Full Bloom by Francesca Serritella, which has a publish date of 8/5💐⬇️

If you like:
✨Perfume, and the romanticization of scent
✨ Books with feminist themes
✨A sassy, old lady side character
✨Women in stem (ish)
✨A romance with multiple potential love interests
Then you may like this book!

This story follows Iris, who, at 35, is a bit lost. She’s recently out of a long term relationship and because of that, is exploring the process of freezing her eggs. She’s plateaued at work too, waiting for a promotion that she’s deserved for years. But when her neighbor gifts her a perfume unique to Iris herself, it changes her life in magical ways she couldn’t have even imagined.

This book had me in alllllll my feels, right off the bat! I felt so sorry for Iris, as she was newly single, struggling with her fertility while trying to celebrate her pregnant friend. I giggled at sassy Madame Rapacine’s ruthless frankness (but also secretly wish I could know her in real life!!!!). I was so giddy over Iris’s meet cute. I was angry in general at men, and men who abuse their power to control women (this was a really big theme in this book, and I want to scream for all the women who have experienced anything similar to what happens in this story).

I’ve never read anything that explores scent so deeply, and not in a scientific way, but in a romantic way, in an emotional way. The writing in this story was beautiful and really tragic at times because of the themes it covers.

The only thing that kept me from giving this a higher rating was that, towards the end, I started to feel like this book was trying to do too much. But the end was satisfying to me still, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Giving this one 3.5⭐️s, and keep an eye out for this to hit shelves on 8/5!

The cover drew me to this book and the blurb then made me want to read it. The story itself, thankfully, lived up to both of those things! Full Bloom is such a unique story and I loved how scent was used as power. Such a great read!

This cover is beautiful. There was so much to this book. This book has mystery, romance, and magical realism. Iris was a character that I was rooting for and she blossomed just like I hoped. The writing and storytelling was just very well done as I could not stop reading. I hope the author writes another book soon!

Full Bloom is nothing like what I thought it was just by looking at this book's cover. It was an interesting and insightful story to get lost in. The writing is excellent, and I liked the idea of how the exploration of one's life is looked at from a different use of one's senses... smell! I was entertained throughout. I think book clubs would love this title. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I love how this book doesn’t just seduce, it unsettles. It asks whether desire is power or a trap, whether being seen is the same as being understood. The mystery, the decadence, the slow unraveling of Iris’s past and present, it’s all so brilliantly executed. This is the kind of novel that lingers, haunting and hypnotic, refusing to be forgotten.