Book Review: The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Pages: 448

Genre: Adult Historical Fiction

Pub. Date: January 1, 2011

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Other Books By Author: The Winter Sea and Mariana

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, ""Whatever time we have," he said, "it will be time enough." Eva Ward returns to the only place she truly belongs, the old house on the Cornish coast, seeking happiness in memories of childhood summers. There she finds mysterious voices and hidden pathways that sweep her not only into the past, but also into the arms of a man who is not of her time. But Eva must confront her own ghosts, as well as those of long ago. As she begins to question her place in the present, she comes to realize that she too must decide where she really belongs."

Eva Ward returns to the house of her childhood summers on the Cornish coast.  But she returns under sad circumstances as she plans to spread the ashes of her sister.  Her friends and current owners of the house, Mark and Susan, are struggling to keep it going.  Mark wants to keep it as a farm where rare and gorgeous roses grow, whereas Susan wants to open a tea room as she thinks many people would come for the beautiful views.  Eva plans on helping them, as she worked in public relations back in Los Angeles, but the more she researches about the house, the more she is drawn back to the 1700s.  She slips back in time and the more time she spends there the more time she questions where she belongs. Susanna Kearsley's The Rose Garden is a delightful historical romance with a gorgeous setting.

I enjoyed the character of Eva and I especially liked her trips back in time in The Rose Garden. When she meets Daniel Butler, that's when it gets very good! Kearsley is known for her time-slip novels and although I never really had to suspend my disbelief in her previous novels, I had to do that with The Rose Garden when Eva travels back to the 1700s. I didn't buy it as much in this novel, especially Daniel Butler's acceptance of where Eva came from. That definitely made me scratch my head in disbelief. I feel like he didn't really take too long to process it and just accepted it right away.

I especially loved the setting of the Cornish coast, the description of the land, the history of the house and the politics of the 1700s in The Rose Garden.  There's smugglers, Jacobites, and lots of other dangers of the time period. I think Kearsley brought it to life very well.

If you enjoy time-slip novels with interesting historical details and a lot of romance, give The Rose Garden a try. If you are new to Kearsley, I recommend reading The Winter Sea first, which is my favorite of her novels so far.