The Vanished Days (Scottish/Slains, #3) Susanna Kearsley – Review

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5 stars, Book Review, favorite series, historical, Jacobites, romance, Scotland, series, Susanna Kearsley

About The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley

There are many who believe they know what happened, but they do not know the whole of it. The rumours spread, and grow, and take their hold, and so to end them I have been persuaded now to take my pen in hand and tell the story as it should be told…
 
Autumn, 1707. Old enemies from the Highlands to the Borders are finding common ground as they join to protest the new Union with England, the French are preparing to launch an invasion to carry the young exiled Jacobite king back to Scotland to reclaim his throne, and in Edinburgh the streets are filled with discontent and danger.
 
Queen Anne’s commissioners, seeking to calm the situation, have begun settling the losses and wages owed to those Scots who took part in the disastrous Darien expedition eight years earlier.
 
When Lily, the young widow of a Darien sailor, comes forward to collect her husband’s wages, her claim is challenged, and one of the men who’s assigned to examine her has only days to decide if she’s honest, or if his own feelings are making him blind to the truth, and if he’s being used as a pawn in an even more treacherous game.

A story of intrigue, adventure, endurance, romance…and the courage to hope.

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Review of The Vanished Days

The Vanished Days is told through the narrator, Sergeant Adam Williamson, as he investigates the claim of Lily Aitcheson.  The first person viewpoint tells the reader that Williamson is telling his personal tale.  The third person perspective means that Williamson is telling someone else’s tale with details provided by the many witness he questioned.  The effect is to create a dual storyline, a method often used by Susanna Kearsley, as her readers will be aware.

The book centers on Lily’s story:  from her childhood with its happy, memorable moments to the days when it appears the world is against her.  Lily perseveres through many trials using her own grit and sometimes getting help from friends and family.  Ultimately, there are terrible men using their power over women.  But there are also good men who will do what is right.  The Vanished Days has a few characters to boo and curse at, but even more to hope for, weep for and cheer for. 

There is a great deal of withholding of information by the narrator (or by the author).  One of the characters, Robert Moray, said “All men do leave pieces out when they tell tales.”   This is evident in the way the characters lives intersect in ways the reader does not imagine they will intersect.  When the facts are revealed, the revelations are pleasantly surprising and may even bring tears of joy.  If you have read Ms. Kearsley’s books, you are familiar with the path she likes to take.

Slains and Scottish are the two series names that now appear to be attached to this book.  Whatever you call it, The Vanished Days is pure Kearsley storytelling magic.  If you enjoyed The Winter Sea and/or The Firebird, I recommend you check out The Vanished Days.

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book so I could bring you my honest review.

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The Duke’s Diamond, a Treasure Tale by Nancy Lee Badger – Guest Post

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book feature, guest post, historical, Nancy Lee Badger, romance

Everyone loves to read about the decadently rich lives of English lords, especially a duke of the realm. Leave it to me to throw my handsome duke into his own kidnapping. Finding himself drugged, beaten, and nearly frozen to death? He is soon unrecognizable as the former ballroom-attending nobleman. Throw in a Scottish young woman whose only flaw was being related to the duke’s kidnapper and my 40th published book gives my readers an adventure to remember.

Borrowed clothing, a stolen horse, menial labor, an irritating Highland bull, and tussles with ruffians bent on threatening his life finds the duke in one situation after another. The duke would not have survived without an innocent young woman to share the danger and suspense. Throw in a treasure hunt and a blackmailed viscount and the story shows that growing up with a title is not always a guarantee of a pristine life. I had a heck of a lot of fun putting both of these characters in the worst of situations.

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About The Duke’s Diamond

Payton Hartwell, the Earl of Bellmeer, is on a quest to return signet rings to various less-than-noble men whom a dead man had blackmailed. Instead, he walks into his own kidnapping. Separated from his cousin and friend, and finding himself alone with his kidnapper’s Scottish stepsister, his travels take on a serious tone. Saving her from Viscount Manning’s despicable plans, as well as Payton’s possible murder, takes a turn during a costume ball.

Tara Scott cannot believe her stepbrother kidnapped a nobleman and tied him up in his country manor’s barn. She saves Payton from the bitter cold and starvation, then is punished by an irate Viscount Manning. When Payton helps her escape, they find themselves on a journey into Scotland that is filled with ruffians, a Highland bull, wild weather, and a sexual awakening that surprises them both. Back in England at a New Year’s ball and the second discovery of a huge blue diamond comes to a head when the viscount and his men attack. It will take Payton, Tara, and all his friends to thwart a man set on vengeance and treasure.

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Excerpt from The Earl’s Treasure

After Payton mingled and invited several young women to dance, Lord Hamilton appeared at his elbow. “Yer Grace, can we talk? In private?”

Nodding, they slipped down a hall and into his study. The room appeared tidy, as usual, since his steward kept things in order. He had no doubt his grandmother, Fanny, ruled the estate and the steward was too afraid to take a misstep.

“How might I assist you?” Payton poured two glasses of whiskey and passed one to him.

“My thanks, Your Grace. I wish to talk about your travels concerning…the treasure.”

Payton choked. Sputtering, he managed to swallow the dram of whiskey before glaring at his visitor. Before he could form a sentence, the door opened. Tara walked in.

“There ye be, Lord Hamilton. Yer friend is asking for ye.”

When Lord Hamilton started to leave, Payton grabbed his shoulder. “Wait. What do you know of the treasure?”

“Is this the treasure Fanny mentioned at dinner?” Tara quickly shut the door.

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About the Author

Nancy Lee Badger grew up in Huntington on New York’s Long Island. After attending Plymouth State, in New Hampshire, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and met and married her college sweetheart. They raised two handsome sons in Rumney, New Hampshire while she dreamed of being a writer. When the children had left the nest, and shoveling snow became a chore, she retired from her satisfying job as a 911 Emergency Medical Dispatcher and moved to North Carolina, where she writes full-time.

Nancy is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, and the Triangle Association of Freelancers. She finds story ideas in the most unusual places. Connect with her at Nancy@nancyleebadger.com and:

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The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley – Review

Tags

5 stars, Adventure, alternative history, Book Review, historical, Natasha Pulley, sailing ships, time travel

About The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

For fans of The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and David Mitchell, a genre bending, time twisting alternative history that asks whether it’s worth changing the past to save the future, even if it costs you everyone you’ve ever loved.

Joe Tournier has a bad case of amnesia. His first memory is of stepping off a train in the nineteenth-century French colony of England. The only clue Joe has about his identity is a century-old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse that arrives in London the same month he does. Written in illegal English—instead of French—the postcard is signed only with the letter “M,” but Joe is certain whoever wrote it knows him far better than he currently knows himself, and he’s determined to find the writer. The search for M, though, will drive Joe from French-ruled London to rebel-owned Scotland and finally onto the battle ships of a lost empire’s Royal Navy. In the process, Joe will remake history, and himself.

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Review of The Kingdoms

The Kingdoms is one of the most original time travel books that I have read.  The story is intricate, utterly fascinating and impossible to put down.

A combination of intentional and unintentional time travel moves the plot back and forth in time.  Chapter headings help the reader keep track of when.  The story begins in an England that lost at the Battle at Trafalgar where the French occupy the land.

The main character, Joe, is out of place and time no matter what timeline he is in. From the time he steps off a train with no memories of who he is, Joe constantly searches for his identity.  The search takes him back and forth in time, and through England and Scotland.  While Joe is not the only time traveller, he does seem to be the lynch pin to the story.  His actions influence those around him which, in turn, influence events that may or may not change the future.

In his search, Joe receives a postcard mailed 93 years ago, sign by ‘M’.  Searching for ‘M’, leads Joe to the past where he is held captive in order to provide the English navy with technology from the future to help them defeat the French.  Since Joe has a daughter in the future, he is keen to return and does not want to cooperate.  However, interacting with the soldiers, Joe begins to develop relationships with his captors.  The constant desire to go home conflicts with his empathy with the English cause.

There is a subtle, slow-burn romance underlying the mixed up time line plot.  The relationship, that may seem to be just an aside, will be critical to the story.

The Kingdoms is rich in historical detail, actual and altered, including an occupied England and a wartime Scotland.  Warfare on the sea adds to the vibrant atmosphere.  Sharp characters with complex relationships breath life into this amazing tale.

Thanks to the publisher who provided a copy through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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