I've always been obsessed with learning about the Romanovs. This book is a beautiful historical mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat! I loved how Rose made everything feel so realistic and historically accurate...I had to keep reminding myself that I was reading fiction. If only some of the events in this amazing story could turn out to be true!

The Last Tiara by MJ Rose

429 Pages
Publisher: Blue Box Press, AuthorBuzz
Release Date: February 2, 2021

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thriller, Russian

Sophia Moon has never wanted to talk about her past in Russia with her daughter Isobelle. After Sophia’s death, Isobelle is trying to make the house her own. She begins removing wallpaper and finds a small hiding spot with a box inside. When she opens the box, she is surprised to find a tiara. Now she has more questions but no one to ask. She begins a search that will bring strangers to her doorstep. She will have to determine if they are friends or enemies.

The book has a steady pace and goes back and forth from Sophia’s past to Isobelle’s present. The characters are well developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. I enjoy reading about the Romanov family and the House of Faberge. The author did a wonderful job bringing history to life in her writing. If you like historical fiction, you will enjoy this book.

M.J Rose' books are always good recommendations. I liked the characters and how she portrayed their relationships. I feel like the story and plot-line could have been achieved in half the pages that this book took to get through though.

M.J. Rose is one of my favorite authors. She wrote the spell-binding Daughters of La Lune trilogy. I was excited to read about the Romanovs lost Tiara. However, it was very slow moving, and I really was interested in both storylines. The writing really became repetitive. Thus, this is a novel that will appeal to fans of the Romanovs but is not her best work. Still, I recommend this for fans of The Tsarina’s Daughter!

I am usually a huge fan of M.J. Rose and also a huge fan of any of Russian fiction dealing with Nicholas II and his family. So the premise of this book was very enticing to me.

Sofyia is a young friend to Olga, daughter of Nicholas II, when she is sent away from the family. She begins work as a nurse during WWI and meets a man who captivates her and she can't but fall in love with. Unfortunately, she loses tracks of him and doesn't learn the outcome of his injury. Years later, she takes a tiara that was a gift from Grand Duchess Olga to renowned jewelers to have it appraised to get money, which is in short supply. Whilst there, she comes across her former love. Years later, her daughter Isobelle in post WWII New York is left with many questions about her mother's life. She's also struggling to find her way in a male dominated profession as an architect.

I am going to just be straightforward about this. I was expecting most of the story, for some reason, (because of how it was marketed) to be Sofyia in 1910's Russia. And I was excited about a faux connection story with the Tsar Nicholas II and some royal intrigue/majesty. We didn't even get a 1% of that in this book. I was heartily disappointed by that. I feel like Olga was used as a prop because her name is well known. That is truly unfair to her.

And honestly, not to be a jerk, but I really wasn't interested or invested in Isobelle's storyline. Because honestly everything she wanted to know? Rose was telling us in Isobelle's mother's alternate storyline. For the most part at least.

I'm sorry! I usually really love M.J.'s books, but this one just didn't do it for me. Super bummed.

Thank you for the ARC.

Definitely a book that had such excellent world building but fell a teensy bit flat with characters and character relationships. The plot and background to this though was lovely!

Sadness pervades this novel from start to finish. There is a dual timeline storyline involving the history of the tiara and how it played a part in the lives of Sophia, the man she loves and afterwards her daughter. It's an interesting story but slow-moving.

Did not love this book. I was expecting a lot more from it and it just fell flat for me. I was bored with it and the lack of development of the characters made it hard to be able to connect with them.

I really enjoyed this book. I always like dual timelines, especially when there is some sort of mystery that is being explored. This book also capitalizes on the questions that still persist about the Romanov family and the end of the dynasty. As a historical fiction novel, it was refreshing to have a story that was not set during World War II. This book takes place from the ending of WWI (1917) until 1922 and then picks up in 1948 or 49, when the second World War has ended but has clearly impacted those in the book. I appreciate when authors weave actual historical events into the story; it always leaves me wondering what other elements are true or based in history.

I received a dARC from the publisher via Netgalley; this is my honest review.

DNF. I don't care for book with sex or vulgar things. Even so, the descirptions were very tedious and it made the story flow slow. Kinda predictable too

Oh what a phenomenal historical fiction read! This books was very powerful and moving and I really enjoyed my time with it. I loved the strong historical detail here and how that mixed with the mystery element with some romance mixed in kept me turning page after page as quickly as I could. I truly couldn't put this book down and that is a testament to the strong writing of this author.

I loved the different timelines and locations that the story encompassed and the characters we meet in each. For the sake of not spoiling anything as I strongly recommending just diving into this one head first, I'll simply say that the plot here was paced perfectly and will indeed keep you interested right up to the unexpected ending. The settings are phenomenal as well!

If you're a love of art as I am, and this genre, then this is absolutely a must-read for you. I think it will blow you away just as it did me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the gifted e-copy.

If you've enjoyed other works by M.J. Rose like The Reincarnationist or Daughter of La Lune series then I think you'll find this an enjoyable read. Like many of her others, the story is told in two time periods and features mystery and a bit of romance.

I was unable to download this audiobook in time as I didn't realize it was on my shelf. It was archived too quickly from the time I requested it.

I have always loved royalty and stories of the past grandeur, and Anastasia has always been a favorite tragic princess, so when I read the description for The Last Tiara, I was intrigued. I’ll pick up anything about Czar Nicholas and his family.

The story is told from two alternating perspectives. One, from Sofiya Petrovitch, who grew up in the Grand Duchess’ household and navigated the fall of the Roman empire as a war nurse. The other is from Isobelle Moon, growing up in NYC with a mother who refuses to discuss the past or her flight from Russia. When Isobelle’s mother dies unexpectedly, Isobelle uncovers clues from her mother’s past, embarking on a journey to discover her own family history.

Overall, it was a very good plot and storyline when I look at the big picture. Reading it though, the story was extremely slow, especially the beginning and majority of the book. Only once I had gotten about 75-80% into the novel did it pick up speed with the thrill of finding the answers to all of the mysterious questions that linked the two perspectives. I enjoyed the way it was all wrapped up, but I must admit that it was also completely predictable.

I was particularly surprised by the role of Fabergé throughout the book and thought it was a nice touch! It made me really think and wonder about Fabergé’s potential real-life presence in 1915 Russia.

While romantic entanglements played a part in moving the plot forward, I also really appreciated that the story as a whole centered around two strong, intelligent, and determined young women who fought to not only succeed but also thrive in a man’s world.

This is an excellent historical fiction story that had me wrapped up from the first page. From the setting to the dual timelines the character development this book has it all. A definite five star read for me.

It’s no surprise to everyone here that I hit a reading slump for physical books for a while. I’m finally starting to get back into the swing of things and so on my flight home for Christmas I finished reading The Last Tiara which I devoured the first 2/3s of when I started it.

This was a delightful tale which swung back and forth between the mothers story in post-tzar russia and her daughters story after World War II. They are both haunted by ghosts and following their paths to love as Isobelle–the daughter–tries to uncover the mystery of a Tiara that she found in the walls of her mother’s home as she is in the middle of renovations. We follow the path of the Tiara through both of their lives, learning the challenges both women face.

Personally I love finding stories like this were family and love is at the center with a mystery and different time periods. It’s a beautiful way to tell a tale and much like The Ladies of the Secret Circus this was well done.

I will say it did take a while for me to be comfortable with the time period that it was set it, with the social norms and the secondary plotline of misogyny that ran throughout the story. However for anyone who enjoys historical fiction this is well worth the read. The ending was wild and I wish that I’d never set it down for long periods of time before I finally finished it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book. This book had everything I love in a story, mystery, romance, and history. I can’t wait to read more by this author. This is the first book I’ve read by M.J. Rose.

This M. J. Rose novel tells the story of Isobell and Sophia Moon. After Sophia dies unexpectedly, Isobell tries to learn more about her mother's secretive past and the mysterious tiara Isobell finds. The story goes back and forth in time to World War I Russia and right after World War II. The story line started out interestingly but did not hold my attention through the whole book.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC digital copy. I have not been compensated for my opinion and this is an honest review.

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish reading this ARC digital copy before needing to switch to other books that were being archived. The book remains on my Goodreads "want to read" list, and I will update my review to reflect an updated opinion when I finish it at a later date..

Actual rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Last Tiara is a historical fiction that has alternating chapters between mother, Sofiya, and her daughter m Isobelle. It follows Sofiya's life in Russia from 1915 through 1922, and Isobelle describes her journey of discovery linking a tiara to her mother's past in 1947.

In 1947 Isobelle was abruptly called home to New York from Tennessee because her mother had died in a car accident. After completing her assignment in Tennessee, Isobelle returned to New York and moved back in to her childhood apartment. Her mother had immigrated to New York from Russia in 1922 after the revolution. Sofiya wouldn't tell her daughter much about her or her father's life in Russia and wanted to leave it in the past.

After a year she began to remodel her mother’s apartment and made the discovery of the tiara that would help her piece her mother's life together.

.This book was well written and you can tell that the author had done a lot of research on the historical context before writing this. Historical fiction isn't my favorite genre and I felt like this story did drag a bit. It become really tedious at points and while a lot of it was interesting, it didn't fully click with me. I did like the addition of romance and mystery into this story and that's mostly what saved it for me.

Thank you to Blue Box Press, M.J. Rose, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.