I can't even remember requesting this on NetGalley, but wow, I am glad I did. This was truly so good. It was kinda unassuming by the cover and the lack of reviews, so I truly had no expectations, but wow. This book was perfect. I literally have no notes or qualms. Second read of the year and it's looking like a contender for one of my favorites of the year.

Set in Ancient Rome, this book follows Alba, a young Roman woman who is an outcast within the noble Roman society. She spent time away from Rome as a girl, so she has been labeled as "tainted" due to her spending time with non-Romans.

As the story unravels, we go back in time a bit and learn how Alba came to live amongst "savages" and how she spent her time in Thrace. After that, an epic story continues to unfold as Alba finds herself amongst gladiators who have rebelled against Rome and are slowly leading a revolution.

I went into this pretty blind, I genuinely hadn't registered anything I had previously read from the synopsis, so I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but that was for the best. I thoroughly enjoyed this journey. I am so glad to add a five star review to a book that has very few ratings. I think this would be well-loved by historical fiction fans, Ancient Rome fans, and just book lovers in general, because this is truly such a well-written novel.

I didn't expect love to be a central theme, but that's what this is at its core. A love story. It's also a story about politics and ethics, filled with morally grey characters, all just trying to survive in the way they know how.

I really hope this reaches more readers and that we get more from this author.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for an ARC of this spectacular book!

Alba was born into an important Roman family, later in her young life, she was placed into the home of her uncle and aunt. Eventually, Alba meets Alex who later becomes Sparacus, the gladiator and the rebel leader of the Third Servile War. The war was an uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus, and he made an exciting character and a hero of the story.
What can I say about this book besides the nonliterary “wow”. I’ve enjoyed every word, making it the perfect book for my flight. Moreover, I did not want the novel to end. Alba was a strong character and I admired her throughout the novel.
I’ve always had an interest in Roman history, plus I have enjoyed the television series “Sparticus”. Through the program, I became familiar with the names of the characters. I also enjoyed relating a face with the characters. There were portions of the story that made it difficult to read through use of language and rape. I was confused with the story at some places: however, this is an unproofed copy, so some areas will be lacking flow and should not be judged in the overall review.
Thank you Nichelle Kovacheff and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this novel and I have written an honest review.

Set during the Third Servile War (or The War of the Gladiators), we follow the life of Alba, a noble Roman woman who after a tragic encounter is left to fend for herself in Thrace. After bonding with a Thracian family, she is suddenly thrust back into her prior life in Rome where she later becomes embroiled in the Spartacus Rebellions.

The author creates a vivid and immersive world that is realistic and entirely absorbing, weaving fact and fiction with ease. I genuinely had difficulty putting this book down and would lose myself in the world of Alba, desperate to learn what happened next.

The protagonists we meet are well developed with great depth and intensity and I couldn't help but find them immensely likeable so I was rooting for their cause all the way through the story.

An action-packed historical fiction, I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable this novel was. I have not read much that focused on the character of Spartacus but Kovacheff has certainly inspired me to explore this field further!

I was given this book as ARC from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to love this book, the concept of ancient Rome and having one of the main characters be Spartacus it would be hard to go wrong, but oh it did. The book centers around Alba a girl who by birth was born into a noble family in Rome, that ends up spending part of her childhood in Thrace. She grows up being a childhood friend of Spartacus. Eventually she is forced to return to Rome where she lives with her aunt and uncle who could care less about her. During the time in Rome she meets Julies Caesar, who basically acts as a plot pusher every time he shows up. He basically is there to push the plot forward and nothing more, he is not well developed. Eventually alba joins the rebels led by Spartacus, and becomes one her self. This is where the story starts to get interesting, and the whole middle is definitely written better. However the book is written very much like a YA novel even with some sex in it, the main character feels like YA protagonist instead of an Adult protagonist. The book also then starts to become confusing with changing who is narrating. During the last 20% of the book it suddenly starts to rush, and its hard to grasp how much time passes in the book. Overall its a good debut and shows promise of the author writing interesting books in the future. I just believe this book could have had a second editing, and a clarity editor go in to make the plot more consistent and to help establish how much time passes. I give this book 3 out 5 stars.

I was initially drawn to this for its stunning cover and ancient setting, so when I began it I was slightly disenchanted by it. As an ancient history, I wasn’t massively keen on this book, but not for what would be implied. I’m massive fan of retellings and revisions of canonical texts and figures; I think it’s a really fun way to imprint our own thoughts onto these figures.

What fell flat for me was that it felt very tropey, and felt that it didn’t offer a critiqued of anything. Of course, given the nature of the book I didn’t expect a critique as it’s a book with romance, but I immediately felt weird about it when alba walked in on Julius with her slave double (?) having sex - granted it happened but it just felt like a weird way to set up a potential romance.

I think my dislike of the book emerges from it not being my kinda book. I think I was massively swayed by the cover because it’s reminiscent of old, classical texts, so I wrongly assumed it would entail as such. I do think there’s a demographic for this book 100%; I’m just not that demographic!

I received this arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ✨
The story takes place in Ancient Rome and is about revolution and love. I don’t want to spoil too much but the synopsis of this book sounded really interesting to me as I studied Latin for many years and was always intrigued by Ancient Rome!
Unfortunately, I DNFed this book at about 25%.
The writing style was not bad in itself but felt unfitting for the setting and story and sometimes for example turned unexpectedly sexual. I also did not enjoy most of the characters except for Julius Caesar. I just did not feel like there were fleshed out enough and felt too much like they were based too much on tropes and did not have much character. As mentioned, I did not finish this one but after having read the first 25% I was just not sucked into the story at all. However, I can imagine that there is still a specific type of reader for this one. I would give 1.5 stars on NetGalley here if possible because I definitely see the potential of other readers enjoying it and I did enjoy some parts of the beginning until I stopped reading!

Thank you Netgalley and Nichelle Kovacheff. I absolutely loved reading Alba. This story is set in ancient Rome during Julius Ceasar’s time. This book was easy to read, it didn't feel tedious at all. I felt attached to the characters instantly. The book reminded me of the Silence of the girls by Pat Barker. In terms of how the author shared relationships with the women in a war camp. Although Kovacheff created more personal relationships. There is talk of war and how it’s handled, and the progress each side was making. There are a few plot twists in the story that I thought was great. Toward the end of the book, it felt super rushed for some reason. Scenes were written out in one paragraph. I believe it would've been better to extend the book. Some crucial scenes needed to be fleshed out.

Info about the story:
Alba came from a respected noble family, her father was a gladiator. One day in Thrace he was attacked and died. Alba was a child then, and she had to find a way to survive without her father for the time being. Hoping other soldiers would come to find her and take her home. During her time in Thrace, she finds a family in the forest and over time is fostered into their home. She grows accustomed to the family and new lifestyle. 5 years pass and she is taken to a roman camp and back home. Back home in Rome, she resides in her family home with her estranged uncle and aunt. They're very cruel and she becomes isolated for a time. There are brief mentions and scenes that include Julius caesar. In this book, he's very kind to alba. Time passes and it turns out her aunt's family has a “school” that trains men to become gladiators. They fit in pits and such. Spartacus is this great gladiator that everyone admires. Until he leads a revolt of rebels and kills the nobles who created the school. The rebels grow in size and collect more slaves or people who want to be free of the nobles' cruelty. Alba *I won't spoil the rest* joins the rebels and lives with them. She creates a life with them.

this review will be posted on GoodReads on 1/25/23

I really enjoyed reading "Alba"! It has strong "The Winner's Curse" vibes, so of course I would love it!

Alba, a young Roman woman, lives in Rome at her aunt and uncle's grand villa. But her life of privilege is tainted by her past. She spent five years of her childhood living with outsiders, the Thracians, and as such, she is treated as a pariah. Soon, tragic circumstances reunite her with her childhood friend Alex, who has become Spartacus, leader of the slave's revolt, forcing her once again to abandon the life she knew. But joining the slave's revolt is not easy—once again treated as a pariah, she will have to carve out a space for her in this diverse group of rebels, and find out who is on her side.

For a debut novel, I found the story pretty impressive and quite addictive, I didn't want to put the book down. I loved reading about life in Ancient Rome (even if there wasn't much context) and I found the parts about Alba's childhood in the Thracian community interesting and touching (and altogether too short!).

I enjoyed the characters. I especially enjoyed the secondary characters—Nathalie, Cloe, Hadrian, Namir, Gus... They had real personalities and all evolved along the book—I sometimes wish there was a bit more of the book about them.
Spartacus is an amazing character, although I didn't always get him—why he would act in some ways, why he would make such decisions...why lead a slave's revolt if he didn't want to go all the way and overturn Rome?! His chemistry with Alba was pretty good, although more physical than emotional. Alba was an interesting character as well, but could have been better developed. Her feelings were rarely talked about—when faced with death and loss, she seemed to barely feel grief, and got over some people's disappearance really easily. Overall, the way the protagonists' feelings and emotions were treated was relatively superficial (I mean, look at Alba and Alex second reunion!?!).
The treatment of the characters' psychology seems rather masculine, it is something we see more with male authors. But in the end, as there is much talk about violence, rape, torture and death, it might not be a bad thing that the author didn't dwell on emotions so much, otherwise I would have gotten way too emotional reading about it! Writing this way somewhat "protects" the reader.

(By the way, I wouldn't advise this book to people under 16/18 years old, depending on their sensibility. The summary and cover make the book themes look milder than they actually are. But gorgeous cover, by the way!)

I regret that there wasn't more context, especially about the slave's revolt. It was a missed opportunity—there was room to talk more about the revolt, its events, its ethics, etc. even though we do learn about real events through this book (as I found out after reading the Wiki page of Spartacus).

Lastly, I had the impression that everything went too quickly and that some important details were excluded, such as where the red-stoned ring went, for instance. The story went a bit too fast at times—often weeks and months would go by in a few sentences, especially towards the last quarter of the book. On the plus side, that allowed us to follow the evolution of the characters over a few years.

Despite the negative points I mentioned, I found that the book lived up to its promises, even though it wasn't quite what I expected. I enjoyed following along our protagonists' journey, got a little attached to them, was happy with the ending... and most important of all, I had a hard time putting the book down.

As a result, I would give it a very strong 4 stars, rounded up to 5 because I would definitely read it again (and hope that the advanced copy I reviewed might be improved a little) and I hope to read more books by Nichelle Kovacheff in the future!

*I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my opinion*

This book was disappointing, I was hoping for more engaging storyline and character development earlier on. I received this as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley, in exchange for a fair review. I read through this novel and although it was mildly enjoyable throughout the later part of the book, the story was slow, not very captivating for pages 1-100.

Gladiators, rebels, elites, Roman armies, romance....well this book has it all! We are given a likeable story that is easy to follow with characters we soon become attached. I have read a few novels set during Roman times and find them often hard to keep up with characters and the politics. This story shows us the world of the rich elite and the people who serve them. The heroine of the story is part of the elite but is shunned by many of those around her. She has memories of part of her childhood living on a small farm.

The story follows Spartacus and his rebels through the wilds of Italy as they rebel against the Empire. I fell in love with many of the characters who came from different parts of the world and backgrounds. One cannot help but cheer them on and hope for their success. One can truly imagine being there as the writer gives us all of those tools. We can feel their humanity.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction and especially historical fiction set a thousand years ago. I read this book in one sitting which is not my norm.

This one is for the shes, theys, and gays.

Finished this one over only two days! The world is rich and interesting, and the characters all felt complex and human. Even though there were parts that felt a tiny bit forced, I always wanted to know more about the fate of the characters that I truly developed a soft spot for.

Recommend if you like historical fiction that borders on dramatic retelling of real history, friends to lovers romance, and unlikely friendships (with a bit of war and a lot of high stakes).

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced copy! #Alba #NetGalley

Alba is a tale set in Ancient Rome and covers the tale of the warrior Spartacus and the Third Servile War (War of the Gladiators). Honestly, I was thinking this was a 5 star read for the first 70-80% of the book and then it was like the author just wanted to get the story over and done with. I was so disappointed. The last 20% or so felt so rushed, and it was hard to keep track of how much time had passed.

If the last quarter of the book was redone, this would be an easy five stars from me, but unfortunately it really disappointed me so I’m giving this book a 3.5, rounded up to 4. The book had SO much potential and I’m frustrated that the end just didn’t live up to the rest of it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op for the ARC. Alba is born into an elite Roman family. Her Father's troops are surrounded in Thrace and he tells her to run. Alba finds herself alone in the forest. She finds and follows two boys where she lives with them for several years. Upon her return to Rome, she is to live in her deceased parent's house with her aunt and uncle. They despise her and she them. People view her as tainted from her time with the rebels. Alba doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. Not one to enjoy watching the Gladiatorial games, she doesn't watch as others do around her. She might have recognized her childhood friend sooner.

A chance and bloody encounter reunites Alba with Alex. He is the rebel leader known as Spartacus. She isn't instantly welcomed because many fear and hate the Romans. The rebels grow in number and strength and the other gladiators begin to accept her. Alba and Alex aka Spartacus become a couple in this family of rebels. They go through many trials and hardship. This was a short but very interesting read. I enjoyed the characters, storyline and setting.

I don’t have strong feelings about this book. I kind of liked the characters and I sort of liked the story. I’d say “Alba” is an okay debut novel (I was rooting for the title character and Spartacus, although I wish Julius Caesar had been more prominent because he was the most interesting person in the story) but the writing didn’t grab me (and the use of the f— word and the c— word felt jarring in an ancient Roman context) and the twist with the servant girl was a bit forced. Overall, I was underwhelmed but I didn’t loathe the book so it gets three stars.

Fantastic novel & a really refreshing change from the usual Tudor/Restoration female characters. Alba is a heroine defined by her circumstances. Born into an influential family - a brutal twist of fate means she lived in far away Thrace for over 5 years as a particularly vulnerable child. This experience colours her relationships & attitudes to slavery, women’s roles in Roman & other societies. Julius Caesar is fascinatingly viewed through the eyes of Alba, a world weary young woman whose intellect & compassion attracts his attention. I hope to see many more books by this author. Very impressed.