Book Blurb...The Rose Garden

Hello lovely readers,

I cheated on my 26 book challenge, I just read The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley. Back in June my friend introduced me to The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley and I fell in love with it so I wanted to read more books by her. So I cheated on my challenge and read The Rose Garden. Kearsley writes very well and intriguing plots that it is is easy to read her books quickly. Both The Winter Sea and The Rose Garden are a nice mix of modern day stories and historical fiction...which I like. Also both historical stories take place in the early 1700s. I know I might be off but I can't help thinking of Ross Poldark when I picture the male character (he is stuck in my head).


In this story Eva comes to Cornwall, England, the place of her childhood summers, to scatter the ashes of her sister. Then she ends up staying in Cornwall in order to help her family friends start a new business. In the mean time some weird things start to happen, she starts hearing voices of men who are not there and she believes she sees a man standing a field that had been empty. She thinks she is hallucinating but then she realizes she is traveling back in time and meets Daniel Butler. Soon she realizes that this time of 1715 feels more at home than her own time period.

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It takes of just believing that time travel is possible but it wasn't that hard to believe in Kearsley's writing. I actually really liked the idea that love was not bound by the idea of time... and that a feeling of home was not just a place but people. Also the scenery of the story was beautiful. It makes me want to go to Cornwall. 

Over all I enjoyed the book and it was a nice bit of historical escapism. But one thing I liked about The Winter Sea more so was the fact it was dual line story, and it really involved more historical detail. My friend who introduced me to the writer confirmed that Susanna Kearsley loves the Jacobites history... which I am okay with because it has opened my eyes to a period of history I knew nothing about (read more). While the Jacobite history seemed crucial to The Winter Sea it did not seem so crucial to the plot of The Rose Garden. I felt Eva could have been transported back in time to any century and the story would have still been the same. I like when the historical elements are crucial to the story. Though this fact does not take away from the intrigue of the story.

I think one lesson I got out of the story was...

"Life is always uncertain. 

We cannot let the fear of what might happen stop us living as we choose." 

- The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Yours Faithfully... Letter #12

My dearest Aunt,

I am sorry it has been so long since I have written. Ever since Cassandra has come my new mama has kept us all quite busy paying calls, going to dinners and spending our times out and about doing frivolous things I am not used to doing. However, I cannot complain too greatly the busyness keeps me distracted and distraction is what I most desire now.

I regret to write that I have failed to visit Uncle and your boys, mama states that I am not suppose to make calls on people in mourning. She said people in mourning are best left alone and they wouldn't want to be interrupted in their grief. I don't remember such exclusion after my mother died... father went right back to work as he had to and I was surrounded by Miss Browning, Miss Phoebe, and you. I didn't like to be alone then. I guess my uncle has Hugh and Ozzie to be with him and I guess that must be enough. I do wish to see them though mama says impossible.

The only good news is soon it will be Easter and most of the town is eager about the ball at The Towers. It s truly my first ball and I am very nervous. Cassandra is so kind, when I told her I was nervous she started giving me dance lessons. Mama calls silly girls, Cassandra says it is good for us to practice as dancing is a sure sign to a man that we are true ladies. I don't think I am a true lady, I have been practicing my dance steps for weeks but I am still step on Cassandra's toes and I get the counting off. I wish Hugh or Ozzie could come to the ball, they are like my brothers and I know if I was dancing with them I wouldn't be so nervous. Actually, I don't know if they dance. I figure Ozzie does as you would not let him go through his childhood without teaching him, and he is far more poetic then Hugh and all poets must dance, for dancing is poetry in movement. I don't know it that is a quote from a book or not... it feels like something I have read.

I wish I could see Hugh, I finished his newest recommendation and I would love to discuss with him. There were a few passages I did not understand about the Arabian desert and I thought Hugh would help me make sense of them. He is so well educated and I am sure from the way he speaks he has been all over the world or at least read up on every part of the world. Sometimes when I speak to him I feel so uneducated. Not by his words or actions, he has always made me feel at easy, but yet I know how more he has learned than I have. He seems to understands faster than I could. And though he is far my superior in education he has such a warm and generous heart. He has not become cynical in his learning. He still believes the best in people, well he sees the best in me, always encouraging me to read far beyond what I am used to. Last time I saw him he said I had a mind far superior than most men he had met. I will take that as a compliment, even if I struggled to follow him and Ozzie's conversations. 

I must leave now, mama calls me, we are to attend the dress makers and I am to have a new dress for the ball. Oh how fabulous that will be. 

All my love.

P.S.- I will keep me posted on Uncle and your sons as soon as I can.

Previous Post

Maybe its a Bit Morbid

Post: I Press on Towards the Goal

Hello lovely readers,

I am not usually a person who thinks a lot about death, but lately I have...

In Honduras

After my grandad passed away a couple of years ago, quite by surprise, we had to plan his funeral and besides where he wanted to be buried, it felt like none of us really knew what he wanted. I then began to think if anything did happen to me I would want people to know what passages and songs I liked. So I wrote them down and put them in the back of my Bible (just in case). Then when I went to Honduras I had a weird feeling of peace that I may not come back, so before I left I decided to write a quick note of how I wanted some of my things divided (not that I have much)... but silly things like I want my niece to have my Mary Cassatt prints that I have had since I was a little girl, I wanted my friend to look after my cat (if she was able to) and I wanted my mom to have my Bible. (By the way this note is still in the back of my Bible if anything should happen to me).

So these are as morbid as my thought went, until recently. I blame the last two books I have read... both of them have dealt with death in someway. In The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables) Valancy Stirling has lived a life with very strict regulations and always trying to please her family, until she is 29 years old and she goes to the doctor and he tells her she only has at max one more year to live. She decides she is no longer going to live in the confines of her strict family and decides to actually live... it is over all a very sweet story.

But it has got me thinking... what if I only had a year to live?

I would of course like to spend as much time with my family as possible. I think immediately I would like to spend any time I felt well I would want to be with my niece and nephews and soak up enough time with them. I don't think I would want them to see me when I was truly sick... as I would hate for that to be the last image they had of me.
 

Me at Windsor Castle

I think I would also like to spend time finishing my work in progress (at least in first draft). I have wanted to be a writer all my life but I have many works that I have not completed and I would like to have at least one work done. And then maybe hand it over to some one to see it through to be published.

I have also made a second family up here in Boston, so I would like to be here as well. I have some other thoughts of maybe traveling to England one more time as it is my favorite place outside the U.S. but if I didn't get to it I wouldn't mind. Being around the people I love the most would be most important.

Not to leave you on a completely morbid thought... and having you think I am a morbid person.Valancy's story is not just about what she did with her time it is about how she faced the idea that she was dying. Instead of just sticking too routine she decided to go out and actually live her life. The book is called The Blue Castle because whenever Valancy is sad she dreams up this blue castle to escape to. In the story she decides to chase after her "blue castle" the place she is most comforted. In doing this she speaks up for herself and even finds love.

I understood a lot where Valancy come from...She feels trapped in a life that is not her own. I don't feel trapped bu sometimes I wonder if I hide myself too much. No one likes being vulnerable, but I sometimes fear letting my guard down so much that I feel paralyzed at least mentally. As I was typing up this post, I found this quote on Pinterest:

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And it really struck a chord with me. It tied to this post, in my mind, and I thought instead of using time on what I would do if I only had one more year to live, what I should do with my life now?

I will keep you posted. 

Sorry to start the week on such a morbid note. I just wanted to share some thinking.

Have a good day.

My world Monday... my week off.

Hello lovely readers,

I am taking this week off from blogging. I have enjoyed this schedule of getting a post done for three times a week, but to be honest I have felt the drain a bit and I feel that my content has not been that good. While I am trying to push myself in writing more I know I want my content to be good. Also the last couple of Monday's I have not had much to say for "My World Monday" post... I have actually had a few ideas but none very good. I am taking this week off.

Hope you understand.

As the first season of Poldark is now over :( I am obsessing over the fan made videos. I really like this one, below, hope you enjoy.

Link