With this story the author sheds light on the social life, its rules and expectations, of the 19th century Russia. For example, the coquetting part which Alexander encouraged his wife to was seen as normal. The story starts in Moscow in 1828 with Natalya, age 16, meeting Alexander at a ball. It is followed by courtship, then marriage and children. It is all set against the backdrop of the rules of social life, which is an interesting part and it spices the story up. However, once Pushkin encourages his wife to take active part in social life, then the story changes its tune. It becomes a melodramatic romance and nothing more to it. The spice is gone.

I know very little about Russian history or literature and this book sounded very intriguing. It started out strong and was thoroughly enjoying it, but as it went on it started to drag and it got harder and harder to get into. The book did pick up towards the end but by then I was uninterested. I’m sure there will be many who enjoy it but I’ll have a hard time recommending it to friends. 2.5 stars rounded up.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Russian historical fiction focused on Natalia Goncharova, eventual wife to the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. A tad too long and scattered, but vivid and offers a new version of an infamous woman often blamed by history.

It was a quite intriguing read at first, but less than halfway through I just began to lose all interest. It kept getting harder for me to pick it up.

WHAT DID I THINK OF THE LOST SEASON OF LOVE AND SNOW BY JENNIFER LAAM?
The Lost Season Of Love And Snow by Jennifer Laam basically should be right up my alley. It’s a historical fiction book with some drama and romance set in Imperial Russia. However, as it turns out I had a bit of a tough time connecting with it. Maybe it was a case of the wrong audiobook at the wrong time for me? I did really intend to enjoy this one, but it ended up just being kind of okay for me.

Laam’s The Lost Season Of Love And Snow follows Natalya, a sixteen year old girl who catches the attention of one of the most famous writers in Russia – Alexander Pushkin. It is up to Natalya to marry well – as in her family NEEDS her to do this. Luckily she is gorgeous and she is also pretty smart. However, for the most part it seems like men only really care about her looks. Anyways, she ends up married to Pushkin and so this book is all about their relationship as well as the kids they have and Pushkin’s untimely death from a duel. I tried to really care a lot more, but I just couldn’t manage it.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
The audiobook of The Lost Season Of Love And Snow is narrated by Jennifer Nittoso. It is 11 hours and 30 minutes long. Personally, I did not totally gel with the narration. It just felt so young and just, maybe not right for the story. Granted, when it begins Natalaya is sixteen, so maybe I am wrong in my feelings on this. I could be. On the whole, this one just felt mediocre to me and I am okay with that. I think your mileage may vary though and hope you end up liking this book much more than I did.

Jennifer Laam’s “The Lost Season of Love and Snow” is a surprising book in many ways, and yet a comforting book in so many others – and those are often the important ones. If you’re wavering between picking this up or giving it a chance…our vote is for the former.

I love to read, and I am unapologetically a fan of romances and a fan of history, which is what drew me to this book, whose description reads as follows:

“The unforgettable story of Alexander Pushkin’s beautiful wife, Natalya, a woman much admired at Court, and how she became reviled as the villain of St. Petersburg.

At the beguiling age of sixteen, Natalya Goncharova is stunningly beautiful and intellectually curious. At her first public ball during the Christmas of 1828, she attracts the romantic attention of Russia’s most lauded rebel poet: Alexander Pushkin. Finding herself deeply attracted to Alexander’s intensity and joie de vivre, Natalya is swept up in a courtship and then a marriage full of passion but also destructive jealousies. When vicious court gossip leads Alexander to defend his honor as well as Natalya’s in a duel, he tragically succumbs to his injuries. Natalya finds herself reviled for her perceived role in his death. In her striking new novel, The Lost Season of Love and Snow, Jennifer Laam helps bring Natalya’s side of the story to life with vivid imagination―the compelling tale of her inner struggle to create a fulfilling life despite the dangerous intrigues of a glamorous imperial Court and that of her greatest love.”

Sounds both intriguing and complicated, doesn’t it? And amazingly so, the book manages to be both and, on top of it, a romance – even if not your typical one.

(Though, it could be argued that’s a good thing. Who wants more of the same?)

But the most important thing is that the book is, above all things, a portrayal of a strong woman, a nuanced woman, neither a hero, not a villain, just someone struggling with the weight of the expectations the time period has placed upon her and still coming out of it with her sense of self intact. So often when books turn historical we get cardboard characters, as if readers were unable to handle shades of grey in our heroes and heroines, and this is especially true when it comes to women, who must either be virginal and perfect or evil harlots.

Natalya is neither – she’s just a woman, one who feels and loves and just wants to live her life away from intrigue. And this makes Natalya as real as a modern woman, relatable in a way some characters set in this day and age never manage to be.

That’s a credit to Laam and the way she weaves the different parts of her character’s psyche into the story. Yes, this is about Natalya, but it’s also about people’s perception of her, and in a broader sense, of women in general. And if you add to that a prose that sweeps you away, it’s easy to forget that this romance doesn’t perhaps have the happily ever after we all wanted.

But, it’s 2018. We don’t need happily ever after. We need fighters. And in Natalya, Laam has given us a character we can love or hate, but most definitely understand.

Rating: ⅘. Don’t regret reading. Might even be a book I re-read.

I really enjoyed this book. Laam writes an intriguing take on the story of Alexander Pushkin and his wife that puts Natalya that puts her in a unique position, a positive light. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction, and this book did not disappoint.

I mostly enjoyed this historical fiction about Pushkin and his wife Natalya. It got a little bit boring in the middle, but it picked up at the end. It was interesting to read about the years leading up to Pushkin's duel, and how Natalya felt in the aftermath.

I couldn't wait to read this book -- it was perfect!! Russian history!! I learned so much about Alexander Pushkin and 19th century Russia. I love historical fiction and Jennifer did absolutely fantastic job making this book fun!!

Thank you, Netgalley, for this arc. Though the writing was good, I didn't think Natalya's story was great enough to be written about.

"The unforgettable story of Alexander Pushkin’s beautiful wife, Natalya, a woman much admired at Court, and how she became reviled as the villain of St. Petersburg.

At the beguiling age of sixteen, Natalya Goncharova is stunningly beautiful and intellectually curious. At her first public ball during the Christmas of 1828, she attracts the romantic attention of Russia’s most lauded rebel poet: Alexander Pushkin. Finding herself deeply attracted to Alexander’s intensity and joie de vivre, Natalya is swept up in a courtship and then a marriage full of passion but also destructive jealousies. When vicious court gossip leads Alexander to defend his honor as well as Natalya’s in a duel, he tragically succumbs to his injuries. Natalya finds herself reviled for her perceived role in his death. In her striking new novel, The Lost Season of Love and Snow, Jennifer Laam helps bring Natalya’s side of the story to life with vivid imagination―the compelling tale of her inner struggle to create a fulfilling life despite the dangerous intrigues of a glamorous imperial Court and that of her greatest love."

Anyone else think that a cold January day is perfect from some Russian intrigue?

Told from the perspective of the much maligned widow of famed Russian literary figure, Alexander Pushkin, the heroine describes their tempestuous relationship, leading to his loss of life in a duel defending her honor. Her biggest crime being her youthful naivety, she tries to defend her reputation without realizing they equally shared the blame for his demise. This story takes a famed historical figure and brings him to life, fleshing in the details of what little is known of his young wife’s character. You have to be open to Pushkin criticism when you read this...an unstoppable force, Pushkin and his demons are fairly well developed in this historical biographical fiction.

Enjoyable for any lover of historical fiction, The Lost Season of Love and Snow tells the romantic tale of a misunderstood Natalya and a Russian poet. What starts off as a whirlwind romance takes a catastrophic turn that turns Natalya's life upside down in ways nobody could have ever imagined. This story paints a different point of view on this tragic event in history that is unique, convincing and highly entertaining.

I always find novels set in Russia to be refreshing – a bit of history that I am least familiar with and it always presents a new time period or historical figure to me that I know nothing about. The fact that a historical novel is set in Russia will give me an immediate interest in picking it up to learn more. More than simply bringing me a new historical figure, Laam brings a literary figure who I know nothing but the name coming into the reading experience – Alexander Pushkin, and by extension his wife. I also love novels that look at an event from a distinctly female perspective, especially when it is one that tends to be male-driven.

In some ways, this book reminds me a bit of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner. A female character, this time one that isn’t that well known, who is reviled for her actions and she is trying to sort of set the record straight with her side of the story. Natalya has her own set of circumstances that she is up against from the beginning, her goals don’t exactly align with those of her mother or sisters, and she has to push back to get what she wants or what she thinks she wants. I found her enjoyment of the literary things in life to be something that I could particularly connect with and I was able to quickly understand who she was. Even throughout the novel, as things became more difficult in her life, I could still find myself identifying with her. She may have been a little naïve at times, but from Laam’s presentation at least, she doesn’t seem to have been responsible for a lot of what happened – but we know women take a lot of blame throughout history.

Jennifer Laam’s writing is beautiful. It flows naturally from one thought or scene into the next effortlessly. I felt I was on a constant wave throughout my time spent with the book, being continually pushed forward. You can easily get caught up in the whirlwind of it all as there is drama aplenty in the Pushkin world. The Russia of that time brilliantly came to life right from the pages and enveloped me in that world.

I have Laam’s other two novels and I am sliding them higher up the TBR pile based on my experience with The Lost Season of Love and Snow.

Actually, 2.5

The Lost Season of Love and Snow is a biographical novel about Natalya Goncharova, the wife of Alexander Pushkin. At the age of sixteen, Natalya is beautiful and wants to write poetry. At her first ball, she attracts the attention of the most famous poet in Russia, Alexander Pushkin. She finds herself falling in love with him because of his writing and manages to persuade her reluctant mother to marry him. However, she soon finds that her marriage is not all rosy. Natalya finds that there are people who are jealous of her because of her beauty. When her enemies spread rumors about Natalya’s unfaithfulness, Natalya must find a way to keep these rumors from tearing Natalya and Alexander apart.

I admit that I did not know anything about Natalya or Alexander Pushkin until I started to read this novel. However, gaining from what I know from the book and my own research that began as I started reading The Lost Season of Love and Snow, Natalya is known as a femme fatale. She has been mostly disliked in history because of her alleged affair with George d’Anthes, drove her husband to a duel in her honor, and caused him to lose his life. The Lost Season of Love and Snow attempts to redeem her and show the story from her perspective.

While the novel tries to portray Natalya as a sympathetic and misunderstood character, I did not see her as such. I found Natalya to be a very frustrating character, and I could see why she is regarded as a villain in Russian history. Natalya is portrayed as a vain and superficial character. She wants nothing more than to dress up as ancient beauties, have fun at balls, and wants men to admire her. In fact, she does not want her admirers to love anyone but her for the rest of their lives. She loves to toy with men’s feelings. Thus, even though she claims to love Alexander, it is obvious she does not. Instead, she only wants Alexander to worship her. If she actually loved him, she would not have hurt Alexander by flirting and toying with other men’s affections.

Overall, this was not a deep, but superficial portrayal of Natalya Pushkin. The characters are not complex, but rather static characters. The writing was beautiful but sometimes repetitive. I also thought the epilogue, where she meets her second husband, was a bit jarring and off-putting because it was supposed to focus on her “love” with Alexander. I think it would have been better if it was only mentioned in the author’s novel. Thus, I would have enjoyed the novel more had the characters been more complex and the epilogue ended differently. Therefore I think that this novel did not do Natalya justice. However, I’m glad that that the novel has introduced me to this intriguing figure and hope there may be more books written about her. The Lost Season of Love and Snow may appeal to readers of Michelle Moran, Sallie Christie, and Marci Jefferson.

The Lost Season of Love and Snow is a beautifully written book about the great Russian Poet and Father of Russian Literature, Alexander Pushkin, and his young wife Natalya. The story is told from Natalya's point of view, which I think is long overdue considering the fact that since Pushkin's death in a duel over her honor, she was "reviled as the villain of St. Petersburg". Natalya, probably the most beautiful woman in Russia at the time, captures Alexander Pushkin's heart at age sixteen and is thrust into events for which she is ill-prepared. When she captures the eye of Tsar Nicholas I and suddenly has all eyes of the malicious and envious Imperial Court in St. Petersburg upon her, things become very difficult for the couple, both of whom become jealous of the other.

You can make your own decision regarding whether or not Natalya was a villain, and I'm glad that her story has been told. I very much enjoy books about the Romanov reign in Russia but have mostly only read about Nicholas II and Alexandra, who were Emperor and Empress of the Russian Empire almost 100 years later. Consequently, this book was very interesting and intriguing to me, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Imperial Russian history and Alexander Pushkin, who I must admit, I did not know very much about before I read this book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Historical fiction is still my favourite genre, especially when it is takes a different look at real historical figures and their lives. I know a bit about Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, and have studied some of his poetry as part of my degree course. Apart from his poetry what people remember is his marriage to one of Moscow’s most beautiful women, Natalya Pushkina, née Goncharova, who was blamed for his death after a flirtation led to a duel in which Pushkin was mortally wounded. In The Lost Season of Love and Snow Jennifer Laam tells the story from Natalya’s point of view, and portrays her not as a femme fatale, and villain but instead as a victim of society.

Jennifer Laam is a skilful writer and was able to bring to life early nineteenth century Russia to life, and had obviously done a lot of research. Her attention to detail, in both setting and characters, draw you in and paint wonderful pictures of the palaces, the costumes and the characters themselves. Natalya was only sixteen when she met Pushkin, and he was thirty, but this was acceptable in nineteenth century Russia; women were married off young so they no longer had to be supported by their family. Natalya was a figure I was really drawn to, I had empathy for the situation she found herself in; a beautiful woman in a society ruled by men. No woman in the Russian court could turn away from the Tsar, although Natalya tried her best. Bearing in mind what has happened in today’s society this is an interesting read of how a woman is viewed as a beautiful object, and not an actual person, her intelligence and feelings are not taken into account. Her husband is obviously doomed from the beginning, as a young man he had been told by a fortune teller that he would die at the hands of a tall, fair haired man. Pushkin is the tortured genius we expect a poet to be, he doesn’t have much money and is at the whim of his imagination, and of the Tsar who censors his work.

The Lost Season of Love and Snow is an erudite and character driven novel. Full of historical fact and captures the zeitgeist of the era; the position of women, the class system, censorship, politics and the role of literature. I was captivated by this alternative history of Natalya and he role in Pushkin’s life. An evocative tale of love, jealousy, power and ultimately the death of a great poet; A brilliant piece of historical fiction.

This is a very enjoyable tale looking into the life of the famed Russian Poet Pushkin and his young and beautiful wife, Natasha. At times, this felt like the Russian rendering of Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers unable to overcome the time and circumstances of their love. I enjoyed the book, loved the characters and the pacing was good. I am not much of a romance reader, but this one captured my imagination and held my attention. I think that Jennifer Laam did a fine job of taking back to the time of Tsar Nicholas and I will look for other books by this author.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this title. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to read and review before it was archived. Reviews will be posted as titles are read.

I really enjoyed this book. I knew nothing about Russia or this history of this period. I loved Natalya Goncharova, found the subject fascinating and the other characters were well-drawn and intriguing as well. It kept me turning pages--it's a story I won't soon forget. Thank you so much, NetGalley, for introducing me to this author!