yazeed

3.5 stars for this Russian soap opera Russian Princess Anya Svirdiov is raised by her aunt and uncle upon the death of her parents, and no surprise is the apple of her family's eye (she is a princess after all). While staying at the family's country estate, she is attacked and left for dead by Oleg Ivanov, a local peasant and all around bad guy. Anya is sent to grand-papa in Paris to recuperate, but rumors soon start swirling that she was raped as well as beaten and now damaged goods and no marriage prospects in sight because of that. Anya's not one to be down and out for long and convinces her grand-papa there's one man who will marry her - American diplomat Adam Lowell (Adam's known the family for years). Adam may be a grieving widower, but he's no fool to turn down a girl and her money and the two settle happily into married life (well, he really does love her). It's too hard to explain and yes I know it stretches the credulity factor, but Adam gains the title of Prince and even keeps the day job at the American Embassy (you never know when that diplomatic immunity will come in handy). Anyhoo, married life is wonderful, but Anya's extended family certainly has their ups and downs, let alone the Romanovs and that little complication Grigori Rasputin. Anya's other complication in life is the mad as a hatter Oleg who like the phoenix rises from the ashes and is hell-bent on killing Anya once and for all. Since most of you know your basic history you know a little thing called WWI happens, as well as a Revolution so you know life is going to get really complicated - and it's much too hard to try to explain it all in a brief review. Despite what appears to be a romance from the cover, I wouldn't exactly pigeon hole it there. I'd call this more of a big old soap opera, picture the Carringtons of Dynasty in St. Petersburg. The Sviridov's are filthy rich, so reader will get ample fill of beautiful women, extravagant gowns, furs, jewels, grand nights at the opera and a good cat fight or two. Yes, there is the strong love interest between Anya and Adam, but there's none of the usual romance tropes of Big Misunderstandings and Separations followed by mad passionate making up. The sex in this book is fairly tame, especially by today's standards, but be warned there is one secondary story that involves parental abuse of a child, so if you are sensitive to that I'd recommend steering clear of this. That said, I wouldn't call it gratuitous in nature, nor is it overly sensationalized with minute details of child rape - but is used to set the background for one disturbed child. All in all a fairly decent read, not great but not bad either but like any soap opera the strum and drang went on just a wee bit too long, as well as the Oleg's constant near misses at capture and well deserved death. I enjoyed the ride at first, but now I'm glad it is over.

2023-07-14 05:26