This book just was not for me. I thought it was going to be more gothic and scary, but it was more time travel and mental health and I just could not get into it. I liked the main character, but the other characters really fell flat and by the end I didn't care what happened to any of them.

The blurb on the front is right- this book is like a mixture of Outlander and Mexican Gothic. It was so stunning. Reminiscent of a Victorian Gothic in the vein of the Bronte sisters. It tells the story of a woman living with mental health issues visiting her fiancees family estate and the isolation she feels within her relationship because he does not understand what it means to love someone with a mental illness. GOD I can relate.

The prose was so lyrical and absorbing, the setting and the characters. Ah!!! Cannot recommend highly enough.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the arc.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

While I appreciated the messages about mental health and grief, this missed the mark. I was excited to read a historical, gothic novel set in an old manor but the writing style threw me off and made it confusing. Also. It just wasn't as intriguing as I had hoped it would be.

Loved this! A gothic romance with complex characters, an atmosphere that's alive and excellent details on introspective thinking. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it and was absorbed when I was reading it.

I was thoroughly absorbed reading through Saoirse’s thoughts and actions - rooted for her, was proud of her and cried with her! I think I'll be thinking of her for a while.

Historical romance set in an old manor house about grief and mental illness.
Saoirse suffers from a mental illness. Her fiancé Jack wants her to give up her studies and concentrate on getting well. Saoirse travels with Jack to his parent’s manor house so Jack can spend time with his dying mother. Saoirse is left on her own to wander aimlessly through the old manor house and gardens, she finds an old journal that she becomes obsessed over.
I loved the way the history of Jack’s family and the old manor house is revealed through the journal.

Thank you to Kensington Books for sending me an early copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Where do i begin? I went into this story knowing absolutely nothing about the plot other than that it was gothic and after finishing, it holds true to the story. I have never read a fiction book that has felt more personal. The prose and Saoirse herself. This story was beautifully written and heart breaking at the same time. I won't go into to much detail but you'll want to add this to your TBR.

Reading 'Where Ivy Dares to Grow' was a slow, introspective thrill, and I was just as excited and daunted by what each corner could bring as the heroine was.
I started reading, and found myself unable to put it down. While fiction is not normally my preferred niche, I must admit that it was expertly crafted, and I was entangled in the vivid realities of both worlds, the settings and tones of both woven with a precise and perfect hand.
Now, I must admit, I was not a big fan of the intimacy that lined these pages, but, I did appreciate the disclosure provided at the start. A respectful gesture, and one sorely lacking in modern literature and media. Thank you!

Cheers for the ARC copy!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

This was a really good read. It lost a star for the writing style, which I’m not a huge fan of…there are a lot of short sentences and instances where the tenses get confused, but that’s more of a grammatical complaint than anything else. The story itself is beautiful. I love time travel romances and this one didn’t disappoint. The ending was bittersweet, but the romance was lovely. Character flaws were relatable, and I loved that the house was its own character too!

Another non-thriller/horror review 😱So, I needed a minute before I wrote this, to reflect on this book. It was INCREDIBLE, so much so I was dreaming about it and woke up early to continue reading.

I thought I was reading a love story, the spicy was SO GOOD And Theo 🥵 but as I continued reading, it turns out it was a love story, but a love story about loving yourself and knowing your worth. This book reflects on mental health and does a great job of showing that it’s okay to choose yourself. I absolutely loved this book and I think everyone should read it. This will be released in June, so mark your calendars.

This book was so fascinating! I absolutely loved the main characters and found the story to be so intriguing! It was very romantic but also bittersweet at times. A beautiful love story mixed with traveling back in time!

The book start with content warning about mental health and childhood neglect. Saoirse had neglect childhood its make her little bit clingy and want to do everything to make her fiance love her. She also has DPDR disorder and hard time to accept it. Jake her fiance not really helping, he feel trap wants way out but dont know how to do it.

Jake bring Saoirse to his family estate. The detail of the mansion was amaizing, i can feel being there. Saoirse not really like being in there, the mansion have something make her uncomfortable, make her "sick" come up. When the estate bring her to meet Theodore, maybe loneliness bring them together.

The end of book was reallt plot twist, i already crying with heart ache for Theo and Saoirse. At the last chapter i feel like WHAT??? GIVE ME BACK MY TEARS!!!! LOL!!!!! For me really, Saoirse time whit Theo was real. The love between them was real. The ache tho..

Thank you to NetGalley for provide this book, it is pleasure to review this book.

#WhereIvyDarestoGrow #MarielleThompson #KensingtonBooks #NetGalley #ARC

If you like a Gothic novel meets time travel then this book is for you. Add in a little romance and you are all set.

This was such a great gothic novel. Eerie and imaginative! I loved the author's note and feel like that made the story even more special for me!

Thank you for the digital ARC. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

Obtaining her doctorate has taken a toll on Saoirse’s mental health and she decides to head home to her fiance’s family estate in France to spend time with his dying mother, a woman who makes it clear she doesn’t care for Saoirse at all. To make matters worse, Saoirse begins to think her fiance has begun to the feel the same way about her as his family does. Wandering in the estate gardens, she somehow finds herself one hundred years in the past where she meets her fiance’s ancestor and finds herself falling for both him and the slower, more gentle pace of life. Fans of Susanna Kearsley and Diana Gabaldon will enjoy this tale

My biggest gripe here is that I wish there would’ve been a way to explain the DPDR earlier in the book, as I think I would’ve appreciated the foggy, murky quality of the storyline more. As I’m writing this, though, I do realize that the big reveal at the end and the dreamlike quality are hallmarks of gothic literature, so maybe it worked exactly the way it was supposed to.
The tone was great, the atmosphere and setting were on point, and I loved the nods to classic gothic literature. Fans of time-slip and the macabre will eat this up.
They’ll probably need some time to get over that ending, but once they do, their overall appreciation of the genre and of this medical condition will be better for it.

This book is promoted as a Mexican Gothic meets Outlander and I 100 percent agree! Saoirse is suffering from a mental illness setback during the completion of her doctorate. She takes a leave and travels with her Fiance for his mother's last days in the Page family's 19th century manor.

The family is cold to her and the dark and unfriendly manor gives her chills. Her relationship with her finance is frayed and she begins to walk the grounds alone. Somehow she is pulled back a century to meet an relative of the Pages. After that, nothing can be the same.

I loved the premise and the execution. The writing created the gothic atmosphere needed for castles and mansions. Best yet, the author's note at the end added another layer to the meaning of the novel. If you like gothic stories, wish to travel back in time, or just love a little romance with your thrills, then Where Ivy Dares to Grow ifs for you! #Kensingtonbooks #WhereIvyDaresToGrow #MarielleThompson

this was a wonderfully eerie timeslip novel, it had what I was expecting from the description. I was hooked from the first page and really thought it was well done. I was invested in the story and thought it was really well done, I was glad the characters worked in this story and I enjoyed how well this was done. Marielle Thompson does a great job in telling the story and has a great style for the genre too.

“Are you all right, Miss Read?” His gaze returns to me and his hazel eyes are just like Jack’s. Startlingly so, I realize now, with the strands of gold that seep out from the pupil and illuminate the world. But this man’s eyes ring a deeper true green around the edges that opposes Jack’s rich, warm brown."