Review – Romanov by Nadine Brandes

**Happy Publication Day to this beauty!  So glad I got my hands on an early copy 😉!**

Title Romanov

Author Nadine Brandes

Description from Amazon

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 either to release the spell and deal with the consequences, or to 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.

Initial Thoughts

As I said in my hype post, Anastasia is literally my favorite Disney princess ever.  I love the story of Anastasia and I love Nadine Brandes’s writing.  Nothing could keep me from reading this book.

Cover Art

The cover of this book is dramatic and perfect.  I love it.  After reading this book, it hold so much more meaning.  Major shelf appeal!

Favorite Character

Alexei – he might not have been a main character but he was my favorite.  I didn’t know much about the crown prince of the Romanov family, but I liked the way Nadine Brandes told his story.  For being a young boy suffering in so many ways, he was wise and composed.  I thought his character was very mature and refreshing for someone so young.

The History

Althought the history might have been fudged a bit for the sake of the fictionalization and addtion of magic to the story, I thought it was really well done.  So much of the story was very true to the actual events.  I learned a ton about the royal family and their ordeal from this book and was inspired to read more about them after finishing the book.  I love when historical fiction stories inspire more research.

Final Thoughts

This book was everything I wanted and more.  History, magic, romance, and an ending I wasn’t expecting.  I loved every page.  Highly recommended.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Recommendations for Further Reading

• Fawkes by Nadine Brandes – obviously, I had to recommend this.  If you like Nadine Brandes writing, even a little bit, you should check out Fawkes.  Historical fiction, magic, romance, do I really need to go on?
• An Affair of Poison by Addie Thorley – this is another historical fiction remixed to include magic.  There is also romance and unexpected twists that differ from this historical accounts.
• Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan – this is a dark story set in a Russia-inspired setting.  Although it is not historical fiction, there are similar elements of death, revolution, and political turmoil in both stories.

Links

Romanov on Goodreads

Buy Romanov on Amazon