Sea and Stars by Kelly Jarvis: A Beautiful Story of Love, Belonging, and Yearning
There are certain books that grab you from the very beginning and simply won’t let go—and Sea and Stars by Kelly Jarvis was one of them.
I found out about this book in the most random way. It wasn’t something that had been sitting on my TBR forever or a book I had been eagerly waiting to read. I simply came across it, something about it caught my attention, and I decided to pick it up. And I am so glad I did. Once I stepped into this story, I was completely there.
One of the first things that pulled me in was the atmosphere. The story begins with the wild, windswept beauty of the Scottish moors before carrying us across the ocean to Connecticut, and somehow that sense of atmosphere travels with it. There is something almost haunting about the world Kelly Jarvis creates—the sea, the landscape, the distance from home—and it gives the entire story this feeling of longing that fits the characters beautifully.
And then there is our heroine, Annabelle. I loved her almost immediately.
She is fiercely independent, particularly for a woman living in 1848, and there is something refreshing about watching a woman of that time insist on having some say in the direction of her own life. But what I appreciated most was that her independence never required her to become hardened. Underneath all that determination is vulnerability. There is gentleness. There is a woman who wants to belong and to be loved, even while she is perfectly capable of standing on her own.
I have such a soft spot for female characters like this. Strength and softness are not opposites, and I loved that Jarvis allowed her to possess both.
And Then There Is Mr. Alden… Oh, sir. 👀Friends, I fear we may have another candidate for the Taxonomy of Men Who Yearn. Because this man can YEARN.
But what makes Mr. Alden so compelling is that his conflict isn’t about whether he loves her. He does. That’s what makes the whole thing hurt.
His feelings for her are there, and eventually there is no denying what exists between them. The problem is the world in which they live. Because of her birth and the social expectations surrounding them, he cannot reconcile loving her with actually allowing himself to marry her. And there is something particularly painful about that kind of romantic conflict.
This isn’t I don’t love you. It isn’t even I shouldn’t love you. It’s I love you, but I don’t believe the world will allow me to choose you. Sir. PLEASE.
Naturally, Mr. Alden attempts to manage all of this by fighting his feelings with everything he has. It does not go well. And thank goodness for us, because the resulting yearning is exquisite. Then Kelly Jarvis gave me the line that essentially finished me: “I don’t know how to lose her, Jonathan.”
Oh. My. Heart. I was doing perfectly fine until this man decided to say THAT. There are certain lines in books that are technically very simple but, because you’ve spent hundreds of pages with these characters and understand everything underneath those words, they hit you directly in the chest. This was one of those lines. Apparently Kelly Jarvis woke up that morning and chose emotional violence in her writing.
More Than a Love Story
As much as I loved the romance—and clearly I have feelings about Mr. Alden—one of the things that elevated Sea and Stars for me was the family story woven through it.
Our heroine arrives in Connecticut searching for her father while carrying the complicated reality of being his illegitimate daughter. That setup could have taken the story in some very predictable directions, particularly when it came to her half sister. I was so glad Jarvis chose something different.
Instead of simply turning these women against one another, she allows their relationship to develop into something much more tender and meaningful. Her half sister ultimately becomes an incredibly important person in her life, and I loved watching that relationship unfold. It also reinforces one of the themes I kept coming back to throughout the book: belonging.
That theme sits quietly underneath so much of this story. And perhaps that is why the romance worked so beautifully for me as well. Both the family story and the love story are ultimately asking the same question: Where do I belong, and am I allowed to choose it?
My Final Thoughts
By the time I reached the final chapters, I realized I genuinely did not want this book to end. I wanted a little more time on those moors. A little more time by the sea. A little more time with this complicated family. And, obviously, a little more time watching Mr. Alden yearn. For research purposes (see my previous post, if you are confused by this comment). 😂
Sea and Stars gave me so many of the things I love in historical fiction and historical romance: beautiful atmosphere, complicated family relationships, questions of identity and belonging, a heroine who is both strong and gentle, and a love story made all the more painful by the restrictions society places around it.
But mostly, it gave me characters I became emotionally invested in. And for me, that is always what separates a book I enjoyed from a book that stays with me after I close it. This one stayed with me.
And Mr. Alden? The Department of Yearning Studies will be reviewing his file. 👀❤️
Favorite book blog link-ups—
It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? at The Book Date
Top Ten Tuesday at The Artsy Reader
The Friday56 at My Heads if Full of Books
Book Beginnings on Friday at Rose City Reader
First Line Friday at Reading in My Superpower
Stacking the Shelves at Reading Reality
Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Monthly Round-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Foodies Read at Based on a True Story (monthly)
