Review: A WINTER SEA by Susanna Kearsley

From Amazon: History has all but forgotten...In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.

Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write.

But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth-the ultimate betrayal-that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her...

Audience: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction, Paranormal
Length: 544 pgs.

Rating: ***+ (Really liked it)

Review: First off, I've read some reviews who have trouble with the way this book alternates between the present and past in the POVs. I personally loved it. After only a few chapters, I got to where I could tell the author was about to shift again, making the transition really smooth. I loved the romance between Sophia and Moray, and though I doubted and thought I'd hate the ending, it turned into something that I really loved. **SPOILER** In the end, Sophia has to send her baby to trusted friends to keep her safe and pretend as though the baby isn't hers. I hated this, probably because my personal opinion is that if I wanted my kids safe, that safety would only be with me. Probably the biggest reason I rated it lower. **END SPOILER** I wanted to see more of the contemporary romance with Graham. All I really got was that Carrie was inexplicable drawn to him and that she was physically attracted to him, and then only small bits about why she fell in love with him. Sometimes the narrative falls into something akin to a history lesson, though it fits in. Hard to explain that. Since Carrie is the *author* and narrator, it really actually fits, and I, as a history geek myself, was really engrossed by these cool bits--but I could see where it would bog down other readers. It reads very slow. I kept having to put it down, read something quicker paced, then come back to it. However, once I passed about two-thirds through, I didn't put it down. All in all, I adored the interesting historical facts and the endnotes that the author included to show that so much of it was actually real. Wow. The Research. I'm absolutely boggled by all she would have had to do. It also had some truly, truly fantastically beautiful lines. Such as one from the countess on having her children apart from her, "My heart is so scattered round the country now, I marvel that is has the strength each day to keep me standing."

Content:

Sex 2/5 (Scenes are implied only)
Language 3/5 (Mostly for what word it used--Christ in vain--I think about seven times)
Violence 2/5 (A lot of war is talked about, Moray describes a graphic scene at the end, Sophia is assaulted by the gardener)
Overall rating - PG-16

Try this. Want more wonderful but heartbreaking historical fiction? Read LONGING FOR HOME by Sarah M. Eden.