The Firebird. Finished 4-26-14, rating 4.25/5, historical fiction, 544 pages, pub. 2013
Nicola Marter was born with a gift. When she touches an object, she sometimes glimpses those who have owned it before. When a woman arrives with a small wooden carving at the gallery Nicola works at, she can see the object’s history and knows that it was named after the Firebird—the mythical creature from an old Russian fable.
Compelled to know more, Nicola follows a young girl named Anna into the past who leads her on a quest through the glittering backdrops of the Jacobites and Russian courts, unearthing a tale of love, courage, and redemption.
I finished this almost a month ago so I’ll keep this short. I loved The Winter Sea, it was my favorite read from last year, and this is a continuation of that story. I didn’t love it as much as it’s predecessor for one big reason. It also tells two stories, a modern one that links to a historical one, but in this book the modern story is not at all engaging. It involves two people who can read minds and travel in time by using their paranormal abilities. It was just to hard for me to care about Nicola and to a lesser extent, Rob. They could do too much. It was too easy. This was pretty much the first third of the book so I made a slow go of it. Once we got to Anna’s story in Imperial Russia, I loved it! Anna is the true star and I loved every minute of her adventures.
This is my second book by Kearsley and I’m still a fan, but do feel like this could have been better. Since I didn’t exactly fall in love with Rob in this one I’m not in a huge hurry to read The Shadowy Horses, the story told when he was a boy. Has anyone read it?
I read this one on my Nook.
Stacy's Books 
I think the paranormal aspects would bother me so I probably won’t read this chunkster.
Yeah, if you can’t buy into it then you probably wouldn’t make it to the halfway point when it becomes more of Anna’s story.
Too bad the modern story didn’t live up to the historical one!
Just my opinion, but that’s why I have my own blog 😉
I really enjoyed The Shadowy Horses when I read it. Robbie plays a role in the book, but he isn’t the main focus. I’ve been meaning to read more by this author, but haven’t managed to yet.
I have The Shadowy Horses so I’ll probably read it this year just so his story is fresh with me. Kearsley really knows how to tell a romantic story.
My mom recently read this after loving The Winter Sea and she was a little disappointed, too.
It’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one 🙂
I did enjoy The Shadowy Horses even though I had a relationship figured out.
I’m sure I’ll get to it sooner rather than later. I do love the way she tells a story.
I love the titles of this series. Since the premise sounds interesting, I might read the first one to see how I like it.
Start with The Winter Sea. I bet you’ll love it!
Bummer, a trilogy. I assume these are very stand-alone, though? I knew I recognized the author name – I think I have Winter Sea on my tbr.
They are completely stand alone! This one, while a continuation, isn’t a true sequel.
I’m trying hard to get to The Winter Sea, everyone loves it, shame this one had a few drawbacks but sounds like you loved it in part. I really enjoyed The Shadowy Horses, like someone else mentioned, Robbie isn’t the focus of the story.
Yes, I like that Wendy said he was just a boy and not the focus. Maybe I’ll get to it sooner 🙂
Stacy, I am a Kearsley fan and enjoyed Shadowy Horses. Here is a link to my review if you’d like to read it: http://www.postingfornow.com/2013/08/review-shadowy-horses.html.
I was just looking at my review and it looks like you read it already!
I checked, I said that I’d get to it soon 🙂 And I will!
I don’t remember ever seeing this book or the series before. Sorry you didn’t love it as much as you wanted to! I was thinking about reading it until I saw how many pages it has. I’m not much of a chunkster fan.
If you want to try the author (and she’s great!) I would start with The Winter Sea.
I liked this one more than you but I listened to it. I still want to read/listen to The Shadowy Horses but it will be a while.
You probably had no problem with the mind reading aspect of the novel. I just kept thinking how truly awful it would be to be part of a couple who knew each other’s every thought!
I loved Anna’s story so much so by the end I was happy 🙂
you need to read “The Shadowy Horses” which actually preceeds this books and ties all three together. I loved them all.