I received a copy of Romanov by Nadine Brandes through NetGalley in exchange for review.

So I was initially excited to hear about this historical- fantasy blend on Anastasia "Nastya" Romanov as she is introduced to us here, infusing magic into Grand Duchess's tragic tale of what might have been.
I want to like this more, but the descriptions of the settings is what really drags it down for me.
We meet Nastya and her family already well under abdication, they have long fled their palace home and are under Bolshevik control. Living in property that has been seized by all who would not yield to the regime. Surrounded by enemy soldiers who hate the Romanov's, only her family ties bind them together.
I like Naysta as a character, she's single-mindedly driven by love her her family and the idea that magic from one of the country's Master Spell Writers can liberate her family and save the Tsarivch Alexei from hemophilia which plagues his very life. With the last bastion of magical items - a Matryoshka doll, each layer containing a precious spell that may save them all. She must keep it hidden and discover the meaning to open it, all while navigating what is though to be the final months of her families lives.
Both Romanovs and Bolshevik's come to see that each side is not quite what they expected, friendships are formed. Loyalties are tested. But tragedy will still find the Romanov family, some things even magic can not re-write.

The book it's self is set in extremely limited settings, and I never really got a feel for the descriptions of the places they occupied. I did feel the connective and emotional love of family ties, and the ability to forgive and heal. But it just didn't connect for me, and felt stilted and lacking in some areas.
The main vehicle for the magic aspect of survival, kind of drive me nuts, because it was just frankly not that believable. And it fit in strangely with only the minor spells we are introduced to in the beginning, and when we learn the way Alexei was healed by Rasputin.... It doesn't match with the sort of "laws" of magic that are set up. And feels like a real stretch.

I really wanted to like this, maybe more research would have helped, a better more through out magical system, more in the book its self to built the world up. Just something.

I knew little about Ramanov family going into the story but always been interested in knowing more and so when this book promised a magical twist on an age old tragedy, how coukd I not be tempted?

I found the beginning difficult to get through, having no background knowledge but as soon as it crossed 20%, I coukdnt stop reading. The story was so compelling, the magic bit was alright but didnt really need to be there. I found their struggles of hope, forgiving and being humble so interesting to read. Their final days, their hope of survival and how they formed friendship with their enemies that costed the royal family and the soldiers. All of it so heartbreaking to read.

I love how the author managed tp construct an compelling story on the alternate if the last of Ramanov blood had survived with the added twist of magic.

I wish we got more of the relationship between the sisters like we had of Maria and Anastasia. Like Olga and Tatiana.

I also love the end section holding information of what was real and what was fabricated for the sake of story. I found the real bits more fascinating even without knowing they were real.


I sincerely thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

*I was gifted an advanced copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. *

I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, I was absolutely entranced by the idea of Anastasia the Lost Princess. Imagine being a little girl, waking up one day with no memory of who you are. What if what you didn't remember was that you were royalty?

Of course, the Fox cartoon movie only fueled that fire (Who among us didn't belt out "Journey to the Past" every time we had to make a decision in life? Or waltz around the house while humming "Once Upon a December"? Oh, that was just me? Carry on...).

Despite the discovery of the missing Romanov children in 2017, the story will never fully lose it's magic for those of us who grew up wondering if- somehow, someway- we might be that little lost girl, never knowing who we were born to be.

So serious kudos to Nadine Brandes for actually infusing that myth with magic, and finding a way to use that magic to keep the truth we've found over the years from ruining the fairy tale we grew up with!

There's something really special about an author that can tell stories of historical fiction, yet still keep you riveted to the page dying to know what happens next. Every page, I knew the family was destined to die, and yet, every page I couldn't resist turning to the next "just one more time" waiting to learn more about these people. (And, by the way, the shooting takes place about 50% of the way through the book, so if you were concerned that this book would be boring or predictable, let me assuage that fear for you.)

Ever wondered what happened to separate Anastasia and Alexei from the rest of the family? Then read this book and open your heart because I definitely cried SEVERAL times!

The Final Breakdown:
The Book
Despite my knowing that Nicholas and Alexandria weren't exactly the picture of reason or inclusivity, Brandes still got me to open my heart up to them and see the pain and heartache of living out the last few months of their family's life the way they did.
🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Writing
Masterful, as many have come to expect from Brandes. The progression of the story was completely natural, and I never found myself losing concentration while reading.
🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️

Readability
I read this in under twenty-four hours. I didn't want to stop reading it to go to bed, even though I had to be at work early the next day. And it was worth it. When I got home the first thing I did was pick this book up to finish it because I just HAD TO KNOW!
🕰️🕰️🕰️🕰️🕰️

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

If you love the Romanovs, and historical fiction especially, then this is the book for you.

I, like many people, have a fascination with Anastasia and her family, and I know quite a few facts of their final weeks in exile. Romanov made the Romanovs come to life in exquisite, painful detail. Their closeness as a family, the siblings’ love of each other, Nastya’s adoration of her father, Nicholas’ humility and love for his country, which informs and guides the whole family throughout all of their interactions, is just beautiful. I don’t often struggle with words, but the entire first half of the book, which kept to the historical narrative extremely accurately, left me speechless.

“We are Romanovs. The bond of our hearts spans miles, memory, and time.”

Now, this is not the book I was expecting. I feel the synopsis is a bit misleading on this point. I thought this would be a more loosely based account, fraught with magic and an epic journey (probably heavily influenced by the animated film, let’s be honest). If that is the novel you want, look elsewhere. This is a book about familial love, devastating loss, betrayal, and one family’s capacity for forgiveness and love of their country. Even the romance takes a backseat and is hardly worth mentioning, though it is sweet and complex on its own. Anastasia does not spend the entirety of the book obsessing over Zash, though she does make an effort to befriend him. But all along she realizes the danger that she and her family are in, and she is fully aware that befriending their captors could be their only hope of escape.

“This will help you.” For now. “I will save you” Maybe. “I love you.” Always.

The magical aspect definitely does not permeate as much as I might have expected, but I don’t think I would have changed it. Since Anastasia only really knows one spell when the book begins, it would have felt ingenuine for her to all of a sudden be able to perform anything more complicated until the climax. And boy. What a climax that was. I was stressed basically for the entire last half of this book, but the final showdown may have actually shaved a few years off of my life.

“Let no one call you tame.”

In essence, I would definitely recommend Romanov to anyone even mildly interested in the history of Anastasia. I need a copy for my own shelves, but it is definitely not a light read, and I am going to have a book hangover for at least a few days. That said, there are many fabulous quotes, one of which WILL BE one of my next tattoos. That is probably the highest praise that I can offer.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
***
Romanov is a historical fiction/fantasy account that takes in the fall of the Romanov family up to the night of their execution. I say fantasy because in this version of the Romanov story magic is very much part of the world and plays a role throughout, but the historical aspects of the story seem to keep pretty true the extent of my knowledge.
The story has a fairly slow pace, a good portion of it is spent on the house arrest. The story starts with Nastya, Anastasia, and her family being in Tobolsk and then the transfer to Ekaterinburg where her family would undergo trials and eventually their end. While under house arrest there though Nastya makes friends/acquaintances/frenemies with one of her Bolshevik guards, Zash. There’s is a complicated relationship that’s for sure.
I adored the relationship of the Romanov family, especially the relationship between Nastya and her brother Alexei. Zash is an interesting character and complicated, the things he does have reasons but I’m sure everyone will have a different opinion on if those reasons were good enough.
One really interesting thing, at the end of the book the author has a small section that breaks down fact from fiction. Helpful because Russian history isn’t my strong suit and I know only the barest bit about what happened to the Romanov family and why so certain things being confirmed as truth or fiction helped me feel more comfortable in what I did know.

Nadine Brandes' Romanov is a masterfully crafted story of forgiveness mingled with history and magic. To be honest, I have never seen the Disney version of Anastasia, so I have nothing to compare this tale to. Brandes takes historical events and adds a little imagination to make a remarkable tale. With a fast moving plot, Brandes takes me for a magical journey from captivity to running from the enemy. The characters were crafted wonderfully and memorable. Brandes writing is top notch and really did an awesome job at describing the setting and using point of view well. Forgiveness is a theme running rampant through the pages of the plot. Nastya learns how important it is to forgive rather than seek revenge. Overall, Nadine Brandes' Romanov is a wonderful take on a historical family and sprinkled with an element of magic and forgiveness. Fans of Nadine Brandes' other works, Morgan Busse, Mary Weber, and Harry Potter might enjoy this novel.

I received a complimentary copy of Romanov by Nadine Brandes, but the opinions stated are all my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was really looking forward to this one (like many others, I've had a long-standing historical interest in the Romanovs and even fictional portrayals thereof, and the one small change to a historical narrative has always been a particularly compelling type of story for me) but I was pretty disappointed by this particular use of both. The book seems pretty well meant for those who do have that similar knowledge for the details of Russian history and the background of the Romanov story, but it also takes a particularly simplistic view of the situation as a whole. Anastasia's narration shuts down almost entirely the idea that her family might have ruled in any way improperly or sparked revolution through their action or inaction. Zash's attachment to the Bolshevik cause turns out to be no way ideological, and no explanation is given for why it might be, why Russian citizens felt any need to rise up against their (by this account) entirely benevolent, humble, and loving royal family. It was difficult to tell if Anastasia ever sensed the irony in her recounting the tortures of thin soup and lice and only a few servants to help them considering the famine of 1917 and the general conditions of their subjects, who had never had the opportunity to return to their palace following a day of wholesome wood-chopping and time spent outdoors. The uncomplicated narrative was supported by the shallow portrayals of Anastasia's family members: Maria and their mother at least had a bit of color to them through flirtatiousness and sacrifice using dark magic, but the czar and Alexei had an almost saintly forbearance and acceptance that made them seem basically bland, and Tatiana and Olga were basically non-characters.

I also didn't find the magic system to be particularly fleshed out; I kept wishing for more details about how magic was done, how common it was, its limits, and how it might have changed other world events. Considering the mystic bent to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the real-world accusations of sorcery laid against Rasputin, this would seem to be a perfect match, yet it wasn't given its full potential.

The third issue I had was with pacing. Perhaps spending over half the book on a recounting of days in captivity felt necessary to appropriately build an emotional bond between the characters (presumably Anastasia and Zash) but it just made the actually action filled latter part feel rushed, as if I was falling headfirst down a hill, and I didn't feel any particular attachment between the characters besides.

Overall, I would recommend at least reading with a nonfiction companion such as Candace Fleming's The Family Romanov. I think it will hold some appeal to readers also interested in this piece of history in general, but the storytelling elements left quite a lot to be desired.

Romanov is one of those novels that was hard to put down for me because of the main topic. Anastasia is one of my favorite historical figures and to see her re-imagined in this was just phenomenal. It's very raw and very realistic, despite the use of magic within the story. I felt pulled into the story from the beginning to the end. I can't wait to pick this up for my personal shelves!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

3,75 stars
I love the movie Anastasia so much so imagine my excitement when I got approved for this ARC. I was really looking forward to reading this book and it didn't disappoint! I didn't know the story of the Romanov outside of the Fox movie so I was really interested in learning more, even though Romanov is a work of fiction.

The thing I loved the most were the characters. From the very beginning I adored Nastya, she's clever and witty and strong but also so soft and her compassion is beautiful. I was also very fond of Alexei, such a sweet boy, and so strongwilled. I loved his relationship with Nastya so much.

"The bond of our hearts spans miles, memory, and time."

I really liked the first half of the book when the Romanovs are imprisoned in Ekaterinburg by the Red Army. I loved seeing the relations between all the Romanov, how close they were to one another, how much they cared about, and for, one another. It was quite slow-paced but I never got bored once. I loved how Brandes talked about their exile, about the waiting, the fear, the loneliness, the hope, but also the hopelessness. I also liked the little touches of magic here and there. But then the magic started bothering me. It became too much at once, it felt like it came out of nowhere and it felt "easy". I knew this was a fantasy book but after the first half being so shy with magic I wasn't expecting such spells. I still enjoyed the end, I couldn't put down the book. I loved how Brandes talked about grief and about forgiveness.

"sometimes comfort needed to sting more than the sorrow for it to break into the grief."

Romanov is a really touching book, about hope, compassion and forgiveness. It has wonderful characters and beautiful relationships, both within the family and outside of it. And though the magic can feel a bit out of place it's still a greatly enjoyable book and now I want to know more about the Romanovs and about Russian history!

Romanov by Nadine Brandes tells the story of how Anastasia and Alexei may have survived the night their family was executed. It also explores what happens when the captive and captor begin to have feelings for each other. Brandes gives Anastasia such a great survival story here. It's emotional and exciting, and the characters are excellent. The story of the Romanovs is sad, but this book is so full of hope. I was hooked and invested in the story from the beginning, and I was peeved at coworkers who disturbed my reading on lunch breaks because I didn't want to stop reading.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What a ride! Up until the end I didn't really know what do think of this, since it took me a looong time to get into the book and I couldn't get used to the atmosphere. But I still ended up enjoying this book, especially since I have always been a major fan of the mystery surrounding the Romanov-family and the apparent disappearance of Anastasia.

The novel follows the Romanov family, from the perspective of Anastasia herself, after they were pushed off the throne by the Red Army and the Bolsheviks. But this story has a twist, because here Anastasia practices magic and plans to be a spell master in the future. As they live in exile in Ekaterinburg we experience the family's trauma as they are scolded repeatedly by the hostile soldiers. Further, we also read about the different family members, such as Alexei, Anastasia's brother, who suffers from haemophilia or Anastasia's mother, who has severe headaches. Anastasia constantly tries to relieve them from their pain and even goes as far as endangering her own life.

What I really liked was the historic accuracy that went into the novel. Especially the first half is almost exactly true to what really happened in 1917/1918. Therefore the magic system felt a little bit displaces, since I couldn't 100% commit to it, regardless of the fact that I didn't totally get it.
I really enjoyed Anastasia and the portrayal of her relationship with her sisters and her father, which was just heart-warming.

There were also a couple of things that I didn't really enjoy. First of all, as mentioned above, it took me some time to get into this novel, since I had the eery feeling that I'd missed something, since no real backstory is mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I'm familiar with the Romanov-legends but it would have been nice to get some backstory from the author as well, since as a reader you need to deduct what has happened through dialogue, which was a bit tricky to do.
I also had my issues with the magic system, since I was so confused by it and in the end I still didn't fully understand what you need to do to make a spell work. Also, it didn't really fit into this setting, I believe. The story would have been perfectly fine without it too, in my opinion.

Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable read for me.
3,5/5 stars - would recommend to every Anastasia fan, or fans of Russian history.

If you are a fan of Russian history, especially the Romanov family, this book is for you. It was fantastically written -- full of love, magic and courage. The characters were well rounded -- I especially liked Nastya who had an incredible mix of vulnerability and strength. Will definitely be recommending this book to everyone!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Overwrought, but then so is the protagonist Anastasia. Fine if you like your historical fiction mired in telling and not showing, with a sprinkle of Disney movie thrown in.

A charming love story with a bit of magic, but for me this novel was hampered by one of the more specious explanations of Soviet communism I’ve ever read.

Romanov

Nadine Brandes 3.7 Stars

Some ***SPOILERS***

I was pretty hooked on this book. So, I have never read anything by Nadine Brandes before and honestly wasn’t super intrigued by her other novel Fawkes. I picked this one up because I love anything having to do with Anastasia and the Romanovs. I have spent some time living in Ukraine (former Soviet Union) and it was fun to come at this book with some Slavic experience.

Let’s start off with good things. I absolutely loved the characters in this book. The way Anastasia or “Nastya” was portrayed was perfectly how I also imagined her to be. She was the only character we really got to see develope other than Zash, who I also loved. I loved that he wasn’t the hero, but he also wasn’t portrayed as pathetic and useless. I loved his inner turmoil and the reality of the time-period for a boy soldier. I fell in love with Tsar Nicholas and although I could guess where he and the rest of his family ended up (if Brandes was going to stick to history), I was still sad to see his soft heart, humility and understanding leave.

I also love addition of magic, using the doll and the way spells were made and activated was extremely original and very creative. Well done Brandes.

The other thing that I loved about this book was how much research Brandes put into studying the Romanovs and Russian culture. While some of her similes and metaphors seem too typical...like comparing Bolshevik soldiers to vodka bottles (seriously?), most of her research was well done. There are some things you don’t get from a culture unless you’ve really spent time there and that was understably excluded from this novel. Unless the author really has been there? Then maybe I would have expected a little more from her especially where the descriptions are concerned.


That’s where I found myself disappointed. The Romanov family spent moths in the Ipatiev House and I still have no idea what the layout is or what color the walls are or if the third step from the bottom squeaks. I have no idea what season is like other than sometimes it was cold and sometimes it rained and sometimes there was sun...not helpful. I, personally, like details and want to be fully immersed in the world. Barnes didn’t help me do that very well.

The other frustrating part of this book was the scene transitions. One second Nastya would be talking to her sister and the next second it’d be three days later or she would all of a sudden be in the library alone with no context as to what was happening. I need more fluid transitions. I need to see where a paragraph ends and where the next one starts with a little more flow and less choppiness and disorientation.

Overall this was a good book and I very much enjoyed it. I liked it enough to wish that it wasn't a standalone! Although I missed out on the details, I would definitely recommend this book!

I wanted to like this book, I really did! The book was slower than what I had hoped, and the writing didn't push me to loving the plot or the characters enough. It was a slow read and the characters were blah. I loved the premise of the story, the characters potential, so many things, yet it really left me bored. The setting was alright, the story was lacking, it was in the genre of historical fiction, but it really didn't have the pull of the story, it was difficult to get through.

The Romanov family fascinate people for a century. Well, their end did.
And I was curious what Nadine Brandes would do with the story. And mainly how she's going to end the story, that's what I'm always curious to see.

I believe that the book had great potential. However, it seems a bit like a miss. Like the story is always the one note away for me to really enjoy.

Roughly the first 60% follow the Romanov family from Tobolsk to Ekateringburg. Here, it seems very precise. The author then said that she made a lot of research. However, it seemed like she mainly used the Wikipedia article about the Execution of the Romanov family. There are some sentences that seem very similar. Or they might have the same source.
However, the result is that it seems a bit textbook said from the POV of a teen girl.

Then the last 40% is a fiction. Following the myth that Anastasia and fully developing the fantasy element of this book.

Strangely enough, I prefer the textbook beginning. Why? Because there it at least makes sense. Unfortunately, the author seems to be lost when she suddenly does not have a history to follow. What to do now? And suddenly there are so many problems for me to unsee.

I have several things I need/want to point out.

- There is a lot of Russian words used to describe things. Budenovka, fortochka, droshky. I understand all of them. But, I really doubt that someone who does not speak a Slavic language will know all of them. And unfortunately, it is not a good thing to be forced to google things.

- The Romanov family was shown as the nicest people ever. And while I understand that of course, Anastasia would love her parents... It does not work. The author claims extensive research, but here I believe she fails. Nikolai was very much a family man. But, he was a very bad tsar. Meek. Under the influence of his wife. But here Nikolai is suddenly the perfect leader who leads his family. It seems fake. Romanticised.

- The book should have started at a different point; not everyone is familiar with the Revolution and the Romanov family. If the book started maybe with the abdication, it would make more sense. Explain why Nikolai was forced to abdicate. Why people hated him and his wife. Explain Bolsheviks, Mensheviks.
-This is one of the problems. People need knowledge. One time Nicholai talks about his cousin King George V of the United Kingdom. But he does not say his name and people are left guessing. Or confused. <spoiler>From the book it sounded as if Nicholai was hurt that George did not take them to Britain to save them. But he did not know that George refused; he believed that it was the UK's government! So, do not try to be historically correct and then drop things like that.</spoiler>

- There is a lot of talk about the White Army, but once again I felt like it was very confusing unless you know the history. And by the way, correct me if I'm mistaken. But wasn't it the Czechoslovak legion that was reaching Ekaterinburg? They were going East so that they could go back to Czechoslovakia.

- Do I have any Russian friends here? If yes, please, help me here. Zash. I'm really confused by the name. I know the name Zasha exists, but I never saw Zash. I know that защитник (zashchitnik) means defender. But is there Zash as a name?

- Also, Zash is supposed to be from an aboriginal tribe from Russia but his description makes him sound more Scandinavian than Siberian.

<spoiler>Oh my main issue! The anjin speel takes them into a shadow world or whatever and whatever happens to their bodies after that will be erased. But not before. Anastasia says it after the execution while lying in a car. And then when they come back, she only has bruised ribs. The way they were killed was a massacre. They were butchered; there is no way she would be shot only one time. They would, but more bullets in her and then take a bayonet on her. This is nonsense! </spoiler>

- And the ending: <spoiler> Anastasia asks to be buried with her family. And it's true that she and Alexei were found in a different grave. But still, I don't like this because if they lived a happy long life and then buried with their family, their skeletons would be of old people. I know fantasy... but still. And talking about this I just want to point out that the point where Alexei tells the soldiers that he is now the tsar there is no way they would just let him go! If they were truly the Whites, Alexei is the most important thing to them. They would have stayed with him, protected him and tried to get him to their leaders. They would have not just waved goodbye and watched as they went back to the enemy.</spoiler>

- The problem with this book is simple. It tries very hard to be historically correct but always fails in small things which matter. And it does not work with the fantasy element. I want to believe that if it was fantasy all along, different names, different family, setting it might have work.

I fell in love with the cover and the synopsis of this book as I am crazy about anything that says “Romanov”.
I had such high hopes going in.
Oh how I wanted to like this novel.
But something went wrong.
And I didn’t like it nearly as much as I’d hoped.

“Romanov” by Nadine Brandes is a fantasy spin on the well-know tragedy of the Imperial Romanov family. The novel focuses on the last months of their exile in Siberia and is told from the point of view of Anastasia, the youngest of the Romanov girls.

The first half reads an awful lot like a history textbook — a very boring history textbook where basically nothing happens for 150+ pages. I appreciate that the author stuck very closely to historical facts about the life of the family but it was just too suffocating and exhausting to plough through. There were a couple moments when I considered simply DNFing the book — that’s how uneventful the first half was. In the second part the events picked up speed and I was mildly interested to see how everything would turn out for the characters. The ending wasn’t great — more like okay — and I sighed with relief when the book finally ended.

Another thing that really bothered me was the writing. One, some metaphors were way over the top and felt forced. Two, as a native Russian speaker I got annoyed by the words and phrases in Russian because some of the forms were off (“Dobroye utrA” when it should be “utrO” — which, I hope, gets fixed before the release). Besides, the constant repetition of “(insert the name) said in Russian”— when Russian was basically the only language spoken by common folk at that time — felt unnecessary and excessive.

Still there were things that I liked. Magic was a cool addition and a neat way to build a retelling around. I just wish that more attention had been paid to this aspect of the story, I admire the accuracy of the first half of the book. I also liked the portrayal of the royals and their relationships with one another and their captors though the two eldest sisters, Olga and Tatyana, were almost invisible throughout the novel — at times I forgot they even existed. The romance also was honestly just meh.

All in all, as a retelling the novel does its job of showing what Anastasia’s life could have been like if she had possessed a magic spell. But I would advise to manage your expectations before picking up a copy of this book so as not to be disappointed.


I received a free eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A YA version of royalty in Russia. The mysticism aspect was interesting but the rest wasn’t really well developed.

I LOVE Anastasia and have really gotten into historical fiction lately. I felt the pacing was a bit odd, being so slow in the beginning, and then speeding up in the second half. The characters were wonderful and the story interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love anything to do with the Romanov family's tragic story. This aspect of the book, combined with the added magic, made Romanov a very enjoyable read. The way the characters were written really brought life into the Romanov family that wouldn't have been as present in a biography. The magic system, which involves spellmasters who use spell ink to create spells, wasn't as important as I initially thought it would be. Anastasia, or Nastya as she is known as by her family, is tasked with protecting a doll that contains a spell that will save her and her family from the Bolsheviks. Other than this, the first half of the book seems very realistic to what the Romanov family likely would have experienced during their last months while being held captive. The second half of the book, however, adds a lot more detail to the magic system.
I really liked Nastya as a character; she was funny, clever, and protective of her family. However, I did not like her love interest, Zash. He seemed very disingenuous to me, as if he didn't care as much about Nastya as he claimed to.
All in all, Romanov was an enjoyable, oftentimes tragic, and fascinating book.