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Romanov

Nadine Brandes

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 31, 2019

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Jun 04, 2019 Ashleigh rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: buddy-read, romance

A historical-fantasy mix, Romanov follows the daughter of the titular family, Anastasia, or Nastya, as she struggles to save her family during their imprisonment. Her father was the former Tsar of Russia, but the people lost faith in the Romanovs and their connection to Rasputin. After the spellmaster was assassinated, Nastya's father was forced to abdicate the throne and the family were arrested by the Bolsheviks and placed under surveillance.

At the beginning of the book, the Romanovs are A historical-fantasy mix, Romanov follows the daughter of the titular family, Anastasia, or Nastya, as she struggles to save her family during their imprisonment. Her father was the former Tsar of Russia, but the people lost faith in the Romanovs and their connection to Rasputin. After the spellmaster was assassinated, Nastya's father was forced to abdicate the throne and the family were arrested by the Bolsheviks and placed under surveillance.

At the beginning of the book, the Romanovs are informed they will be moving to a new residence to await trial. Before they leave, Nastya's father entrusts her to smuggle a small wooden doll to the new house. The wooden doll could be their key to survival as it contains a spell. Could this doll save the Romanovs?

I knew the basics of the Romanov story and I've seen the famous animated movie about Anastasia but I didn't know the details. This story has always fascinated me, but I've never read into it. So when I discovered that there was YA Historical Fantasy being released which delved into Anastasia and the myth of her survival and mixed in magic, I had to get my hands on a copy. (Thank you Netgalley for providing the ARC - apologies in the delay in getting round to reading this).

I loved the writing and the story. Would have liked to see more of the magic side. It felt like an afterthought at times and it should have played a more significant part in the story. Another problem I had was the beginning of the story. We're thrown straight into it, the Romanovs are already under watch and Nicholas has had to abdicate etc etc. But if you don't know the ins and outs of their fall as it were, it can be a bit confusing. I was like 'wait, what's happening, how did we get here???'. But I did eventually come to understand what was going and I loved it. I absolutely loved this book and would happily read a sequel just based on (view spoiler).

Absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking story. Loved it! ...more

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Feb 02, 2022 Cindee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: december-2020-tbr, secret-santa-2021, february-2022-tbr

I loved this book so much one of the best fictional retelling of Anastasia with a bit of magic thrown in. I loved the characters so much especially these three Nastya,Alexei, and Zash a strong brother and sister relationship paired with a well written romance with its ups and downs. I loved Nastya for her strength of character and her general love of her family and her want to save them I loved her romance with Zash even if it had ups and downs I was very happy when they were finally together by ...more

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