Songs of Love and War feels a bit like Downton Abbey with ghosts in early 1900s Ireland. The story centres around Castle Deverill, a stately estate that’s been passed down through generations of Deverills over time. It also houses a curse: in 1662, Lord Deverill took the land from the O’Leary family, and Maggie O’Leary cursed him and his descendants to eternal unrest until the land is returned to her family.

Kitty Deverill is the feisty, tomboyish heir to the Deverill fortune. She is friendly with the castle ghosts and is much closer to her grandmother than to her rather distant parents. Her best friend Bridie Doyle, is the daughter of the castle’s cook, and is secretly in love with their mutual friend Jack O’Leary even though she knows he’s above her station and she has no chance with him. As they grow older, Kitty begins to fall for Jack herself, even though she knows he’s an unsuitable match, and their relationship leads to irreparable consequences on Bridie’s life and her friendship with Kitty.

Songs of Love and War started off a bit slow for me; the childhood scenes in particular felt plodding. But once Kitty and Bridie grew up and the drama set off by Kitty and Jack’s feelings for each other, Songs of Love and War became utterly engrossing and a perfect book to lose oneself in. It’s an unabashedly soapy fun read, and it also delved into a very gripping part of Irish history. It was fascinating to read about the class and political tensions between the Irish (Jack and Bridie) and the English Irish (Kitty and the Deverills), and I loved the parts where the characters got involved in the rebellion.

Songs of Love and War is the first book in a series. The events of this book have scattered the characters to other continents, and there’s also another major series character, Celia Deverill, Kitty’s cousin whose impulsive actions have put her high society marriage in jeopardy. I’m excited to read the next book in the series to find out what happens to Kitty, Bridie and Jack, and also hopefully to get more of Celia’s story.

Celebrate historical fiction with the Timeless Tour, from April 16 – May 4!

For more information, visit www.timelesstour.ca.

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Today, for Simon and Schuster Canada’s #TimelessTour blog tour on historical fiction, I have a guest post by Santa Montefiore, author of Songs of Love and War. 

In Songs of Love and War, the heroine Kitty Deverill can see ghosts, and talks often with previous generations of Deverills who are trapped in the family castle because of a curse. For this post, I asked Santa Montefiore who she would like to meet and talk to, if she could see ghosts like Kitty did.

Guest Post by Santa Montefiore

Actually, I can see ghosts – or spirits – like Kitty can. That’s why I wrote about it. It’s a gift and I’m very grateful that I can tune into that vibration because I know without doubt that there is no death, just a transition and that those we love and lose are never really lost, just out of sight, and waiting for the time when we will eventually join them. I’m not a good medium as my ability to communicate is very limited. I get bits, and I sense their vibration – and feel their love and happiness, but if I could spend time with a spirit and really chat, I would like to see my sister. She died last year aged 45 and we were very close. I have seen her twice since her death, but to be able to embrace her, and talk to her, and reminisce about her life – and for her to tell me what she is up to now, would be a real gift.

Celebrate historical fiction with the Timeless Tour, from April 16 – May 4!

For more information, visit www.timelesstour.ca.

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for the invitation to join this blog tour and to the author for the post.

Bellewether is such a lush historical romance! It tells the story of two women separated by time: first is Lydia Wilde in 1759, whose father is forced to take two French officers into their home as a form of house arrest. Lydia finds herself attracted to one of them, a French-Canadian lieutenant Jean-Philippe de Sabran, who is equally drawn to her. Flash forward to present day and museum curator Charley Van Hoek is in charge of Wilde House Museum, dedicated to preserving and sharing the legacy of one of Lydia’s brothers, who had become a famous privateer. Charley learns the local legend that the House has a ghost, reportedly that of Jean-Philippe who was killed by Lydia’s brother when they tried to elope. According to the same legend, Lydia then drowned herself of heartbreak. I love how these two stories run concurrently and eventually converge as we learn the truth of how Lydia and Jean-Philippe’s story turns out.

I’m not familiar with the Seven Years War and don’t think I’ve ever read about it in novels before (it’s so often about WWI or WWII) so this was a fascinating introduction to a new-to-me part of history. The characters in both present day and past were wonderful; I found myself completely enthralled by their stories. The romances were all handled with such deft subtlety that when characters finally kiss for the first time, it’s the sweetest and most thrilling moment. In that, it reminds me of Jane Austen era romances (though without the bickering of Elizabeth and Darcy). In one couple, the friendship developed over time, which is my favourite type of romance, and in the other couple, they didn’t even share a language, so the attraction was developed all through furtive glances, which just felt like the sweetest way to fall in love. I love how obvious the attraction was to us as readers with our omniscient view, yet the characters themselves, while able to admit their own feelings, were uncertain for so long if their feelings were reciprocated. 😍

I also love the present-day museum story / workplace drama, and the bits about the ghost story. I love old houses and often imagine if they have resident ghosts, so Charley’s story played right into my imagination.

Such a wonderful book to lose yourself in!

Celebrate historical fiction with the Timeless Tour, from April 16 – May 4!

For more information, visit www.timelesstour.ca.

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.