If you are in the mood for a love story and enjoy books in two different time periods, this is a book for you. I especially enjoyed the early 1900’s in Russia and learning more about that culture thru the Romanov family. Good historical add l fiction read.

What a great story! I couldn’t stop reading this book! I think the writing style was great and the characters and scenes so awesome I was transported back in time!

The Secret Wife by Gill Paul. This story takes place in 2016 when Kitty learns about her cheating husband. She escapes to a cabin she inherited in New York. The story explain what happens 100 years ago and combines them in a smooth way. I love this story because it's what if this happened Russian historical fiction. I liked the main character Kitty and how she comes to term with her relationship with her husband. I liked the unexpected events that occurred. Thank you for allowing me to review.

The Secret Wife is a solid historical fiction novel that begins with Dmitri's first encounter with Tatiana, a Grand Duchess of the ruling Romanov family of Russia during World War I, and follows his life through to the 1980's, alternating with current times and his great-granddaughter, Kitty, who flees to his cabin and renovates it as she processes the infidelity of her husband. Constant stories float around that some member of the Romanov family survived that assassinations by the Bolsheviks, and Paul runs with the possibility of it being Tatiana in this story. She builds a plausible story that's interesting, although the idea is so well pursued across the various siblings that the concept is a little tired - but not as tired as World War II novels! At points the earlier storyline was a little hard for me to follow, trying to keep up with which Russians were currently angry with other Russians, and just exactly what might have happened to Tatiana. But this storyline was definitely the stronger of the two. Kitty seems to serve mainly as a segway to current times, and feels like an unmoored, melancholic character, as much as a relatively undeveloped, one-dimensional character can experience those emotions. I thought the story line was interesting, but would have really liked to see more developments across the generations instead of Kitty's grandmother breaking off all contact with Dmitri and Kitty having no relationship with her mother and grandmother throughout the story.

We all know the story of the Romanovs but what if .. A good historical fiction moving between WW1 in Russia and present day. The characters are fantastic and the description of the people and places draw you into the story line. While reading I was intrigued and read into the historical facts the novel are based on. It was a side of the Romanov story I hadn't seen in a novel before and I enjoyed the author's storyline. I thought I knew how the twists in the novel were going to play out but there were a few surprises I didn't anticipate.

Thanks to Net Galley and Book Club Girls for an ARC of this book. I thought it was beautifully written and historically interesting. I loved the way the writer flipped back and forth between the past and present day and I thought the way the author wove the two stories together was wonderful. I would recommend this book.

Historical fiction is one of my faves. I was really excited that part of this was in Russia. I havent read nearly enough books set in Russia.

In 2016, Kitty flees London after learning her husband is having an affair. She runs to the US to stay in the cabin she inherited from her great-grandpa Dmitri. While there she finds all kinds of papers about his life.

Dmitri worked for the Romanovs, not Anastasia but Tatiana. After the Romanavs were murdered Dmitri leaves for the US. Of course, the past eventually catches up with him.

Definitely recommend this one.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It tells the story of Demtri and Tatiana Romanov. Their amazing love story and the events of their lives. There are chapters written by Demtri's great granddaughter as she tries to learn the background of her grandfather and her family. This is a fascinating book and hard to put down.

I really liked the overall plot of this book and it gave me a lot to think about! I thought the story was drawn out and that, in general, the book was a lot longer than it needed to be.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction book. The book alternates between 1914 where Dmitri falls in love with Grand Duchess Tatiana and 2016 when his great grand daughter, Kitty, inherits a remote cabin in NY. The story of the end of days of the Romanov family was interesting. Kitty finds out her husband had an affair and leaves London and goes to the cabin she inherited. She works on renovating the cabin and at the same time tries to discover more about her great grandfather. I found the story very absorbing and once I started reading it, couldn't stop.

Love a good historical fiction dual time line book and this was a wonderfully absorbing read. I have always been intrigued by the life and death of Tsar Nicholas and the Romanov family and this book tells a captivating story of the love affair of the Grand Duchess Tatiana Romanov with a young Russian soldier.

The book is about the secret marriage between Tatiana and the young Russian soldier Dmitri Malama, whose life we then follow through the book. His great-granddaughter Kitty who lives in England discovers she has inherited a cottage on Lake Akanabee in New York State from his estate. Kitty is intrigued to discover who this great-grandfather was and so travels to America to begin her search.
We follow Dmetri’s story throughout the years but we also follow Kitty’s emotional journey after discovering her husband has had an affair.
A truly engaging and riveting read.

After the initial pages, I found myself not connecting with the story or characters, so I decided to pass on this book. Did not finish

It was an interesting premise, following the fictionalized, yet partially based in truth, story of how Tatiana Romanov, daughter of the last Tsar of Russia, fell in love with a soldier, Dimiti Malaya, during WW1.

The story follows Dimitri’s fictional great granddaughter and her discovery of her grandfather and his disjointed and difficult past as she deals (or *doesn’t* deal) with her own difficulties. Although parts of it were slow at times, and some of the moral dilemmas made me a bit sad that they ended up that way, it held my attention overall. It was also interesting being that I lived in Albany and visited Lake George and Indian Lake as a kid.

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a well written book that I enjoyed! It was an interesting topic and I found I was unable to stop reading. It was very absorbing and I was totally captivated by the characters although it is sadly fiction I wished it were true.

I must confess I’ve had a bit of an obsession with the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov from the age of 8 when I was secretly taken to see the movie Anastasia by my cousin who was babysitting me. Secretly because we were supposed to see a Disney movie but after I was sworn to silence we saw Anastasia instead. I was so mesmerized by this story that I actually kept the secret for maybe 20 years. LOL

Now, this story is not about Anastasia but one of her old sisters, the Grand Duchess Tatiana Romanov who was strikingly beautiful and you can see for yourself if you search online for images of her. This wonderfully imagined story of ‘what if’ is just a marvelous read and the use of two time periods kept me reading, reading, reading as each separate story had me intrigued and interested to the point of being obsessed with getting to the conclusion.

Now, the “what if” is obviously about a secret marriage (come on, the title of the book gives that one away) between Tatiana and a young man whose life we will follow though the research done by his great-granddaughter after she discovers she has inherited a cottage on a lake in upstate New York not far from Albany. She has grownup in England and is intrigued to discover this great-grandfather, Dmetri Malama, of whom her grandmother never spoke, in fact, she had claimed he died long ago which was not the truth as Kitty discovers.

We follow Malama’s and Tatiana’s story together and separated but we also follow Kitty’s emotional journey after discovering her marriage was not as secure as she thought.

Terrific book which I devoured over the weekend..

Thank you to The Book Club Girls, NetGalley, Avon, HarperCollins Publishers and the author Gill Paul.

Let me start by saying that I'm not a history expert in any sense of the word. I read this as historical fiction and thoroughly enjoyed this story. It's a "what if" depiction of a love story between Dmitri, an Imperial Guard for the Romanov family and the Grand Dutchess Tatiana Romanov. Their lives are filled with tragedy that is held together by their love for each other...if only.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the first book I’ve read by Gill Paul but it will certainly not be the last. I was excited to see it as a Friday freebie selection on the Book Club Girl Facebook page last week, especially since I have been devouring historical fiction lately and Russian history is definitely not an area I typically gravitate towards.

I love the dual narrative time line and this one really kept me engaged throughout. I haven’t read too many books that center around the Romanov family, so right away I was intrigued by this story. I loved how it involved a writer in both timelines – there’s just something so appealing about reading about writers or books in a story.

Not knowing too much about the Romanov family, I was intrigued by that part of the story. I know the barest facts of what happened, but I really appreciated that this one focused on Tatiana and not on Anastasia or Nicholas, who I am more familiar with from the little I do know of. While I did enjoy both time lines, I do have to say because I don’t know the historical part, I was definitely drawn a bit more to that story line.

After reading this book, which I completely devoured once I started, I realized two things – I need to find more books on the Romanovs and I need to read more books by this author! Luckily I already have one of her books on my shelf, so that is getting bumped up on my to-read list and I’ll have to do some research into the other soon!