I don't read Young Adult novels often, but when I do, books by Goldy Moldavsky are always at the top of that list.

This YA fantasy romance has gothic garden tones, and is painted in lush prose and sweet romance with a hidden dark secret. I really enjoyed it.

The Vibes:
🌹 The Secret Garden but sorta evil
🥀 Young love
🌹 Examination of grief + life & death
🥀 Be careful what you wish for
🌹 Dual POV
🥀 Magic is tricky

Make sure to grab a copy of this when it's published May 13th! Thanks @netgalley and @henryholtbooks for the early read. It's engaging from start to finish and will be one teens and adults both love.

Obsessed . I love these kind of stories where love transcends everything. Add a beautiful garden, sulky rich kids and a beautiful new in town fmc. Does it sound like the premise to twilight , yes but it’s definitely worth the read.

ARC Review of “Of Earthly Delights” by Goldy Moldavsky

⭐ 5/5 Stars

“That summer, Rose and Hart came together in a kaleidoscope of colors.”

A darkly romantic YA gothic thriller with a splash of magical realism, “Of Earthly Delights” follows Rose Pauly, a teen artist ripped from New York and dropped into a mysterious new world. When she meets the charming and enigmatic Hart Hargrove, their star-crossed romance blooms inside the secretive garden behind his family's mansion - but love this intense never comes without thorns. This story is equal parts romance, mystery, and emotional gut punch.

Wow - I’ve never enjoyed having my heart torn apart so much, and willingly so. This book completely immersed me in its atmosphere: eerie, beautiful, and emotionally raw. It made me feel like I was right there with Rose, swept up in something intoxicating and terrifying all at once. Grief, love, and obsession pulse through every page, and the plot twists hit with the weight of truth you don’t want to admit.

The characters in this book are so distinct and unapologetically themselves. Rose’s yearning and creative spark, Hart’s intensity and mystery, the garden’s uncanny allure. I loved Goldy Moldavsky’s vivid and emotional writing and how they threaded clever clues and foreshadowing through the writing without ever giving too much away. The tension builds so expertly that I never saw the twists coming, and when they did... I was wrecked.

If you love atmospheric YA with sharp writing, haunting themes, and a romance that burns beautifully dark, Of Earthly Delights is for you. Go in blind - and prepare to be completely consumed.

I was generously provided an e-ARC by Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Henry Holt and Co. via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own ♡

Of Earthly Delights is a story that is less about a secret garden and more about a garden full of secrets. A family full of secrets. From the beginning pages there is an undercurrent of unease, a feeling that something is not quite right, and it builds until everything is exposed to the roots.

Rose and her father move to Connecticut after her parents divorce. She is not happy, but quickly finds friendship in Lowell, and curiosity in Hart. Hart Hargrove, who with his sister Heather are keepers of the Hargrove legacy. Full of garden parties and exclusive invites that are whispered about by everyone. Rose and Hart form a friendship, a budding love. Heather keeps cryptically trying to push Rose away from Hart.

As their relationship blooms, Rose notices more and more moments from Heather and Lowell and the Hargrove's garden that don't quite add up. And the more she explores, the more her relationship with Hart gets exposed.

I loved the blanket of tension that enveloped this entire book. And when we finally get all the answers, we are only left with more questions. This is a story about love and obsession and understanding how to make wishes that have a chance of coming true. But it is also a story that reminds us that the universe seeks balance. And that balance can come at a cost that might be steep to pay.

The setting was so wonderfully done, absolutely what I dream of when I hear gothic fantasy. The magic system was interesting and had so many cool details supporting it and adding to the ambiance of the garden parties. The writing was beautiful and really added to the overall vibe of the story but it was at times at the expense of the pacing of the story. I also found the big twist rather predictable which also felt like it threw off the pacing a bit. That said the characters were well done especially the twins and the way the garden effects their relationship with each other and how they view the events of the book. Lowell's character was also intriguing and played a lot into the foreshadowing of the book in a cool way. Rose was a very classic gothic horror heroine and very much kept in the dark by others and a plot device for the garden's tale to advance, that said she was still really likable and while she may have been kept in the dark about some things she was also a very smart character who did pick up on a lot of the smaller details. I really liked seeing how she was both clearly capable and also trapped by her genre. Overall this was an interesting take on the gothic heroine and cool magic system.

As a child, I loved The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett where a young orphaned girl discovers a hidden garden in her new home and restores it back to its former glory, all while bringing her new family together to heal old wounds.

So when I read the synopsis of Goldy Moldavsky’s new YA gothic romance novel Of Earthly Delights, I was immediately hooked. “A dark family secret, a lush mysterious garden and a love that never dies” - this immediately evoked haunting images of the Secret Garden, but with a romantic twist.

Right from the beginning we meet our main character Rose, who has just moved to town after her parent’s divorce. She is not happy with the sudden upheaval, as she has been taken from her established life in New York City and “dumped” into a small Connecticut town for her senior year of high school. On her first night in town she meets Hart Hargrove and the two experience an instant connection that quickly develops to young love. Hart and his sister Heather live in Hemlock Hill, a sprawling estate with a massive garden - the garden is known for hosting exclusive parties and its during one of these parties that Rose discovers a hedge maze. Rumor has it that the maze is impossible to solve with a mysterious secret at its center.

I really liked this book - the premise behind the garden and it’s dark secrets was really interesting and unique, although I will say I started to figure out what was happening pretty early in the novel, which diminished the “surprise” element for me when the ending twists were revealed. Even still, I thought the book was really well written and I would highly recommend for fans of gothic romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC for Of Earthly Delights in return for an honest review.

After her parents divorce, Rose moves with her dad back to his home town. Her first day there she literally runs into Hart. A cute local boy who's family is known for their garden parties that only the select few know what happens there. Right away Rose is invited to one of those parties and at first everything seems like a normal party but then things start to not add up. Which causes a tension between Rose and Hart. The question becomes, will Hart reveal the truth but in doing so, will it cost him Rose?

The book hooked me right away and has you thinking about what is going on at those parties and what Hart is keeping from Rose. First you get Rose's point of view and then about half way through it switches to Hart's. It will keeping you guessing til the end and will leave you wanting more. What an ending!

🥀 ┊ “ grow old along with me. the best is yet to be. ”

I really liked the mystery behind the garden, but I just couldn't get myself to root for literally any of the characters or their relationships. They weren't even fun to hate on, just insufferable.

The story wants us to believe that Rose and Hart are good for each other but I spent the entire time cringing at their unhealthy relationship. I honestly wouldn't believe they were friends, let alone soulmates. It was so bad that I was actively cheering on the 'antagonist' and hoping that they would be kept apart.

Also, I thought it was a little weird that one of the main mysteries was basically spoiled about 6% into the book. Maybe it was the way it was written, but I don't see any other ways we were meant to interpret it.

This book? A trippy, twisting, time-bending rabbit hole—and I willingly fell face-first into it. It lures you in like the garden itself, with beauty, mystery, and a few thorns along the way.

Romance? Check.
Grief and gut punches? Double check.
A surreal, dreamy narrative that makes you question everything? Ohhh yeah.

It’s a classic “be careful what you wish for” wrapped in petals and pain, where reality blurs and time loops like a fever dream. I’ll admit—there were moments I was like, where are we now?? But somehow, that just added to the magic.

Brilliantly creative, a little chaotic, and totally unforgettable.

4.5 stars rounded up!

I didn't have many expectations going into this book. I'm a huge fan of gothic YA novels, and this ended up having such an interesting concept.

Rose is the new girl, about to enter her senior year of high school, when she meets Hart. They're immediately connected, and Hart becomes her romantic interest, ignoring the fact that his sister, Heather hates her. And I mean she HATES her, and Rose has no idea why.
Hart and Rose's romance begins, but there's something odd about the garden at his family's mansion that is...off to say the least.

This book was a book I could NOT put down. I was crying at the end of Rose's first section of the book and into Hart's, confused, throughout, and felt like I was being mended back together in the end. The only reason I'm not giving this novel five stars is because I was able to guess a lot of twists, however that didn't make this less enjoyable.

This was a fantastic read, and I’m so lucky and grateful to Macmillan for this ARC. As a fan of Goldy Moldavsky’s The Mary Shelley Club, I was incredibly excited to receive this, and it absolutely delivered. Moldavsky truly nailed it. I’m such a fan of the way she constructs her mysteries—her storytelling is thoughtful, layered, and incredibly well-crafted.
This novel was not only beautifully written but also deeply thought-provoking. It explores themes of love, heartbreak, grief, loss, and time, all wrapped in a hauntingly gothic romance. The story follows Rose, who moves to Meadow Falls, Connecticut after her parents' divorce, settling into her dad’s old house. Just as things seem bleak, she meets Hart Hargrove, who reintroduces her to life, love, and the enchanting, mysterious Hardgrove Garden behind the family’s mansion.
But Rose soon realizes there’s more to the Hardgrove family—and their secret garden—than meets the eye. Moldavsky weaves a captivating tale about the power of love and the lengths two people will go to preserve it. It’s eerie, emotional, and unforgettable.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys dark romance, as Goldy masterfully blends the genre with thought-provoking themes of love, death, and grief.

4 ⭐ this book was fascinating. It was a lush tale, that was at some points dark, some points eerie and unnerving. The themes at the heart of this story are love and grief, and the lengths people go to keep something close, even if it is to the detriment of yourself and everyone around you. This book follows the love story between Rose and Hart, but throughout the entire first half of the book, you can tell that not everything is as it seems, and everything always comes back to the garden. All 0f the pain, suffering, joy, riches, beauty, grief- it can all be connected back to the garden.

About half way through the book, the perspectives change, and I really appreciated this aspect of the story. It was fascinating to have an insiders perspective of the Hargrove mansion and the garden, and it was necessary for many of the main questions in the plot to be answered. The writing itself felt a bit simplistic, and I think the story would have been even more captivating with lyrical prose. At times I feel like the author was attempting to emulate this, but having read other botanical horror/ gothic ~esque~ novels, I feel like it just didn't feel reach its full potential.

Nonetheless, this book was haunting and beautiful, and it is one of the better YA novels I have read recently. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Henry Colt and Co. for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Wow.

This book took me by surprise in every way and I could not put it down!

Rose's parents get divorced, and she moves from NYC to Meadow Falls, CT with her dad the summer right before her senior year. Almost as soon as she arrives, she literally runs into Hart Hargrove at the gas station and ends up covered in red slushie. Hart and his twin sister, Heather, live at Hemlock Hill, a well-known house in Meadow Falls known for its expansive gardens and legendary garden parties. When Hart invites Rose to the summer solstice party, they embark on a swift and passionate summer romance that almost feels like they were made for each other. But something is suspect about Hemlock Hill and its occupants, something Rose can't quite put her finger on. She only knows being with Hart in those strange gardens is like an addiction, one that could make or break her.

This book is the best parts of Tuck Everlasting, The Secret Garden, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with a dark twist on fate and desire. From the moment Rose and Hart and Heather collide, it's obvious something isn't quite right, but nothing is wrong enough for anyone to panic. Yet. The author did an incredible job of quickly building Rose and Hart's relationship while continually feeding us seeds of unwariness.

The first half of the book is told from Rose's perspective, interspersed with glimpses into her adult life with Hart as they go off to college together. It's their future puzzle, except some of the pieces don't quite fit. Bit by bit, the mystery builds until we eventually get our answers into what makes Hemlock Grove such a dark and magical place.

You basically get two books: a whirlwind, teen summer romance and a magical realism thriller. If you've been aching for a book that will keep you up at night, you DEFINITELY need to add this to your summer reading list.

The book began so sweetly and then progressed to a darker atmosphere. It felt very dark cottagecore and the flowery facts embedded within the novel was absolutely lovely! Rose and Hart had such wonderful chemistry and the book tore me apart during so many countless moments that I couldn’t describe. The characters and their development felt a bit stagnant throughout the novel but either way, their personalities pushed the story forward. I enjoyed reading the entire book and the ending tore me apart for reasons you’ll have to find out yourself!

Rose has just moved from New York City to a small suburban town in Connecticut after her parents' divorce, and immediately things are not going her way. After a fight with her Dad, Rose runs to the nearest corner mart to get a treat to cool down & runs into Hart. Well, actually, Hart runs into her & spills his red cherry slushie down her shirt. Not used to newcomers, Hart invites her along to a party to celebrate the back-to-school season, where she immediately and accidentally insults the school's most popular girl. Not only that, the popular girl, Heather, says something totally weird, which we find isn't an isolated incident as we get to know the character. She seems to think Rose has been here before, but she hasn't, has she?

Of Earthly Delights follows Rose's journey as she adapts to her new life & falls quickly for the Hargrove hottie, Hart. Quicker than she's used to, since she is usually so skeptical after being raised in NYC. The story was charming and enchanting, and had me wanting to read more and stay up way too late to get some answers. Through the beauty of falling in love and enjoying a perfectly landscaped garden, we also run into multiple instances where things just feel... uncanny or too familiar. The author did a great job of adding subtle hints throughout the story to make you uncomfortable without giving away the large plot twist, but makes it fun to look back and go, "OMG, I should've seen it coming!".

I really enjoyed this read and the mysterious journey it took me along as we experience love through a teenage lens and grief of losing the ones we love. I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys an unsettling Gothic tale with a bit of romance.

Thank you to MacMillan Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book! All opinions are my own and completely honest.

3.5/5

This is a really hard book to talk about without spoiling it, since the crux of it is about the big secret, but I'll do my best.

The setting was gorgeous, I love a gothic mansion, and the real highlight was the acres of gardens with tons of different "garden rooms" and secrets. The descriptions of it were beautiful, I always wanted to see more of it.

I thought the twists were really interesting, I had some of them figured out but not the full picture which made things even more interesting. I enjoyed how flawed the characters were, as they did some things that had you simultaneously rooting for them and watching through your fingers. It was really interesting to learn about their pasts and how grief affecting them so differently.

My main complaint was with the romance at the center of the book. Given how this book is marketed, and that the romance is such a large part of the motivations of the characters, I thought more time would be devoted to actually flesh out that romance. However, much of it is shown in a few snippets covering an entire summer in which they got to know each other and fell in love. Now I understand after finishing the book why that was done, but it still left me feeling disconnected to the romance and the characters individually as well. I think some more time devoted to getting you to actually be invested in their romance would've gone a long way.

I still think this book was worth reading due to the interesting twists and magical realism, but I was left disappointed by the romance especially with how it was marketed.

Thank you to the publisher for the early copy to review.

this was such an interesting read! i really enjoyed the gothic vibe this book had. its a bit creepy but thats what lures you in.

in short, this is an emotional rollercoaster. theres plenty of twists and turns that will leave you theorizing. you can expect a YA romance with a dark twist. oh, and some magic thrown in there :)

the story was a bit slow in the beginning and had a hard time keeping my interest, but it did pick back up so i’m glad i stuck it out. thats the only thing i didn’t quite enjoy. i would still very much recommend this read because it broke my heart. 😚

huge thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC!

3.5 stars

Of Earthly Delights is the first book I've read by Goldy Moldavsky but it won't be the last. I just knew from reading the summary of this one that I was going to enjoy it and I did.

Rose Pauly is our fmc and her parents just got divorced. Because of that she has just moved to Connecticut from New York City and she isn't happy about it. It's her senior year of high school and things couldn't be worse. On her first day she meets Hart Hargrove and there's an immediate connection.

Hart Hargrove comes from a well-known family in the area. Not only is the family well off but they have their own private garden behind the family mansion. Within the garden, there are weird things going on and things just don't seem right there but Rose shakes it off.

As Rose and Hart's relationship continues to grow and they find themselves more in love than ever, Hart makes the decision to share the secret about what is in the garden and it causes Rose to question everything. But Hart will do anything to save his relationship.

I have to admit, even though I knew what was going to happen, I still found the story engaging and page-turning. I thought how Moldavsky set this up (first from Rose's point of view and then from Hart's point of view) was a great way to do it. Having both perspectives helped tell the full story and truly understand the motives.

I thought the characters were well-developed too. It was interesting to see not only the relationship between Hart and Rose grow but also understanding Heather's perspective and why she acted the way she did was important. That said, I'm not sure that with her past actions she does herself any favors. Lowell is an interesting character too. I won't say much here as I don't want to give anything away but he starts out as such a good friend to Rose.

I can't say much more about this story as I don't want to ruin the story. That said, I would recommend you pick this one up. It is well-written, has an interesting story, and characters that will keep you engaged.

Thank you Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and Fierce Reads for inviting me to read Of Earthly Delights! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"In every version of my future, you're in it."

Rose Pauly is forced to move from the Big Apple to a small town in Connecticut where she and her father will be making a new start after her mother leaves. Rose is not thrilled by this choice and after an argument made, she runs out of the house and enters the nearest convenience store where she meets Hart Hargrove. Their connection is instant. Hart invites Rose to one of his family's prestigious garden parties. There are secrets hidden within the garden and the center of its hedge maze. Unravelling them may cause irreparable damage to their relationship and Hart will do anything to keep Rose in his life.

I very much enjoyed the premise of Of Earthly Delights. While I'm not a fan of the instant connection between Rose and Hart, I'm more of a slow-burn romance reader, it made a lot of sense once plot-lines started to come together and they are explained in later chapters. The writing style came across as disjointed but I don't want to discount it too much because I'm not sure if it's due to the format of the e-ARC. There are scenes that play out in the future and they pop out of nowhere so that definitely left me with questions. Again, everything is explained and comes full circle but you have to get through the out-of-placement of it first and keep going.

I really liked Goldy Moldavsky's previous works like The Mary Shelley Club and Lord of the Fly Fest. Her work is strange and I adore her strange books. Her ideas are fun to read and I'm always intrigued by them. Of Earthly Delights is no different for me. The magic and wonder of the garden is developed well and I kind of wish we could have stayed lost inside for a little longer. The reveal of the twist is interesting with a slightly predictable ending. It wasn't hard to decipher but I also look at the table of contents whenever I read a new book on Netgalley so that may have given it away.

I do think Rose needed a smidge more development. When she is with Hart, we lose her. She is so wrapped in the summer love with him that we do not get more depth added to her character besides her being an artist and trying to figure out the mystery of the garden and what the Hargrove siblings may be hiding. I would have said that about Hart as well if we did not get his point of view chapters. His chapters towards the end helped with the explanations but also gave him and his family more depth.

Overall, the atmospheric vibes of this story are on point. I enjoyed the mystery, the plot twist, and the enchanted garden. I liked that Hart is a soft cinnamon roll who gardens, and Rose is the fish-out-of-water city girl. I understood that feeling being a New Yorker myself moving to Oregon.

I recommend Of Earthly Delights if you've read Predatory Natures by Amy Goldsmith (7/8/25) and House of Hearts by Skyla Arndt (9/2/25).

3.75 or 4 stars

✧₊‧˚⁀➷ 3.95/5 .ᐟ

ʚɞ ⁺˖ pros • the writing. it's so lovely and poetic and creates the perfect gothic atmosphere. i started this while i was in the middle of two other books, one paranormal gothic-ish and the other a heist fantasy, and neither gave me that lyrical fantasy writing i wanted, so when i skimmed the first few pages of this, i was immediately hooked. i also love how the book was structured—because of the flashback (i think they can be called that? sort of?) chapters, you can guess at the plot twist, but you're still shocked at the climax. the plot/pacing was very well done in general. i feel like i wouldn't have enjoyed the pacing in another book (almost all of rose's section is buildup, and hart's is mostly a will he/won't he/how will he do it back and forth), but both the writing style and the foreshadowing with heather's quips and the flashbacks made me more invested than i would have been normally.

ʚɞ ⁺˖ cons • characterization. given the plot and structure of the book, it may honestly be intentional, but rose is very manic pixie coded to me and hart barely has a personality until the last four or so chapters. and again, it very much makes sense, based on the plot, but it did kind of tamp down my enjoyment.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy.