Review: Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

I loved this book.  Absolutely loved it, easily one of my favorite reads of the summer.

I'd just finished listening to Winter Sea and liked that so much that I wanted to read something by the same author.  Only after I had decided to read this did I realize it was a sequel to Winter Sea, so in my head, the two books are one big story.  One big, wonderful, interesting, mysterious and romantic story.


There was a point in the book though where I felt so sad about what was happening, I had to stop reading it for a bit. The situation Anna was in seemed so wrong and unnecessary and the result of careless men, it upset me, knowing what her mother had gone through to protect her (her mother was one of the main characters in Winter Sea) and knowing this wasn't the life her mother had wanted for her. But, of course, I went back to the book, and my love for the character of Edmund wiped out all that sadness.

There are two stories happening here, the one in present time, and the one in the past, being viewed by two people with psychic abilities. That might sound a little odd, but it isn't. I'm a big fan of pretty much anything involving paranormal or psychic powers - and I'm not a big fan of time travel, and this isn't time travel. They see into the past, but don't travel into the past.

I also really enjoy the historical elements of this book. I feel like I'm learning quite a bit, while also getting a great, entertaining story. I actually felt quite knowledgeable while visiting some historic sights in Edinburgh - largely because of what I'd learned in this book and Winter Sea.  Before I read these books, I knew nothing of the Jacobites and the struggles for the throne during that time period.  (We don't go over a lot of that - or any of that - in our history classes here in the U.S.)

And it's so romantic, like truly romantic. Like, oh my god, that's so awesome, why can't I find someone like that, romantic. There's a line near the end, something along the lines of, "I'm not good with fragile things.... but I would take care of you" and I just melted. I'm being purposely vague so as to not spoil it for potential readers. I very much recommend this book, along with Winter Sea. Very glad I read them.