THE WINTER SEA by Susanna Kearsley

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, Carie 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...

I love this one =] OH I LOVE THIS ONE. Now to be completely honest, although I do have a nice soft spot for historical fiction, I don't usually actively go out and seek it in the fiction section for some light reading if you catch my drift. But for a lot of those times whenever I am literally just wasting time in Barnes and Noble, browsing the shelves and looking for titles or books to jump out at me, Susanna Kearsley is always one author that I always reach for and look at but never buy. Luckily I finally decided to do so!!

I think first and foremost is her writing. She has this maturity in the way she writes, but it isn't outdated, it isn't wordy, and it definitely isn't aged in any real sense of the word. In reality, it has that weight to it while you read it, so you know that this is a legit story. It's hard to really describe...but I think any writer can understand that once you take on the choice to write from a historical standpoint, then you instantly age your writing and the way your characters speak to fit the period...sometimes it comes out forced or awkward and at times mediocre but Susanna does a great job in finding that good middle ground in the way the writing flows. It fits the story line and the time period but stays relatively modern in the way certain things are expressed and details portrayed. It made reading easy and enjoyable and I absolutely love it.

I also really enjoy the two storylines in one, and how they interconnect. It's not just the castle she is staying at, or the people that she meets that spur on this sense of deja-vu, but that they are all literally connected, just separated by time.

If there's anything I didn't love about this book it was the actual storyline of Carrie in her present day. It was enough to suit the needs of the book, and to fulfill the plot but I fell like a bit more on her side would have been nice. It was always quick, and revolving around the information that goes into her story, in which case you were flung back into the historical fiction story that she is writing. I just thought it would be nice to have some time with Carrie to fully better understand her situation and take in the moments that lead up to certain encounters.

I definitely give this thing a 4.5/5! I loved everything about it and I'm going out to buy more of her books when I can!! Actually I already did....it's sitting on my TBR shelf....they're so pretty :)

If you'd like I have a video up on my youtube channel of this book, as well as Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead!! Fell free to check it out if you'd like!