A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley
This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.
I have some pretty mixed feelings about this book. I liked it well enough but I didn't fall in love with it as I had expected to do. This is a story that is told in two timelines and I found that I really enjoyed one timeline much more than the other which usually makes it a little harder to completely enjoy a novel. I am glad that I decided to finally pick this one up and did enjoy the overall experience.
As I mentioned, this book is told in two timelines. The first timeline is focused on Sara. Sara was a really interesting character that I found myself liking her right away. Sara has Asperger's Syndrome which does have an impact on how she thinks and sees the world. I enjoyed watching her work to break the code for Mary's diary as she was hired to do. I think that my favorite part of her timeline was the interactions with all the other characters. I loved watching her develop a relationship with Luc, Noah, and Denise.
The second timeline follows Mary Dundas in the 1730s. Mary has been living with an aunt and really wants her father and brother to want her around so she is excited when her brother comes to get her. Her brother really needs Mary to help out with a mission to protect the Jacobite cause. Before she knows it, Mary is entangled in an exciting adventure that is quite dangerous. I never felt the same connection to Mary that I did with Sara. Even though there was more action in her timeline, I found that everything seemed to move rather slowly.
I believe that this was my first time listening to Katherine Kellgren's narration and I have to admit that it did take me some time to get used to her voice. She did a good job with the rather large cast of characters and added a lot of emotion to the story. By the end of the book she did win me over and I had no problem listening for hours at a time.
I think that a lot of readers will like this one a bit more than I did. This was a book that told two very interesting stories. Unfortunately, I preferred one of those stories much more than the other and anytime the book changed to a new timeline, I thought that it lost some momentum. I do look forward to reading more from Susanna Kearsley in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Sourcebooks Landmark via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.
Initial Thoughts
I have mixed feelings about this one. As is often the case in books that use two timelines, I found myself enjoying one of the timelines in this novel much more than the other. I actually like the present day story that was centered on Sara as she worked to decode Mary's diary. For some reason, I just connected with those characters more than the ones that were featured in Mary's diary. There was a lot to keep track of in Mary's story and that is where most of the excitement in the novel takes place. I listened to the audiobook and I do admit that it took me some time to adjust to Katherine Kellgren's narration. I thought that some of the character voices that she used sounded quite similar and I had to really focus to keep track of who was speaking. By the end of the book, I found like I liked her narration much more than I did at the start of the story.
I have some pretty mixed feelings about this book. I liked it well enough but I didn't fall in love with it as I had expected to do. This is a story that is told in two timelines and I found that I really enjoyed one timeline much more than the other which usually makes it a little harder to completely enjoy a novel. I am glad that I decided to finally pick this one up and did enjoy the overall experience.
As I mentioned, this book is told in two timelines. The first timeline is focused on Sara. Sara was a really interesting character that I found myself liking her right away. Sara has Asperger's Syndrome which does have an impact on how she thinks and sees the world. I enjoyed watching her work to break the code for Mary's diary as she was hired to do. I think that my favorite part of her timeline was the interactions with all the other characters. I loved watching her develop a relationship with Luc, Noah, and Denise.
The second timeline follows Mary Dundas in the 1730s. Mary has been living with an aunt and really wants her father and brother to want her around so she is excited when her brother comes to get her. Her brother really needs Mary to help out with a mission to protect the Jacobite cause. Before she knows it, Mary is entangled in an exciting adventure that is quite dangerous. I never felt the same connection to Mary that I did with Sara. Even though there was more action in her timeline, I found that everything seemed to move rather slowly.
I believe that this was my first time listening to Katherine Kellgren's narration and I have to admit that it did take me some time to get used to her voice. She did a good job with the rather large cast of characters and added a lot of emotion to the story. By the end of the book she did win me over and I had no problem listening for hours at a time.
I think that a lot of readers will like this one a bit more than I did. This was a book that told two very interesting stories. Unfortunately, I preferred one of those stories much more than the other and anytime the book changed to a new timeline, I thought that it lost some momentum. I do look forward to reading more from Susanna Kearsley in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Sourcebooks Landmark via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.
Initial Thoughts
I have mixed feelings about this one. As is often the case in books that use two timelines, I found myself enjoying one of the timelines in this novel much more than the other. I actually like the present day story that was centered on Sara as she worked to decode Mary's diary. For some reason, I just connected with those characters more than the ones that were featured in Mary's diary. There was a lot to keep track of in Mary's story and that is where most of the excitement in the novel takes place. I listened to the audiobook and I do admit that it took me some time to adjust to Katherine Kellgren's narration. I thought that some of the character voices that she used sounded quite similar and I had to really focus to keep track of who was speaking. By the end of the book, I found like I liked her narration much more than I did at the start of the story.
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