Bellewether

“It's late summer, war is raging, and families are torn apart by divided loyalties and deadly secrets. In this complex and dangerous time, a young French Canadian lieutenant is captured and billeted with a Long Island family, an unwilling and unwelcome guest. Jean-Philippe de Sabran finds himself drawn to the daughter of the house. Slowly, Lydia Wilde comes to lean on Jean-Philippe, true soldier and gentleman, until their lives become intertwined. Legend has it that the forbidden love between Jean-Philippe and Lydia ended tragically, but centuries later, the clues they left behind slowly unveil the true story.”

Let me preface my review with, I absolutely love Susanna Kearsley! This author tops my automatic buy list for Historical fiction. She is also the only author that I buy the Kindle, audible and the actual book; so, yes, I have three versions of all her books. I can honestly say I have never been so over joyed to receive an ARC, like literally full on happy dancing around my bedroom. Huge thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks and Susanna Kearsley for a free advanced copy for an honest review.

Mrs. Kearsley is an excellent story teller. She has a brilliant way of blending the past and the present together. “The Bellwether” is told through a wonderful dual timelines, present day and during the Seven Year War. I have to admit, I haven’t read much if anything on this particular time period, so I was a little intrigued.

The story begins with Charley (Charlotte), our modern day heroine who has recently moved to the Long Island area to be the curator of the Wilde House during its historical renovation. Through this, she is trying to piece together historical facts regarding the Wilde family, more precisely Captain Wilde, who was captain of the “Bellewether”. During this, she is told the legend regarding the only Wilde sister, Lydia and her French soldier, Jean-Philippe de Sabran. While on her fact finding mission regarding Lydia, she stumbles across an unwelcome paranormal ally (if paranormal is not your thing, don’t worry this is a very minor piece to the story, but a fun one). She also stumbles across her sexy Native American contractor, Sam. Though both love stories were slow paced, they were none the less immensely beautiful!

The story is told between three viewpoints, Lydia, Jean-Philippe and Charley. As always with her books, I loved every minute I spent with these characters, and ended up with huge crushes on our heroes. Our heroines, Lydia and Charley were resilient, intelligent, and beautiful women. The stories were both perfect and had beautiful endings.

Another excellent Susanna Kearsley novel that kept me up into the night until I finished it! I love Kearsley books and enjoy the jumps between the past and present along with a touch of the supernatural. I always learn something new along the way, too - especially when it comes to the time period she selects. This book was my introduction to the Seven Years War, which I knew nothing about, but I learned interesting facts about the war within her pages. And I found this story was definitely fuel for my imagination. I highly recommend Susanna's books.