Book Review: The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

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...

Buy this book here: The Winter Sea  

Title: The Winter Sea

Author: Susanna Kearsley

Pages: 544

Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.

I really really enjoyed this book. So much so that I am planning on buying another book by Susanna Kearsley sometime in the near future.The book felt unique from anything else I have ever read. It was elegantly written and the story was charming. I really enjoyed the experience!

The beginning of the novel took me a little while to get into. Its not that it was boring, it just didn't immediately draw me in like some books I have read. You know how there is usually a point in a book where you realize that it is really good and you can't wait to recommend it to someone?!? Well, that point didn't come, for me at least, until the very end. All through the book I thought, oh this is good, but it was really the ending that I was like 'this is awesome'!! 

The book focuses on Carrie McClelland, who is writing a novel set in 1708 Scotland. Every other chapter throughout the book switches between Carrie's life and then a chapter from Carrie's novel. It was a really interesting way to read a book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt that it kept the book moving quickly, because no matter which setting I was currently reading about, I was curious about the opposite one. 

The only thing that I didn't really like about the book was the explanation given for the 'ancestral memories' that Carrie was experiencing. Kearsley tried to give a scientific explanation for it, but I felt that it was inadequate in making it seem believable. I think I would have been more comfortable with a more magical explanation than trying to bring in DNA and the inheritance of genes. It just seemed out of place.

I would recommend this book to everyone! It is a good, fun read! It is light and airy, the plot is interesting, and the characters are likable. Overall I would give the book a 4 arrow rating!