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A review by booksbydorothea
The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappaport
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.5
3.5 stars
Recommend
This was a highly researched scholarly book dense with footnotes and informative asides. Since I never took European History (my bad), I was unfamiliar with the royal families, royal houses/duchies (there were many), and marriages. It was a baptism by fire.
The author is a scholar and expert on England and Russia during this time. So I didn't have the background to know the relationships and follow who was marrying whom with their new royal names. Additionally, there were a lot of SAT words that I had to look up. I appreciate this, but it was a little heavy-handed at times.
This book would appeal to a specific subset of history nerds and scholars/academics. It just wasn't me, unfortunately. I need to stick to historical FICTION!
For a more detailed review, check out my blog - booksbydorothea:
https://booksbydorothea.blogspot.com/2025/02/review-rebel-princess-earcebook.html
Recommend
This was a highly researched scholarly book dense with footnotes and informative asides. Since I never took European History (my bad), I was unfamiliar with the royal families, royal houses/duchies (there were many), and marriages. It was a baptism by fire.
The author is a scholar and expert on England and Russia during this time. So I didn't have the background to know the relationships and follow who was marrying whom with their new royal names. Additionally, there were a lot of SAT words that I had to look up. I appreciate this, but it was a little heavy-handed at times.
This book would appeal to a specific subset of history nerds and scholars/academics. It just wasn't me, unfortunately. I need to stick to historical FICTION!
For a more detailed review, check out my blog - booksbydorothea:
https://booksbydorothea.blogspot.com/2025/02/review-rebel-princess-earcebook.html
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Violence, Alcohol, War, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Cancer