Friday, November 30, 2012

Review: Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Dreaming Anastasia
Dreaming Anastasia #1

Author: Joy Preble

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Genre: Fantasy

GoodReads

Synopsis:

What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college--until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams...



My Thoughts: I had been hoping to read this book since it was first published and I finally got around too it. Lucky that too, because I was certainly missing out by putting it to the wayside for so long. It got me so into the mythology and lore of Anastasia again that I just had to watch the animated movie (no matter how inaccurate it may be).

Anne is, I have to say, one of the most down to Earth girls ever to grace the pages of a paranormal young adult book. Oh, that guy you just met following you around like a creepy stalker? Ask him if he has been following you, tell him to stop and warn him you are going to call the police. What a normal reaction, I love it! Oh, a one-hundred year old immortal boy stuck at eighteen wants to kiss you? Instantly tell him how wrong it is that someone his age, despite his looks, wants any sort of relationship with a sixteen year old. I adore Anne.

Ethan (or Etanovich) is a Russian immortal who was eighteen at the time of the deaths of the Romanov family. He has to find the girl who is supposed to break the curse placed on Anastasia to save her life and finally set her free. He is full of old-world charm and can be virtuous to a fault.

This story kept my attention from the first page. It is full of mystery, folktales and lore about Russia in general and the events surrounding the revolt and assassination of Tsar Nicolas and his family. It has packed full of action and mystery and I enjoyed it immensely.





1 comment:

  1. I read this book a really long time ago, so I don't remember much about it, but I wasn't that impressed--I'm thinking three stars.

    But now I might be re-evaluating. THAT IS REALLY SENSIBLE. I do want to read the rest of the series, though. I've got to find out what happens! Maybe a re-read is in order. (:

    Loves,
    Megan@The Book Babe

    ReplyDelete

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