The Rose Garden by Susana Kearsley Review/Giveaway

Title: The Rose Garden
Author: Susana Kearsley
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN: 978-1-4022-5858-9
Release Date: October 2011
Format: Trade Paperback
$16.99
Pages: 448
How I Read It: Trade Paperback Arc from Publisher
Rating: 5 Crowns A ROYAL READ

TIME AND DESTINY AWAIT NO ONE…   

When Eva Ward Returns to the old house on the Cornish coast, seeking the happiness of her childhood summers, she hears mysterious voices that sweep her into the intrigue and danger of the eighteenth century.

Award-winning author Susana Kearsley sweeps her modern heroine into a fascinating era of the past, intertwining a compelling love story with a spellbinding tale of a dethroned king awaiting his moment of glory.
(from the back of the arc)

 

First thoughts after reading the blurb: Cornish coast! Time-travel!! Compelling love story!!! Dethroned king awaiting his moment of glory!!!! Susana Kearsley!!!!! The perfect elements for an intriguing story.

My Thoughts:

I had read/loved/devoured her novel The Winter Sea, so when Sourcebooks offered The Rose Garden for review, I jumped at the chance.

At first, I was a bit worried that I would constantly be comparing The Rose Garden to The Winter Sea, although once I started reading The Rose Garden I fell instantly in love with it.

The characters, both the ones in the past and the ones in the present, were able to pull me into the novel and I loved that they had the ability to do that. I also enjoyed the fact that the secondary characters were as well rounded as the main characters. And the way that Susana Kearsley paints the settings were so vivid they come alive.

The mystical aspect of this novel is well done and rather believable and I hate to label this as a paranormal novel because it is so much more than that. The Rose Garden is part historical, part romance, part historical, and sheer brilliance.

The Tamar

“Crossing the Tamar for some reason made me feel different inside.
It was only a river, yet each time I crossed it I felt I had stepped through some mystical veil that divided the world that I only existed in, from the one where I was meant to be living in. It was as my mother always used to say, a kind of homecoming that only those with Cornish blood could feel, and since my blood was Cornish on both sides for several generations backs, I felt it strongly.”
-page 5 of the arc
( printed version may be different)

I have to say that this novel will forever hold a permanent spot both in my heart and on my shelf.

I have 1 copy of The Rose Garden to giveaway.
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