“We’re all made up of stories, the ones we tell ourselves and the ones we tell each other.”

While helping her other clean out her deceased great-aunt’s belonging, Jess Morgan finds a collection of journals. Intrigued, Jess hires a college student fluent in Russian to translate Jess’s finds, and Jess learns more than she ever expected. Could her great-aunt be Anastasia Romanov, the Russian princess rumored to have been assassinated with the rest of her family? As Jess learns about her aunt’s past, she must also face the challenges in her own life, including strained relationships at home, fights with her friends, and not being entirely honest with her boyfriend or herself.

An interesting coming-of-age novel, The Storyteller is told in two timelines – the early 2000s with Jess and the years before and after the assassination of the Romanov family. I like that the book includes translated passages of Aunt Anna’s journal from when she was young. These journals document her thoughts and feelings and add such a strong voice to Anna’s story.

I always find historical fiction like this so fascinating. What if Anastasia survived? What kind of life would she have had? The story delves into Anastasia’s life, as well as world politics, and Russian culture during the time of Anastasia’s life. References to literature, Anastasia’s family, the turbulence of the times, and more add depth and context to the story. I didn’t know a lot about Anastasia before reading this book, and I found her journals so interesting. I actually went and read more articles online about Anastasia and her family because of this story.

The more Jess learns about her aunt, the more she learns about herself. She identifies with this princess, a young woman who, like Jess, pretended to be someone she wasn’t. This is especially noticeable when Jess is with her boyfriend. She is a totally different person when she is with him and his friends, and she does things she wouldn’t ordinarily do just to fit in and be accepted. I feel like this is something so many people do, and I, myself, have done it a time or two. The desire to be accepted and loved is strong, and Jess’s character shows this so well.

I think Jess is a pretty relatable protagonist. She’s an intelligent, hard-working teenager, eager to fit in and be liked, a bit insecure, and very curious. She is a people pleaser who tries to appease those around her, yet she is not entirely happy. I like how Jess slowly learns to be true to herself and shows people who she really is. I think teens will relate to many of the problems Jess faces, and there are some great messages throughout the book about knowing one’s worth, discerning between healthy and unhealthy relationships, and the importance of storytelling.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, the author, and Harper Teen for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I find this to be an interesting take on "what if Anastasia had lived." I was drawn more to the timeline of Aunt Ana and her journals than I was to the present time of Jess. While the story is propelled by Jess discovering the diaries, I found myself less interested in her narrative. That being said, I do think that many teens can relate to the struggles Jess faces, and they would like the message that the book has of being yourself.

The whole "Anastasia lived" conspiracy has long been one of those points of historical fascination for me, so I was pulled in by the premise here and ended up disappointed if fairly satisfied by the way the book chose to play that element overall. Further, the writing was very readable, and the themes (truth vs. storytelling, being your honest self if you worry that might mean you struggle for acceptance) are pretty tightly woven. However, I didn't feel much of a connection to any of the characters - not even fellow high-achieving introvert Jess - or the romance, and I sometimes felt that the text struggled to find a balance between the present storyline and the backstory being spun in the diary entries. The last several chapters, and especially the use of time jumps and infodumping, also weakened the ending particularly. More minorly, I think that the choice to set the story in 2007-2008 is a necessary one in terms of timelines (how old Anastasia would realistically have been, when the second Romanov grave was discovered) but I'll be interested to hear from younger readers how the period plays - not true historical fiction, but just a bit unfamiliar and off, with talk of iPods and MySpace.

A perfectly fine choice that might appeal both to fans of historical fiction and contemporary - although I would say that despite the comps, mystery lovers might not be pulled in as readily. Recommend instead to those who enjoyed Hannah Reynold's The Summer of Lost Letters.

The Storyteller
by Kathryn Williams
Pub Date 11 Jan 2022
HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen
Historical Fiction | Mystery & Thrillers | Teens & YA


I am reviewing a copy of The Storyteller through Harper Collin Children’s Books, Harper Teen and NetGalley:





You don’t find out everyday you might be related to Anastasia…or that the tragic princess actually survived her assassination attempt and has been living as the woman you know as Aunt Anna.







Jess Morgan was growing tired of living her life to please everyone else, discovering her late aunt’s diaries shows her she’s not the only one struggling to hide who she really is. But she wonders if her Aunt was really a Romanov princess? Or was it some kind of elaborate hoax.



Jess digs into the century-old mystery, With the help of a supremely dorky but undeniably cute local college student named Evan.



Soon Jess Morgan realizes there is a bigger truth waiting to be revealed, Because if she’s learned anything from Aunt Anna, it’s that only you can write your own story.




I give The Storyteller five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

A fun story that has a bit of a mystery in it. When the narrator helps to clean out her great great aunt's house, she finds a trunk of diaries. And these diaries hint that great great Aunt Anna was actually the lost princess Anastasia.

Aunt Anna was a quiet reclusive relative that Jess barely knew. The last items that Jess and her mother remove from Aunt Anna's home prove to be a multitude of diaries written in Russian. Jess is eager to know what they say so she puts an ad in at the local community college where she meets a nerdy albeit attractive young man that is fluent and knowledgable of the Russian language and history. Meanwhile, Jess's relationship with her own boyfriend is proving uncomfortable. He is an athletic young man with an ego and a penchant for partying that is not part of Jess's preference for how to spend her downtime. In addition, Jess's parents' distance from each other is increasing and causing strain at home that affects both Jess and her brother. Jess has a rift with her best friend. The letters become her solace.
As the translator reads and interprets the contents of the letters and he and Jess research more into the family of Anastasia Romanov it appears that Aunt Anna may be part of the royal Russian family, all of which were thought to be murdered. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It grabbed me from the beginning with its interesting characters, not the least of which were Aunt Anna. I loved the history that was revealed through the digging of the main characters and how author Kathryn Williams was able to insert that in such an interesting way in the book.. As a lover of historical fiction, I highly recommend this book. Thanks to #TheStoryteller#NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this excellent book.

Jess has spent years being someone else, hiding her own insecurities to please everyone else. In the midst of a family history project, she finds a trove of old diaries, written by her aunt. After hiring a college student to help her translate the Russian, she realizes that the diaries might have a secret ... was her aunt really the princess Anastasia and survived the assassination attempt?

This book is a combo on a mystery and YA style book, but definitely an enjoyable quick read. Jess's personal issues definitely further the YA vibe, but it is the mystery of her aunt and what happened to Anastasia that drives the book.

The Storyteller is just the sort of thing I like. It has a genuine quality that could easily have come off as mildly preachy or fiddly, but doesn't. As a huge Anastasia fan, I loved the mystery and the way the journals unraveled the "history" of the Romanov family within the plot of the novel. I loved watching Jess grow and start to realize that she deserves to be seen and treated as her true self and not what everyone else just wants her to be.

The summer before senior year Jess Morgan discovers a trunk filled with old journals from her great aunt Anna. The journals are written in Russian so Anna hires Evan Hermann, Russian major at the local college, to translate the journals. As Evan begins to read the journals he and Anna start to think that Aunt Anna might be the “lost Russian princess" Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov. Anna spends her time split between Ryan, her jock boyfriend, Katie, her musical theater BFF, and Evan, who is helping her decipher the journals. She's also learning that she is tired of pretending to be someone she's not. The story is told in two timelines, present day with Jess and in the past through journal entries told through Aunt Anna’s perspective. It was interesting to see the parallels between Jess's life and the life of her aunt. While I liked the mystery of the journals and the history told through them I was not a fan of the present day storyline. These were pretty unlikeable characters. Jess is not so bad and I really liked Evan and his friends, but all the other people Jess surrounds herself with (including her dysfunctional family) were just not my cup of tea. I was happy to see Jess grow a bit of a backbone and finally start living the life she wanted rather than trying to please everyone around her. Williams is an excellent writer and her descriptions are very detailed leaving you with vivid images. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Teen, and author Kathryn Williams for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“The Storyteller” by Kathryn Williams @thestorycabinet; Release date: January 11, 2022

** Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen, who provided me with an advanced digital copy in exchange for this review.

😍 First Impression: What a gorgeous cover! It definitely is giving off matryoshka doll vibes, and the handwriting font is just too good! 👌🏼

📖 Spoiler-free synopsis: Jess Morgan isn’t who she pretends to be. She just hasn’t fully come to terms with that yet. In “The Storyteller” she makes a discovery about her great-great aunt’s past that causes her to chase the story and find her truth. Could she actually be related to a Romanov princess?

📣 Review: Five Freaking Stars. I loved “The Storyteller”! (My only feedback to the contrary is the title, and that’s just because Jodi Picoult has a book by the very same name.) The stories in this book, my goodness. I couldn’t believe my luck in finding a novel that marries my two favorite genres — Historical Fiction and YA. Despite the latter, Evan (a new college-aged friend that Jess makes) was only a few years younger than me in 2007, when the “current” portions of this book took place. I found the pop culture references to be relatable and exciting in a way that I don’t think current 20somethings necessarily would. They won’t detract by any means, but definitely an added perk for me, a YA-fan pushing 40. 👏🏼

🙌🏼 This book is about truth — finding it, knowing it, living it. It makes you think and feel — just what I like in a good story!

This book was SOOOOO good. As a huge Anastasia fan, I loved the mystery and the way the journals unraveled the "history" of the Romanov family within the plot of the novel. I loved watching Jess grow and start to realize that she deserves to be seen and treated as her true self and not what everyone else just wants her to be. I love how Jess learned and grew as she watched her aunt struggle in her writing

17 year old Jess is living a lie, to her boyfriend Ryan she is: spontaneous, easy going, and loves to ski but in reality Jess is an imaginative writer, honor roll student who prefers the company of books to people. Years after the death of her great-great aunt Ana, she discovers her diaries that are written in Russian. Desperate to know what stories lay beneath these mysteries journals, she enlist the help of a rising college sophomore Evan to translate the journals. As infuriating as Evan is, he also is cute. Upon discovery that her great-great aunt Ana might just be Anastasia Romanov, the youngest daughter is the last Russian sovereign of imperial Russian. Evan and Jess team up to uncover the truth behind these journals.
This is a beautiful story of self-discovery interwoven with the journal entries of her great-great aunt make this book reach across time. I related to this book so much, as someone who often changes themselves to fit the mold of what other people expect of me, I loved seeing Jess begin to do things for herself. I would 100 percent recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction, as it it a twist to the genre or anyone who grew up watching the animated film Anastasia. Not to mention how amazing it is to see the main character truly be themselves! I hope y’all enjoy this book as much as I did!

Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books, an advance readers copy was provided to me in exchange for an honest review

Since I learned of the fate of the Romanov family, and the possibility of Anastasia's survival, I have been fascinated with the story. Williams captured my attention and created a fabulous story to renew my interest.
I loved the way the story was interwoven with journal entries and the current events in the life of a high school senior. The journal entries (written by the great-aunt of the main character, Jess Morgan) read like a story and were not quick inserts of the day's events.

The Storyteller is just the sort of thing I like. It has a genuine quality that could easily have come off as mildly preachy or fiddly, but doesn't. And, importantly, it brings up one or two things which are, objectively, true, regardless of their veracity. Oh, and I think that cover is marvelous.