Bloom
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4.5 • 2 Bewertungen
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- CHF 10.00
Beschreibung des Verlags
A sweet sapphic romance takes a deadly dark turn in this sharp-as-a-knife novella with the slow build menace of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber—from a New York Times-bestselling author hailed by Chuck Wendig as "a storyteller working at the top of her class."
Rosemary meets Ash at the farmers' market. Ash—precise, pretty, and practically perfect—sells bars of soap in delicate pastel colors, sprinkle-spackled cupcakes stacked on scalloped stands, beeswax candles, jelly jars of honey, and glossy green plants.
Ro has never felt this way about another woman; with Ash, she wants to be her and have her in equal measure. But as her obsession with Ash consumes her, she may find she's not the one doing the devouring…
Told in lush, delectable prose, this is a deliciously dark tale of passion taking an unsavory turn...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dawson (The Violence) creates a sweet, cottagecore lesbian romance and patiently twists it into well-crafted but brutal horror. Lush present-tense descriptions of food, decor, and gardens draw readers in as Ro, a lonely and awkward 27-year-old academic, falls head-over-heels for Ash, an ethereal beauty who runs a stall in the farmers' market, having inherited a working farm from her grim grandmother. Their romance doesn't turn wholly sinister until a hundred pages of seduction have gone by and Ro finds odd but damning evidence of animal cruelty in the trash can of her girlfriend's quaint country kitchen. Ash can expertly cook anything from scratch—heaven for "chubby" Ro—but she also enforces boundaries so fiercely that she edges into Bluebeard territory. And, like Bluebeard, this dark fairy tale is revealed as a nightmarish world for women. Dawson revels in painting female lovers, mothers, and grandmothers as loathsome and corrupting stereotypically feminine spaces and pursuits, showing them as mediums of abuse. Even the language of self-care and empowerment is rendered toxic. Ironic? Interrogative? The point is not made entirely clear, which weakens the otherwise indisputable power of the storytelling. Still, fans of slow-burning scares will find much to terrify them here.
Kundenrezensionen
Beware the flower crown
Overall rating (no spoilers)
Worldbuilding: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spicy: 🌶️ , maybe 🌶️🌶️
Violence: 🔪🔪🔪
I briefly checked the Goodread’s reviews before picking up this book because my last Instagram-find turned out to be an absolute flop… which unfortunately kinda spoiled the way this book was going to end. At least I had a good idea where it’s going to end…
If you read this book, be very aware that neither of these characters are GOOD people and it shows early on. So if you’re looking for a book with a likeable heroine, this is not it.
Now, once you accept this, the book is an interesting read, if supremely uncomfortable all around. Both main characters are very flawed and despite that, you want to root for them. The writing is very skilled in the sense that I was constantly sent off kilter. I wanted to like both Ash and Ro. I wanted to be understanding of their flaws, of their weaknesses. I wanted to accept their boundaries. And yet… whenever I was feeling charitable about them, they did something that was just… off.
Some SPOILER ahead!!
Partially because I knew getting in that this entire thing was going to go pear shaped, I picked up on Ash’s red flags early on. She was so nicely written I wanted to like her, but things were always just slightly off. Getting Ro dunk.. the RACOON!! And I can’t help but wonder if I would have picked up on all of it if I hadn’t known ahead of time…
Like this line… “plus a faint whiff of something metallic—maybe old truck smell” - would I have noticed that? It’s more than halfway through the book, so maybe?
It’s somehow easier and harder to sympathise with Ro’s character. She is hurt and insecure about certain things, which I can personally relate to. But she also went and did things that I find unforgivable regardless of her personal history. She has a peculiar tone to her characterisation, which might come across a bit snobbish and pretentious. That’s probably not for everyone. However, and I cannot stress this enough, neither she nor Ash are supposed to be likeable!
The difference between Ro and Ash is that Ro is - in essence - flawed due to her past and maybe because she has yet to heal from her past and learn from it. Ash on the other hand is calculated. She is purposely, consciously WRONG.
Now, MAJOR SPOILER FOR THE ENDING!!!
This passage absolutely sent me: “…she sees Ash place the eyelash on her tongue with her eyes closed and swallow it with a sense of reverence.” Get me off this ride NOW. Thank you and goodBYE?!
And Ro’s reaction??? “How odd, Ro thinks, that some small part of her is inside Ash’s body right now.” AbsoLUTELY NOT!
At this point I was pretty sure Ash murders people to get more lard (and liver) for her soaps and baking. Or to simply EAT people. And not in the fun way.
When it’s revealed (or hinted at) that Ash became who she is because of trauma I was honestly a bit disappointed. She was so calculated in everything she does, it feels almost cheapening to her character to make all of that due to trauma.
Overall a fun little story. No happy ending, not even a hopeful one…