Romanov, By: Nadine Brandes

 

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family are either to release the spell and deal with the consequences, or to enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya has only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her growing attraction to Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her.

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.

The bond of our hearts spans miles, memory, and time."

-“Peace, quiet, and safety are all well. But community and relationships are what truly fill a person's life.”

  -“But light could not be so swiftly overcome by darkness. Not when that light rested in a person's soul.”

  -“I nudged her. 'Now that you mention it, some of the guards out here seem particularly pleasant to look at.'

   Maria sighed. 'His name is Ivan.'
   His name is Zash, I replied in my head.”

"I am a Romanov, and I will value life --- every persons life--above  all else. There is nothing to gain from hatred of our fellow man."

Nadine Brandes! WHAT? Okay, I read this book in a solid day, one sitting, and enjoyed every minute with no regrets. After I finished, I couldn't process it all, its hard to think, then I had to help my sister sleep, then get back to trying to process it all! Nadine Brandes does amazing work with adding Christianity in her books, its so beautiful to see--read. There are so many great lessons and points of view that are good for people to view! I feel like the main lessons in this one was: Forgiveness. And Moving On. Both greatly said, and very helpful, especially with the view of God with it. The add of magic and spells didn't feel at all witchcraft, and was a nice touch to add for a historical-fiction story! 

The familys bond and love for eachother is so inspirational, and makes me think twice on the things I've said or done to my siblings, lol. But, forewarning, literally everything the soldiers or people accuse the Romanov family of, is true!! I thought they were the family Nadine built, but they were actually different, so just a warning before you begin to believe this as their true idenity. Okay, now the added character: Zash. What do I say about him? Zash is pretty rad. He was a great show of understanding people despite rumors, gossip. tales, and was a great show of redemption. He didn't feel like a weird added character some might add in other historical-fictions, he felt well added, and since the story is so modified his role doesn't feel terribly drastic of a (historical) change. 

Now, this review so far feels pretty positive, but I have one defect about this book that makes me feel a little betrayed. In this story, as I've said above, Nadine Brandes shapes the family very differently than in real life. In this book they are almost perfect, united, and very loving. At times they feel a little too perfect. But I had to see a Russian's comment on a video that says this, "If only Nicholas was as good a tsar as he was a father." You  get a sugarcoated, far-off idea that this father isn't a bad tsar, with Nastya defending every assumption towards him which are, I believe, historically accurate. And then in this story, Rasputin is mentioned like a good guy. This confused me. This was my first look into the Anasastia story so I thought, The real Rasputin is good too then. But that's wrong. He was a very dark, cultist man.  In the animated movie he is a dead corpse who does witchcraft, in this book he's a far-off chill guy, that might confuse people So, what's he really like?It could, positivly, bring people to desire looking in this royal families history, though. There is a page in this book saying what is fiction and what is fact, but it doesn't mention enough about their true chracater to get a solid idea. I feel like, it's okay to change stuff up for a historical-fiction book, but I would like more context about how these people really were, or maybe I should've just known by them, 'cause after reading this I was given a whole idea of what they were like. That could just be me, and I'm sure many people who already knew what they like could read this and feel differently, but for people who haven't heard anything other then its a princess who people rumored to be alive, then it can be very betraying. If this wasn't part of the story, I would've given it a higher review.

Wrapping this up, I have to thank my friends for showing this to me, and also Liam for trusting me to borrow your book. Thanks, alot. This book is a great inspiration for others to read and really feel, and I think if your Christian or not, this books for you. 

So, at last, I rate this a 8.5/10, and 12-Adults. 

 Romance: Mild, well done, and clean. One mild kiss. Violence: Mild. Gunshots. Disease. Speach: Clean.

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Happy reading :D