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.

I loved this book…. it’s dark, gothic, and so deliciously unsettling.

Rose Pauly isn’t thrilled to start over in a small Connecticut town, but things get interesting fast when she meets the charming, mysterious Hart…. That same day, he invites her to a party where she meets her new best friend, Lowell, and his sister Heather, who strangely warns Rose.

Soon, Rose is drawn into their world. As her connection with Hart deepens, she starts to sense something is very wrong….

This book is full of twists I didn’t see coming, with a moody, gothic atmosphere that totally hooked me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Henry Holt and Co. for the ARC!

Ahhhh this book was incredible ! I want to go back and reread it all over again.

It was such an interesting story filled with twists that you won’t see coming (at least I didn’t). For most of the book I had no idea where the story was going but I also could not put it down.

The garden scenes were written so beautifully they I could picture everything (perfect read for springtime).

And that ending 🤯🤯🤯

Thank you Netgalley & Goldy Moldovsky for this arc. I can NOT wait to read the rest of her books.

I loved the gothic vibe. It is a great YA book with fantasy elements and a secret garden. It was honestly rather complex, and I enjoyed that.

Another fever-dream of a book with a secret garden, and I just adore weird little earthy books like this. It had me staring dumbfounded at the wall after finishing, and that’s quite possibly my favorite reaction to finishing a book. This twisty puzzle of a story (while predictable in some sense) left me questioning everything until the very end. This is a genre blender with a foreboding, ominous undertone that toes the line of horror. We’ve got deep love between two angsty teens, moments of gut-wrenching grief followed by masterful explorations on greed, vanity, desire, control, obsession and the consequences of wishes. Simply put: I ate this one up. Bravo 👏🏻

DNF @ 50%

After reading other reviews, I have surmised the twisty turns of the plot and the general idea of where the story leads.

The author’s style of writing and use of time jumping contributed to my choice to stop reading. I understand now why the timeline jump chapters were strategically placed.

Simply, this is not a book for me. However, I can see others loving and devouring a book like this.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

Of Earthly Delights by Goldy Moldavsky is a third person dual-POV YA romantic gothic. When Rose moves from New York to Connecticut after her mother’s death, the last thing she expects is to find a new romance with Hart, one of a pair of popular twins who have a lot of power in Rose’s new small town. When Rose’s new friend Lowell goes through drastic changes, she starts to question Hart and his sister Heather.

I know that Gothic romance can have the room for not featuring a HEA/HFN, but I felt that the structure of the book in the second half veered away from the Romance beats and became more about Hart and Heather and what they have gone through since they were children. If these chapters had been one chapter Rose’s POV and one chapter Hart and then one chapter Rose, I might feel differently. Because of this, I would classify this as a romantic gothic as the romance arc is the driving force, but it’s necessarily a Romance book.

Between Rose and Hart, I actually enjoyed Hart more as a POV character. He’s more introspective and reflective, but the moments when we’re deep in his head paint him as truly sympathetic, especially when we get more of his childhood. His relationship with Heather is also very complex because she’s much less cautious than he is when it comes to the maze in their home but she’s still his sister and she is all he really has left of his family after the death of their mother and the continued absences of his father.

The romance between Rose and Hart is fairly intense fairly fast. Rose spends all of her time over the summer with Hart to the point that she ignores Lowell and her father. It’s something that I definitely do expect of a seventeen-year-old as a lot of teens in the middle of their first love do struggle with remembering that things outside of the relationship do exist. Rose is also aware enough to recognize that she is focusing solely on her relationship, but she’s not sure how to get out of that headspace since she truly does want to spend all of her time with Hart.

I would recommend this to fans of Gothic romance and romantic Gothics looking for a YA with a speculative element and readers of YA looking for something more tragic

Of Earthly Delights is a hauntingly beautiful story of love, grief and obsession. I devoured it in 24 hours, eating up every single word.

Mostly set amongst the luscious gardens of a mansion, there’s a consistent mysterious and slightly sinister atmosphere that all is not as it seems. As the cover promises, “every rose has its thorn.” It’s a story of young love that reads like a dark fairytale; be careful what you wish for.

Goldy Moldavsky’s storytelling is gorgeous. This is a stand-out novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!!

YA Gothic Horror with a modern lens and prose nearly as lush as the garden at Hemlock Hill.

We follow Rose Pauly a high school senior who is anything but enthused about her family's move from New York to Connecticut. Meeting the wealthy young Hart Hargrove, she befriends and begins to fall for the boy while wandering all over his family's garden. The garden holds secrets, the dark sort that bring everything Rose thinks she knows into question.

Is this a love or obsession story?

Rose and Hart are meant to be, young love driven to the point of madness. Hart's twin can't help but wish for them to part while they still have the chance. If Heather Hargrove is to believed, Rose is a living dead girl. An ominous exchange during their first meeting suggests that this has all happened before and it ended poorly. Easily writing this off as the ramblings of a girl mourning the loss of her mother, Rose disregards the warning... but perhaps she shouldn't have. (Also Heather is a mess but I absolutely loved her every time she appeared on page)

How far would you go for the one you love?

I love when I read a Horror story where the lead is unaware of the genre within which they find themselves, yet acts like the story falls into another category. Rose believes this is a love story; and in some regards she isn't wrong, but in others she couldn't be more off-base. The narration style is delightfully self-aware, which is a really fun mash-up with how oblivious Rose can be in the moment.

Love to the point of madness. To creation. To destruction.

Maybe it's just because I'm an adult now, but I find the artsy pretention that Rose swathes herself in to be utterly adorable. The paradoxical teenage need to somehow simultaneously belong to a group and stand out from the crowd on proud display. This reminds me very much of those I hung out with in high school, it's rather sweet. Also the obsessive qualities of young love are at the forefront of this tale.

That ending was wild!!!

Of Earthly Delights is one of my new favorite reads; lush and lyrical, it's a disturbing, destructive masterpiece. This is one of those books that lowkey makes me wish I had a reason to take it apart on an academic level just to try to properly absorb all of it, and I still honestly might try to do that, once the finished copies are released. I hadn't been sure what to expect going into this, the only other novel of Moldavsky's I've read is Just Say Yes, which while about a serious topic, had a <i>very</i> strong dose of humor in it. This was completely different, and it surprised me in the best way. It's a novel I'm going to be thinking about for a long time, just as haunted by its mysteries as its characters are.

I absolutely loved the first half of this book. I really enjoyed watching Rose attempt to unravel the mystery of the Hargrove siblings and their garden. The romance plot was a little too rushed for my taste, and though the reason for this was explained in the second half, I would have preferred to see more of it on the page. More focus on the garden and its eerie magic would have elevated the overall atmosphere.

For the second half, I just didn't connect with Hart as a character, and I guessed the twist pretty early on, so I was just along for the ride for his spiral. Honestly, I was much more interested in his sister Heather and her subplot with Lowell. That final garden party was the most exciting point of the entire book, and it went by far too quickly for me.

I really enjoyed the ending until I turned to the final chapter and was filled with dread, but that's exactly how the ending should make you feel.

Desperation, grief, guilt, love, greed—this book has it all and more. It’s a heart-wrenching read, but so beautifully written that you can truly feel the characters’ emotions pouring off the page. The desperation, the love—it all hits you in the best way. A must-read for anyone who loves romance with a magical, dark twist.

**Sets down Kindle, and stands while starting a slow clap that turns into a loud applause**
I was shooketh. I went into this novel without reading a full description, I wanted to let the cover speak to me and boy DID IT! You will find yourself sucked into this sweet story, you might feel a little confused at times but DO NOT let that deter you from continuing. Live in the story and let the gardens lure you in (no this is not a spoiler), because right when you think you know where the story is going; BAM! Nope, sorry you’re wrong. Then another BAM!!! And finally at the very end you are sitting on the edge of your sleep, staying up until 1am reading even though you have work tomorrow, and all the dots connect and all I could say was DAMN! A round of applause. Needless to say. I loved it through and through!

I don't think this is a bad book by any means but it definitely is a true YA book instead of ones that tow the line between YA and Adult. I think this book would be great for teenagers experiencing gothic romance/horror for the first time. The plot wasn't inherently shocking but it was charming in its own way. I think its a good book, it's just not a book for me.

Would you o it over and over again if you had to? When I started this book it started off slow and sweet and every once in awhile we would get a flash back (flash forward?). Usually I hate lots of time jumps/flash backs. However this author did an astounding job. What was also done well is me not being able to figure out what the plot twist was going to be, only for another to happen that I didn’t see coming. I usually pick up rather quickly on patterns in books, I still love them all though. This book was so much different in a sense. The love was achingly sweet where an air of “something is off” but you couldn’t quite put your finger on it. I felt so hard for Hart’s grief in the story and I real wish that it would be different. I can’t decide if I like how it ended or if I wanted just a little bit more to find out what happened! Wonderful read.

Absolutely LOVED THIS! This is my first time reading Goldy Moldavsky, and I cannot wait to read another!
The story begins with a meet-cute between a new girl in town and a local boy at a gas station. That is about where the story ends with being predictable. Every page you get the ominous feeling that something is not right, but you can't exactly point out why. Our main characters are Rose, her love interest Hart, and Hart's twin sister Heather. Moldavsky describes the twins in such a way where you both feel like you know them, but also know that whatever secrets they keep are likely game changers on how you view them. Speaking of secrets, their family legacy and famous parties are all anyone talks about, but no one in detail. We follow Rose as she gets introduced to this family and begins to develop relationships with people in her new town.
I will admit I am not the biggest romance aficionado, but I am a sucker for a good gothic romance and this one DELIVERS. Spooky, tension filled, vast mansion and sprawling grounds, and the key to it all being riggggggght out of view. There is heavy foreshadowing, but I believe it is the perfect amount to keep you intrigued without making things too obvious. Each chapter leaves you with just enough to need to turn to the next page. One of my favorites of the year so far!

Wow—this truly was a fever dream of a gothic romance. Moldavsky delivers a lush, atmospheric tale that had me totally disoriented in the best way. At first, I was honestly confused by the alternating scenes and shifting timelines, but when the pieces finally clicked into place... my mind was blown.

There's a dreamy, haunting quality to this book that reminded me of the flashback party scenes in The Mayfair Witches, mixed with the moody vibes of Belladonna. And now that I fully understand what was going on, I’m tempted to reread it just to catch everything I missed the first time around.

The garden—alive, mysterious, maybe even sentient—totally fed into this newfound love I have for botanical horror + romance. Between this and another recent ARC with similar themes, I think I’ve found a new hyperfixation.

This was a solid 4.5 star read for me, but I’m rounding up because I love a stunning cover and an ending that leaves me going “WTF did I just read?!” in the best possible way.

🌹 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group | Henry Holt & Co for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This started off strong but I must have gotten lost in the weeds (pun intended) after the "twist" about halfway through. I had a hard time following it after that and felt let down.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.