“Gardens change. They’re supposed to. There are seasons to it all. New eras, new flowers, new storms that threaten to uproot it all. That’s why I love them so much, because if a garden can change and still be beautiful, why can’t we?”
― Ashley Poston, The Someday Garden

The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston is a glittery, beautifully written piece of paranormal romance/magical realism. Ashley Poston has written a number of magical romances, but this one may be my favorite so far, mostly due to the gorgeous flowers, the setting, and a cranky goose. This book is full of whimsy and grief and learning to love again after loss.

Sophie Drear and her best friend visit Lilymoor House in coastal Maine and are blown away by the gardens and the historic home. They make a plan to visit again ten years later, no matter where they are in life. Flash forward ten years and Sophie has secured a temporary summer job as a horticulturist at Lilymoor House to help revive the gardens in time for the home’s bicentennial anniversary. (She’s on loan from the New York Botanical gardens, of course).

The gardens are magical, full of beauty, mystery, quirky people, and one very grumpy goose, but said gardens have been neglected for years with some closed to the public. Sophie has a short period of time to bring the gardens back to life in time for the celebration, something that is both overwhelming, yet she hopes achievable.

While walking the gardens one day, she finds a mysterious door that she has never seen before that leads to another neglected garden that she doesn’t remember seeing on the map. In the garden, she finds a man sleeping, a man who is brusque when she wakes him to tell him the garden is about to close. When Sophie brings up the mystery garden to Lilymoor’s owner, she has no idea what Sophie is talking about. Sophie goes back to explore the mystery garden again, only to see that the door is gone. Throughout the summer, the door keeps appearing in different places with the man still trapped inside and the secret and unfinished garden growing around him. Sophie spends her summer caring for the gardens, dealing with her growing feelings for Lilymoor and its residents, and trying to understand why Lilymoor has brought a hidden door, and a hidden man, to her attention.

“It’s a privilege to waste time – waste as much of it as you can. On things you love, on things you enjoy, on moments that make you so happy you could burst. And in the end, if you do it right, none of it will have been a waste at all.”
― Ashley Poston, The Someday Garden