Title: Romanov
Author: Nadine Brandes
Genre: YA | Magic | historical fiction | Retelling
[Synopsis:
The history books say I died.
They don’t know the half of it.
Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to
smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in
Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the
Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before.
Nastya’s
only chances of saving herself and her family are to either release the
spell and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the
handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya has
only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her
growing attraction to Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like
her.
That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.]
I adore retellings and was so excited to finally pick this read up! It's already so hard to find a good ''Anastasia Retelling'' so it had been on my list as soon as I'd heard about it.
While I enjoyed the story I do have some mixed feelings overall, so the only way to truly describe this book for me was to do a list of pros and cons.
Pros:
- A unique retelling, the world building and history was very intruiging and welldone.
- The magical parts were really cool but I wished to know more about it.
- The romance progressed at a pace that I really enjoyed and liked to watch!
- The side characters were some of my favorites and I really missed them by the time I finished the book- I wished there was more to the story just so I could read more about them!
- I did like that the message was clear and well shown throughout the story.
Cons:
- Uhm, I can't spoil for this but the love interest and his actions at a certain point were eh...wow. Like, I get it. But... if it was me I would've done killed the dude.
- I wanted more. Like I love how it ended and all and the story development, but crud y'all I want another book!! I felt like this was a setup for a duology so I kept thinking there'd be another book... now, realizing that it's one standalone novel I wish there had been a bit more for me.
- REALLY. THAT'S WHERE IT ENDS?!?! *curses and swig of coffee*
Yep, that's...that about covers it.
I did enjoy reading it, and I was frustrated about somethings but the author still handled it well and I do recommend it. It's not a forever favorite for me, but I know several people that adore it all the way.
So give it a try and let me know you're thoughts!
Have you read Romanov? What were your thoughts? Do you have any Anastasia retellings you could recommend me?? PLEASE???
I'm not begging I swear...
My rating:
Hope y'all have a lovely day lovelies!! <3
NoelW
