I honestly have no idea what to say for the review of this book. Do I think there was too much here? Yes. Plain and simple. There was so much detail that I was getting lost and because of that was missing bigger parts of the book and kept having delayed reactions to it. The story could have been really goo without so much detail that didn’t seem relevant to the world building or the story. I say that because for me it seemed like some of it felt repetitive or drawn out explanations of some things. But thinking of the main points of the book it was good. I really liked the dynamic of Anastasia and Damien and think they meshed together quite well. The first three parts of the book just are conflicting on that background for me because part of me thinks it was good and other just couldn’t believe how long it was and what it contributed to the overall book, especially when I thought it was saying the same thing in each one. Overall this is a conflicting one for me.

This is the best book EVER. I will write a proper review once i have managed to pull myself together after this book. Let it be enough for now. THE. BEST. BOOK.

“I was made for him and he was made for me." “this was our destiny, mine and hers. woven together before we were ever born." • this is a solid four star read! it started out very slowly for my preferences, which is the biggest thing that kept it being five stars. like so many 90s/00s kids, I’ve been intrigued by Anastasia Romanov, without really know anything about her. all I had to go off was the Disney movie. so, this took me even longer to read because I was looking up so much history as I went. I wanted to learn what I could from the real time in history as I read this retelling. it did take a couple turns I wasn’t expecting, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about them at first, but as I read on, the direction grew on me. I loved Anastasia and Damien as main characters. I really wish we had more of Damien’s pov! and I can’t forget about Artemis…a queen! although this is a fantasy book, I appreciate that Sophie Lark made it clear that the Romanov rule wasn’t good for the people. she didn’t try to make heros out of them; rather she shared a fantastical “what could have been” type of story. • read if you like: ♡ magical powers ♡ enemies-to-lovers ♡ romantasy (fantasy romance) ♡ dual POV ♡ vampires ♡ time skips ♡ poisonous touch ♡ slooooooooooow burn ♡ astrology ♡ retellings ♡ time-traveling ♡ character growth ♡ forbidden love ♡ lost royals trigger warnings: ☞ bullying ☞ descriptions of warfare ☞ mention of rape ☞ violence, murder ☞ death of loved ones ☞ tyrannical regimes

Sophie Lark’s version of Anastasia is an incredibly slow-paced but intriguing read that intertwines the Russian Empire with a magical world. She does an excellent job at combining politics and magic, while simultaneously telling the story of a girl going through the hardships of growing up and learning the ways of life into adulthood.

*I’ve seen people advertise this book as a spicy retelling of the movie Anastasia and I want to point out that while that is part of what drove me to buy this book, it is not inherently spicy. It does have a few sex scenes, but they feel very fitting of the storyline. I personally wouldn’t describe this as spicy, but in a good way. The only critique I have of the relationship is that I wish it was a little more of enemies to lovers than what it was.

**Editing this in: I would also like to say that this is in no way a retelling of the movie Anastasia either. Sophie Lark created her own world for Anastasia and I think she did an excellent job. As I said earlier though, it is very very very slow-paced and while I enjoyed that, some people may not.

it felt like the build up dragged on forever I had to fast forward through a lot of this book

i really did enjoy this book! like, read it in 3 days and that’s a lot of pages folks. but sometimes it felt so caught up in the actual history of these characters it read as telling instead of showing spots. still! i would recommend it for sure. the use of magic in this world and retelling was so good, the way it contributed to an idea of a happy ending to something that is known as horribly tragic. one other thing i think that is worth noting is that you can see the inspiration of the actual history and some of the animated movie coming together in really small but enjoyable ways.

One of the best books I’ve ever read.