The Winter Sea (The Scottish series, 1)

Michelle Millet

So very good!

"As a best-selling historical fiction author, Carrie McClelland is accustomed to her characters speaking to her. And once again, that same fire and inspiration is beginning to flood her dreams as she embarks on her latest project: a novel set during the attempt to restore Jacobite James Stuart to the Scottish throne in 1708. Embracing historical accuracy to a fault, Carrie decides to relocate to a small cottage within shouting distance of the ruined Slains Castle where much of her story takes place. And in a move seemingly decided by fate decides to use the name of her own ancestor, Sophia Paterson, as her heroine. While staying at Cruden Bay, Sophia's story begins to flow with an ease previously inexperienced by Carrie. Aided by the amiable locals and her friendly landlord (not to mention his two very charming sons) Carrie slowly realizes that every insignificant detail, every plot twist, even the layout of the castle she has been spot on in writing about -- even before she learned the historical facts. As the line between history and fiction continues to blur for Carrie, she finds herself drawn to her ancestor Sophia who faced heartbreak beyond compare and joy without measure. All of which lead her to question, what if we could tap into the memories stored in our very genes? When I first heard about The Winter Sea as a sort of time-travel romance I was intrigued. The only book like that I had previously read was Diana Gabaldon's Outlander, which while fun, didn't ultimately do much for me. So happily unawares at what I was getting myself into, I started The Winter Sea expecting such similar tepid fare. How utterly wrong I was. The Winter Sea is like Outlander's more mature, more experienced, intelligent older sister saturated with honest, real emotions and historical treasures like the descriptions of the French court at Saint-Germain and Sophia's stay at Slains Castle. Yet despite the profusion of history described, The Winter Sea is never once plodding or boring. Quite the opposite, in fact. The two stories of Carrie and Sophia were woven seamlessly together. I was always anxious to find out how Carrie would fare in Cruden Bay with her two very different, yet, similar suitors but I quickly became desperate to discover how the bright Sophia would fare in such turbulent times. Because Susanna Kearsley did not let that woman travel the easy road in no way, shape, or form. But thankfully, she did surround Sophia with people who loved her and watched out for her, including the brilliant Countess of Erroll who gave this piece of piercingly accurate advice after Sophia went through some truly heartbreaking events. 'I do promise that you will survive this. Faith, my own heart is so scattered round the country now, I marvel that it has the strength each day to keep me standing. But it does,' she said, and drawing in a steady breath she pulled back just enough to raise a hand to wipe Sophia's tears. 'It does. And so will yours.' 'How can you be so sure?' 'Because it is a heart, and knows no better.' "It knows no better." That very line right there got struck right in my heart. The sensitivity and depth of emotion in these chapters did not just induce minor sniffling on my part, but full-out shoulders-shaking, tears-streaming crying. And all because Ms. Kearsley's characters had sunk their lovely hooks deep into my heart and refused to let go. But never fear, because despite my extreme worry that Ms. Kearsley would not be able to give these people I had fallen quite in love with the happily ever after they deserved (you can't change history after all), she somehow pulled it off. Beautifully. To me, this story is all about the power of hope and love and learning to never give up. A truly beautiful book that I would recommend to anyone. ["

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April 18, 2013 Verified Purchase

dillon cutler

3/5 Stars

"The Winter Sea was a decent read, but it didn’t leave a lasting impression. The premise is interesting, and the dual timeline idea has a lot of potential. I enjoyed the historical elements and the setting, but the writing itself didn’t quite pull me in—it felt a bit flat at times. I also wish the main character had more of a spark. She was fine, but I kept waiting for her to really stand out or do something that made me connect with her more, and it never quite happened. The story moves at a slow pace, and while some readers might find that cozy or relaxing, I found myself getting a little bored in places. The ending was predictable—I saw it coming pretty early on—so it didn’t have much impact on me. Overall, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. If you like slower, quieter historical fiction with a light romantic thread, you might enjoy it more than I did. ["

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April 25, 2025 Verified Purchase

Sarah

For fans of Outlander

"So here I find myself, with a type of novel I have held no particular interest in for quite some time, a romance, that is saved by its historical context, and a touch of magic, or science, depending on how you look at it. And though I have no particular urge to go on a romance read-a-thon, it was a very welcome reading-slump-buster. This is really two stories in one. The first is that of Carrie, a historical fiction writer, who wants to tell the story of James Stewart, whose throne was stolen from him and his Jacobite supporters, especially Nathaniel Hooke. She’s been attempting to write in France at the palace of St Germain where Stewart lived in exile, but finds no inspiration there. On a chance visit to her agent in Scotland, she stumbles upon Slains Castle, and hears the voices of her characters finally come to life. As she writes, she discovers many details are history, with not a shred of fiction. We are also given access to the story she is writing, and the chapters frequently alter between past and present. The story she writes is of Sophia, who finds herself in the household of the Countess of Errol, a staunch Jacobite. This is the story that really stole the show though I hadn’t expected it to. Sophia is not an active player in the Jacobite uprisings, merely a passive observer for the most part, but her story is both joyful and tragic, enchanting and haunting. I ripped through these pages as I cannot recall having done in months. The romance is told beautifully. There are no sex scenes (they merely fade to black) and I think perhaps that is the most appealing aspect of the entire novel. It allowed the romance itself to take center stage and truly be felt by the reader. Though I could not tell you much about the truth of these events as the author has written them, I was impressed by the afterword (which I always read!) and it seemed to me that she had done very thorough research and perhaps even included a couple of the locals of Cruden Bay in Carrie’s story. The writing was superb, even if the Doric speech was almost untranslatable to my eyes. But it is Scotland and it lent the story a great deal of authenticity. I will definitely be checking out Kearsley’s other works in the future (I’ve been eyeing The Firebird for awhile) and would heartily recommend this to fans of historical romance and certainly to fans of Outlander and Diana Gabaldon. ["

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January 18, 2018 Verified Purchase

S. Patterson

Classic Susanna Kearsley!

"Did this book have some cheesy moments? Yes. Did it follow Susanna Kearsley's usual tried and true formula? Yes. Were there some less than perfect plot points and things I would have preferred to turn out differently? Yes. Did any of the aforementioned hinder my ability to become completely absorbed in this book and ultimately fall in love with it? NOPE! While the Rose Garden still remains my favorite book of hers so far, I thoroughly enjoyed the Winter Sea and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others. I imagine the first Susanna Kearsley book anyone reads is going to be his or her favorite. My experience reading her work for the first time was just wonderful. I love how she weaves some paranormal element into her stories, creates incredibly rich settings and uses the past and present to create unique stories that draw you in and never quite let go. I have a hard time coming back to reality once I get wrapped up in one of her books, and the Winter Sea was no exception. The Winter Sea is actually two stories in one. We have Carrie, a writer in present day, who has traveled to Scotland in hopes of finishing her newest novel set in the early 1700s. Then there is Sophia, an orphan living at Slains castle in the 1700s around the time of one of the earlier Jacobite rebellions. While Carrie initially thinks Sophia is merely the character at the forefront of her new novel, Carrie soon realizes Sophia and her experiences may be more firmly rooted in fact rather than fiction. Both story lines feature good romances, but I was more drawn to Sophia and wished for more time with her and John. While the genetic memory plot point seemed to be a bit far fetched at times, it was fascinating to read about and caused me to reflect on whether such things could in fact be possible. How amazing would it be to be able to recall the memories of your own distant ancestors from a time period entirely different from the one you live in? It's an interesting time travel concept and made for a very engaging read. Near the end, the novel does take a dark turn -- notably dark in comparison to other books I've read by Susanna Kearsley. It really took me by surprise and kind of put me in a funk up until the end of the book. I've noticed other reviewers who were bothered by this so I think it's worth mentioning. However, I was still able to enjoy the book and loved it even if there were a few events I would have changed. Also worth mentioning is the romance -- it's almost over before it's even started here and I found myself wanting more. But the ending is still happy, and was satisfying enough for me in the end. If you love Susanna Kearsley or just enjoy reading in general, definitely check this one out. My review definitely doesn't do it justice! ["

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December 29, 2014 Verified Purchase

Terry J. Martin

Beautiful read - loved it

"Totally wonderful beautiful story that takes place in Scotland in the present as well as in the early 1700's. Not time travel but a totally different concept of looking back at time long gone by. Carolyn McClelland is a successful writer of historical novels and has come to Scotland to get closer to the site of her next novel. She has been in France where King James was exiled and intended to place the novel in that setting, but it was not working. Her hero, Nathaniel Hooke, was not coming to life for her. When she visits her publisher/friend in Scotland she gets a feeling that perhaps she should stay and see if it works better to write in the area of Slains Castle which is now in ruins. Some of the events she plans to write about had taken place there. The beauty of this story is that the chapters about what is happening to Carolyn are written in the first person. We share the beginnings of a personal romance with her as well as her uneasiness about what is happening with writing this book. At times she feels her characters talk to her and it is as if they are writing the story and she is living it. She makes up names for the characters and then research shows that such a person really existed in the time and place that she has placed them in her story. Through this, Carolyn has a romance of her own developing. I had not looked at the reviews for this book before reading it, but early on I thought to myself that the writing reminded me of Mary Stewart's writing. Now I see that others have also mentioned that. I read all of Mary Stewart's books many many years ago and had not thought about them in years. I only felt that way about Carolyn's part of the story but not the book she is writing. The chapters of Carolyn's book (and they are all part of this book) are not written in the first person. The heroine is Sophie, an ancestor of Carolyn's from over 300 years ago. Her hero, John Moray, is not the hero she planned on, but there he was! He looks much like the man Carolyn is falling in love with, but she knows she has imagined him that way because of her feelings for Graham. At first I was really into Carolyn's story and not so interested in the book story about Sophie. I am not sure how far I was into it when I found myself loving the book story and Carolyn's story became more secondary. Good writing by this author, Susanna Kearsley! As I read there were so many questions that both Carolyn and I were trying to figure out. Is what is happening to her some kind of memory in her DNA, is she psychic, are there ghosts? Sophie was her ancestor and she is living in the very place that these things happened 300 years ago. Why and how is she living Sophie's story through writing it and literally seeing the places and the people as it unfolds? This is a true historical novel and it appears to be a very well researched one. It gives the reader a real look into just one small group of people and the parts they were playing in attempting to bring king James back to Scotland in the very early 1700's. It really brings to life the intrigue that must have taken place in those unsettled times, and the characters, who really existed, do come to life Last but not least, this is a love story. Two actually. Carolyn's is safe and really a nice pleasant story. Sophie's is not safe nor is it simple. Not a lot of books make me cry. This one did. More than once. It's sweet, beautiful, frightening, tragic, sad - and I am not going to tell you how it ends, but it is with a twist. I had to leave it for a couple of hours about 60 pages from the end, and that was REALLY HARD. I dove back into it the minute I could. If you love historical romances and especially Scotland, you will love this book. It's a real quality read and a beautiful love story. It's not YA, but there is nothing in it that a teen should not read. ["

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July 7, 2011 Verified Purchase