THE ROSE GARDEN by Susanna Kearsley

"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.

Can I just say that Susanna Kearsley is pretty much invading my space and has become one of my favorite authors???? YES. I've read only one book of hers before, that being The Winter Sea, and since I loved that one so much, I decided to get another book by her and chose this lovely little thing.

So, I'll start off by saying this book, like The Winter Sea, takes place in dual time: one being the present, and the other being the early 1700's. Her sister unfortunately has passed away, and Eva takes her ashes to a place where "she was happy," leading her to choose their summer vacation home in the U.K. After spreading her sister's ashes, she's left with practically nothing. The only reason she went to the U.S. was to follow her family, and once her parents died, she followed her sister to California.... and now that her sister is gone, she has no reason to really go back.

So, Eva decides to stay in England, and in doing so starts to experience these moments of time travel that take place within the vacation house. During the moments when she travels back in time, she meets Mr. Daniel Butler, who sees her come and go and decides to try and interact with her.

I gotta hand it to Kearsley in that her writing is phenomenal. I love her style and the way she describes things surrounding her characters, and how she ties in so much history within her stories. It's one thing to write a story taking place in history, she could have easily just written it and people would have taken it at that, but she actually dives into the history of the area and how these characters all have a past and existed in time, and somehow they all just come together and connect!

I personally loved this story for the way the romance developed and how it just happens... but in an understandable way. She meets this man in a time she doesn't understand, but she's willing to stand aside and let things happen so she can observe and better handle the situation. In doing so, she observes Daniel in all his glory which is to say, his good and bad sides. Eva has no control over how long she stays in the past, and ultimately she just has to ride it out until the time is up and she vanishes back to her present. This allows for both Daniel and Eva to bond.

There's another thing I really enjoyed about this book, and that was her surrounding cast. Fergal...oh Fergal!! Bless his sweet Irish heart, I love him! He offers so much comedic relief, and it really helps to round out not only Eva but Daniel. Throughout the story the two men see this woman disappearing before their eyes, and though at first they were convinced she was a spirit, they understand that somehow and someway she is as real as them. They take it in stride and try to help her as best as they can every time she reappears.

This is a wonderful book and I absolutely loved it! A 5/5 DEFINITELY! The romance was wonderful, the history was immersive, and the way that Susanna Kearsley is able to make time and the overall story flow, was simply amazing!

I will now go and buy all of her books because she keeps surprising me with her work!

UPDATE 11/27/17 I have read all of her works and this is by far my favorite novel out of her collection thus far!