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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Anastasia is now live and I can hands down say that this is one of the best books I’ve read this year! It's a top favorite and I don’t think anything can currently compare. Sophie's writing is magical and so beautiful. Her words will deeply touch your heart. The story is full of depth and feelings, I have caught myself crying so many times because it genuinely feels like i’m experiencing everything with the characters. I don’t wanna give anything away from this beautiful story but this is a dark fantasy, slow burn romance and a retelling of Anastasia but with so much more to it and Sophie still made the story so unique with a bunch of little easter eggs from the cartoon that had me crying.
We follow Anastasia from when she's child, which made me connect with both her and her journey even more. Romance wise you can see how deeply in love Damien and Anastasia are with each other, the connection these two share is so mesmerizing and remarkable. The devotation he has towards her is how any man should love their woman. genuinely love Anastasia so much she’s hilarious and so fierce, fights for what she wants and she’s so STRONG.
We follow Anastasia from when she's child, which made me connect with both her and her journey even more. Romance wise you can see how deeply in love Damien and Anastasia are with each other, the connection these two share is so mesmerizing and remarkable. The devotation he has towards her is how any man should love their woman. genuinely love Anastasia so much she’s hilarious and so fierce, fights for what she wants and she’s so STRONG.
2.5; here’s the thing, the storyline was engaging and i literally couldn’t stop reading, but there’s something very uncomfortable about reading smut involving a real 17 year old girl who was literally murdered… (also the timeline was very historically inaccurate and nobody was the right age they were supposed to be but i digress)
“i loved you because i was always going to love you. that’s what we were made to do.”
“you’re everything i love, everything i care about.”
i truly have no words other than i loved this book. anastasia and damien are the definition of soulmates! they may have hated each other in the beginning, but they still always looked out for one another. the two didn’t know it at the time, but they were really destined to be unstoppable together.
this book gives you a bit of everything. there is romance, adventure, betrayal, magic, family bonds, and so much more. sophie’s writing practically falls from the page to create a movie in your mind. be ready to be transported into an incredible universe and devour every page of this book.
“you’re everything i love, everything i care about.”
i truly have no words other than i loved this book. anastasia and damien are the definition of soulmates! they may have hated each other in the beginning, but they still always looked out for one another. the two didn’t know it at the time, but they were really destined to be unstoppable together.
this book gives you a bit of everything. there is romance, adventure, betrayal, magic, family bonds, and so much more. sophie’s writing practically falls from the page to create a movie in your mind. be ready to be transported into an incredible universe and devour every page of this book.
Anastasia is unlike any book Sophie Lark has ever written. Don't go into it expecting the same things you get from the spicy mafia or dark romance you're used to from her, because you may disappointed if you have that expectation. That being said, this story doesn't need a faster pace or the higher heat level. It's a captivating, well written, enchanting, intriguing, romantic, and beautiful masterpiece exactly as it is.
Being a fantasy reader and Sophie Lark fan, I never had a second of worry that I wouldn't enjoy this book. This author's writing is something I've grown to have a lot of faith in, and that faith has never been misplaced. This time included! Anastasia is a long book, but I would have been down to read hundreds more pages of it. I enjoyed my time lost in this world, and I was sad when it came to an end.
Anastasia is still a child when the story begins, but I didn't mind that at all. Watching her grow and change over the years only made me more invested in her as a character. She and the hero, Damien, grow up together, and that makes their bond feel even stronger in the end. While all of that is to be expected with a romance spanning years of time, I was most surprised the moment I discovered just how much I felt for Anastasia's family and friends as well. It kind of snuck up on me, because there are so many characters and we don't get tons of one on one time with each one. The author allows you specific pieces of information and glimpses of each one of their lives in such a way that eventually she has you emotionally tied to all of these characters before you even realize it's happening.
Damien is someone that Anastasia is drawn to from the start, and though he is around her over a long period of her life, they aren't together the majority of that time. They get to see each other only here and there until probably the last 30 percent of the book, but each one of those times really counted. I felt so much every single time they interacted. I didn't even mind their time apart because of it. Generally, I hate when the hero and heroine aren't together for that much of the story, but in this case, Anastasia's personal journey was so interesting and entertaining on it's own it didn't matter to me at all.
Being a fan of the cartoon movie and knowing a little about the actual Anastasia made me appreciate this story even more than I may have otherwise. I enjoyed seeing facts I was familiar with included in the story along with the spin the author put on certain aspects to incorporate the fantastical and supply explanations for some things we will never truly know. The way magic was expertly woven into this reimagining of Anastasia's life and the world she lived in was easily one of my favorite things about it.
Not only is Anastasia one of the best books I've read in 2022, it's also one of my favorite books Sophie Lark has written. I can't wait for the hardback to come out, because I NEED a copy of it for my bookshelf. If you decide to read the ebook, be sure to read it on a Kindle Fire or tablet of some kind to see the over 120 full color illustrations in all their glory.
Fantasy romance fans, this is one's for you!
Being a fantasy reader and Sophie Lark fan, I never had a second of worry that I wouldn't enjoy this book. This author's writing is something I've grown to have a lot of faith in, and that faith has never been misplaced. This time included! Anastasia is a long book, but I would have been down to read hundreds more pages of it. I enjoyed my time lost in this world, and I was sad when it came to an end.
Anastasia is still a child when the story begins, but I didn't mind that at all. Watching her grow and change over the years only made me more invested in her as a character. She and the hero, Damien, grow up together, and that makes their bond feel even stronger in the end. While all of that is to be expected with a romance spanning years of time, I was most surprised the moment I discovered just how much I felt for Anastasia's family and friends as well. It kind of snuck up on me, because there are so many characters and we don't get tons of one on one time with each one. The author allows you specific pieces of information and glimpses of each one of their lives in such a way that eventually she has you emotionally tied to all of these characters before you even realize it's happening.
Damien is someone that Anastasia is drawn to from the start, and though he is around her over a long period of her life, they aren't together the majority of that time. They get to see each other only here and there until probably the last 30 percent of the book, but each one of those times really counted. I felt so much every single time they interacted. I didn't even mind their time apart because of it. Generally, I hate when the hero and heroine aren't together for that much of the story, but in this case, Anastasia's personal journey was so interesting and entertaining on it's own it didn't matter to me at all.
Being a fan of the cartoon movie and knowing a little about the actual Anastasia made me appreciate this story even more than I may have otherwise. I enjoyed seeing facts I was familiar with included in the story along with the spin the author put on certain aspects to incorporate the fantastical and supply explanations for some things we will never truly know. The way magic was expertly woven into this reimagining of Anastasia's life and the world she lived in was easily one of my favorite things about it.
Not only is Anastasia one of the best books I've read in 2022, it's also one of my favorite books Sophie Lark has written. I can't wait for the hardback to come out, because I NEED a copy of it for my bookshelf. If you decide to read the ebook, be sure to read it on a Kindle Fire or tablet of some kind to see the over 120 full color illustrations in all their glory.
Fantasy romance fans, this is one's for you!
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.5⭐️
This book gave me such mixed feelings. It is such a shame that this book was twice as long as it should have been because the last 30% of this book was GOOD. There were so many details and so much world building in the first 70% of the book that it completely ruined the actual plot/ending of the book. The love story between Damien and Anastasia was barely mentioned in the first 70% of the book despite it being a main plot point in the last 30% of the book. She missed an opportunity to remove like 80% of the politics and use the word count to develop the relationship between Damien and Anastasia. However, I realize that this is Sophie's first fantasy and I do see the potential for improvement in the future.
Cons:
-Incredibly wordy
-Too much world building and politics (read like a history book for the first 70%)
-The love story between the FMC and MMC was completely underdeveloped and fell to the back burner in favor of Russian political history.
Pros:
-The ending (last 30% of the book) was great: action packed and romantic
This book gave me such mixed feelings. It is such a shame that this book was twice as long as it should have been because the last 30% of this book was GOOD. There were so many details and so much world building in the first 70% of the book that it completely ruined the actual plot/ending of the book. The love story between Damien and Anastasia was barely mentioned in the first 70% of the book despite it being a main plot point in the last 30% of the book. She missed an opportunity to remove like 80% of the politics and use the word count to develop the relationship between Damien and Anastasia. However, I realize that this is Sophie's first fantasy and I do see the potential for improvement in the future.
Cons:
-Incredibly wordy
-Too much world building and politics (read like a history book for the first 70%)
-The love story between the FMC and MMC was completely underdeveloped and fell to the back burner in favor of Russian political history.
Pros:
-The ending (last 30% of the book) was great: action packed and romantic
I don't care what anyone says. I need this book injected in my vein like right bloody now. Thanks for the pain and then the healing. I will in fact be telling my therapist about this.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really loved this, very much this is a response to the Anastasia film & do not go into it expecting a historical fiction narrative, it’s definitely a historical romantasy and more so retelling the film then it is actual concrete history. However, you can definitely tell the author put research into the Romanov’s and the Russian dynasty and as someone who hyperfixated on the Russian dynasty/Romanov’s for yeaaarrsss, I was more impressed and pleasantly surprised then I was annoyed or offended with the historical accuracy/inaccuracy/representations of Anastasia. I also tend to not love dark romance, and I feel like this really wasn’t dark romance at all?? Honestly a little confused as to where that comp came from.
Idk I’m still getting my thoughts together on this, I think there are tons of valid concerns and issues raised with how strange romanticizing the Romanov’s/Anastasia is & I’m trying to sit with that and remove my love of the Anastasia movie and for this book and listen to some of the criticisms and ponder how I feel. If anyone with major criticisms or points would like to talk about it I am so open to conversing about it because I find the controversy that follows many Anastasia retellings quite interesting
Idk I’m still getting my thoughts together on this, I think there are tons of valid concerns and issues raised with how strange romanticizing the Romanov’s/Anastasia is & I’m trying to sit with that and remove my love of the Anastasia movie and for this book and listen to some of the criticisms and ponder how I feel. If anyone with major criticisms or points would like to talk about it I am so open to conversing about it because I find the controversy that follows many Anastasia retellings quite interesting
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes