Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
Going to be very careful to not reveal anything, but wow. I thought this entire book was great. It took me til twist #1 for me to understand everything fully I had read. I went back and re-read some of the earlier portions which made everything make sense. And then happily finished this book. It’s a really good Gothic romance young adult novel. Think of “The Secret Garden” mixed with “The Haunting of Hill House.”
“Of Earthly Delights” follows teenager Rose Pauly. Rose has newly arrived from New York to Meadow Falls Connecticut. Rose is angry about leaving her life behind in New York and runs out of her house after a fight with her father and arrives at a gas station store. And after a “meet cute” is run into by Hart Hargrove. Hart invites her to a party and there she runs into a young woman named Heather who seems angry at Rose’s arrival. Rose leaves confused, but can’t get her mind off of Hart. And then she ends up making a new friend named Lowell who seems just as obsessed with Heather. They arrive at one of the Hargrove famous parties at Hemlock Hill and for both Rose and Lowell that party changes things for both of them.
I definitely liked the characters we are introduced to in this one. I felt at times though the writing was so confusing and I was getting so confused (until the reveal) and then you start to get what was going on. I am still going to give the book 4 stars for that just because it was hard to muddle through because I kept thinking the writing style was weird in places because of the tenses the author chose to use. Once you get to the 59 percent mark the book starts to really find its rhythm. Things are explained and you get to fully understand what has been going on in the Hargrove family and the rest of the book, blooms open for you (yes that was a bad pun intended.)
The setting of Hemlock Hill though was really interesting. I could picture the house, the gardens, the maze, everything. The setting felt very much alive and was very much its own character. I also liked that there are hints throughout this book about what that garden was really about.
The ending leaves you wondering, but I think I know what happens next. Definitely interested in hearing everyone’s thoughts about this one.