ŷ������

This was a solid four stars for me up until I figured out my hopes for the direction of the romance were wrong, and then that ending. The story is still good enough to merit a happy three though; allow me to elucidate on my experience.

At its base, Tsarina is a historical fantasy crafted around the Romanov family during the revolution, but it feels more like a YA romance in some ways. Natalya is the young noble that has the heart of Alexei Romanov, and he hers. They have known each other their whole lives and have the love that comes from complete security in one's choice, despite their young age. Alexei takes Natalya into a deeper level of their relationship with the revelation of the Constellation Egg, a gift from Rasputin that has magical powers imbued by the mystic himself. He no longer has to fear his hemophilia as the egg heals him as surely as nothing happened at all, and as he reveals this to Natalya, he divulges that the egg doesn't only work as a healer, but does much more- like protecting those that the Romanov's love. They share a very sweet and tender moment as this conversation goes on, even though they can hear the chanting of rioters just outside the gates. Neither the young Romanov nor his love actually believe anything come of the people protesting, and many times Natalya views them as children throwing fits, as she believes completely in her Tsar, and his capabilities of quelling the growing problem. The love between her and Alexi was well crafted and nicely subtle- very sweet and believable.

”Alexei must have seen the hurt on my face—hiding my thoughts from him was nearly impossible. He saw every blink, every fidget, every half-sigh. I suspect it was because, given his condition, he spent much of his life being watched and worried about; he learned to be equally aware of others�� pain, be it of the body or the heart.��

Along with the fact that I really found myself caring about both Natalya and Alexei, I cared about Emilia as well. She and Natalya were truly great and as their friendship grew so too did my enjoyment of the story.

”Those of us who remained were orphaned, wandering about, waiting for the world we’d always known to spin back around and claim us. It was lonely now, our houses islands amid broken seas of our old lives.��

I loved the way these relationships developed, and have to point out how well written this book is. It was very easy to feel what Natalya and Emilia were going through and it was easy to picture the Russian that we were shown.

Now, my issue with the story, centers on the other love interest- Leo. It’s not even that I dislike Leo, it’s that I don’t like the way the story worked around him. Everything was too rushed, and it felt like it made what I’d read before less authentic. Let me explain as best as I can but it’s spoilery, very much so, so do NOT read if you don’t want to be spoiled. (view spoiler)[Leo meets Natalya after she and Emilia had managed to escape the riots that burned their homes (at least Emilia’s) and he was supposed to take them to the train station so they could leave for Paris, but he revealed he knew about the Constellation Egg and all that it meant, and in the end Natalya agrees to get it to keep it safe for her Tsar. Leo isn’t what he seemed though and kidnaps the girls- only to become embroiled in the main plot of the story�� the developing love between him and Natalya. The three of them go to Moscow- a harrowing journey let me tell you, and once they’re there Emilia was able to get Leo arrested and she and Natalya safely ensconced at her uncle’s house. But. Natalya has a great deal of patriotism and wants to find the egg no matter the fact that the Romanovs have been brutally murdered. The Egg’s powers still worked because they were working for Natalya. She decides that Emilia is too loyal a friend to go on to Paris without her, and she is, so in order to keep her on the path she knew she wanted, Natalya decides to lie and tell her that she and Leo are in love. Emilia is rightfully outraged at this, because up to that point there was nothing to base that on, other than they softened towards each other. I actually thought it was going to be a great friendship and one that taught both that each side has positives as well as negatives, but that’s not what went down.

Instead we find that Natalya and Leo love each other and the power of the egg transfers to him as well. Stockholm? It was all very rushed, and credit where credit is due, the author makes well placed reasoning for their decision. Things like Natalya admitting that she and Alexei would always be intertwined (because of the Egg) and how the Egg made it impossible for her to make the same mistake of not say aloud her love (this time to Leo). The way it’s presented isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read by far, but it just didn’t work for me. (hide spoiler)] I’m sure that the relationship that the story centers around will not be a problem for many readers, so certainly don’t put it off just because it turned me off. I do expect that many will be annoyed at the ending though, it was really rushed and too tidy, if fantastically magical.

Now a word: (view spoiler)[ you should be aware that the author has behaved in a BBA manner over on Twitter. I don’t have but one screenshot, in which she isn’t being as bad as she purportedly has been (is?), but word is the reason she left GR was she felt she was attacked -_- by shelf names�� take it for what you will, but I’ve never read a BBA before- that’s why I shelve people I really don’t want to support, but even WITH all that I’m not sorry I read this book.
(hide spoiler)]