SheReads Blog Network: Review THE FIREBIRD by Susanna Kearsley

I am part of the amazing SheReads Blog Network! Which means that I am fortunate enough to partner with some of the most savvy, talented, and intelligent book bloggers in the business. Every month we wonderful women read our selections and review them on our personal sites. We are kind and witty and love books more than air. We would love for you to visit each of us online and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You don’t want to miss all the book goodness we have to offer!  

So this month's selection was: 

 THE FIREBIRD (Slains #2) by Susanna Kearsley

Whoever dares to seek the Firebird may find the journey — and its ending — unexpected.

Nicola Marter was born with a gift. When she touches an object, she sometimes sees images; glimpses of those who have owned it before. It’s never been a gift she wants, and she keeps it a secret from most people, including her practical boss Sebastian, one of London’s premier dealers in Russian art.

But when a woman offers Sebastian a small wooden carving for sale, claiming it belonged to Russia’s first Empress Catherine, it’s a problem. There’s no proof. Sebastian believes that the plain carving — known as “The Firebird” — is worthless. But Nicola’s held it, and she knows the woman is telling the truth, and is in desperate need of the money the sale of the heirloom could bring.

Compelled to help, Nicola turns to a man she once left, and still loves: Rob McMorran, whose own psychic gifts are far greater than hers. With Rob to help her “see” the past, she follows a young girl named Anna from Scotland to Belgium and on into Russia. 

There, in St. Petersburg — the once-glittering capital of Peter the Great’s Russia — Nicola and Rob unearth a tale of love and sacrifice, of courage and redemption…an old story that seems personal and small, perhaps, against the greater backdrops of the Jacobite and Russian courts, but one that will forever change their lives.

I have to be honest when I say that I don't usually like reading a book that is part of a series without reading the preceding books first, but I did so with The Firebird.  I feel like that may have taken away some of the energy for this book because I am now aware that a lot of the story part of book one which is The Winter Sea. 

However, I found the story to be interesting and original.  Nicola has an amazing power to touch items and learn of times past through the object (fascinating right?).   She has tried for such a long time to keep this talent hidden but when the times comes to use her talents she does so.  The firebird is brought to her everything changes and she travels back in time through Scotland, Belgium and Russia to explore the origins of the firebird. 

I found myself really fascinated by the whole premise of the story.  I found the history to be interesting and the story compelling.   But what is more interesting is the way the author weaves past and present with fiction and non fiction, truly a unique blend. There is love, secrets, history and wonderful special abilities all wrapped into a magical adventure.  I enjoyed this book and rate it 3.5 stars!

*Find out more about book one of the series below!!!!

The Winter Sea (Slains #1)

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...

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