Carrie McClelland is writing a story about the 1708 attempt by the Jacobites to return the exiled James Stewart to Scotland so that he can reclaim his crown. She travels to Scotland and ends up near Slains Castle where she begins writing her novel while incorporating a heroine named for one of her own ancestors. As her novel starts to resemble more fact than fiction and Carrie begins writing about things and people that she should have no knowledge of, she starts to wonder if she has the memories of her ancestor, an ancestor that no one seems to know much about. If so, she is the only person that really knows what happened all those years ago.
Things I did after I finished reading this book:
- Looked up Slains Castle online to see where exactly it is located in Scotland
- Looked up pictures of the castle (unfortunately, only the walls remain standing)
- Looked at the nearby city, Cruden Bay
- Looked at beds and breakfasts and hotels in the area
- Tried to figure out how to get to Cruden Bay
- Read about the Jacobites
- Read about James Stewart and his family
This book is basically two stories intertwined. It is the story of Carrie, as she writes her novel, deals with her memories, and finds love in the town of Cruden Bay. It is also the story of Carrie’s ancestor, Sophia Paterson, an orphan who finds refuge and love while living at Slains Castle during the period of the Jacobite revolution. The chapters alternate between past and present as we see both Carrie and Sohpia’s stories.
I found Sophia’s story to be much more compelling. As the novel went on, Carrie’s parts just seemed to turn into interruptions where we got to see Carrie eat breakfast and go on walks, and then she would get a memory so she had to sit down and start writing. Sophia’s story had interesting characters and intrigue and plots of revolution. It’s clear that the author did a lot of research for Sophia’s part of the book.
The only thing that I found challenging was that one of the characters speaks with an accent that is written into the text. I found it difficult to read and understand what this character was saying and sometimes had to read his sentences more than once. Although to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have been able to understand what he was saying if I heard him talk so I guess it doesn’t matter all that much.
If you like romance, you’ll like this book. If you like history, you’ll like this book too.
To check out other reviews, find this book on goodreads or amazon. Please note, all links are affiliate which gives a small portion of profit to Rainy Days and Clichés. Thank you so much for your continuous kindness!
Leave a Reply