4.5*

I really enjoyed this excellent novel. It makes a particularly impressive debut, full of feeling and voice, with a really keen ear for characterisation, and a strong sense of place.

Elsie was an excellently depicted character, sympathetic, multifaceted, interesting and sexy, and I found her narrative compelling. It was one of those books where I kept saying 'just one more chapter' on and on....

One theme that I found particularly interesting throughout the novel was in how it showed the fall and rise of community. The Black run queer friendly bar might shut, relationships may falter, people move in and out, but the new community shop may rise, new homes are found and new relationships emerge. There was a strong sense of hopefulness, that people can form bonds and create new things.

I'm really excited to see what Liv Little will achieve in the future!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC*

A totally different genre from what I usually read and I have to say I enjoyed it! The story follows Elsie who has just been made homeless and follows her through an emotional rollercoaster of her relationships and trying to get her poetry published. A good read would recommend thankyou to all for advanced copy.

Rosewater is a debut novel about a queer Black woman living in London, a poet who works at a local gay bar but is sinking. When Elsie is evicted from her home, her best friend Juliet who she's not spoken to in months lets her stay in her spare room. Elsie tries to find purpose in her life and reconnect with both her poetry and her loved ones, but it is hard to keep these fragile things together, especially when she realises some of the things she's been hiding from herself.

This is a book that brings you into Elsie's world, into precarious millennial existence in London and the difficulties of wanting to make art and have love when you are struggling. The pace starts off quite slowly and feels similar to other novels about people spiralling in their life, unable to communicate what is going on to those around, but it gets faster as the book goes on, with much more drama in the second half of the book. By the end of the book, I was very invested in the characters, and was glad that the ending brought hope. Partway through I did worry it would end up being one of those books where the narrator never really gets anywhere and nothing really happens, but thankfully that wasn't the case.

There's a lot woven into the book, from adjusting to change to accepting love to navigating dating, sex, and friendship. Through Juliet there's also a look at prejudice against sex work, and in general the book looks at forms of work in the modern day and the overwhelming presence of money (or lack of it) in life. I liked the ways in which sexuality and gender were written in the book, with details that felt real but the focus always being on how Elsie needed to learn to stop sabotaging herself.

Bold and emotional, Rosewater told a great queer story of falling in love with your best friend alongside the difficulties of getting yourself on track when the world seems against you.

Rosewater

Rosewater is one of my most anticipated for the year of 2023, so the fact I got to read this early and be the final book I read in 2022 I feel so lucky and so grateful. No suprises are about to come when I say this was Incredible! I had no worries about it not being either. I just had intuition and it came true.
2023 debuts to look out for, get this one on the top of your list.

In this irresistible and masterful novel from Debut author Liv Little we follow Elsie a black queer poet, living in London, but Everything seems to just be going wrong for her, being in debt, just losing her flat, having a rocky relationship with her parents, losing her job… what more needs to happen before life starts to look up for her for once.

We follow Elsie moving through life, trying her damn hardest to be seen and worthy,wether that be by her Friends and family, or by strangers she meets at open mic nights for her poetry as she tries to make being a poet a career to where she can feel 100% stable and fulfilled in her life, but it’s hard and we just see Elsie go through so much in this book, emotionally, physically and more.

An extra touch I loved about this book was seeing some of the poetry Elsie was writing be brought onto the page and us the readers being able to read some of them in this book and they really are a big bridge into bringing parts of this story together too.

Is a poetry collection on The way from the author Liv Little ?? If not, I need it. Just saying 😂

This is a super lead title for Dialogue books in 2023 and you can understand so much why, it is so deserving of that and I for sure cannot wait for you all to be treated to the beauty of this novel.

Rosewater will be releasing 20th April 2022.

Elsie, 28, lives in London, working a minimum-wage bar job to support herself until she finds success as a writer and poet. In a run of bad luck, she is evicted from her flat, and the bar closes. Elsie moves into her best friend Juliet's spare room. They have been estranged for a while, so it is a bit tense at first. Elsie has casual relationships with a couple of women, and Juliet has a new boyfriend, Andrew. The book is about their work, relationships, friendships and families, while they are trying to sort out their feelings for each other,
There is success and sadness for Elsie, and some unexpected twists to the story. I really like the way it portrays how how you experience life as a young woman, including the strong feelings and drama. There are some lovely women in the book. Elsie's Nan and Juliet's Mum Helen are strong women in different ways, and Maggie is a great character, with a lot of wisdom. The poetry was also gorgeous. An excellent debut from a fantastic woman, highly recommended.

This book follows the story of Elsie, who has just been made homeless and goes on to live with her best friend, Juliet. During their months of living together, Elsie grapples with employment, her family relationships, and realising her love for her best friend. The plot twists in the second half of the book definitely kept me on my toes and it was so beautifully written. I particularly loved the poetry woven throughout.

DNF - 25%

I gave this as much of a chance as I could to change my mind, but I know at this point that [book:Rosewater|59851488] is not going to be my next [book:Queenie|36586697] or [book:Such a Fun Age|43923951] as the blurb promises.

It comes down to either subpar writing or subpar editing, hard to say which. [book:Rosewater|59851488] is awkwardly overwritten, each superfluous adjective making the sentences clunky and disrupting the flow. I think this slowly decreases as the novel progresses (at least, as far as I've read) but it is replaced by stiff unnatural dialogue and an overuse of slang.

Sounded like a gritty, interesting story but I can't get past the writing.

A fantastic debut novel from Little. Rosewater is quiet, contemporary, and has a real emotional heft. The characters felt real to today and real to London, they had wit and personality.

I enjoyed the vulnerability of the story, Elsie’s relationship with her Nan being a highlight for me. The climax of the story felt a little out of step with the rest of the book, but didn’t hamper my enjoyment of it overall.

Pick up this book if: you love to read the book before it gets turned into a BBC mini series (which I think it would make a great one!)

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