The Last Tiara by M.J.Rose

Another winner by author M.J.Rose, this entertaining read takes you back and forth between Russia during WWI and NYC (mostly) after WWII.

Sofiya has left her life in Russia behind and has told no family history to her daughter, Isobelle. The very curious Isobelle finds a hidden tiara and hopes this keepsake has a history which will lead her to information about her father that her mother would never tell her. Who can help Isobelle? Where does she start?

The tale takes the reader on a chase to gather facts as the story is nicely pieced together. Tsars, princesses, wounded soldiers, gems, jewelers, would be thieves and hard sought answers all make up this enjoyable book. It’s a good one for readers who like some mystery in their reading choices.

** Don’t miss one of the book’s highlights for me; the many of Sofiya’s very pithy and valuable views on life. They are gems in and of themselves.

Thank you to Blue Box Press and Net Galley for an ARC for my review.

I am a long time fan of M.J. Rose’s work. The publisher generously allowed me to read an ARC of this soon-to-be-published book. The cost? An uncensored review.

True to form, M.J.Rose does not disappoint with “The Last Tiara”. I felt the beginning was just a wee bit slow for me, but once the characters and plot were set in motion it was a non-stop bit pleasure!

Told from the points of view of Isobel Moon and her, Russian emigre mother, Sofiya, the plot of this wonderful tale revolves a tiara that was gifted to Sofiya by the Grand Duchess Olga on the eve of the Russian Revolution. Sofiya was the daughter of the woman who taught the Duchesses to paint and Sofiya and Olga had become close confidantes....even working at a hospital together during the great war.

To say much more might possibly be to reveal too much of the story, and so I will keep it this vague other than to say, as always with M.J.Rose, the characters were beautifully drawn and the plot was meticulous. A bit of romance only adds to the depths. It is a book about enduring love, greed for precious, material things, and the ephemeral search for meaning and happiness in life despite deep, unrelenting hardships. Good over evil, love over hate.

I did truly enjoy every moment spent reading this book, but now I have to wait impatiently for another book from this, a favorite author, to be written!

Enjoy the journey that reading this book will take you on!

After her mother's unexpected and sudden death, Isobelle finds a hidden tiara that presents a mystery from her mother's life and escape during the Russian revolution. Because Sophia had refused to talk about anything that happened in Russia, including information about Isobelle's father, there are many questions but no answers. Through alternating viewpoints we learn about her mother's life during this turbulent and dangerous time, while Isobelle tries to unravel the secrets of her mother's past.

Books featuring alternating viewpoints can become confusing, but it was handled well in The Last Tiara. There was interesting information about the Russian revolution, the Imperial family and Fabrege jewelry, but the main focus was the love story between Sophia and Carpathian. The events of Sophia's past converge with mysteries in Isobelles life as she uncovers the truth of the past while developing a relationship with Jules, a high-end jeweler whose help is vital in the search.

There was a taste of the melancholy that seems to be prevalent in Russian novels, creating an atmosphere that added to the story but made it somewhat slow moving and introspective at times. The growth in the relationships of Sophia/Carpathian and Isobelle/Jules was well done. There was an interesting and unexpected twist at the end, which tied things together and was satisfying. There were a couple of sex scenes but I skipped over them. There was no profanity.

To summarize, at times I got a little impatient but I enjoyed this well written novel. It was provided by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

"The Last Tiara" by M. J. Rose was an interesting read. I have always been fascinated by Russian history, and though this is historical fiction it is interesting to read. The only thing that was difficult for me was that it was a bit of a slow start. I loved that it was based on a real piece of jewelry. Interesting story overall and I think that people will enjoy it.

**Received as an ARC in exchange for an honest review thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity.**

Initially, the premise of “The Last Tiara” seemed intriguing. Isobelle Moon, in 1949 Manhattan, discovers a tiara with missing gemstones hidden beneath the wallpaper of her recently deceased mother’s bedroom. The only clue to its identity is a receipt for diamonds and paste sapphires sold by Isobelle’s Russian émigré mother to a jeweler that is located across the street from the architectural firm where Isobelle works. The book alternates between Sophia, Isobelle’s mother, in 1915-1922 Russia, and Isobelle in 1949 Manhattan. Unfortunately, the book is slow and ponderous, filled with lengthy stretches of Isobelle’s internal monologue, which is primarily self-deprecating, until a hasty denouement which neatly concludes the mystery.

I had really hoped to like this novel, as historical fiction is my favorite genre. In it’s favor, the book does have vivid descriptions of revolutionary Russia, as well as 1949 Manhattan. However, the action is fairly non-existent and drags considerably. And as mentioned previously, the ending, unlike the rest of the book, came to a rapid and too convenient conclusion. Other readers with more patience than I have might find the book interesting enough to hold their attention.

l love historical fiction and this book was no exception. The transitions in time were handled well and I never became confused as to whose story I was following. Since I am especially interested in all things Russian, this book resonated perfectly for me. I'd recommend it to history buffs, lovers of dual stories and romantic fiction readers. I received this book in return for an honest review!

Russia and New York City - early to mid 20th Century

This mesmerizing tale begins with a mother talking to her daughter from the grave. Sophia died suddenly and tragically when she recognized someone from her past on the Manhattan street, and was hit by a car as she attempted to reach them. She regretted not telling her daughter about her past and hopes that somehow she can reach her daughter's mind.

1948 - New York City
Isobelle Moon, a hard-working junior architect, is struggling with the grief of losing her mother, as well as feeling frustrated with her job where she is one of very few women architects. She knows that her salary is lower than the men she works with, and she is angry that her immediate boss, whom she had a brief fling with at her previous placement, is dumping all of his work on her but taking credit for it himself. Isobelle returns to her and her mother's apartment in the building Sophia and her close friend Lana bought during the Depression. The two women opened an art and furniture restoration business on the first floor, then settled in their own apartments in the rest of the building. Wanting to modernize the place more to her style, Isobelle begins her redecorating by tearing the wallpaper off the walls in her mother's room. That's where she finds a secret area covered over. Inside is a case containing an elaborate tiara, minus its jewels, and receipts for the sale of the stones.

1915 - Petrograd, Russia
Sofiya Petrovitch is volunteering at the Tsarevich Alexey Nikolayevich Hospital at the behest of her childhood friends, the Tsar's daughters, Grand Duchess Olga and Grand Duchess Tatiana who are also volunteers. The wounded men from the front are in need of care, even if the three young women have no experience in medicine. Sofiya, whose mother tutored the duchesses in painting, is extremely uncomfortable and focuses on one young man who is comatose, talking to him, reading to him, until one day she arrived to find his bed empty. Another soldier in a nearby bed tells her that her patient had died during the night. Befriending this man, Sofiya is saddened when he reveals that his head wound has left him with no memory of who he is. He was found, wounded, in the Carpathian battle, so Sofiya calls him by that name. They become close and she helps Carpathian work on regaining his memory. He seems artistic, and soon they conclude that he worked for Faberge. In the meantime, Grand Duchess Olga has gifted Sofiya with a small tiara, bejeweled with diamonds and sapphires, swearing her to secrecy that she's not to tell anyone she has this. Then the Grand Duchess reveals that her father will be abdicating soon, and she doesn't know what the future holds.

1948 - New York City
Isobelle has taken the remains of the tiara to the jeweler whose name is on the receipts, hoping to find some answers. The grandson of the man who bought the jewels, Jules Reed, runs the business now, and he tells Isobelle that his grandfather is in prison. They visit the older man, but he's not much help, though Isobelle suspects he knows more than he's letting on. Later, Jules reveals that he, Jules, is a member of the Midas Society, a secret organization that is tracking down treasures stolen during the wars, and returning them to their rightful owners. He is intrigued by the tiara, and has offered to help Isobelle solve this mystery. Can Isobelle trust Jules? And who is the man with the Russian accent who has visited Jules' business, and seems to be following Isobelle?

THE LAST TIARA is a poignant mystery that was difficult to put down. Isobelle has difficulty trusting Jules at first. Is he just being attentive because he wants to move up the ladder in the Midas Society? Why couldn't her mother have been more open about her past, Isobelle's father, and, most of all, why hide the tiara as she did? What was she hiding, or whom was she hiding from?

Beautifully written, historically accurate, and excellent, realistic characters make THE LAST TIARA a brilliant start to the new year.

I have been given the opportunity to read this book prior to publication in return for my honest opinion by Netgalley.

Isobelle finds herself distraught by the loss of her mother. In efforts to get on with her life, she resides to start to make the apartment that she had lived in previously with her mother her own. As she is removing wallpaper from her mother’s bed wall, she finds a hidden cache. Her mother had never been forthcoming on her past, growing up along side the children of the Russian Tsar, so the cache becomes the driving force in finding out her mother’s history. As you can guess, the cache is a tiara that her mother had brought with her from Russia that had been gifted by the Tsar’s daughter.
While finding out about her mother’s past is high on the agenda, Isobelle is also in for some life changing developments.
I enjoyed this book so very much. I literally started reading it in the morning and did not bout it down. I loved the story and a peek of the historical content it had brought forward. Definitely worth reading!!!!

This is my first book by this author. At first, I wasn’t as intrigued. I enjoy historical fiction & it took awhile to grasp me. But once it did, I was hooked. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys Russian history.

I've not read anything by this author before, but what intrigued me was the description of it taking place both in revolutionary Russia AND in 1948 New York. Russia during the pre-revolutionary period through WWI is reader's catnip to me, and though this IS a novel, thus taking liberties with history, it was still very interesting. Each chapter swung back and forth between 1948 and 1917 to 1920's, with the 1948 chapters written in the first person, which is not my favorite, but ultimately everything made sense and came to a satisfactory conclusion. Two love stories, and as we all know, 1917/1918 Russia was NOT a place for HEA's. Since this was an ARC, there were several typos regarding names in particular. Fersman would be spelled correctly in one sentence, bu in the next it was written as Fresman! Little things like that do tend to irritate me and interrupt my reading. All in all, this was a more than satisfactory book to read.

I was given an ARC to read through NetGalley, and all opinions are my own.

Isobelle discovers her mother, Sophia has been keeping a secret from her all her life! How could her mother not tell her about her life in Russia? Why keep it hidden and now that she has died it means Isobelle has to go on a treasure hunt to find out how her mother got this tiara!

The author takes us on a tour of Russian History that is so memorable and entices one to do further digging after finishing the book on the subject matter of the Last Tiara! We are weaved between Sophias time and then as Isobelle discovers the pieces of her mother’s life and the father she never met.

This book is fantastic and I definitely would recommend to anyone!

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions!

This is the first MJ Rose book I have read, and I really enjoyed the intertwined love stories of Sofiya and her daughter Isobelle. Told in alternating chapters, Sofiya’s love story transports the reader to the years just prior to the Russian Revolution, while Isobelle’s takes place in 1940s New York. After Sofiya dies unexpectedly, Isobelle unearths a mysterious tiara, and begins a quest to learn how her mother came to have it, and why her mother never told her about it or any other aspect of her life in Russia.. She knows that her father was named Carpathian, whom her mother loved deeply, but who died in a Siberian prison, but nothing more. Isobelle needs to understand, and the tiara is the key. Along the way, Isobelle meets Jules, a jeweler whose shop has a connection to the tiara.
I was more invested in Sofiya and Carpathian’s story than in Jules and Isobelle’s, but I still enjoyed both. The book moved really quickly and the end was satisfying. I look forward to reading more by this author.

The Last Tiara is an engrossing historical novel centering on Isobelle Moon, an architect in post WWII New York.
Isobelle discovers a hidden tiara in her mother Sophia’s apartment while renovating it after her death. Isobelle knows little about her Russian mother’s past during WWI and the Russian Revolution. She hopes this tiara will provide some answers.
The novel moves effortlessly back and forth between the time periods of 1915-1922 and 1948 as Sophia’s story unravels and Isobelle’s quest for answers is revealed.
This is the first novel of M.J. Rose that I have read in several years . It kept my interest throughout. I would have liked to have seen the character of Isobelle’s father further developed, explaining more about his life after the revolution . I think this would have added to the depth of the novel.
Thank you to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the ARC.

Isobelle's mother has passed away. She decides to make their home more her style so she begins renovating in her mother's bedroom. As she is removing the wallpaper she discovers a small niche. In this she finds a box with a silver frame of what looks like a tiara. The frame doesn't hold any stones that a piece like this would normally have. There are also two receipts with the tiara frame. They indicate that the diamonds had been removed and sold. The larger spaces held sapphires but these were described as paste.
Isobelle assumes that these jewels were used to buy the building in which they live and have their restoration shop.
Wondering how her mother could have owned such an item, Isobelle wishes her mother had told her about her life in Russia before moving to New York. Her mother never discussed her past. Nor even told her about her father. Isobelle's curiosity and unanswered questions will send her on an adventure full of danger and intrigue.
A great read. Interesting characters and amazing story.

I really enjoyed this novel. I have read a number of historical fiction novels about the Russian Revolution and found this perspective to be very interesting. I also enjoyed reading about Isobelle's struggles as a woman in the predominately male field of architecture in the late 1940s. The secrets revealed through the two time frames worked well and added depth to the story. I strongly recommend this read!

The story took a little bit to catch my interest, but once my interest was caught it was hard to put the book down! Isobelle is a relatable heroine and her mother’s story is captivating. The author did a great job providing just enough information about her mother’s life to keep the story interesting. The plot—a missing piece of Russian jewelry and a mother’s past to uncover—is exciting and well-crafted. My only two complaints were that I wished there were a resolution with Isobelle’s job, and I am not personally a fan of sex scenes so the fact that there were three or four meant I was skipping a few pages at a time.

This is the best book I have ever read by MJ Rose, and I have read around three of them. She appears to be getting better and better. Isobelle, the main character, is the subject of her mother, reaching out from beyond the grave, to try and tell her what she did not tell her in her lifetime. This does not work entirely,
Isabelle then finds a diamond and sapphire tiara, that leads her to try and find out how her mother got the item. Her search uncovers secrets, and Jules becomes involved. He is the jeweller that she made enquiries from, regarding the receipts. And I will stop there, before I do any spoilers. The reader will have to find out the rest for themselves. All I can say is that the novel is a great book, and I found it difficult to put down, I could not wait to finish it. Highly recommended.

M. J. Rose does the most incredible research for her novels, and I always learn fascinating things while reading them. This book was no exception. But, the characters in this one were a disappointment. I kept hoping Isobelle would grow a spine.

I wanted to love this novel, but in the end found it interesting but flawed. It's very much plot driven, and the characters are minimally fleshed out. The main character, Isobelle, was annoying in her constant questioning of her own worth and insatiable need for reassurance. And the plot, while interesting, was too often interrupted with unnecessary details about places, furnishings, events, as if the author felt compelled to include every morsel she'd uncovered during her research, whether it moved the story forward or not. The story meandered around the globe as well as back and forth in time, with more foreshadowing, coincidences, and plot twists than seemed necessary. Settings include Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where Isobelle had a failed affair that continued to plague her throughout the novel; pre-revolution St. Petersburg and other parts of Russia, where Isobelle's mother, Sophyia, had shared a close friendship with the Tsar's daughters and had also met Isobelle's father; France, where a key to the central secret of the novel is discovered; London, where more of the mystery unspools; and NYC, where Isobelle lives and works as an architect. I continued reading right to the happily-ever-after ending just to see how it all concluded, but can't say I actually cared much about any of the characters.
2-1/2 stars, rounded up to 3

In this fantastical novel, Sophia Moon (also known by another name) flees Russia with the Last Tiara of the treasure of the Romanovs. The story flashes between New York City in the late 1940s and pre-revolutionary Russia. I really wanted to enjoy this, but found myself incredibly bored throughout the novel. It's okay but I won't be reading it again.