Where Ivy Dares to Grow
Mexican Gothic meets Outlander in this spellbinding, atmospheric timeslip debut novel, as a woman struggling with her mental health spends the winter with her cruel in-laws in their eerie, haunting manor that sweeps her back through time and into the arms of her fiancé's mysterious, alluring 19th century ancestor.
Traveling to be with her fiancé’s terminally ill mother in her last days, Saoirse Read expected her introduction to the family’s ancestral home would be bittersweet. But the stark thrust of Langdon Hall against the cliff and the hundred darkened windows in its battered walls are almost as forbidding as the woman who lies wasting inside. Her fiancé’s parents make no secret of their distaste for Saoirse, and their feelings have long since spread to their son. Or perhaps it is only the shadows of her mind suggesting she’s unwelcome, seizing on her fears while her beloved grieves?
As Saoirse takes to wandering the estate’s winding, dreamlike gardens, overgrown and half-wild with neglect, she slips back through time to 1818. There she meets Theo Page, a man like her fiancé but softer, with all the charms of that gentler age, and who clearly harbors a fervent interest in her. As it becomes clear that Theo is her fiancé’s ancestor, and the tenuous peace of Langdon Hall crumbles around her, Saoirse finds she’s no longer sure which dreams and doubts belong to the present—and which might not be dreams at all . . .
Title: Where Ivy Dares to Grow
Series: Standalone
Author: Marielle Thompsom
Genre: Historical Fiction
Paperback: 256 pages
Publication Date: 05/27/2023
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Language: English
My Review
I had not said the truth, and instead, it choked me. The weight of words unsaid had seeped out of me and created the ocean of oil between us, a gulf that we are both afraid to acknowledge, that will consume us."
Is there a better way to describe the realization of having fallen out of love?
Saoirse Read has traveled with her fiancé to the family’s ancestral home, Langdon Hall by a beautiful, picturesque cliffside to tend to his ill mother's last moments and Saoirse couldn't feel more like an outsider and unwelcome. She comes by an old diary in the attic and begins to read the entries of Theo Page from 1818 and soon after finds herself transported to the old halls of Langdon with lush gardens that are now long dilapidated and meets the kind and caring Theo.
"Here it is now, the house reaching a hand out toward me - seeing my loneliness..."
How beautiful it is to be seen and heard and understood effortlessly. The two of them fall completely and beautifully for one another, but something big will stand in their way that's not time or fiancés.
....
You might wonder why I picked this novel up. It's described as Mexican Gothic meets Outlander, but I don't think that holds true. Maybe more Susanna Kearsly, who has done similar novels as such. The book is rather short, and despite a very foreseeable plot, it comes with some razor-sharp descriptions of love in turmoil as well as a pinch of spice that's well done. Some events in the story happened a bit too conveniently I might say as it often does in romance, but if the mood strikes and you feel like being swept away, this may be the ticket for a quick getaway.
If you are expecting goth and darkness, there isn't much of that...nor anything fantastical, which is why I picked it up. I like old creaky house stories and attics and such, but the ending does lend to a surprising turn and might leave a reader dreaming of change, invigorated, or inspired.
"Love should not come with conditions.....I tamper down a rising sob that catches me by surprise in its heft, in the hollow ache that seems to have cracked open in my chest."
[Sigh]
Happy Reading!
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.
All opinions are my own.
Thank you!
