Of Earthly Delights

Gr 9 Up–When Rose is uprooted from her home in New York City to Connecticut just before her senior year, the last thing she expects is to meet her soulmate. But from the moment she lays eyes on Hart Hargrove, she is swept into an intoxicating summer romance set against the lush backdrop of the Hargrove family’s private garden—a place where flowers bloom perpetually and an air of enchantment lingers. As the summer unfolds, Rose begins to sense that her whirlwind relationship may be too perfect to trust. She finds herself increasingly isolated, drifting away from the people who she was once close with. As doubts creep in, Rose discovers that the garden’s beauty conceals unsettling secrets and that dark, possibly dangerous forces lie at the heart of the Hargrove family’s wealth. The shifts between Rose’s and Hart’s perspectives inject momentum into the storyline and provide deeper insight into the main characters. Though the central twist is somewhat predictable, the story builds to a satisfying conclusion.