I was so excited by the premise of this story. It's full of details and information, the story has so much potential to be mysterious, rich, and engaging. Instead, it altered between predictable, flat, and (sadly) boring. I really, really, REALLY wanted to love this book, but it never hooked me.

I was first entranced by the cover of this book and decided that I had to know more about it. Then the backmatter absolutely hooked me, and I couldn’t wait to read it!

Rose did a fabulous job of weaving history and fiction to bring both her characters and the real historical figures to life. Usually when a story is told of the Grand Duchesses of the Romanov family, it centers around Anastasia. She is never actually mentioned in this book, which was kind of refreshing. I enjoyed learning a bit about the eldest of the Grand Duchesses, Olga and Tatiana, and their work as nurses during WWI, even though that was only a small bit of the breadth of the story.

It was easy to see how much research the author put into this story, incorporating everything from troikas and Fabergé to Agatha Christie and Gregory Peck to Bolsheviks and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. To be able to take all these seemingly disparate bits and meld them into one cohesive and interesting tale is impressive, and I really did enjoy both the grand scope and the intricate details.

I do have to admit that it took me a while to really get into the story. It begins with Isobelle’s voice, and for some reason, I found it difficult to connect with at first. I picked the book up and put it down five or six times in that first chapter, reading other books in between, before I finally found myself getting sucked into the story. Once I did get lost in the narrative, however, it was fascinating. Now, I need to check out M.J. Rose’s other work!

I would definitely recommend you grab this book when it comes out in February 2021. And if you find yourself, like me, not quite sure of the story at first, don’t give up. It is seriously worth the read. An easy 4 out of 5 stars.

Many thanks to Blue Box Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book for review purposes. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are my very own! 🙂

Two storylines, both in the past. Sophia Moon lived in St Petersburg, Russia as the world was falling apart and with her close proximity to the royal family of Tsar Nicholas II, she had a unique perspective on the family's final days. Isobelle her daughter has returned to NYC where her mother fled when she was just an infant and is dealing with the ramifications of the unexpected death of her mother and the secrets that she left behind.

Before I dive in, I will say, I am a huge MJ Rose fan. If you are looking for an author that writes solid historical fiction that informs and entertains, then look no further.

What made this book feel unique other than where and when it took place was that both storylines were historically set. Even Isobelle's storyline was more contemporary, she was living in NYC in 1949. I think having her story be historical helped because she didn't have all the technology at her fingertips and it also made her have her own storyline with her involvement in the development of Oak Ridge, TN and her uniqueness as a woman architect at the time. She had substance while also diving into her mother's past.

To send a light warning, there were a few sex scenes and yes, they fit into the story and were appropriately placed, but in my humble opinion they didn't move the story along.

My favorite feeling after finishing a historical fiction is the anticipation to read more books set in the time and place and this book did just that. I am now in heavy pursuit of more books that will take me back to Russia during the time of Tsar Nicholas II and I want to know more about Russia and its people during this time.

Review to come closer to my stop this book tour

From New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller M.J. Rose (“One of the master storytellers of historical fiction.” —New York Times bestseller Beatriz Williams) comes a provocative and moving story of a young female architect in post-World War II Manhattan, who stumbles upon a hidden treasure and begins a journey to discovering her mother’s life during the fall of the Romanovs.

Calling all historical fiction fans (and fans of a good mystery)!

What could be better than coffee and a story to get wrapped up in?! 💙 Thank you Get Red PR and Netgalley for sending me a copy of The Last Tiara. This story has me transfixed while I try to stay out of the cold and stay calm during all the holiday madness. 🙌

The Last Tiara follows a female architect in post-WWII Manhattan as she tries to uncover secrets about her mother’s past. When Sophia Moon suspiciously passes away, her daughter Isobelle must uncover the truth about her life after finding a silver tiara in Sophia’s belongings. The tiara links back to Russia, her mother’s home country and just might reveal information about Isobelle’s father as well. Alternating between two points of view, this story connects two young women with their own struggles. In 1915, Sofiya Petrovitch, a royal household favorite and best friend of the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, tends to wounded soldiers in a hospital on the grounds of the palace in St. Petersburg while she finds the love of her life. In 1948, Isobelle Moon lives in Manhattan trying to break through the sexism in her industry and prove her talent exceeds that of her male counterparts. Both of their stories narrate lives lived with strength and resolve.

This story brims with intrigue and details about parts of history that do not get explored often. I enjoyed the mixture of historical fiction and mystery blended in the plot with characters so vibrant they read dimensional and alive. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a chance to escape into a story of action, mystery, and romance.

Thanks to the author, Net Galley, and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed The Last Tiara. I liked that it was a historical fiction for both story lines. Most multiple story line books I've read have a character in the present and the past. In this book both were in the past. I enjoyed the mystery and was intrigued by the Russian history. Interesting story. I highly recommend this book. I work in a high school library and I feel that students that like historical novels would enjoy this book too.

I'm always excited to put a historical fiction novel onto my tbr, especially if it deals with an era or region that i'm not really familiar with. The Last Tiara is told in dual timelines - Isobelle is living in 1940s NYC and looking for answers after her mother's death one year prior. She finds a tiara (minus the jewels) hidden in the wall of her mother's bedroom and works to uncover the history of piece. We also get Sofiya's perspective from Russia in 1915 - she begins working as a nurse and through a series of events (and after a period of years) ends up fleeing Bolshevik Russia.

This is my second MJ Rose book and she does a great job of setting up strong, independent female characters. If you're a historical fiction fan, you'll want to add this to your tbr!

Thank you Get Red PR for the NetGalley ARC.

Kudos to M. J. Rose for making history come alive within the pages of this gem of a book. Loved the dual storyline of Sofiya, living in Petrograd, Russia, in 1915, and her daughter, Isobelle, living in New York in 1948. Having always been fascinated with the story of Tsar Nicholas and his family, I greatly appreciated Sofiya’s connection with Olga. The inclusion of Faberge, the stunning eggs, and the Hermitage also was fascinating to me. As a lover of historical fiction I was enthralled with this read - a seamless blend of history, romance, and intrigue. The hardships of living in Russia painted a grim picture. Rose captured the tragic time period perfectly setting the stage for Sofiya’s decisions later in life. Sofiya and Carpathian’s story was so eloquently written while also so heartbreaking. Rose made perfect transitions between the storylines which kept encouraging me to read one more chapter. Isobelle and Jules keep the romance alive as they sought the story of the last tiara, which was actually a real tiara which has never been recovered. Next mission for me is to determine if the Midas Society is an actuality. The Davinci Code came to mind several times during the latter half of this book. The description of the tiara and its secrets will long remain a vivid picture in my mind. The genius ending brought tears to my eyes. So thankful for my first read in 2021. M.J. Rose you have created a new fan of your work. Many many thanks to M. J. Rose and NetGalley for affording me the extreme satisfaction of an arc of this gem of a book - The Last Tiara, to be published February 2, 2021. I highly recommend this read to any fan of historical fiction, the Romanov family, or multigenerational reads.

I enjoyed this book. I adore Russian history, and although this does Have some Romanov in it, it’s not focused on that per say. I also liked the dual story telling. Overall it kept me interested and I liked it. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.

This is a looooong, engrossing historical tale that ultimately just involved too many things for me. Told in two perspectives and time periods, we follow Sophia during the years of the Russian Revolution, her friendship with the royal family, the love affair with a soldier suffering from amnesia, the involvement of the Faberge jewelry makers, and a mystery of a tiara. Decades later, Isobelle, the daughter of Sophia, tells her story as she tries to understand how this tiara came into her mother's possession. Isobelle's life also involves her work as an female architect in the male-dominated world, her time at Oak Ridge building a city for atomic bomb scientists, a love interest whose own family issues are complex. Yeah, there was just a LOT going on for me. I was intrigued and fascinated by the Russian time period, less so with the post WWII life, and found the ending a bit implausible and too-neatly packaged.

The Last Tiara by M.J. Rose
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 4½/5 stars


Despite having lived her entire life in New York, Isobelle has never quite felt comfortable or included. As the daughter of a Russian immigrant, Isobelle walks the line between two worlds, the one she has always occupied and the mysterious world her mother once belonged to yet left behind. For much of her life, Isobelle has asked questions but never received any answers; with the death of mother, Isobelle is finally going to solve the mystery of where she belongs.

Isobelle is absolutely crushed by the death of her mother, but she has to move on for the sake of her own sanity. One of the biggest steps toward her recovery is putting her skills to work and refurbishing and refashioning the home she and her mother shared. As Isobelle begins moving furniture and peeling ancient wallpaper, she discovers a hidden compartment which contains the most unusual of finds, a stripped tiara in cushioned case. To say Isobelle is dumbfounded doesn’t even come close. Though she is somewhat used to living with her mother’s secrets, the tiara is a whole new level of mystery.

With nothing but a receipt to go on, Isobelle begins her search for answers with the name on the receipt. The name leads her to a handsome young jeweler with a past of his own. The young man is not only fascinated by the tiara Isobelle has brought him, but by Isobelle as well. As the two begin the real search for the source of the tiara, they draw closer to one another on a personal level. Unfortunately, the search into her mother’s tiara causes a divide between the two and their respective self-interests regarding the astounding find a wholly different.

Isobelle sees the tiara as a link to her past and to understanding a mother who was never willing to share the secrets of her past. The handsome young jeweler sees the tiara as a missing relic that should be repatriated if at all possible. The wildly divergent interests not only drive Isobelle and her beau apart, but they also serve as the path to real answers. What Isobelle discovers through her journey is that some men are worth loving, her mother’s secrets weren’t meant to harm but to protect the secret keeper, and the future is as bright as Isobelle wants it to be.

The Bottom Line: I have long been a fan of books that sweep back and forth between the present and the past. When you add in a bit of mystery and history, the book just gets better. This book is very much a sweeping tale of love, lost love, fear, triumphs and tribulations that spans across the globe from the Russian imperial court to and early 20th century New York City. For myself, I found the time of Isobelle’s mother to be the most entertaining as it really is her story, we, like Isobelle, are meant to be discovering. The hardship and sorrow of the time and place just poured off the page leaving me feeling quite anxious and worried for the fate of all the characters. I completely absorbed this book and was able to truly dive in and envision all that was happening. A fine historical fiction!

I've long held an interest in the Romanovs, so this book was of insta-interest for me. But this book was so much more than simply the Romanovs. I am honestly astonished by all the author has packed into this very enjoyable book, from secret cities, to secret societies, to long-held secrets. The dual timeline works so well, along with each character's story arcs. I can only imagine the research that went into bringing this exceptional novel to life. So well done and time well spent as I kick off 2021.

I love reading about Tsarist Russia and this mystery of a lost tiara captures the history and intrigue of the time. Told in flashbacks between the daughter's present in the forties and the mother's past at the cusp of revolution. The history of lost jewels is intriguing and while.a bit predictable with the end the story as a whole entertainment delivers.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

I loved this story from beginning to end! This is such a beautifully written tale of a woman discovering her past and her truth. The parallel chapters of mother and daughter were a wonderful touch, as the readers get to experience each woman as they face their challenges.

Dual timelines of a woman in 1948 New York who finds a tiara minus a few jewels in her dead mother's things and searches for the link between the tiara and her mother's hidden past. Isobelle finds out that her mother once worked for the Romanovs as a nurse and was befriended by Olga who gave the tiara to her mother, Sophia. As Isobelle digs deeper she will find out more about her mother and the father she never knew. I was drawn in by Sophia's story in Russia and a bit less involved with Isobelle and her struggles in New York. As is the case with all of Rose's books there is much history, a bit of romance, and an intriguing story with strong female characters. Fans of everything Romanov and the Russian Revolution will enjoy this. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Just after I started reading this I remembered I read the last book by this author and absolutely loved it. I was then worried this book wouldn’t hold up to it and I’d be disappointed... I didn’t have to worry. This book was incredible. The characters grabbed me immediately, the story was breathtaking, the history was fabulous, and I couldn’t put it down. Thank you for writing such and epic book.

I loved this wonderfully written historical fiction with a bit of mystery. I immediately became engrossed with the story telling of Sophie and Isobelle Moon’s lives while reading of the many threads which tied together the mystery together.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This work of historical fiction alternates between 1917 Russia and 1948 New York. Isobelle is a young architect, fighting her way in a mostly male profession. Her mother Sofiya emigrated from Russia in the 1920’s, pregnant with Isobelle and seeking to escape the excesses of the Bolshevik Revolution which cost her friends and family, and her lover, Carpathian. The story incorporates history, a mother daughter relationship, and two romances between Sofiya and Carpathian, and Isobelle and Jules, the young jeweler she befriends to help her solve the mystery of a tiara she found hidden in her mother’s apartment after Sofiya’s death. I recommend this novel and thank NetGalley for the ARC.

“The Last Tiara” by best-selling novelist M.J Rose is a historical fiction novel, chock full of emotion, romance, history and intrigue.
(As posted on mysteryandsuspensemagazine.com)
When Isobelle Moon discovers the remnants of a tiara, hidden in the wall of her mother’s room, she is immediately enthralled. Her mother, Sophia, had always been very secretive about her past in Russia, refusing to talk about her life before coming to American when Isobel was an infant. Desperate to find answers, Isobelle enlists the help of Jules Reed, the grandson of the jeweler who was responsible for the design of the tiara. However, Isobelle realizes that Jules is a member of an underground, secret historical society whose primary goal is returning lost items to their owners. Can Isobelle trust Jules to help her uncover the tiara’s history, also revealing some of Sophia’s own secrets? Or will he betray her, and use the tiara for his own purposes?
“The Last Tiara” is narrated in two time periods, from the perspective of both Isobelle and her mother, Sophia, with each segment clearly marked and dated. I thoroughly enjoyed learning of the Moon women this way, understanding their individual struggles, and eventually bringing their struggles together to a satisfying conclusion. Both Isobelle and Sophia are brave and powerful women, determined to make it on their own- Sophia, desperate to raise her child in a free world, and Isobelle, trying to garner success as an architect in a strictly-male dominated field. Everything about these women is worth cheering for and I was eager to see how their stories would play out.
Ms. Rose has a magical way of retelling history, and using her descriptive language she is able to portray the desolation of Russia, as well as the beautiful up-and-coming New York City, in a way that completely immerses the reader in history. Not only is the romantic endeavours of Sophia and Isobelle at the forefront of this novel, but I also learned a little bit about the Boleshvik’s, the Russian crown jewels, and the disappearance of the Tsar and his family. “The Last Tiara” is a story that will provide a reader with page-turning entertainment, while at the same time providing a reader with knowledge and information. This is not an easy thing to do, and bonus points to Rose for managing this task impeccably.
The unexpected ending of “The Last Tiara” delighted me. Not only was it believable but it came out of nowhere, and provided the perfect ending (even though it wasn’t what I was expecting!). All of the characters got exactly what they deserved, and I was left feeling completely satisfied.
“The Last Tiara” is an absolute historical-fiction gem, and I cannot wait to enjoy MJ Rose’s past and future works!

What a great read! This is the perfect read for someone who loves historical fiction mixed with a little mystery. I found the story interesting and the characters lovable.