i liked it, but i didnt love it. it was a quick read, only 129 pages although goodreads says its 164. it seemed a little tossed together. sometimes things didnt make sense. but her imagery is impeccable and she is an extraordinary writer. definitely wouldnt recommend this book to those who have never read a book by her. ( )

It is very hard to follow, the book jumps around while being unclear. It’s like a bunch of different stories and you don’t really know what is going on. I read this book because the cover and the name of the book was really appealing to me.

Well, it may just be that this book totally wasn't my thing, but I thought it kind of sucked. I mean maybe it has potential if you look at it as solely a work of art or whatever, but meh. For what it's worth, I am not one of those people that is into poetry. But I think those who are might look at this book more favorably than I did, even though it's not really poetry.

This is the first thing I've ever read by this author, and judging from some of the other reviews it is different from her other work. So I will give her one more chance in the future, but so far this hasn't been a good experience.

This book was basically a collection of slightly related short stories. But the writing just seemed to be really poor. I felt like I was reading a young child's poorly written, disjointed, ADHD English project, to be honest. Every story left me wishing I hadn't wasted time reading it, and glad it wasn't that much time that was wasted. ( )

I really liked the concept in this collection of short stories.Some were weird, some were good, and some where okay. ( )

Reviewed by coollibrarianchick for TeensReadToo.com

On Francesca Lia Block's website, there are a bunch of words lumped together, reminding me of magnetic poetry that has been used to describe her work. I couldn't agree more with the words reviewers have used. The one word that kept jumping out at me while reading this was lyrical. I was looking for a word to describe what I thought about her newest literary novella, BLOOD ROSES, and that describes it perfectly. Surreal and dreamy would be good adjectives to use, as well.

The book is broken up into nine short stories. All of the stories deal with a transformation of some sort, whether it is physical or emotional. Not once in any of her stories is the magical element questioned - it is just accepted. My favorite story out of all of them is called Skin Art. Basically, it is about the all-consuming power of first love and how, after time has passed, it is not as great as once thought.

Easy to read, this little book sucks you in, especially if you are a fan of thought-provoking fantasy, as Ms. Block straddles the line between the worlds of magic and reality. The stories seem very personal, emotional; even, at times, irrational. You definitely can't argue with the quality of writing - Francesca Lia Block is a very good writer, but with that said she is not for everyone.

People that are into the art scene will enjoy her work, as well as those who like to analyze dreams, as the stories are rich in sensory detail. Hail to the queen of magical realism. ( )