.

A writer to watch, but this one wasn't for me.

My thanks to Dialogue Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book had me hooked from the first page. I loved everything about it - the characters, the writing, the storyline, the setting, the queer rep & vegan rep... The strong character development made this book a standout for me. If you like female 20-30 something characters who are a bit lost in life, then give this one a go. I'd recommend it especially to those who enjoyed Queenie and Such A Fun Age. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into this so I was unable to finish it. Thank you for the opportunity to read regardless, this is no reflection on the author.

What an incredible debut. It is bold, emotional, and filled with complicated characters and frustrating developments, but it was such a beautiful piece of writing which left me both in tears and beaming with joy whilst simultaneously rooting for Elsie and her growth. I am very excited to read more from Liv Little!
Thank you NetGalley and Dialogue Books for the advanced reading copy.

I loved this book. Elsie, the main character is great. She's flawed and a bit frustrating but you can see where that comes from. Her experiences of life, of being poor, of struggling with her family. All mean that she can't quite work out what she's doing.
There were some really good supporting characters too. Even those who didn't appear much were really well described. I felt like I knew these people.
There's a nice arc to the narrative which I liked. Although it was familiar it also felt fresh. That's a hard balance to achieve. I'd love to read more books by this author.

An interesting read, and I loved how the underrepresented come to the front in this one. Some great complicated characters, and a thoughtful plot.

The poetry didn't offer anything extra for me. But overall, a nice read.

I didn't know what to expect from this but I really loved it. At times Elsie seriously frustrated me, but I really rooted for her and loved the relationship between her and Juliet.
All the characters were complex and not perfect but not perfectly awful either. The queer representation was also really well done.

It was so refreshing to read a black, queer romance, it has an emotional core but easily readable, great for a holiday

Ahh, I loved Rosewater. Loved the characters, loved the premise, loved how fluidly and naturally the sexuality of the characters was discussed and written about. Fantastic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC!

Elsie is a poet struggling to find a way to profit from her passion. Evicted from the only place she has considered home since leaving her family at 16, she moves in with her best friend Juliet. Through her relationships with those around her, Elsie gets the chance to explore her own feelings towards the people around her and towards herself.

The poetry in this book is by Kai-Isaiah Jamal and is absolutely stunning - I'm normally not a fan of poetry but it was so evocative!

Elsie can be quite an unlikeable character but I did feel a strong connection with her. She loses her home and struggles to share her emotions with others which is something I can definitely relate to but I can also understand why this would put people off.

It has been marketed towards fans of Queenie which I can understand but I don't think this is the best way to promote the book. Reading this, Elsie isn't written in as sympathetic a way as Queenie is and we don't get much insight into the feelings behind Elsie's actions at the start.

I've seen other readers DNF this around a quarter of the way through and I can understand why. There was so much going on in this book and it wasn't until about halfway through that I really felt like I wanted to see how it would end.

All in all, I did enjoy this book and I'm glad I pushed through to the end!

Rosewater opens on aspiring poet, Elsie, waking up from a night out with baillifs knocking at her door ready to kick her out of her apartment. The story then follows Elsie trying to get back on her feet in the apartment of her best friend, Juliet.

I'll start this review with the things I loved. The poetry scattered throughout this read was beautiful and really added something to the story, and helped me to understand Elsie better than I would have done without it. I also adored the relationship between Elsie and Juliet, the fluctuation from strained friendship to best friends and back again felt very real to me and I appreciated that.

The amount of sex in this book also felt just right, striking the perfect balance between showing the characters' sexuality without it feeling like you're reading straight-up porn. I also appreciated the sex worker representation and the usage of introducing pronouns for characters and then using the correct pronouns throughout.

Now, onto the things I didn't like. I felt that the beginning of the book set up such high expectations with where the book was going and it didn't quite reach the levels I was expecting. There was something about the second half that just fell flat for me. I also didn't like the big event that happened towards the end of the book, it felt like it was crowbarred in just as a way to resolve the conflict.

Overall, this was a solid 3.5🌟 read for me. I would recommend this to people wanting a steamy sapphic read, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

I really enjoyed this -to me it was a sweet, modern romance story. Reminded me of Sorrow & Bliss and Queenie with the type of self-sabotaging, down-on-their-luck main character that sits fully formed in your mind, I really wanted to help Elsie get her foundations right and for her to flourish.

Simultaneously razor sharp yet dreamlike, Rosewater follows poet Elsie as she navigates life, love, creativity and self. Suddenly homeless, Elsie has to move in with her best friend Juliet; the bond between the two women is beautifully explored, and without any exposition the author manages to convey the depth and history of their intimacy; you understand that this is a lifelong and life-defining friendship. As Elsie struggles to find her path and get her work out there, she has to deal with family issues, relationships failing and the coming to terms with her own feelings. This novel is beautifully written and powerfully executed. It will stay with you.

This started off so promising for me but sadly, it lost its way. I love the concept and the first few chapters were compelling and tightly written, with some interesting characters. Then suddenly from about 25% onward, the storytelling became repetitive and kept skipping chunks of time, the characters began to feel shallow, and the plot didn’t really seem to go anywhere. I found the ‘will they won’t they’ of the main character and her best friend quite flat and the ending felt rushed and lacked dramatic tension. It doesn’t stand up to the comps at all, but a fairly quick read.

I’d describe this book as realistic fiction. The author has done an amazing job of creating imaginary characters and situations that depict the world and society. The characters focus on themes of growing, self-discovery and confronting personal and social problems.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

OMG IM SCREAMING, CRYING, I WANNA THROW UP!

This book really makes you feel all the things. This book was soo good! I couldn’t put it down. I’ve not flown through a book so fast in such a long time. It was sexy, it made me wanna scream at Elsie, and I also wanted to throw it across the room at the last 25%. But in a good way. It’s 4:18 am, I’m gonna go cry myself to sleep now.

Just for context some trigger warnings: mental abuse by a partner, panic attacks, alcohol and drug-use very mild, sexual content-nothing too crazy, cheating,

At the core of Liv Litte's fabulous debut is a classic love story which is made current and relatable by the issues that the main character Elsie is going through - anxiety, career struggles, UK housing crisis and being the oldest daughter...
Many of us can relate to Elsie and are rooting for her throughout, Liv Little asks us to be patient whilst our Elsie figures it out. We're rewarded along the way with rich supporting characters, delicious food and powerful poetry from Kai-Isaiah Jamal.
Liv Little's debut novel is a promising foundation for her to build on, I'm looking forward to what she shares with us next.

( thank you so much to netgalley and liv little for a free arc in exchange for an honest review! )

Rosewater is a beautiful debut by Liv Little that manages to capture the experience of being a sapphic black woman in a unique and impactful way.

To begin I think I should say this for all white readers coming in: really think about how you review this novel because it is not here for you to be comfortable. This is not going to be easy for you to relate to, there are times when Elsie makes clear how much she holds her culture, identity, and blackness dear and I need y'all to know and understand that because I've already seen some of you beneath this book irritating me as a black, bisexual woman.

Elsie and Juliet are two people whose love for each other had the effect of polarizing them. The author does a wonderful job of showing how coming from two different backgrounds where love was shown or not shown at all affects how we seek out love from others.

I love Elsie to pieces and stuck by her even though she was really going through it. I think that her characterization was done so well and that she charms you without intending to. She feels like the messy, in-her-twenties character that so many white women get in shows and books that I've always been messy. She was so brave even when she was fucking up.

Juliet and I had...feelings about each other. However, her character gave way to one of my favorite portions of the book which was the conversation about sex work and the depth that it was given. It opened up my eyes as a reader to how sex work not only impacts the worker but how the derision and disgust of others can in fact ruin your life.

(Andrew sucked.)

The only downside to this novel was how quickly the ending happened and that it had to be the way to conclude all of the things that were up in the air. It was really jarring to read, I'm not going to lie.

All in all, this book was a good read. I think it's important, I think it's well done, and I think it gives black queer women the Fleabag experience they refuse to give us.

I was really excited to read this novel given all the pre-publication hype and I think it will do well on release. It’s an enjoyable read although I found it started to drag more in the second half and it’s over-written in places (there’s a lot of simultaneous showing and telling which didn’t add anything for me and the dialogue wasn’t always naturalistic). Nonetheless, a fresh voice and an important perspective that deserves a wider audience. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.