Quick and Dirty Mini-Reviews {5}

Back for another edition of Quick and Dirty Mini-Reviews! So I feel a little bad giving mini-reviews to two of my hands down, all-time, will buy everything they write, favorite authors but I just love them so much that it's hard for me to articulate WHAT makes me love them so much so flailing mini-reviews of feels combined with JUST READ THE BOOK YOURSELF ALREADY is what we get. Susanna Kearsley and Mhairi McFarlane deserve more words than I give them but I just haven't figured out how to translate flails into text yet. Maybe one day. Enjoy!

As you probably know by now, Susanna Kearsley has become an instant favorite author. Her books speak to me on such a deep level. I feel as literally transported as is possible while not leaving my couch. Which actually fits perfectly with her books because they almost always involve some sort of transportation. Kismet. The Rose Garden did not disappoint in any respect from what I have come to expect from Kearsley. This book had love. Longing. Deep and complex emotions. Historical elements. Time travel. It was incredible. It's truly hard for me to articulate exactly what makes these book so special to me, they just are. The fill me with a desire. A sense of longing parallel to what her characters are feelings. I feel at home when reading her books. I feel like I want to experience a journey just like her characters and book a plane ticket to somewhere in Britain and never come back. How I feel about the UK and the feelings it invokes in me for no reason at all is exactly how her characters always seem to feel so I feel akin to her characters in a way I never thought I would be able to feel. She describes these places and sense of belonging to a place you shouldn't feel a longing for in the exact way I feel I cannot say enough how much I love her books and will enjoying re-reading all of them immensely and eagerly await for her newest book! Rating: VIP

An Unbreakable {Code} Love

"Any man deserving of your notice will need nothing to impress him but that you should be yourself, 
and any man deserving of your love will see you as you truly are, 
and love you notwithstanding."

--Susanna Kearsley, A Desperate Fortune

Genre: Adult Contemporary and Historical Fiction

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Pages: 528

Publication Date: April 7th, 2015

Source: Borrowed

Previous Books By This Author: 
Find on: Goodreads | Amazon

My Thoughts

The Belle
If you can't tell, I've been binging all of Susanna Kearsley's backlist of books and I thoroughly enjoying it! As with her other books, I fell in love with this one. I've come to expect certain things when I read a Kearsley book and those things were all present in this book.

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // From Page to Plane with Mariana

Anybody that knows me knows I'm obsessed with the UK. England has been a huge piece of my heart for a long time and reading Mariana has, yet again, inspired the wanderlust in me to go back to England. Why? Because the heroine in this story finds herself being drawn to the country town of Wiltshire, more specifically she's drawn to a house that coincidence or fate has made to cross her path on more than one occasion. The first time she saw the house she could feel it was hers. From there we get our story.

Mariana and Hever, England

Quick and Dirty Mini-Reviews {4}

Another round of mini-reviews from some books I've read over the past few weeks!

After my The Winter Sea high I was so excited to start this and while I liked it and enjoyed reading it, it was a very small letdown compared to The Winter Sea however I still couldn't put it down and find myself thinking about it even after finishing. Disappointment might be too harsh a word, it was just different than what I expected. Very minimal historical element which is something I wasn't anticipating and what really attracted me to these books in the first place. It was a bit difficult to get into a rhythm with this book even though I wanted to keep reading. I finished it quite quickly (over 2.5 days) but I didn't have that enveloping feeling as I did with her previous book I read. Positives? It takes place in Scotland. The imagery of writing takes your right to the Borderlands with the harbor in the distance and the beautiful fields of Scotland right in my mind's eye. The book was also extremely character-driven rather than plot-driven. I loved getting to know the motley crew of characters and it made up for the lack of Roman history I was expecting. Also, with the addition of a ghost, it was the perfect book to read around Halloween!
Reserved Seating

Memory of Love

"Ye cannot ever say which way this world will take ye."

--Susanna Kearsley, The Winter Sea

Genre: Adult Contemporary and Historical Fiction

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Pages: 536

Publication Date: 

Source: Bought

Series: First book in Slains series
Find on: Goodreads | Amazon

My Thoughts

The Belle
Wow. This book, you guys. This book. To be honest, I can't even remember how this book got on my radar. I received a different book by this author for review and ended up DNF'ing it so I have no idea how or why I would put a different book by an author I DNF'd on my list to read but regardless, I did and I am so happy I did. Book serendipity strikes again.