The Firebird (The Scottish series, 2)

I've purchased this book because I have enjoyed Susanna Kearsley previous books. Still being my favorites Mariana and The Winter Sea , to my surprise this is a new book that also follow up with the beloved characters of The Winter Sea!! One of the main characters is also a dear one (all grown up now) from The Shadowy Horses . Nicola works for a respectable art dealer in London who specializes in Russian art. She also posses the gift (a curse in her opinion) of psychometry. Thanks to her abilities she decides to help a woman who is in great need to sell an old wooden crave figure of a Firebird. She told Nicola that the Firebird has been in her family for generations and was given to her ancestor by Catherine I of Russia. Since its impossible to prove the real value of the crave figure, Nicola starts a quest to find the true story of the Firebird with the hope to prove the value of the piece. She doubts her abilities and is afraid to use them, therefore she decided to ask for the help of Rob (an ex boyfriend), who is highly gifted in the paranormal. During their quest we met Anna, a lovely girl from the past that grown up as a very likeable and strong woman. She is one of the leading characters of the book and is the daughter of Sophia and John Moray. By a leap of faith she became the ward of Vice Admiral Gordon who was commissioned in Russia by Peter the Great. It continues the story of the Jacobites who fled to Russia and lived and served their King from the Russian Courts. New characters, new romance, new intrigues and more history, of course. Nicola exhausted my patience for moments during length of the story; until she is finally able to embrace who she is. Rob is adorable, but we already knew his character from The Shadowy Horses. A book that will be greatly enjoyed for those already familiar with the author and her work and new ones alike. Beware that you wont be able to put the book down until the very end... **SPOILER ALERT*** You'll find out what happened to Sophia and John Moray!! But is not my tale to tell, you must read the book!

I have enjoyed every novel of Susanna Kearsley's that I've read. She has a talent for writing romantic suspense set in two different timelines. In The Firebird, we have Nicola and Rob traveling first to Belgium and then to Russia in the present day in an attempt to authenticate Margaret Ross's heirloom. The second timeline involves the little girl that the wooden bird was given to-- a time shortly after the death of Peter the Great, a time when a Stuart was trying to retake the throne of England, a time when the English were doing everything in their power to prevent that from happening. The present day timeline is a good one. Nicola and Rob are two strong, fascinating characters whom you want to see getting together. Nicola has always been afraid of her gift and hasn't really explored how far she can go with it. Rob on the other hand is the "old hand" (and the old soul) whose patience and steadiness are exactly what Nicola needs. But as strong as their story is, it's not the heart of this book. No, the heart of the book belongs to young Anna Logan, who spent the first years of her life unaware that she was living with a foster family. When the political situation takes a deadly turn, Anna is told a portion of the truth of her heritage, and she's spirited away to a convent in Belgium before finding herself in St. Petersburg. This girl will steal your heart. She's smart, she's observant, and she's incredibly brave. She may be old beyond her years, but she's still a little girl whose naivete has dire consequences. After all she's been through, you just want things to go right for Anna. Kearsley put me right smack in the middle of that Belgian convent and before I knew it, I found myself in Russia. Anna Logan's story is compelling, and Kearsley does an excellent job of showing what happened to so many of the Jacobites who fought on the losing side. If I have any quibble about The Firebird it's that this historical storyline is so strong that the one in the present day pales by comparison. I really liked the characters of Nicola and Rob, so I do wish their story had been beefed up a bit. But that is a very small quibble indeed because each time I picked up this book, I lost myself in Kearsley's marvelous story.

A bit of mystery, a bit of history and a bit of psychic. I really enjoy mystery books that go back in time. This one is set in today but has episodes in historical Russia and Scotland. I found it a lovely read. I would definitely read more by this author.

First of a continuation. She's😀 a great author and combined some history with fiction. I loved this book.

I am glad I followed some others’ recommendations regarding the order of stories where characters already known, get somehow together in this tremendously entertaining story. Loved it!

I was quite astonished when I learned that Rob McMorran (the shadowy horses) was one of the leading characters. The shadowy horses is by all means my fav book and altough I was hoping to find a hint how Davy and Verity are doing in the future I loved to see how the little boy with the sixth sense had turned out. And after settling in with the first pages I could not stop reading. When you also read Sophia's secret you will be even more captivated... The characters are well drawn and easily loved by the reader. Romance is an impotant part of the book but never too gooey. the historical part is more than well carved out, giving a lot of background knowledge. Places of the plot are always described thouroughly so sometimes you feel like being inside the book yourself, witnessing the story. I even had tears in my eyes at some point... if you aim to read the book, you mighf think about starting with the shadowy horses and sophia's secret, as you will see the book through different eyes...

I have never read one of Kearsley's books before and I am so glad that I chose to read The Firebird. The story flits between present day with Nicola Marter and Rob, two psychics with an interlinked history, who chase down a wooden carving called the Firebird on a journey that takes them into the past circa the time of the Jacobites and across countries to unravel the tale. In previous reviews I have seen people state that there was too much detail, that they flicked through to reach the present day story and that they couldn't continue to read this book. Well, in my opinion, those people are missing out! All of the detail was necessary to build up a rich and vivid picture of landscapes, both past and present, and the author brilliantly intertwined the two stories along the way. I do agree (ever so slightly!) that towards the end of the book the story of the present day felt a bit left behind and wasn't visited so frequently until, all of a sudden, we were back in present day and the events that had built up nicely along the way reached a sudden climax. Although this was not a bad thing, I personally would have liked to have been eased back into the present day story after being in the past for a fair few pages, just to re-jog my memory and strengthen the attachments I had made with the present day characters. However, I was so enjoying the characters in the past that I didn't feel sad we had stayed with them for so long, either! I think a great novel grips you and you form bonds with the characters and for an author to illicit this feeling in both the past and present sections of the book I believe it shows a great talent. The story was wrapped up nicely and there were no loose ends- it was a very satisfying finish to the novel! In reading the author's note at the end of the book I must also comment on how well researched and detailed this story is and I couldn't believe so much was based on true historical facts and people. A lot of time, effort, research and love went into the making of this book and I will 100% read more from this author- I look forward to doing so immensely!