This one makes me want to say a lot of swear words and sit staring at the wall.

Ultimately, this is bright gothic tragedy romance. You're reading along for the first 2/3 and you know something isn't right. You know that the garden is magic and you know that there's more to the story, and all the pieces are laid out for you, but you don't quite understand them perfectly until the moment when the horror is so large and so dawning that it stabs you in the chest. What a demanding, fast-paced read, full of the horrors of the mistakes of youth and the burdens of life.

Rose moves to a small town in Connecticut with her recently-divorced dad, and on that first night meets Hart Hargrove, purely by chance. Right?

Over the summer, Hart and Rose fall in love. The big, souls tied together kind of love. Rose knows that she should be thinking about more than Hart and her feelings for him, but chooses to be blinded by love. The more she learns about the Hargroves, the more she dreams of her future for herself and with Hart, the more she's refusing to see.

Ugh, this was just killer. The last 15% of the book had me screaming. Every character reveals another side of themselves, and by the last page my stomach had dropped to my feet.

EDIT: I literally had a nightmare about this book the night after I finished it. Ugh.

Of Earthly Delights is a contemporary YA gothic romance from author Goldy Moldavsky.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the e-arc.

This was a fun summer read. I find myself liking YA less and less, at no fault of the author.

I think that this will find its niche.

THIS BOOK ALTERED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY IN THE BEST WAY!

The way it was written was incredibly beautiful and I wasn’t expecting an almost fantasy thriller but it was so good!!!

Thank you NetGalley & Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for this arc!

I received this arc from NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. I really wanted to love this book and rate it higher than I did, but I did have a few issues with the writing style and the way the story flowed. This story centers around Rose, a young artist from New York who has recently moved to Connecticut with her dad, and on her first day in town, she meets a boy named Hart. She feels an instant connection to Hart from the moment she runs into him in the gas station. She ends up following him to a house party where she also meets his twin sister Heather and a new friend Lowell. Hart seems to be drawn to her as well, but his sister shows an immediate animosity towards her that seems off. Rose learns through Lowell that the Hargrove’s have a mysterious garden that they throw exclusive parties in throughout the year. Rose begins to hear rumors about what happens at these parties and the garden and finds herself wanting to be invited to the next party so she can explore this mysterious garden. The story follows Rose and Hart’s summer romance and the family secrets that threaten to tear them apart for good.
I struggled a bit to get through the first half of the book. I wanted there to be more to Rose and Hart’s love story, but it felt kind of rushed. I enjoyed the second half of the book more. The more twists and turns that were revealed about the Hargrove’s and this mysterious garden the darker the story got which just drew me in more. By end last few chapters, I couldn’t put the book down because I had to see how the story was going to end. And the ending was not what I expected at all! Overall I’ve rated this book three stars.

My newest obsession!!! Solid 5 stars for this sexy, dark, gothic, love story. Goldy Moldavsky’s writing is as beautiful as it is captivating and will have your full attention from the very first page. This twisty tale had me guessing every step of the way and by the end, Moldavsky manages to bring everything together seamlessly. I need a physical copy on my home bookshelf so I can reread this over and over again.

I have a thing about plants, more specifically I love them so a book about a garden that has a life of its own is of course thrilling to me.

Rose finds herself torn from her home in New York when her parents split up and she moves with her dad back to his home town in the middle of nowhere. Little did she konw that her life was getting ready to change in the most fantastical of ways.

Hart knew something amazing was about to happen he just didn't know that it was going to begin with a red slushy dripping down the front of him. Its the moment when he meets the love of his life, his Rose. He sweeps her up into a garden that is full of mystery and magic. In the center of the garden is a hedge maze that only the Hargrove family is meant to have access too.

With everything that is forbidden there is always someone who wants what they aren't supposed to have and Hart isn't the only person who showed someone the inside of the Hedge Maze.

Now Hart has to find a way to save the love of his life.

Thank You to #Netgalley for the chance to read #OfEarthlyDelights by #GoldyMoldavsky in return for a fair and honest review. I loved this book and I hope you will too!

I don't think I can express how much I loved this book. I devoured it, tore through it, and sobbed when it was over. The character arcs are so well-developed, believable, and the kind that builds characters you fall in love with. The storytelling style and narration were fascinating with their foreshadowing. The romance was tragically beautiful, and the plot was fantastic. Maybe it's my Tuck Everlasting-affected inner child, so there was a nostalgic heartache, but this is easily a top read of the year for me. I want to own three copies and read it again just to cry all over again. And the ending? Speechless.

This was so well written!! I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book fairly quickly and was on the edge of my seat the entire time. There are so many twists and layers to this one. I felt like every little detail really mattered and it wasn't one of those books I had to skim. I am not sure I would call this romance but without giving too much away just read the dang thing! Gothic vibes with heavy emotional topics and angst!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for this advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Rose moves to Connecticut with her dad and on her first day there, she meets Hart Hargrove in a gas station while picking out a drink. There’s an instant connection between the two that leads down a very interesting journey of love. Hart invites Rose to an exclusive party at Hemlock Hill where she discovers that the garden contains a lot more secrets than what it seems. As she learns the secret of the Hargrove’s garden and estate, she has to decide whether love is worth the price.

This book was so beautifully written. It reminded me of The Invisible Life of Adie LaRue mixed with Belladonna. I devoured each page; the prose was just beautiful and every page made you think about the moral dilemmas surrounding the storyline. You put yourself in the character’s shoes and try and make the choices they make.

There was a great twist at the end that I didn’t see coming and it left me super satisfied. However, the ending is open-ended, which I am not a fan of, but I have zero complaints about this book. I’ll probably be thinking about this one for a while.

any book that has me choked up and wanting to sob is an instant 5☆ read to me —

ty to macmillan children’s publishing group / henry holt & co. for an early copy ♡

i loved everything about this. i fell in love with the characters, the plot, the scenery, the many twists and turns. it also helped that it felt very reminiscent of something i had read back in my middle school years (cannot remember the title for the life of me).

if i’d have been more detective-y about this, i could have probably figured out the twist early on.. but i like being surprised, i like having a *gasp* moment.

“of earthly delights” will definitely be making it to my bookshelf and rereading when the time calls for it.

First and foremost, thank you to the publisher and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this story and it was definitely worth the read!

This book is beautiful and heartbreaking. I will say personally I liked the second half of the book way more than the first half. I think that it gives way more context to what we are reading as the readers. This is such a twisted love story filled with magic, longing, and hope. I think readers will really enjoy it.
Thank you so much to Macmillan Children’s Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Content warnings: death of parent, abandonment by parent, mind control

Ok, so I LOVED the concept of this book, but unfortunately there was no depth to the characters, the plot, or the world building so I was just left with wanting more. Personally, this book also took me twice as long as normal to read, the pacing felt like it moved at a glacial pace that it was hard to keep my attention for more than a chapter or two at a time.

The ethics behind the Hart and Rose "love" story is super uncomfortable and made worse by the fact that I didn't buy them as soulmates/destined to be together. Because of that and the lack of character depth, I never became invested in either Hart or Rose. Honestly, Heather and Lowell were far more interesting and I wanted more of their stories. There's a major spoiler of sorts dropped super early on, but then also these unexplained flash forward moments so the reading experience is a bit confusing. I think the plot would have benefited from Hart's reveal much earlier on. Justice for Lowell too!

The cover is lovely, the synopsis is interesting, but I just don't see our teen patrons sticking with this one. I think adults that like to read YA will enjoy this more than teens will.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, and Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) in exchange for an honest review.

A sentient garden of wishes, hopes, and dreams, this telling was forgiving in its expectations. I felt listless in love as our blooming hopes and dreams took a dark turn into 'the secret garden that tried to take me'. Goldy gives us a grim touch of horror that I felt drawn into and somehow I wanted more from the experience of it all. By the end of part one, it's safe to say I felt trapped in this tales ivy tangles. This story was nothing if not a platform for the yearning of that which you cannot fully grasp.

Out the gate I was captured by this one. I don't typically relate to stories that centralize on an artist main character, despite bing an artist myself, perhaps it's just too close to home. This take however, I didn't mind.

I genuinely believe this is the kind of story that could be even better on a reread, and I look forward to what Goldy has to give us next.

This book was perfection to me!! Definitely a story that I recommend going into blind, this YA horror romance has a super unique plot. The twists were shocking and although some seeds of information are planted early on, I didn’t feel like it ruined the storytelling. I honestly feel that the confusion I felt throughout contributed more mystery. The writing was beautiful and matched the enchanted tones of the book. Rose, Hart, and Heather were deeply layered and kept me interested the entire time. Plus, the garden and house had such magical descriptions and personalities in a way that they felt like characters themselves. I’m immediately buying a physical copy upon release date so I can annotate it, because there are so many magical and romantic lines. I can’t wait to read more!! Thank you NetGalley for this arc!

With having loved The Mary Shelley Club I was super excited to read this one!

I'm not usually a fantasy girl let alone YA fantasy but I DEVOURED this book! I enjoyed it more then I thought I would!

Loved the gothic vibe in this one and the creepy atmosphere. It was a tad slow in the beginning but it definitely picked up. That ending definitely took me by surprise but in the best way!!

I'm glad that I stuck through this one and am not surprised that Goldy has another stellar book!!

4/5 stars

This book was refreshingly original and dark. At first, I didn’t fully understand the reason behind the different formatting in some places. However, once I understood the purpose, I was impatient and wanted to quickly assemble every piece of this fascinating puzzle. And that ending left me reeling. I’m still processing. Well done!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing for the advanced copy in return for my honest review.

What I was expecting? Dark gothic romance, but more YA.
This book was not that.
It was an immediate request because of the title. It’s one of my favorite paintings and I added it to the back of my bookshelf cleverly hidden behind the hardcovers to represent what exactly they mean to me. I was hoping this book matched the mesmerizing and enigmatic masterpiece that portrays the Garden of Eden, Earthly delights, and Hell… I was not disappointed.

This is so twisty and I truly did not expect any of the events past 38% in.

This is a story about love, loss, and obsession. In none of the ways you will expect.

From the first few pages in Goldy sets the atmosphere as surreal in a gas station at night, arguably a definitive liminal space. I wrote this before I knew this was 100% a liminal space.

Rose, Hart, and Heathers destinies are entwined so deeply it’s driven them mad.

I really can’t even explain much about this book without giving it all away, let’s just say I am floored. I am shocked, disturbed, and gutted by this book.

Amazing. Easily would have been 5 stars if not for minor things.

I truly loved and devoured this book. Rose moves to CT from Manhattan, meets soulmate Hart her first day and they fall deeply in love. His volatile twin sister Heather doesn’t seem to like Rose very much, but she is still grieving from her mom’s recent death. The twins live on an estate with acres of specially tended gardens, throw wild elaborate parties, and hold many secrets between them. But some secrets are too big to be contained. Interesting and unusual plot, complex characters, and lessons to be learned.

This book was good, I liked the themes it played with. The true core of this being is: how far are you willing to go for the ones you love? Ultimately this a book about grief and how it consumes us.

I didn’t go into this book thinking half the book was going to be a romance, and romances aren’t typically for me. I liked the atmosphere of this book and I did really like the ending. This book had an interesting story and characters but it felt a bit slow.

I think if you love romances and books on grief you’d like this !