Anastasia

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but just the recklessness, the wide-eyed innocence of Anastasia in the beginning was enough to melt my heart and immediately become sucked into this tale. Her personal growth admirable, I liked a lot how the author developed her character from the spoiled brat to a capable woman. I loved the friendship between her and Damien- the undertone of their rivalry and bickering in the early days only highlighted how much it was inevitable to have a soulmate and romantic relationship. The main characters were extremely boring, bland, had 0 personality traits; making me yawn every now and then. This entire book was so well written, every time I put this down to do quite literally 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, I’d actually be trying to do that as fast as possible and then running back to this.

For a nearly 900 page book, it’s really very character driven and more about her development than anything else. third act conflict happening right before a big tragedy for the heroine😌 so the hero feels extra horrible. By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. I don't like to go into much detail for this book, it already is amazing and no review can do justice of it.What happens when you are faced with the version of yourself that is good and understands the meaning of love and sacrifice?

Characters - Starting off with the characters, we follow Anastasia throughout her life, from 11yo to her early twenties I think, it wasn't mentioned how old exactly was she when the book ended and with that plot twist at end I'm not sure. She loved trading jokes (for which she often got punished), playing pranks and had an acting talent. I thought, “Yeah, cool, sounds really cool, the spicy retellings I’ve read were kinda meh but people love Lark on TikTok so this is going to be fun!This started very slow, had lots of fillers and I didn’t really vibed with the word building and writing in itself. I don't know how much Sophie's average audience will care about a bunch of tragic events in Russian history like the bloody Sunday, 1905 uprising, world war I, and so on. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

I experienced the danger and confusion of a princess who thinks her world is perfect, only to have a rude awakening when the people she loves aren't quite as wise and selfless as she thought. She built them a bridal suite carved from solid ice, with frozen beds, tables, chairs, and even a fireplace filled with logs of ice.I’m pleasantly surprised by Sophie Lark’s fantasy writing because it is so unique to her, usually her books tend to be more plot driven but in this case the book is more character driven. Anastasia starts as a young duchess, blinded to the realities of Rusya while hidden in the palace with her parents as a royal. There is also a LOT going on and a lot that separates out two forbidden lovers, however, there is steam on page and it relies much more on emotional weight and the combining of souls than carnal language and erotic scenarios. I'm not sure which I loved more, Anastasia's complex relationship with her parents and siblings or her slow burn enemies-friends-lovers romance with Damian. There is an element of romance that is important to the storyline, but I do not believe it is the shining star of this book.

We learn what Anastasia grew up being taught, how she rebelled yet still had her prejudices and naivety, but then we see her survive and learn how to be the peoples princes. I swear it wasn't my intention to review this book but it's been days, and Sophie's afterword still haunts my days and nights. As a small example: the author confuses the poor woman Anna Petrovna — the daughter of Peter the Great who died at the tender age of 20 💀 and was never even a Russian empress in the first place, with Anna Ioannovna (who was indeed an Emperess: a weird mix of something unhingedly merry and cruel in her personality), and SLANDERED the innocent woman who didn't even do anything wrong during her short lifetime, poor thing. I grew to like her at the end specially on the last 300 pages( we're coming to how long this is later). In fact I wanted it to be longer, I was so immensely sad when it ended because I ADORE the two MC's.She was a product of her time and that's what stood out about her the most (apart from being power hungry), which I think was a good choice.