A sumptuous and enchanting read that balances the author's passion with a notable heft of historical research. I especially loved the care she took in establishing the sibling relationships.

The opulent world as well as political danger and intrigue provided a wonderful backdrop for the well-developed romance.

A great follow-up to Fawkes


(featured on instagram and fb)

An amalgamation of all the things I love; magic, history (specifically about the Romanovs), intrigue, and more! This was definitely a book that I was eagerly looking forward to diving into and it did NOT disappoint.

I’ve always been interested in the Romanovs and this was such a great magical take on the story. The magic added felt unique and something I enjoyed. I felt for the characters and their story as I expected I would and the ending! Ugh! Heartbreaking.

The research and writing, in my opinion, was well done and I’m going to look for more by Brandes. I might even reread this via audiobook because I hear it’s a good audio!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc. Although I didn’t get to it by release date unfortunately, (I will do better) I really enjoyed the journey!

Real history. And magic. One of the most famous and open-ended stories of the previous century...might have some hope in it?

This is a sweet and deep novel. The historical events of the last days of the Russian tzar Romanov family are lovely intertwined with some magic - and this unusual combination, given that this is a Christian YA book, works!!! The novel seems to be well researched (unto the details of a dog named Joy for example) - but do not take it as a memoir, or a true biography. It is more a retelling with a spin, where the aim is to offer the existence of hope after the unbelievable cruelty, the strength to start each day anew and the everyday choice to forgive. And the YA genre - why not? After all, Anastasia was a 16-year-old teenager and her brother Alexei was even younger. Why not use the bit of a lovely fantasy to offer them a fighting chance?

I like the historical side here, but the emotional part I love even more! Because this is not a novel about the golden palatial homes, but about the family trying to survive every day with their heads held high in the dignity of human beings and their hearts still trying to stay open and loving.
The values are intertwoven nicely here - you understand the higher calling, which is presented without any pathos or force, but as a decision to simply try to rise above your circumstances with love. And Nastya, Alexei and Zash CAN rise.
While the novel is sweet, it is not sugar-coated. The cold reality is presented openly, and because of this darkness its light works even better.

And the romance is to die - or to live everyday - for.

This is my first novel by Nadine Brandes, but certainly not the last one.

Recommended read.

While I was excited to read this book I was never ever able to get into the story or characters. I had many starts and stops and never had a strong desire to pick it back up - DNG

Unfortunately, this book haven't reached my expectations. It was too boring for me, so in the end I could't torture myself and had to put it aside.

I've always been fascinated with the story of Anastasia Romanov. Nadine Brandes takes the established historical facts and weaves in fantastical elements to create a story that is enjoyable and does not contradict history. I liked the perspective that we only knew half the story.

Bits of the familiar Anastasia story, with a mix of magic.
Anastasia reads very young in this story, and is very naive at the beginning of the book, but she does grow throughout the book. There was a romance that was okay, and then something happened that pretty much completely ruined it for me. Things wrapped up pretty neatly here, so if you're looking for a self contained story, this is a good choice.

As a huge fan of Anastasia, I was excited to read this book about the romanov family. I liked many elements and I found it to be interesting. However, it obviously diverts greatly from history and the magical element is not what I was hoping for. I think I was hoping for historical fiction and this book is not that. Not bad, just not what I wanted.

Okay I loved this the first time I saw it because I mean, cover GOALS am I right? Anyway the story matched, it was so intriguing and fun to read— I kept going and going, it was hard to put down!

Romanov by Nadine Brandes was a delightful treat. It takes a magical twist on historical fiction. Magic and history are two of my favorite things! :) She makes the story of the lost princess Anastasia and will keep you on the edge and dying to read just one more page!

Romanov is an interesting retelling of Anastasia, unlike the movie I like how we get to learn a little more detail about the Romanov family. The author did a beautiful job writing about their family bond.
I just think historical fiction isn’t always my favorite genre, they can be a hit or miss for me

This was a beautiful heartbreaking retelling of the Romanov story. The characters were fantastic, the story and writing were brilliant. I loved it.

When her parents and sister were sent away from her home, Anastasia’s father, the Tsar, gave her the task of smuggling a special Russian doll with a hidden spell to their new hideaway. However, the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them and he knows that Anastasia has the secret magic. Her situation is further complicated by her sudden attraction to one of the soldiers who is guarding her family. Anastasia will only be able to use the spell when the moment is right, so she has to hang onto the doll until she can save her family.

I knew of the Romanov’s before reading this book, but I didn’t know the details of what happened to them. It was a tragic story. I kept looking up the details of the real Anastasia’s life while I was reading, to find out what was fact and what was fiction. This story follows the real history of what happened to the Romanov’s quite closely.

One part that is fictional is the fantasy aspect. Anastasia wasn’t the keeper of a special spell to save her family. However, the fantasy aspects serve to fill in a gap in Anastasia’s story. Her body wasn’t discovered with her family’s bodies. There were women over the years following their death who claimed to be Anastasia. That was a fascinating story to read about! I don’t want to give anything away, but this story attempts to give an alternate history for Anastasia Romanov to account for the reason her body wasn’t buried with her family.

This was an amazing historical fantasy story!

Thank you Thomas Nelson for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A retelling of Anastasia, with a fantasy twist.

A strong concept - as the story of the Romanov's and the mystery of what actually happened to Anastasia, is a strong and dramatic part of history, and something that people globally are fascinated by.

As the title implies we gain insight into the Romanov family, all from the perspective of teenage Anastasia. However, the book does simplify the history and adds in a bit of an inappropriate love interest.

And albeit an interesting idea to include a magical twist, the book seems stuck between the retelling of real history and the fantastical elements, and the two sides of the story seem to jar.

It's always a gamble to write a novel about events that actually happened. Going into this book, I knew about the Romanov family and their end at the hands of revolutionaries. It hadn't been to long since news had come out about the finding of the missing bodies of one Romanov daughter and the heir to the throne. For a long time it was rumored that they had got away.

Enter this book by Nadine Brandes. At first, it's a good novelization of the Romanov's time in captivity. The family makes friends with their guards an attempts an escape that is foiled by their captors. Then, the reader learns that the youngest daughter, Anastasia, may have some healing magic, and the family is counting on her to use this to help them escape. When the revolutionaries decide it's time for them to be executed, Anastasia and her brother manage to escape and run. They are running to a magician who can hide them.

The reader has to let go of the idea that this is a possible version of what could have happened. At first, it seems like a viable option. The characters are very real, including the Commandant, who is mean. So when the magic creeps in, it's a little disconcerting.

I think the story had great potential. There was something missing that kept me from enjoying the book. Loved how the fantasy touch.

I usually love Russian-inspired fantasy books. I studied the Russian revolution in university and always found the stories about Anastasia interesting. I really thought that I would like this book but sadly after the slogging through the first chapter, I knew that wouldn’t end of being the case.

The chapters felt incredibly long and the pacing was uneven. The first chapter seemed like it was never going to end. The entire book lacked that special spark that normally keeps me turning the pages, dying to know what would happen next. The whole Romanov story offers an author so much to write about. Yet, this novel didn’t really go into detail about the revolution, their exile to Siberia, their assassination, etc. Unfortunately, the author decided to focus on a romance that was utterly unnecessary. I would have rather focused on the historical Anastasia than on some made-up love story that didn’t even take off in the end. Why do authors keep on doing this? You don’t need a romance in every book. Why force something that isn’t needed? Ugh! Since the author kept on trying to make the romance happen, the relationships within the Romanov family weren’t explored. Knowing more about the characters for me is essential when reading a story. I have said this many times before but I will say it again, I need to feel a connection with the characters in order to care about what happens to them. Even after reading the entire book, I really wasn’t invested in the story. It really just makes me sad.

One aspect of the book that intrigued me when I requested it on NetGalley was that it contained magic. Basically, Anastasia has a special magical book that could save her family from the Bolsheviks. It sounds pretty interesting in the synopsis but like most things in this book, the magic isn’t really explained. It’s mentioned a few times but essentially placed on the back burner by the romance. I still have so many questions about it. How does the magic work? Where did it come from?

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book. The pacing, lack of explanations and poorly executed romance made it difficult to read and enjoy. I guess I should have stopped after the first few chapters, I just feel bad doing that when it’s a book I have been given to review. Have you read Romanov? If so, what were your thoughts on it?

I have tried and tried to read this book but the pacing is really off for me. I can't get into it more than the 20% mark. Maybe I will try yet again at a later date but as of now being a year over due on this review, I'm going to go ahead and call it and say that this is a Did Not Finish for my reading shelf.

I've heard decent things about it so I think it might just be the pacing for now. But I do hope to eventually get this one read and then I will come back and write a better review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book, I hope I can do it justice in the future.

Thank you!

I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling and the magic woven throughout the book will recommend it to all my fellow history lovers!