The Rose Garden

Another wonderful novel by this author. I read the first one because I met her on a cruise ship and liked her a lot. Have read all but one of her current books available on Kindle and am hooked. Love her style, creativity and her ability to mix genres! Very entertaining and some history thrown in!!!

The characters stay with you long after you close the pages of The Rose Garden. While I usually like more historical fiction than historical romance, this novel lent itself to enough of a plot that I really enjoyed both worlds.

This book is an enjoyable read! The formula is somewhat predictable with the cliff/hill/sea/charming town setting, charming heroine, two good- looking brothers, an old castle/house, etc. but the charm of the story revolves around these very elements. I was sorry when the story ended.

Susanna Kearsley has, yet again, made me fall in love with characters and left me wanting to see more of them! She has a way of drawing you in and making you feel a part of the story. "The Rose Garden" holds a close second to "The Winter Sea" in my heart. Romance, mystery, wit, and so much more. A must read! What are you waiting for?! You NEED to buy this book, read it, and share it with your fellow book lovers! :)

These are lovely rose scents, except for one, the French Rose. BLECH! It is a powdery mess reminiscent of an industrial strength air freshener I smelled in a nursing home a long time ago. I've tried it several times thinking maybe it was my mood that day or maybe I was just mistaken at how bad it smelled. Nope. It stinks. HOWEVER, the other two rose scents, plus the generous addition of two sample vials of rose perfumes, more than make up for the French Rose debacle. The Tea Rose is amazing! It has that succulent smell of a dewy, fresh-picked rose. I've heard many people complain that rose perfumes, especially the famous classic Tea Rose by Perfumers Workshop, smell like grandmas. Admittedly I am older, in my early 40s but I've always adored the scent of roses and sought to wear it. In the last few years the perfume trend has young girls and women reaching for those syrupy-sweet fruity florals and sugary gourmand fragrances. It seems that single note rose would fit right in! Are you listening Aquolina and Juicy Couture gals? Roses are indeed sweet.
The Arabian Wild Rose is gorgeous as well but I haven't worn it enough to give it as detailed description. From my first encounter with it though it will not disappoint. Now, one other annoyance, the absence of the Sudanese Black Rose. That was the one I most wanted to try! It sounds so dark and mysterious I couldn't wait to smell it. Oh well, they did include a sample of Persian Rose and it's definitely on my must-buy list. It is less sweet (but still sweet) and spicier than the other two roses. It's very complex and almost smells as if there are other flowers blended in. Carnation? Neroli? I'm not sure what is adding the slightly earthy spice but it is delightful!

Although I generally do not like "romance" novels, I really enjoyed The Rose Garden. The reader has a chance to step into a historical period and experience those values, virtues and the reality of a time long ago. The ultimate question is, if you had the opportunity, would you be willing to relocate your life a few hundred years to the past or to the future? Could you leave what you know with all the creature comforts, social norms and relocate? And what if you had little or no control over your passage through the years?
A feel good book!

After reading The Winter Sea I slipped into The Rose Garden as thought it were my lovers arms and I carried away the same afterglow.

The story is about Eva Ward who returns to the old house on the Cornish coast seeking happiness in childhood memories after the death of her sister. There she finds mysterious voices and hidden pathways that sweep her not only into the past but into a love not of her time. A story fated to keep you turning pages until there is nothing left but a satisfied sigh.

I just love Ms. Kearsley's writing. Her combination of historical accuracy and fiction is amazing. This is the fourth of her novels I have read. This one brought me to tears not once but twice. I need to digest this for a couple of days prior to starting another. Thank you!

Wow, where to begin?
I purchased this book after reading 2 other books by Susanna Kearsley and this was by far the best. The review that drew my attention was the one that mentioned the similarity to another author, whom I absolutely love.
This story is very well written. When an author is able to make you feel as though you too could be a part of time travel, when they leave you wishing you could call into work sick so you can finish their book, and when the scenes jump from the page, then I think you have a mosty heady combination.
Kudos to you Ms. Kearsley.

I read this as a recommendation to read after reading Outlander. The story is very different although there are some similar historical happenings. The only reason this didn't get 5 stars is because I reserve them only for my very favorite books. I had a hard time getting to "know" the characters at first, but in the end, the book was great - with some fun plot twists.

The story was a bit predictable, but the writing was good and it was suspenseful. I really liked the resolution and my main complaint was that I didn't write it first.

I liked the house and the setting. Those "characters" are part of why I read romance. A romance in southern California, not so interesting. A romance set in an old house on the Cornish coast, well that's worth a try.

This one did not disappoint. It was an enjoyable read.

I read "Winter Sea" by Susanna Kearsley a few years back, loved her writing style, characters, and the story. Right then I looked for more from her on Kindle and couldn't find any. This came up recently on a discounted site and I immediately downloaded it. I was not disappointed! Once again the author sucked me in to her lovely, mystical, but believable world. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have found (once again) a new favorite author!

Blurb: When Eva's film star sister Katrina dies, she leaves California and returns to Cornwall, where they spent their childhood summers, to scatter Katrina's ashes and in doing so return her to the place where she belongs. But Eva must also confront the ghosts from her own past, as well as those from a time long before her own. For the house where she so often stayed as a child is home not only to her old friends the Halletts, but also to the people who had lived there in the eighteenth century. When Eva finally accepts that she is able to slip between centuries and see and talk to the inhabitants from hundreds of years ago, she soon finds herself falling for Daniel Butler, a man who lived - and died - long before she herself was born. Eva begins to question her place in the present, and in laying her sister to rest, comes to realise that she too must decide where she really belongs, choosing between the life she knows and the past she feels so drawn towards.

Review: Susanna Kearsley is one of my favourite authors. I haven't read a book of hers yet that I didn't like. The Rose Garden was very enjoyable. Full of lovely characters who felt so natural and real they could be your neighbours. I loved the story arc of slipping from this world into the past. Not many authors can pull off time travel, but Susanna Kearsley is a star at it. She has the touch which makes it so believable, and easy to accept. Whose it say it's not possible? LOL
If you enjoy rich descriptions, lovely details, a wealth of emotion, likable characters and an intriguing story, read The Rose Garden.
I highly recommend it.

Having read her book, "The Winter Sea", I had high expectations for this one.
I read 50 or so pages but the descriptions and plot just dragged on and on.
I feel rather guilty after reading all the rave reviews that I will probably try
to read this one again next spring since I really loved "The Winter Sea.

This book was another win for Susanna Kersley, I loved it! The twist in this book was that the historical aspect came from time travel rather than a ghost. I was thourghly impressed with her ability to tie the past and present together in subtle ways. The characters will well developed and I found myself rooting for them all. By the end of the book I was saying "ah hah" out loud. A superbly written historical fiction/romance novel by Kearsley.

"The Rose Garden" skates somewhere between contemporary fiction and a romance novel. Time travel is an important plot device but doesn't really affect the theme or characterization very much, which is just as well as far as I'm concerned. Recommended for anyone who is not put off by the occasional anachronism and willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of a good yarn.

I really like this author, her books are always fun to read and I have read 3 so far. She always has her main character, go back in time, from present day to any time in history she chooses, but so far in the British Ilse. I have not read stories of time regression until reading her books, and I must say she has a special way of keeping ones interest. The characters are real and the time travel feels believable.

Enjoy the way she weaves history and mystery, romance and fantasy, to create a word tapestry the reader can get wrapped up in. I have yet to be disappointed by her and have often recommended to friends.

I was surprised when the time-travel scenes started in this book. It just felt weird to me. I haven't read other time travel novels, so maybe it's just something I need to get used to. Maybe it's just too much of a "stretch" for me. I actually enjoyed the time the protagonist spent in the earlier era more than the time she spent in the present day. The characters were more interesting, and so was the historical time period.

Eva Ward has recently lost her famous sister Katrina to a devastating disease. When Eva receives Katrina’s ashes, she is left wondering the best place to scatter them: the place where her sister belonged, where she was most happy. That leads Eva on a quest across the Tamar River in Cornwall to the place where her family used to vacation when both she and Katrina were kids.

Trelowarth mansion is the home of happy memories. Now, as adults, siblings Mark and Susan welcome Eva as if no time had passed since the last time they saw each other. Eva wants to revive those childhood summers, but before the season is over, she realizes that time gone cannot be recaptured.

As days pass by, Eva starts experiencing odd occurrences at Trelowarth: she hears whispering voices in the room next to hers and she also sees an alternative (non-existent) path in the adjacent woods. Before she realizes it, she starts seeing a man from another era in the house, and then she travels in time to the Trelowarth of 1715, populated by two charming smuggler brothers named Daniel and Jack, and their Irish friend.

In 1715, Eva witnesses Daniel’s preparations to rebel against the newly proclaimed King George I, in favor of James Stuart, the rightful king of England. As Daniel and Eva get to know each other, they fall in love, which puts them--together with the issue of treason—on a collision course with a King’s lawman and his thirst for vengeance.

I thought The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley was OK, but just that. I thought the next book that I read written by Kearsley was going to be as splendid as The Winter Sea; unfortunately that wasn’t the case. The Rose Garden was interesting, but neither unforgettable nor hard to put down, in part because despite its premise nothing really happened in the story besides the convoluted time travel and the preparations for an insurrection that never quite took flight.

I liked the love story; Kearsley kept it classy despite the magnetism and wonderful chemistry of Daniel and Eva as a couple. That I liked.

What I didn’t like was the time travel. I didn’t think that part of the story was polished enough. Eva appeared and disappeared at random, sometimes in front of other people who shouldn’t know what was going on. I also didn’t like that she had no control over that.

I thought the ending was OK, no fireworks either; it wrapped up the story nicely but I was still left with some questions.

In summary, The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley is an OK story, not at the same level as love story or historical fiction than The Winter Sea but entertains if you’re willing to withstand that nothing really happens.

I have fallen in love once again with the characters and story that Susana Kearsley has written. I hang on her every word and can't wait to turn the page to see what is next. Awesome reading! Eva and Daniel and all the other supporting characters came to life and I felt that I walking beside them in their story.

I have read numerous books written by Susanna Kearsley and truly enjoy them, including The Rose Garden. She develops her characters so well and has such interesting plots. Once I start reading, I find her books hard to put down, and The Rose Garden was no exception. My only complaint about her "time travel" plots is that she never expands on how hard or different life was 300 years ago.

I love time travel romances, and this book is one of the best I have read in a long time. The author brings the story to life by painting a vivid picture of the setting and time periods, while keeping her characters real. There is mystery, passion, romance, heartbreak, love, and friendship. My only complaint is that I was not ready for it to end. An epilogue would have been much appreciated!

The fairytale quality of this book was a fun, light, summer read. I enjoyed it. Some suspense but not the "edge of your seat" type. Just enough to keep you guessing. The characters were well developed and interesting people. A bit of a twist towards the end but you can see that coming. Nothing too intense.

The author's writing style resembles Mary Stewart's and Daphne DuMaurier's, slow pace, skillful though massively excessive description, especially in the first several chapters. Eva returns to her family's summer place in Cornwall to scatter her sister, Katrina's, ashes--and everything is still the same, the family they stayed with grown up, but unchanged. As if, only in our dreams. Still that's the cozy feel. Yet in the old house Eva finds herself transported back 300 years to the time it was two brothers' home, their base as traditional Cornish smugglers. Drawn to one brother, she flits back and forth between their time and her own, while nothing much happens for most of the book, even between her love interest and Eva. Nor will it, romance-wise, it's not that kind of book. Peril eventually rears its head with Constable Creed, an officer of the law with a grudge, determined to arrest them, ultimately as Jacobite traitors. Through an original twist in the end of the book, the author comes up with a convoluted theory of her time travel and that of another member of the host family. Eva decides to return for good to her love, and they reunite happily; but the author fails to explain how her beloved has gotten off from being named by a spy separate from Creed as a Jacobite traitor to be tried and likely hanged in London. The author and the characters, so to speak, seem to have forgotten all about that and plan to winter in the manse before leisurely sailing away to more clement shores. A book easy to put down but smoothly written.

This is a great time travel novel. The author has our heroine going back and forth in sort of short periods of time rather than staying and living there for months/years. This added extra excitement, for I never knew when she would go back in time and when she was in the present it gave the reader added insight into what happened in the past. A great read.

You have to be able to have some imagination, enjoy a little romance and humor and you'll enjoy this book. There is no huge "point" as one reviewer complained. It's simply entertainment as so many books and movies are. Just sit back and let your imagination go and follow Eva on her adventure. I bet you like it!

Yet another winner from Susanna Kearsley! In "The Rose Garden", a woman finds herself and her heart caught between two times when she returns to her childhood haunt in Cornwall. Susanna Kearsley's writing and story are both subtle and magical and really draw you in. Wonderful.