The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Guh, I loved this book. I've pretty much prepared that I will be flailing whenever I finish a Susanna Kearsley novel in the future. And the sad thing is, I've to wait awhile to flail again, because I've pretty much finished all of her books. Blah.

The Rose Garden was a different type of time-slip novel than the ones I've read previously. Eva travels to Cornwall to spread her sister's ashes where they spent their summer as kids. Staying with old friends, in the house that her sister and her used to stay in every summer, Eva starts hearing voices and seeing things. Eva thinks she's losing it, even when she finds herself in a different time – 300 years in the past. Soon, she realizes she's completely sane and has found a way to travel back and forth through time, only she can't control it.

The difference is: when Eva goes back to 1715, she's still herself, still dressed in her modern clothing. She'll just be walking along a road or hallway and POOF she's back in time. There is no sign that she's gone back, only when she notices that things are different does she realized what happened. When she comes back to the present day, no one has missed her, because no time has gone by for them. However, when she goes back, days have gone by for those folks. Eva doesn't understand it, but goes with the flow, until all she desires is to stay in the past with Daniel Butler, a Jacobite who lived in Cornwall in 1715.

This book had some serious twists, which I'm coming to expect from Susanna Kearsley. I did not see anything coming. I had a few guesses ahead of time, but none turned out to be right.

I was torn between taking my time and savoring the story or just devouring it. I chose the latter. I loved it; I never wanted it to end, but I wanted to know what happened. Completely engrossing, gorgeous, strong story this was and I just loved it.