Reviews

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

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frasro's review against another edition

3.0

I didn't expect this book to more historical romance than fiction but still a very entertaining book. The ending was fairly predictable, but the characters and scenery were beautiful.

punkinmuffin's review against another edition

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4.0

Carrie McClelland is a writer of historical fiction. While visiting her agent in Scotland, she finds herself drawn to Slains Castle at Cruden Bay near Aberdeen. The book she's trying to write revolves around the failed attempt in 1708 to bring young King James back to Scotland and overturn the hated Union. Much of the plotting happened at Slains, on the north-east coast. Its Earl was the Lord High Constable of Scotland and with his mother, the widowed Countess, they rallied the Jacobites to their cause.

But Carrie's book needs a character who can observe and describe these events through her own personal experience. Thanks to her father's obsession with family history, she finds the perfect narrator: young Sophia Paterson. Sophia is an orphan and a distant relation to the Errolls of Slains. She's endured much in her young life, especially at the hands of her recently deceased uncle and guardian. She comes to Slains hoping for kindness and finds much more.

Meanwhile, Carrie starts experiencing strange coincidences as her novel takes shape. Life and history imitate art as her book almost writes itself. And in the small town of Cruden Bay she finds herself the object of one man's attention while another's face becomes that of her novel's hero...

michelle_mcmaster's review against another edition

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5.0

Very good book! I really enjoyed it.

avl_book_girl's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

dotreadsbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

I'm a huge fan of Susanna Kearsley and after reading this my love has grown even more. I was not expecting such a great story because the beginning was a little slow and the book as a whole is quiet chatty. One of my main complaints about Kearsley's novels is that she doesn't seem to go deep enough into the male characters. This story was an exception. I felt like I understood John and Graham because I spent time with them. How hard must it be to write a story that takes place in a dark and cold seaside castle and make it bloom with love and hope. I found this story to be realistic and amazingly mature. I seriously can't stop thinking about it and will probably read it again.

suvata's review against another edition

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5.0

I feel like I’m cheating on Diana Gabaldon because I loved this dual-time historical romance (the first of the Slain series).

History has all but forgotten the spring of 1708, when an invasion 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 can know the truth of what did happen all those years ago – a tale of love and loyalty…and ultimate betrayal.