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Anastasia's Secret
For Anastasia Romanov, life as the privileged daughter of Russia's last tsar is about to be torn apart by the bloodshed of revolution. Ousted from the imperial palace when the Bolsheviks seize control of the government, Anastasia and her family are exiled to Siberia. But even while the rebels debate the family's future with agonizing slowness and the threat to their lives grows more menacing, romance quietly blooms between Anastasia and Sasha, a sympathetic young guard she has known since childhood. But will the strength of their love be enough to save Anastasia from a violent death?
Inspired by the mysteries that have long surrounded the last days of the Romanov family, Susanne Dunlap's new novel is a haunting vision of the life-and love story-of Russia's last princess.
Inspired by the mysteries that have long surrounded the last days of the Romanov family, Susanne Dunlap's new novel is a haunting vision of the life-and love story-of Russia's last princess.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published March 2, 2010
52 people are currently reading
4936 people want to read
About the author
Susanne Dunlap
30 books471 followersSusanne Dunlap is the author of more than a dozen historical novels for adults and teens. Susanne grew up in Buffalo, New York and has lived in London, Brooklyn, Northampton, MA, and now Biddeford, ME. Her love of historical fiction arose partly from her PhD research at Yale.
Susanne is also an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach in fiction and nonfiction, specializing in coaching historical fiction and historical nonfiction.
Susanne is also an Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach in fiction and nonfiction, specializing in coaching historical fiction and historical nonfiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 250 reviews
March 27, 2018
”’I’m old enough to know what love is, truly,’ I whispered.
‘Are you? Love is suffering,’
‘My brother suffers, and I love him.
‘It’s not the same.’”
3.5 out of 5 stars
Yet another Anastasia book!! The Romanovs never fail to fascinate the general public (particularly Anastasia, since she was so famously said to have been survived the attack on her family). In this book, it seems that the author was sitting in her chair one day and thought to herself, “I need to write about Anastasia. It’s not like there aren’t another bajillion and one books out there about her. But MINE will be different. Poor little thing never got to experience the touch of a man, so I’ll make it happen for her… fictionally.” So we now have an Anastasia romance, since everyone seems to feel sorry for the duchess who never got a chance at love. And what we get is… a good book, but with a plotline I can’t help but feel would have been better suited to one of her older sisters. Anastasia was simply not the type of person to make time for romance, so it was bit hard to board the ship, so to speak, for the romance portion.
For Anastasia Romanov, life as the privileged daughter of Russia's last tsar is about to be torn apart by the bloodshed of revolution. Ousted from the imperial palace when the Bolsheviks seize control of the government, Anastasia and her family are exiled to Siberia. But even while the rebels debate the family's future with agonizing slowness and the threat to their lives grows more menacing, romance quietly blooms between Anastasia and Sasha, a sympathetic young guard she has known since childhood. But will the strength of their love be enough to save Anastasia from a violent death?
”They still thought of me as the clown. The one who could always find a way to make everyone laugh. I realized they assumed that because I was the youngest sister, I could be cheerful because I didn’t fully understand what was happening to us. I had developed a realistic view of life, and a deep existence of love and distance and sorrow and abandonment.”Anastasia has always been known as the clown and the imp of the family, often overlooked or criticized in favor of her more classically elegant sisters. As much as I loved Anastasia, I don’t think the author got her true personality down. It seemed like the author was trying to desperately hard to make Anastasia not the stereotypical kid sister who plays practical jokes that she forgot some of the qualities that made the real Anastasia truly stand out. Here, she just kind of blended into the background with the rest of her sisters. Basically, I wanted at least a little more of the goofy part of her to come out. Here, I thought she was just too serious about things.
”’It’s true, they have not spoiled you and give you high and mighty airs. But do you really know what it’s like to be what you call a normal person?’”Alexander, aka Sasha, is a soldier in the Russian army when he first meets Anastasia. A fast friendship blooms between him and Anastasia, as her shows her how the real world truly is different from her sheltered and isolated existence. I liked him, but the thing that kind of irked me was that he was always doubting Anastasia and her ideas. It got annoying at times.
What kind of irked me throughout the novel is the several instances where the author took historical licenses throughout the book and perpetrated it as fact. Here’s the deal; I’m all for authors taking historical license when it comes to writing about historical figures. Oftentimes, the information given out is so scant that authors are forced to do exactly that. With Anastasia and her family, though, there were copious amounts of resources at Ms. Dunlap’s disposal to get the facts correctly. I’m not an expert on the Romanovs, but I found several inaccuracies within the text. None of them were so bad to warrant a major history buff freak out, but it will probably cause some minor annoyances for those who do know more about this family then me.
As far as the story goes, I think that while the plotline is imaginative, I think it would have been better suited to one of Anastasia’s older sisters (particularly Marie, though I’m probably biased because she’s my favorite out of the four). For some reason, I just couldn’t picture Anastasia in the role the author wrote for her, particularly given the real life Anastasia’s personality. She wasn’t one to dally in romantic whims or wish upon a star for a husband. Honestly, this read more like the book version of the film Anastasia then a direct representation.
Probably the biggest thing that irked me is what pretty much irked everyone else; that big thing that happened on page 201. I too had a problem with it. Not because it happened itself (because duh, stuff like this is bound to happen), but because I just felt that it didn’t ring true to Anastasia herself and her personality. I don’t know why the author insisted on doing this other than to spice up the plot, but I thought it was unnecessary.
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that author doesn’t focus much time on the other members of Anastasia’s family. It’s like the author only made it so that the world revolved around Anastasia and Sasha. Her siblings and parents were there, but acted more as background noise then actual characters. I would have loved to have seen more of their family dynamic, since they were so close in real life.
If the author had interchanged Anastasia with Marie, this book would have worked out great. With Anastasia the book was still good, but it didn’t ring true (at least to me).
March 16, 2010
I love anything to do with Anastasia. I guess at this moment I will have to change that statement.
Susanne Dunlap has an extreme amount of talent but I don't know if this should have been her debut book. She seemed a little apprehensive to build such a great historical character, and so therefor stuck to what the world knows of Anastasia which is sadly not much.
There is no action, no catching the readers attention, no romance. It's just a bunch of words describing really nothing. Anastasia is a flat character that spends most of her time describing her brother or sisters.
Anastasia lives in her palace the whole book. There were literally 20-30 pages on end and the girl did nothing. There are lengthy descriptions of sitting in ballrooms looking out windows.
Then after we have 70 pages of description about the measles and the big time comes for the killings it stops. It just ends. I'd be okay with the no details about death and killing if the sections on Anastasia looking at her naked body hadn't been so detailed. I just don't think this book does one of my favorite history events any justice. There are areas where events are referenced but not talked about so someone would not understand what is going on if you didn't know about Russian history.
There isn't much romance in this book, instead it's more of a facination and then Sasha appears every so often to keep the reader remembering him.
I am very sad because there is a writer with talent and my favorite time frame and it was just a train wreck.
Susanne Dunlap has an extreme amount of talent but I don't know if this should have been her debut book. She seemed a little apprehensive to build such a great historical character, and so therefor stuck to what the world knows of Anastasia which is sadly not much.
There is no action, no catching the readers attention, no romance. It's just a bunch of words describing really nothing. Anastasia is a flat character that spends most of her time describing her brother or sisters.
Anastasia lives in her palace the whole book. There were literally 20-30 pages on end and the girl did nothing. There are lengthy descriptions of sitting in ballrooms looking out windows.
Then after we have 70 pages of description about the measles and the big time comes for the killings it stops. It just ends. I'd be okay with the no details about death and killing if the sections on Anastasia looking at her naked body hadn't been so detailed. I just don't think this book does one of my favorite history events any justice. There are areas where events are referenced but not talked about so someone would not understand what is going on if you didn't know about Russian history.
There isn't much romance in this book, instead it's more of a facination and then Sasha appears every so often to keep the reader remembering him.
I am very sad because there is a writer with talent and my favorite time frame and it was just a train wreck.
April 17, 2017
-POTENTIAL SPOILERS-
Going back and editing my older reviews and writing some reviews for books I never reviewed, I knew I'd have to come back to this one eventually. I still remember writing this one too, like last year or something like that.
Part of me wonders if I was too harsh on this book since I was younger when I read it. After all, I've obviously read much, much worse things in the meantime, like Burning Glass and Red Queen. I considered going back and rereading this book to see if maybe there was something I was missing. After all, the other self-confessed 'Romanov whores' love it and sing its praises. So perhaps there really is something there that I'm missing.
But then I told myself that it doesn't matter how much older I get, there will never be ANY excuse for false information. Even if you claim it's a historical fiction novel, you are still responsible for spreading false information about a certain topic of history, and usually you can get in trouble for that. And that is exactly what this novel does. It spreads false information about this person, her family, her associates, and her life. I've learned so much more about the Romanovs in the four years since I've read this book. And guess what? It's still filled with lies.
The fact this has nothing but positive reviews disgusts me. The fact this has a movie deal disgusts me. If you in any way support or endorse this book, DESPITE HAVING LOTS OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ON THIS TOPIC, you disgust me.
Some people ask me why I give books I obviously hate with a burning passion like Red Queen, Cruel Beauty, Divergent, and The Book Thief two stars instead of one. Actually, this is the only book I've ever read that I've only given one star to. And my answer is this: Despite the characters and plots in those books being horrible, I can at least say this about them: they are about fictional characters. They are not spreading false information. And if they are historical fiction, they at least RESEARCH their topics heavily beforehand.
And I don't care if at this point I sound like a broken record, because this shit disgusts me on levels that not even I can understand. I know the Romanovs were not the most picture-perfect, pristine family ever, especially their father.
But they were a whole hell of a lot better than how they were portrayed in this novel, and if you read it, you will never understand that.
I really, really, really, REALLY wanted to like this book. I tried desperately, so hard, to like this book. I LOVE Anastasia Romanova, and her family to extend that. They have numerous novels and movies about them, so obviously the world won't be getting over their 'Romanov flu' anytime soon. And here is another portrayal! Honestly, when I first read the plot, I was interested. Not only was it about Anastasia, but it was a romance that took place when she was still alive! How rare are those!? So, I read it.
....I really feel sorry for bashing Susanne Dunlap's writing. I really do. I've read all her other books,and like I said in my review for her debut The Musician's Daughter, she's actually a really good author! And she seems like such a nice person to boot! But this book-she said she did extensive research for it, but to me, it's pretty freaking obvious she did not, because this book is not about the Romanov family. It is about a Russian Imperial family who has the same last name, and they all have the same names as the Romanovs, and the same pets, and the same servants, and even the same death, but they are not the Romanovs.
It's one thing to write about an obscure event or person of history that barely has a lot of resources about them, like journals or photos. Or maybe they lived too long ago and those resources weren't widely available to them anyway. But the Romanovs have literally dozens upon dozens of letters and diaries and accounts written by themselves and their friends and servants and other people close to them detailing how they looked, acted, and carried themselves. They even have photos! The Romanovs loved cameras! So, what is your excuse for portraying a family so tragic and so famous in such a shitty way?
I don't even know where to start on the portrayals. Maybe I'll start with Anastasia, because she's not only the narrator, but she is probably the WORST portrayal of this person I have ever seen! And I've seen a shitton of Anastasia portrayals! She is whiny and pretentious and selfish and vain and self-absorbed and cares too much about herself and thinks she's not as good as her older sisters and constantly berates herself because she's forever seen as the 'child of the family'. That. Is. Not. Anastasia.
I can literally bullet-point scenes that contrast with how the real Anastasia acted. One of my personal favorites to use is when she says: "Sometimes I wish I could be as girly as my older sisters and wear high heels and long dresses and makeup and be prettier!" Eeeeeeh, wrong, bitch! You're fucking Anastasia Romanova! The REAL Anastasia once ate chocolates with her long white opera gloves on, picked her nose, and attacked people taller than her. She didn't care what she looked like or what others thought of her, she did her own thing!
And what about that scene where a dying soldier in the hospital asks Anastasia's older sister to read to him, since he wants to see something pretty before he dies? Are you high? Even if that DID happen, Anastasia probably would've taken it in high stride! She's a fucking little girl, they're not supposed to be pretty! Cute, maybe, but not drop-dead gorgeous!
The family is just as bad. If you had no idea how close the Romanovs were in real life, you wouldn't learn it from this book. Her family's personalities are just as skewed as her own. Olga exists to play cards and mope, Tatiana is a fashion-obsessed, God-fearing bimbo, Maria has some sort of lesbian crush on Anastasia, Alexei and Alexandra exist just to get sick and have people fret over them, and Nicolas is super uncaring and cruel to his children!
There's also the scene where Anastasia's told Rasptin's dead. In real life, her and her sisters huddled together on the couch, fear in their eyes, possibly because they thought Alexei would be next to go. In this book, Anastasia's basically like: "Meh, he was a creepy pervert anyway. Now where's my boytoy?"
I could go on and on, but what's the point? Yes, the events are accurate, yes the descriptions of locations are beautifully done, as per Dunlap's style, and yes, it does end with their execution-but if the characters don't act like the real historical figures, then why should I care? All throughout this book, I was PRAYING for the Reds to murder them and take me out of my misery.
The sad thing is that this kind of plot could actually work, and I actually like this concept. Making Anastasia fall in love is a bit strange, since she never struck me as the romantic type, but I like the idea of her learning about the less fortunate peasants, since her older sister Tatiana in real life did a lot of charity work. Anastasia too seems like the kind of person who'd want to spend a day with a peasant family, playing with their kids or something.
But not like this. TL;DR version: The characters are horribly written and portrayed. If this was a fictional family, or one I didn't know very much about, I wouldn't care as much, but since this is my favorite royal family, I strive to make sure every portrayal of them is done correctly because otherwise, you're not only disrespecting their memory, but their sainthood. Yeah, these people are fucking saints. Think about that.
And in her author's note, Dunlap was all: "I hope Anastasia is smiling from above at the romance I envisioned for her." Oh, bite me. If Anastasia knew what you did to her and her family, she'd fucking smite you with a fucking lightning bolt. Or a snowball with a rock rolled in it. Hopefully the latter, because then maybe it'll knock some brains into you, or at the very least, some fucking respect.
Going back and editing my older reviews and writing some reviews for books I never reviewed, I knew I'd have to come back to this one eventually. I still remember writing this one too, like last year or something like that.
Part of me wonders if I was too harsh on this book since I was younger when I read it. After all, I've obviously read much, much worse things in the meantime, like Burning Glass and Red Queen. I considered going back and rereading this book to see if maybe there was something I was missing. After all, the other self-confessed 'Romanov whores' love it and sing its praises. So perhaps there really is something there that I'm missing.
But then I told myself that it doesn't matter how much older I get, there will never be ANY excuse for false information. Even if you claim it's a historical fiction novel, you are still responsible for spreading false information about a certain topic of history, and usually you can get in trouble for that. And that is exactly what this novel does. It spreads false information about this person, her family, her associates, and her life. I've learned so much more about the Romanovs in the four years since I've read this book. And guess what? It's still filled with lies.
The fact this has nothing but positive reviews disgusts me. The fact this has a movie deal disgusts me. If you in any way support or endorse this book, DESPITE HAVING LOTS OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ON THIS TOPIC, you disgust me.
Some people ask me why I give books I obviously hate with a burning passion like Red Queen, Cruel Beauty, Divergent, and The Book Thief two stars instead of one. Actually, this is the only book I've ever read that I've only given one star to. And my answer is this: Despite the characters and plots in those books being horrible, I can at least say this about them: they are about fictional characters. They are not spreading false information. And if they are historical fiction, they at least RESEARCH their topics heavily beforehand.
And I don't care if at this point I sound like a broken record, because this shit disgusts me on levels that not even I can understand. I know the Romanovs were not the most picture-perfect, pristine family ever, especially their father.
But they were a whole hell of a lot better than how they were portrayed in this novel, and if you read it, you will never understand that.
I really, really, really, REALLY wanted to like this book. I tried desperately, so hard, to like this book. I LOVE Anastasia Romanova, and her family to extend that. They have numerous novels and movies about them, so obviously the world won't be getting over their 'Romanov flu' anytime soon. And here is another portrayal! Honestly, when I first read the plot, I was interested. Not only was it about Anastasia, but it was a romance that took place when she was still alive! How rare are those!? So, I read it.
....I really feel sorry for bashing Susanne Dunlap's writing. I really do. I've read all her other books,and like I said in my review for her debut The Musician's Daughter, she's actually a really good author! And she seems like such a nice person to boot! But this book-she said she did extensive research for it, but to me, it's pretty freaking obvious she did not, because this book is not about the Romanov family. It is about a Russian Imperial family who has the same last name, and they all have the same names as the Romanovs, and the same pets, and the same servants, and even the same death, but they are not the Romanovs.
It's one thing to write about an obscure event or person of history that barely has a lot of resources about them, like journals or photos. Or maybe they lived too long ago and those resources weren't widely available to them anyway. But the Romanovs have literally dozens upon dozens of letters and diaries and accounts written by themselves and their friends and servants and other people close to them detailing how they looked, acted, and carried themselves. They even have photos! The Romanovs loved cameras! So, what is your excuse for portraying a family so tragic and so famous in such a shitty way?
I don't even know where to start on the portrayals. Maybe I'll start with Anastasia, because she's not only the narrator, but she is probably the WORST portrayal of this person I have ever seen! And I've seen a shitton of Anastasia portrayals! She is whiny and pretentious and selfish and vain and self-absorbed and cares too much about herself and thinks she's not as good as her older sisters and constantly berates herself because she's forever seen as the 'child of the family'. That. Is. Not. Anastasia.
I can literally bullet-point scenes that contrast with how the real Anastasia acted. One of my personal favorites to use is when she says: "Sometimes I wish I could be as girly as my older sisters and wear high heels and long dresses and makeup and be prettier!" Eeeeeeh, wrong, bitch! You're fucking Anastasia Romanova! The REAL Anastasia once ate chocolates with her long white opera gloves on, picked her nose, and attacked people taller than her. She didn't care what she looked like or what others thought of her, she did her own thing!
And what about that scene where a dying soldier in the hospital asks Anastasia's older sister to read to him, since he wants to see something pretty before he dies? Are you high? Even if that DID happen, Anastasia probably would've taken it in high stride! She's a fucking little girl, they're not supposed to be pretty! Cute, maybe, but not drop-dead gorgeous!
The family is just as bad. If you had no idea how close the Romanovs were in real life, you wouldn't learn it from this book. Her family's personalities are just as skewed as her own. Olga exists to play cards and mope, Tatiana is a fashion-obsessed, God-fearing bimbo, Maria has some sort of lesbian crush on Anastasia, Alexei and Alexandra exist just to get sick and have people fret over them, and Nicolas is super uncaring and cruel to his children!
There's also the scene where Anastasia's told Rasptin's dead. In real life, her and her sisters huddled together on the couch, fear in their eyes, possibly because they thought Alexei would be next to go. In this book, Anastasia's basically like: "Meh, he was a creepy pervert anyway. Now where's my boytoy?"
I could go on and on, but what's the point? Yes, the events are accurate, yes the descriptions of locations are beautifully done, as per Dunlap's style, and yes, it does end with their execution-but if the characters don't act like the real historical figures, then why should I care? All throughout this book, I was PRAYING for the Reds to murder them and take me out of my misery.
The sad thing is that this kind of plot could actually work, and I actually like this concept. Making Anastasia fall in love is a bit strange, since she never struck me as the romantic type, but I like the idea of her learning about the less fortunate peasants, since her older sister Tatiana in real life did a lot of charity work. Anastasia too seems like the kind of person who'd want to spend a day with a peasant family, playing with their kids or something.
But not like this. TL;DR version: The characters are horribly written and portrayed. If this was a fictional family, or one I didn't know very much about, I wouldn't care as much, but since this is my favorite royal family, I strive to make sure every portrayal of them is done correctly because otherwise, you're not only disrespecting their memory, but their sainthood. Yeah, these people are fucking saints. Think about that.
And in her author's note, Dunlap was all: "I hope Anastasia is smiling from above at the romance I envisioned for her." Oh, bite me. If Anastasia knew what you did to her and her family, she'd fucking smite you with a fucking lightning bolt. Or a snowball with a rock rolled in it. Hopefully the latter, because then maybe it'll knock some brains into you, or at the very least, some fucking respect.
January 15, 2012
Judged by The Cover:...
Okay look at the cover, now read chapter 7, now look at the cover again. Anastasia takes a few paragraphs in that chapter (and throughout the rest of the novel) to tell the reader how ugly she is compared to her older sisters -a dying man asks for her older sister to read to him instead of Anastasia because he wants the last face he sees to beautiful-. I am for a fact aware that a character's, especially since this novel takes place over many years, appearance can change, but throughout a good chunk of the novel Anastasia states that no one sees any part of her grown up or elegant. Also to throw something else out there, Anastasia has curly hair, this cover has to annoy more then just me...Anyone?
What's Up?
Anastasia's Secret was a historically based novel focusing on Anastasia Romanov and her family's story(mostly the events leading up to their murder). The novel is narrated by the Grand Duchess herself, Anastasia. Anastasia, the youngest of the daughters isn't really aware of the the troubles that Russia is facing around the time she was 15. Until she meets Sasha, a young soldier she meets in the palace garden one day, who teaches her of all the troubles going on outside her innocent world that is hidden behind the castle walls. As the story progresses so does the war, and the secret love Anastasia and Sasha have for each other. This being historical fiction there is only so many things you can say as a description without completely giving away the ending. Not that everyone doesn't know how it really ends...but...
Character
Anastasia was brave, she had countless times she and Sasha coould've escaped there faint, but she didn't take it because of the fact her family would not be with her. Her character devolops with the story, very well acutually, you barely realease it's happening becasue it flows withthe story so well. Anastasia knew when the right time to stand out was and when it was the right time to stay in the shadows by the end. I congradulate on this feat, for I have not seen a character like this in awhile.
Romance
Sasha, - It is a very popular Russian name for the time- was a little rude. He didn't respect Anastasia in the beginning at all, and I don't mean as a Grand Duchess, I mean just as a human being. Of course you do have to take into account that when you don't like the way a country is run, you don't exactly respect the ruler or their family, so I find his rudeness excusable. He wasn't to controlling over Anastisa, he seemed to let her do her own thing if they couldn't agree. He wasn't perfect but he wasn't so flawed that it was hard to believe.
Bonus Features: History
There are some fantastic adventures you can take when you're reading fantasy, awesome creatures you can meet in Science Fiction, and Lessons you can learn from those...uh...'true to life' novels you read*, but nothing beats it when you read a book knowing that some form of it existed before this was written, in real life. Anastasia, no matter how untrue the animated version is, It was my favorite animated princess movie (and still is) and I love finding the real pictures of Anastasia's family and such.
Clandestine Meetings
A big part of Sasha and Anastasia's relationship is secret meetings. They come from two diffrent social classes, if their relationship was found out, it would not have been approved.
Final Flavor: an ideal main course
The style of writing took me as a more diary style. Most of the time that would annoy me, but with this one it seemed to fit. Her life kind of was falling apart before her eyes. I found that the characters our pretty memorable, at least Sasha. I really enjoyed this book, the phrasing didn't make you do a double take becasue you didn't undersatnd the sentence. This story was a mix of the classic Romeo and Juliet and the mysterious story of Anastasia. Overall it was a good book and I would consider reading it again.
*I'm not talking about those books were they murder someone but the only thing everyone is worried about is how their boyfriend cheated on them with said person before they died, You can learn nothing good from them.
Okay look at the cover, now read chapter 7, now look at the cover again. Anastasia takes a few paragraphs in that chapter (and throughout the rest of the novel) to tell the reader how ugly she is compared to her older sisters -a dying man asks for her older sister to read to him instead of Anastasia because he wants the last face he sees to beautiful-. I am for a fact aware that a character's, especially since this novel takes place over many years, appearance can change, but throughout a good chunk of the novel Anastasia states that no one sees any part of her grown up or elegant. Also to throw something else out there, Anastasia has curly hair, this cover has to annoy more then just me...Anyone?
What's Up?
Anastasia's Secret was a historically based novel focusing on Anastasia Romanov and her family's story(mostly the events leading up to their murder). The novel is narrated by the Grand Duchess herself, Anastasia. Anastasia, the youngest of the daughters isn't really aware of the the troubles that Russia is facing around the time she was 15. Until she meets Sasha, a young soldier she meets in the palace garden one day, who teaches her of all the troubles going on outside her innocent world that is hidden behind the castle walls. As the story progresses so does the war, and the secret love Anastasia and Sasha have for each other. This being historical fiction there is only so many things you can say as a description without completely giving away the ending. Not that everyone doesn't know how it really ends...but...
Character
Anastasia was brave, she had countless times she and Sasha coould've escaped there faint, but she didn't take it because of the fact her family would not be with her. Her character devolops with the story, very well acutually, you barely realease it's happening becasue it flows withthe story so well. Anastasia knew when the right time to stand out was and when it was the right time to stay in the shadows by the end. I congradulate on this feat, for I have not seen a character like this in awhile.
Romance
Sasha, - It is a very popular Russian name for the time- was a little rude. He didn't respect Anastasia in the beginning at all, and I don't mean as a Grand Duchess, I mean just as a human being. Of course you do have to take into account that when you don't like the way a country is run, you don't exactly respect the ruler or their family, so I find his rudeness excusable. He wasn't to controlling over Anastisa, he seemed to let her do her own thing if they couldn't agree. He wasn't perfect but he wasn't so flawed that it was hard to believe.
Bonus Features: History
There are some fantastic adventures you can take when you're reading fantasy, awesome creatures you can meet in Science Fiction, and Lessons you can learn from those...uh...'true to life' novels you read*, but nothing beats it when you read a book knowing that some form of it existed before this was written, in real life. Anastasia, no matter how untrue the animated version is, It was my favorite animated princess movie (and still is) and I love finding the real pictures of Anastasia's family and such.
Clandestine Meetings
A big part of Sasha and Anastasia's relationship is secret meetings. They come from two diffrent social classes, if their relationship was found out, it would not have been approved.
Final Flavor: an ideal main course
The style of writing took me as a more diary style. Most of the time that would annoy me, but with this one it seemed to fit. Her life kind of was falling apart before her eyes. I found that the characters our pretty memorable, at least Sasha. I really enjoyed this book, the phrasing didn't make you do a double take becasue you didn't undersatnd the sentence. This story was a mix of the classic Romeo and Juliet and the mysterious story of Anastasia. Overall it was a good book and I would consider reading it again.
*I'm not talking about those books were they murder someone but the only thing everyone is worried about is how their boyfriend cheated on them with said person before they died, You can learn nothing good from them.
November 29, 2011
I am having trouble, even now, after several weeks since reading this book, in formulating my thoughts about this story. On the one hand, it is very interesting - what book isn't, when it concerns Anastasia Romanov? But on the other hand, it was massively disappointing. The majority of the first half is good - Susanne Dunlap presents the Reader with her usual rich descriptions and complex characters. But I quickly became frustrated with Anastasia's lack of political knowledge (though this is probably not an entirely inaccurate portrayal), and Sasha, her love interest, goes from a pleasant sort of fellow to downright vexing. His contempt for Anastasia's ignorance and always calling her a child is irritating, because he does nothing to enlighten her on what is going on, and then getting mad at her when she expresses her ignorance.
Content quickly spirals downhill from there, when the Author begins to describe French kissing in pretty thorough detail, characters grope each other, and then there is finally a bed scene in Chapter 21, page 203. While it is not horribly detailed, it is suggestive enough of what is happening to make it wildly inappropriate, and I actually found it rather disrespectful towards Anastasia's memory to have her sleep with someone. Thankfully, however, the Reader can avoid the majority of these nasty details - skip the parts where Sasha and Anastasia meet up, and enjoy the rest of the book, because all other occurrences in the story are interesting.
It is unfortunate that the Author put in so much lustfulness; Anastasia's Secret could have been both a good wartime novel and a good love story, were it not so bogged down with physical pleasure. When I think back on this book, I can only think disappointing thoughts.
Content quickly spirals downhill from there, when the Author begins to describe French kissing in pretty thorough detail, characters grope each other, and then there is finally a bed scene in Chapter 21, page 203. While it is not horribly detailed, it is suggestive enough of what is happening to make it wildly inappropriate, and I actually found it rather disrespectful towards Anastasia's memory to have her sleep with someone. Thankfully, however, the Reader can avoid the majority of these nasty details - skip the parts where Sasha and Anastasia meet up, and enjoy the rest of the book, because all other occurrences in the story are interesting.
It is unfortunate that the Author put in so much lustfulness; Anastasia's Secret could have been both a good wartime novel and a good love story, were it not so bogged down with physical pleasure. When I think back on this book, I can only think disappointing thoughts.
March 7, 2010
This is a seriously boring book. It was difficult for me to stick with and finish, but I did it. (Patting myself on back here.)
Anastasia Romanova was a young Russian princess whose royal family was overthrown and held captive during World War One. Apparently Russians got sick and tired of going hungry and living poorly while their royal "betters" lived the high life with servants and numerous homes to choose from and many meals a day. At the end of their captivity, the entire Romanov family was taken to a basement and murdered. There has always been possibility and speculation that one or two of them survived... Fascainating stuff, right? Well...
The problem with this novel (and I rarely say this) is the first person POV. It is told from Anastasia's point of view and with her hardly ever leaving their current home and being sent from the room everytime the conversations get interesting, all the juicy stuff is third hand instead of experienced first hand and falls flat. Russia was obviously a very happening and exciting place during all this revolution and anger but readers never get a look at anything going on outside of Anastasia's very sheltered world. The book ends up being about a make believe romance Anastasia has with a guard while she moves one prison to another.
Also, tho I realize this is a young adult novel, I feel twelve years and up can handle a bit of death. I mean, look at the video games they play nowdays. So why is the massacre just mentioned in the epilogue? The book ends with the royal family moving again and only a brief telling in the epilogue of one of the most fascinating mass murders in history.
Didn't work for me.
Anastasia Romanova was a young Russian princess whose royal family was overthrown and held captive during World War One. Apparently Russians got sick and tired of going hungry and living poorly while their royal "betters" lived the high life with servants and numerous homes to choose from and many meals a day. At the end of their captivity, the entire Romanov family was taken to a basement and murdered. There has always been possibility and speculation that one or two of them survived... Fascainating stuff, right? Well...
The problem with this novel (and I rarely say this) is the first person POV. It is told from Anastasia's point of view and with her hardly ever leaving their current home and being sent from the room everytime the conversations get interesting, all the juicy stuff is third hand instead of experienced first hand and falls flat. Russia was obviously a very happening and exciting place during all this revolution and anger but readers never get a look at anything going on outside of Anastasia's very sheltered world. The book ends up being about a make believe romance Anastasia has with a guard while she moves one prison to another.
Also, tho I realize this is a young adult novel, I feel twelve years and up can handle a bit of death. I mean, look at the video games they play nowdays. So why is the massacre just mentioned in the epilogue? The book ends with the royal family moving again and only a brief telling in the epilogue of one of the most fascinating mass murders in history.
Didn't work for me.
July 31, 2011
When I first finished this book I was going to give it two stars, but the more I thought about it, the more I was bothered by this book. First, the good. It was a very well researched book and I learned a lot about the Romanov family, which I really liked. Now the bad (yes, that is the only good thing I have to say about the book). The "romance" was very unbelievable. The only times they are together, he is either condescending or bitter, yet she falls madly in love with him. In the afterword the author states that she wanted Anastasia to have a love story before she died. Of course, in her mind apparently this means not only falling in love, but becoming sexually active. Really? Of course, this is okay because it happens after midnight on her 16th birthday so she is legally considered an adult. Of course, the entire family is heavily guarded at the time, but they are able to find a store room that no one will go by or find them together in. Right. And, of course, there are no repercussions, there is never any concern that she might become pregnant. And when they are found out and they end up killing a guard, the only remorse she feels is that her lover has to run away and she misses him. Don't worry that someone died because they were so "in love". Ugh. Word of warning, this is not what I would consider an appropriate "young adult" novel there is nothing graphic, but it doesn't really teach what I would want my young adult children to learn.
November 24, 2011
Anastasia has a secret.
The boy, Sasha, who tells her the truth about how the people live and what they believe, and gives Anastasia his balalaika to keep when he goes off to war.
One. Secret. In a palace filled with hundreds of servants, soldiers, guards, a snoopy younger brother, three older princesses, and Anastasia’s parents, the tsar and tsarina of all Russia.
How important can one secret be?
In a revolution, a secret may be all important.
Excellent. Enough imagination and romance to keep me entertained and interested in the story’s central relationship. But also—and where I believe Susanne Dunlap truly excels—absolutely cram-packed with real historical detail that had me racing through the pages. A fabulous example of YA historical fiction.
The boy, Sasha, who tells her the truth about how the people live and what they believe, and gives Anastasia his balalaika to keep when he goes off to war.
One. Secret. In a palace filled with hundreds of servants, soldiers, guards, a snoopy younger brother, three older princesses, and Anastasia’s parents, the tsar and tsarina of all Russia.
How important can one secret be?
In a revolution, a secret may be all important.
Excellent. Enough imagination and romance to keep me entertained and interested in the story’s central relationship. But also—and where I believe Susanne Dunlap truly excels—absolutely cram-packed with real historical detail that had me racing through the pages. A fabulous example of YA historical fiction.
Read
December 13, 2010See full review here.
In a sentence: A gorgeous, intricately rich book that I devoured to the very last page.
compelling, fascinating,
Anastasia's Secret is a stunningly accurate recreation of the teenage years, also the final years, of the life of Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, the last princess of Russia. The novel begins with a detailed Cast of Characters, highlighting the main players and providing some background information with a list of nicknames, a useful reference throughout the whole book.
Susanne Dunlap beautifully evoked an image of Russia's royalty. Anastasia's sincerity really came through to me, and I truly felt as if I could relate to her. Her intelligence and perception was a vital element to the story, and Dunlap's writing transformed into a clear running film in my head.
The accuracy to which Anastasia's Secret was reimagined epitomizes the one of the reasons I adore historical fiction. While what you are reading is partially a piece of fiction, it is also comprised mainly of truths, facts that the author has constructed his or her interpretation around. Susanne Dunlap gave a beautiful and expressive voice to Grand Duchess Anastasia.
The immersion of Sascha into the story was a perfect move. It gave Anastasia's life a focus, and provided the perfect plotline. This secret "other side" to Anastasie's life was a daring, dangerous adventure, and was a thrilling romance to read and experience.
Plotwise, the other members of the Romanov family were accurate to their memory, and I developed a lot of affection for Marie, Anastasia's closest sister.Their story was completely immersive to the very last page, and at the end, I found myself going back through the book and rereading passages I loved, over and over.
Susanne Dunlap chose to cut the story off at a point where I thought the most pivotal part of the book was about to occur (highlight to read: Anastasia's death). I felt that the inclusion of this part would have made for a flawless historical novel. The book hung precariously, and was ended by an afterword that was informative, but not quite what I wanted. I loved Susanne Dunlap's afterthoughts, though.
Reading Anastasia's story also gave me the interest to research her and find out more. I was stunned to find how much knowledge about the Russian family I had already learnt through Susanne Dunlap. Her thorough research, combined with the beautiful voice the story is told with, makes this book an invaluable and timeless read.
In a sentence: A gorgeous, intricately rich book that I devoured to the very last page.
compelling, fascinating,
Anastasia's Secret is a stunningly accurate recreation of the teenage years, also the final years, of the life of Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, the last princess of Russia. The novel begins with a detailed Cast of Characters, highlighting the main players and providing some background information with a list of nicknames, a useful reference throughout the whole book.
Susanne Dunlap beautifully evoked an image of Russia's royalty. Anastasia's sincerity really came through to me, and I truly felt as if I could relate to her. Her intelligence and perception was a vital element to the story, and Dunlap's writing transformed into a clear running film in my head.
The accuracy to which Anastasia's Secret was reimagined epitomizes the one of the reasons I adore historical fiction. While what you are reading is partially a piece of fiction, it is also comprised mainly of truths, facts that the author has constructed his or her interpretation around. Susanne Dunlap gave a beautiful and expressive voice to Grand Duchess Anastasia.
The immersion of Sascha into the story was a perfect move. It gave Anastasia's life a focus, and provided the perfect plotline. This secret "other side" to Anastasie's life was a daring, dangerous adventure, and was a thrilling romance to read and experience.
Plotwise, the other members of the Romanov family were accurate to their memory, and I developed a lot of affection for Marie, Anastasia's closest sister.Their story was completely immersive to the very last page, and at the end, I found myself going back through the book and rereading passages I loved, over and over.
Susanne Dunlap chose to cut the story off at a point where I thought the most pivotal part of the book was about to occur (highlight to read: Anastasia's death). I felt that the inclusion of this part would have made for a flawless historical novel. The book hung precariously, and was ended by an afterword that was informative, but not quite what I wanted. I loved Susanne Dunlap's afterthoughts, though.
Reading Anastasia's story also gave me the interest to research her and find out more. I was stunned to find how much knowledge about the Russian family I had already learnt through Susanne Dunlap. Her thorough research, combined with the beautiful voice the story is told with, makes this book an invaluable and timeless read.
February 17, 2010
Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap 2 of 5 stars.
The life of a Russian princess rests in the hands of her secret love
For Anastasia Romanov, life as the daughter of Russia's last tsar is about to be torn apart by the violence of revolution. Ousted from the Imperial Palace when the Bolsheviks seized control, Anastasia and her family are exiled to Siberia as the rebels determine their future. But even while their captivity stretches out and the threat to their lives grows more menacing, romance quietly blossoms between Anastasia and a sympathetic guard named Sasha. Will their secret love be enough to help her and her family avoid the firing squad? Inspired by the mysteries that have long surrounded the fate of Russia's last princess, this is a compelling and romantic vision of what might have been.
I was extremely excited to read Anastasia's Secret having been intrigued by Anastasia Romanov for quite some time, but I was sadly disappointed. While Susanne Dunlap's prose was nice, the story wasn't able to hold my attention. It lacked suspense. There were a few scenes that I enjoyed and I think were done well but on the whole the book wasn't very interesting. I think Susanne Dunlap is a good writer and the initial plot was a great idea but I feel she could have done more with it. The characters were well laid, but the action, I feel was not. I kept hoping toward some sort of surprise as I got closer to the end but it never came. The author left off the real ending to the story, in my opinion, and left us with what is known through historical evidence which wasn't very satisfying. It was like there was no point in reading about this secret life of Anastasia's if we weren't able to see how it could have ended. I would I liked to read something entirely fictitious and then be told how it really happened. But that is just me. I'm sure some of historical fiction readers might fall head-over-heals for this novel, but I did not.
Reviewed by Arya at A Sea of Pages (http://seaofpages.blogspot.com)
The life of a Russian princess rests in the hands of her secret love
For Anastasia Romanov, life as the daughter of Russia's last tsar is about to be torn apart by the violence of revolution. Ousted from the Imperial Palace when the Bolsheviks seized control, Anastasia and her family are exiled to Siberia as the rebels determine their future. But even while their captivity stretches out and the threat to their lives grows more menacing, romance quietly blossoms between Anastasia and a sympathetic guard named Sasha. Will their secret love be enough to help her and her family avoid the firing squad? Inspired by the mysteries that have long surrounded the fate of Russia's last princess, this is a compelling and romantic vision of what might have been.
I was extremely excited to read Anastasia's Secret having been intrigued by Anastasia Romanov for quite some time, but I was sadly disappointed. While Susanne Dunlap's prose was nice, the story wasn't able to hold my attention. It lacked suspense. There were a few scenes that I enjoyed and I think were done well but on the whole the book wasn't very interesting. I think Susanne Dunlap is a good writer and the initial plot was a great idea but I feel she could have done more with it. The characters were well laid, but the action, I feel was not. I kept hoping toward some sort of surprise as I got closer to the end but it never came. The author left off the real ending to the story, in my opinion, and left us with what is known through historical evidence which wasn't very satisfying. It was like there was no point in reading about this secret life of Anastasia's if we weren't able to see how it could have ended. I would I liked to read something entirely fictitious and then be told how it really happened. But that is just me. I'm sure some of historical fiction readers might fall head-over-heals for this novel, but I did not.
Reviewed by Arya at A Sea of Pages (http://seaofpages.blogspot.com)
December 4, 2013
This. Bloody. Book.
It's been a while since I read Anastasia's Secret (due to probably $300 that's been spent on new books and the reading of them I haven't even gotten the chance to pick it up), bur hopefully my memories are fresh enough to post this review accurately.
While some people probably didn't like it or even hated it for various reasons, whether they be personal or because they disagreed with the largely debated historical themes, this book has been on my all-time favourites for years—I've read thousands of books, it seems, but only a rare few reach my All-Times and this was one of them. It emotionally drained me. And I loved it.
I don't even know why I love it so much. Maybe it's because it was my first real insight into the lives of the tsar's family, even with the fiction woven in. Maybe it's because of Sasha and Anastasia's love story, which was undeniably beautiful and artistic and tragic and heart-wrenching and hopeful all at the same time. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for historical fiction. Maybe it's because it was amazingly well-written.
But in any case, this book was one of the most amazing things I've ever read and I'd recommend it to anyone, although it's quite close to my heart so in all honestly I doubt I'll ever tell anyone in real life how much I love it. I love it so much it's practically personal to me; I don't want to share it.
But I would rate this 5 stars and 5 stars squared and 5 stars cubed because this was absolutely beautiful from start to finish, from when I laughed to when I cried, from when I smiled at childlike innocence to when I lay shocked at the realities of the last tsar's family's historical tragedy. Anastasia's Secret literally floats on a cloud for me.
If you haven't read it, read it. If you have, read it again.
Note: I first wrote this at around 2am in the morning, so excuse any (most likely frequent) errors you may find.
It's been a while since I read Anastasia's Secret (due to probably $300 that's been spent on new books and the reading of them I haven't even gotten the chance to pick it up), bur hopefully my memories are fresh enough to post this review accurately.
While some people probably didn't like it or even hated it for various reasons, whether they be personal or because they disagreed with the largely debated historical themes, this book has been on my all-time favourites for years—I've read thousands of books, it seems, but only a rare few reach my All-Times and this was one of them. It emotionally drained me. And I loved it.
I don't even know why I love it so much. Maybe it's because it was my first real insight into the lives of the tsar's family, even with the fiction woven in. Maybe it's because of Sasha and Anastasia's love story, which was undeniably beautiful and artistic and tragic and heart-wrenching and hopeful all at the same time. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for historical fiction. Maybe it's because it was amazingly well-written.
But in any case, this book was one of the most amazing things I've ever read and I'd recommend it to anyone, although it's quite close to my heart so in all honestly I doubt I'll ever tell anyone in real life how much I love it. I love it so much it's practically personal to me; I don't want to share it.
But I would rate this 5 stars and 5 stars squared and 5 stars cubed because this was absolutely beautiful from start to finish, from when I laughed to when I cried, from when I smiled at childlike innocence to when I lay shocked at the realities of the last tsar's family's historical tragedy. Anastasia's Secret literally floats on a cloud for me.
If you haven't read it, read it. If you have, read it again.
Note: I first wrote this at around 2am in the morning, so excuse any (most likely frequent) errors you may find.
October 6, 2025
1.3/5 ⭐️
I remember reading this book back in high school and absolutely adoring it!
I came back to read it as an adult and oh my word! What the H E C K did I like about this book?
I remember I liked Sasha and Anastasia’s romance but reading it as an adult, yikes! I clearly liked troubled men. Men who are bad at communicating and poor at expressing themselves.
I find their relationship really lacking. By the end of the book, I feel like they truly still don’t know each other. Over the course of many years, they have seemed to meet up on like a dozen of occasions and not much is spoken. Sasha is always warning Anastasia about her father rein and how he is not treating his people well. And Anastasia will go on to say she doesn’t understand.
There was one time Sasha even took her to see the conditions the Russian people were living under. She even said she felt embarrassed bringing one bread basket but still couldn’t put together that her father was not a good tsar? Sasha even hinted “he’d have to be a completely new tsar” if Russia might take him back.
From the research I did as a kid and even up until now, Nicholas was a fool. He had no general understanding of what he was getting into during his rein over Russia. His family prior put Russia in terrible conditions so when Nicholas took over the Russian people felt doomed.
Though there is no proof Nicholas was as violent as his family there was proof he did a poor job ruling over Russia. This was expressed a little in the book but I wish there was more of that!
I liked that Anastasia’s mom was accused of treason! I wish that ended up being an actual thing in the book
There were many things that just didn’t have consequences, Rasputin touching Anastasia, Sasha murdering the guard, Alyosha knowing/seeing Anastasia constantly sneaking out. This book was absolutely lacking in true love, a good grasp on how the Romanova family ruled Russia and no action/accountability!
There was hardly anything I found enjoyable from this book. I liked that Anastasia stayed silly but that became old when she was 15-17. She had to have matured at some point. I’m okay with adding romance to Anastasia’s story! I loved the movie and Demetri is her love in that so I’m not sure why that was hated on in this book but Sasha was a terrible love choice for her. There is absolutely no romance, everything is practically forced. Literally Sasha would forcibly kiss Anastasia several times because it’s just quick, they can’t been seen.
All in all, this book is lacking and isn’t even decent. Save your time, do not bother. 1.3/5 stars ⭐️
I remember reading this book back in high school and absolutely adoring it!
I came back to read it as an adult and oh my word! What the H E C K did I like about this book?
I remember I liked Sasha and Anastasia’s romance but reading it as an adult, yikes! I clearly liked troubled men. Men who are bad at communicating and poor at expressing themselves.
I find their relationship really lacking. By the end of the book, I feel like they truly still don’t know each other. Over the course of many years, they have seemed to meet up on like a dozen of occasions and not much is spoken. Sasha is always warning Anastasia about her father rein and how he is not treating his people well. And Anastasia will go on to say she doesn’t understand.
There was one time Sasha even took her to see the conditions the Russian people were living under. She even said she felt embarrassed bringing one bread basket but still couldn’t put together that her father was not a good tsar? Sasha even hinted “he’d have to be a completely new tsar” if Russia might take him back.
From the research I did as a kid and even up until now, Nicholas was a fool. He had no general understanding of what he was getting into during his rein over Russia. His family prior put Russia in terrible conditions so when Nicholas took over the Russian people felt doomed.
Though there is no proof Nicholas was as violent as his family there was proof he did a poor job ruling over Russia. This was expressed a little in the book but I wish there was more of that!
I liked that Anastasia’s mom was accused of treason! I wish that ended up being an actual thing in the book
There were many things that just didn’t have consequences, Rasputin touching Anastasia, Sasha murdering the guard, Alyosha knowing/seeing Anastasia constantly sneaking out. This book was absolutely lacking in true love, a good grasp on how the Romanova family ruled Russia and no action/accountability!
There was hardly anything I found enjoyable from this book. I liked that Anastasia stayed silly but that became old when she was 15-17. She had to have matured at some point. I’m okay with adding romance to Anastasia’s story! I loved the movie and Demetri is her love in that so I’m not sure why that was hated on in this book but Sasha was a terrible love choice for her. There is absolutely no romance, everything is practically forced. Literally Sasha would forcibly kiss Anastasia several times because it’s just quick, they can’t been seen.
All in all, this book is lacking and isn’t even decent. Save your time, do not bother. 1.3/5 stars ⭐️
May 9, 2020
When the original grave of the Romanovs and their servants was found, it was discovered that Alexei and one of the younger Grand Duchesses' was missing, everyone was left wondering: What happened to Anastasia? That is, if you choose to believe the American scientists. While American scientists believed they were only missing Anastasia and Alexei, Russian scientists (who had used facial reconstruction) believed they had found Anastasia, and were missing Maria and Alexei.
Regardless, the myth of Anastasia has endured ever since. Fox made a movie off of it (as did Hollywood) and numerous books have appeared. The most famous royal imposter, commonly known as Anna Anderson now, pretended to be Anastasia to her dying day.
Of course I realized Dunlap would probably veer off the truth, but this book really did frustrate me because of the plot and poor character development.
Anastasia manages to sneak out and meet with a young man that we don't know properly repeatedly, although the Imperial Family would never have been able to do such a thing, with the amount of surveillance they were under their entire lives. She loses her virginity to him, and considers escaping and leaving her family behind. Does the author even realize what a huge thing this would have been to someone who was living in that time period, for a girl who royalty, who was so sheltered?
None of the real Grand Duchess' would have considered seriously leaving their family. They were too close for it. Their family played a extremely dominant role in their life, and the separation from their parents and Maria while they were staying Tobolsk is well known to have been very hard for all of them.
The real Anastasia's character was more fascinating than the character in this book and so much more could have been done. More on her personality, her relationships with her family and few friends, etc. Doesn't have the be a carbon copy but if it captures the spirit and the story on its own is good then the book is good. Sadly not the case here.
July 3, 2011
I don't have too much to compare Anastasia's Secret to, as I don't know much about the Russian Revolution, and I'm sorry to say that I still don't.
I loved the idea of the book. Reading the epilogue, I saw that the author wanted to believe that Anastasia, the youngest of the Grand Duchesses, found love before she died. I want to believe that, as well, but I did have a few problems with the book. The first thing were the characters. I liked Anastasia well enough, but I never really got to know the other characters. They were just. . . There. I wish I could have gotten to know them better, but they were never just in the same scene for very long.
Speaking of which, there was no plot. I was never sure what was happening, and there was no pacing. The story was here. . . And suddenly it was over there. At the end, it seemed as though the author just decided that she didn't want to write anymore and would just tell us what historically happened. I found this rather abrupt.
This isn't a very long review, but I've said all that there is to say. In all, it wasn't really a bad book, but it just wasn't one that was particularly great.
I loved the idea of the book. Reading the epilogue, I saw that the author wanted to believe that Anastasia, the youngest of the Grand Duchesses, found love before she died. I want to believe that, as well, but I did have a few problems with the book. The first thing were the characters. I liked Anastasia well enough, but I never really got to know the other characters. They were just. . . There. I wish I could have gotten to know them better, but they were never just in the same scene for very long.
Speaking of which, there was no plot. I was never sure what was happening, and there was no pacing. The story was here. . . And suddenly it was over there. At the end, it seemed as though the author just decided that she didn't want to write anymore and would just tell us what historically happened. I found this rather abrupt.
This isn't a very long review, but I've said all that there is to say. In all, it wasn't really a bad book, but it just wasn't one that was particularly great.
December 31, 2017
I still love this book every bit as much as I did when I read it last year. This is a very quick read and it never got boring for me! I finally bought it a little while ago and I will definitely reread this book many times in the future!
October 17, 2015
I had low expectations for this book and, to begin, they matched what I read. The first fifteen chapters were deserving of 2 stars and the cringe-worthy prologue could go with one. Anastasia and Sasha's romance seemed straight out of a bad dystopian: Rich-girl-meets-poor-boy-who-tells her "your life is messed up." Anastasia had to make up all sorts of lies just to see him and when there's a war and revolution, all she cares about is him. In addition, a few historical inaccuracies and improbabilities, along with the inavoidable immature voice used by older authors when they want to sound younger didn't help anything. However, after a few chapters in exile, the writing turned into something descriptive, poetic, and actually interesting. While some writers stick only to factual accounts, a little historically accurate creative license can make a Romanov historical fiction a bit more interesting and, since I've read so many Romanov books, a bit less predictable. However, a good ending doesn't justify a bad beginning in fiction, so 3 stars is the highest it gets.
As for personal objections:
After the horribly developed "making love" in The Tsarina's Daughter the romance isn't so bad. It's not like it's totally OK to suddenly have secret "love making" in the pre-contraception era, but the scene isn't as "purple" as it could be. What really bothered me is that Sasha had to kill a man. Does that make him hot? Prove his love to Anastasia? Not in my book. He could have just knocked him out or the scene could have just not happened. That part annoyed me. But if you're planning to read The Tsarina's Daughter because of the romance element, read this. It's not as ridiculous but not totally accurate. If you want to LEARN in a fiction book, I recommend The Lost Crown or Anastasia and Her Sisters. There's less romance but better history.
June 18, 2010
The fate of Anastasia Romanov is one that many writers and filmmakers have taken many liberties with. My dad asked for a book about the Romanov's a few years back after reading a news story that documented DNA testing done by scientists on a grave near where the Romanov family was executed. It was found to be Anastasia. I guess that took a little of the mystery out of the story for me, but I still enjoy reading stories about this family and the history behind the Russian Revolution and its eventual control by the Bolshevics.
There were many things I liked about this book. It was extremely informative. It was clear that Dunlap had done a lot of research into the Romanov family and the circumstances behind their assassination. The details of their personalities and relationships with each other and their servants were meticulous and made me care very much about their family.
I really loved the mentions of Rasputin and wished he had been a larger player in the book. There were several passages in the book relating to him that made me shudder. In fact, most of the writing in the book was very beautiful.
However, the spark just wasn't there for me with this book. As I said, I felt the book was informative, but not entertaining. It read more like a non-fiction biography than a work of fiction. Anastasia and Sasha's relationship felt lukewarm to me. It wasn't convincing enough for me to care much about it. There were long passages where not much happened in the book. I ended up skimming some of the beautifully written, but frankly kind of dull passages.
I appreciate what Dunlap was trying to do with this book. It's clear that she has a wonderful talent for writing, and I would have liked to see her take a few more creative liberties with the story. By the end of the book I felt like I had learned a lot about the Romanov's, but little beyond the facts found in a history book.
However, if you enjoy your historical fiction on the dry side, Anastasia's Secret is for you. I'm sure many will be captivated by its beautiful writing and heartbreaking story. It just wasn't for me.
There were many things I liked about this book. It was extremely informative. It was clear that Dunlap had done a lot of research into the Romanov family and the circumstances behind their assassination. The details of their personalities and relationships with each other and their servants were meticulous and made me care very much about their family.
I really loved the mentions of Rasputin and wished he had been a larger player in the book. There were several passages in the book relating to him that made me shudder. In fact, most of the writing in the book was very beautiful.
However, the spark just wasn't there for me with this book. As I said, I felt the book was informative, but not entertaining. It read more like a non-fiction biography than a work of fiction. Anastasia and Sasha's relationship felt lukewarm to me. It wasn't convincing enough for me to care much about it. There were long passages where not much happened in the book. I ended up skimming some of the beautifully written, but frankly kind of dull passages.
I appreciate what Dunlap was trying to do with this book. It's clear that she has a wonderful talent for writing, and I would have liked to see her take a few more creative liberties with the story. By the end of the book I felt like I had learned a lot about the Romanov's, but little beyond the facts found in a history book.
However, if you enjoy your historical fiction on the dry side, Anastasia's Secret is for you. I'm sure many will be captivated by its beautiful writing and heartbreaking story. It just wasn't for me.
February 4, 2017
Read this review at Brilliant Bookshelf
After having written a huge paper for history about the Romanov family and their execution, I really got into their story. Yet most of the books I consulted for information were dull and quite boring, until I came across Anastasia’s Secret. Despite the fact that it was fiction, I wanted to give it a try anyway and it has been a fun read.
The main character, Anastasia, was well written and (as far as I could tell from the information I gathered) very much like the real Anastasia; a girl with a perky attitude who was often seen as the clown of the family.
In contrast to how well written Anastasia’s character was, I actually despised Sasha. He had his good traits and his flaws, there’s no doubt about that. But the way he was portrayed often had me wondering who’s side he was really on: Anastasia’s, or of those who wanted her and her family dead, and that annoyed me.
I found myself questioning how Anastasia fell in love with Sasha because the boy was bitter and very denigrating about the girl’s ignorance due to her privileged upbringing. I could imagine Anastasia liking him because he knew things of the outside world that she did not, but he was still disrespectful and rude.
Furthermore, I hated the fact that the grand duchess lost her virginity to Sasha. I found it very unlikely for this to happen considering her age and the sheltered upbringing she had had.
Other than that, I really liked the book. There was a good balance between the factual information and the fictional scenes. Dunlap tried to stick to the real story as much as possible and I enjoyed it when I recognized places or people that were mentioned.
I was in doubt whether to give it four stars or three, but eventually settled for three. I enjoyed the book enough to finish it in one day, but there definitely were flaws.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2011
Truly, truly a disappointment. There is no doubt that Susanne Dunlap did a tremendous amount of research for this book but while it delivers in its historical accurancy, it fails in delivering the story and more importantly, the romance.
Having studied Russian history for school and researched the Romanov dynasty out of interest, I can say that I know more than the average person on this particular part of Russian's turbulent past. As such, this book did little to expand my knowledge on Romanov history. That said, it will, no doubt, be an incredible experience for someone who doesn't know much about Russian history as this book is rich with cultural and historical details.
I personally, felt that the book fulfilled only two purposes: personalizing the Romanov family and showing readers what Anastasia's life could have been. The first purpose is a given. The story, written from Anastasia's perspective, will no doubt personalize the family. The second, well, the crux of this story should have been the romance but I didn't feel that to be the case. The romance wasn't exciting, endearing or even moving. All I could think about was how Anastasia is perpetually saying that she's tired of being treated like the 'clown' of the family, her only task is to cheer the family up. If she really felt that, I'm sure she could have been written to have some sort of a fight in her, for her to make suggestions to her father, her mother, important suggestions that could have saved her family and Russia.
Of course, I understand that this being a historical fiction, that the outcome of the book has already been decided but what annoyed me was that Anastasia didn't even try, in my opinion. She kept complaining that she didn't want to be treated like a child anymore, but apart from keeping her romance a secret, she didn't exactly act like an adult herself.
A novel that could have been amazing but wasn't.
Having studied Russian history for school and researched the Romanov dynasty out of interest, I can say that I know more than the average person on this particular part of Russian's turbulent past. As such, this book did little to expand my knowledge on Romanov history. That said, it will, no doubt, be an incredible experience for someone who doesn't know much about Russian history as this book is rich with cultural and historical details.
I personally, felt that the book fulfilled only two purposes: personalizing the Romanov family and showing readers what Anastasia's life could have been. The first purpose is a given. The story, written from Anastasia's perspective, will no doubt personalize the family. The second, well, the crux of this story should have been the romance but I didn't feel that to be the case. The romance wasn't exciting, endearing or even moving. All I could think about was how Anastasia is perpetually saying that she's tired of being treated like the 'clown' of the family, her only task is to cheer the family up. If she really felt that, I'm sure she could have been written to have some sort of a fight in her, for her to make suggestions to her father, her mother, important suggestions that could have saved her family and Russia.
Of course, I understand that this being a historical fiction, that the outcome of the book has already been decided but what annoyed me was that Anastasia didn't even try, in my opinion. She kept complaining that she didn't want to be treated like a child anymore, but apart from keeping her romance a secret, she didn't exactly act like an adult herself.
A novel that could have been amazing but wasn't.
January 25, 2016
At the heart of this novel is a girl and her family - bonded together by love and by circumstance - and an ages old empire on the brink of extinction.
As the youngest grand duchess in the family of Nicholas II Romanov, Anastasia has spent her insulated life among her older sisters and sickly younger brother. She's always ready for a prank, safe within a cocoon of wealth and privilege. Unfortunately, rumbles of unrest among her father's people begin to reach her ears through a boy she knows she probably should stay away from. And young love has a way of blossoming, even as the world Anastasia has always known begins to crumble around her.
Anastasia's Russian world, the political landscape and the closeness of the Romanov family all felt plausible and authentic. Her growth into young womanhood during such tumultuous times was especially poignant. Sometimes the first person narrative fell a little slack, but her aloofness felt almost like a forced maturity - as if she was searching for answers and a purpose for all the horrible changes to come upon her in such a short time. Occasionally, it was just a bit too spelled out for me.
Dunlap did her research and it was just deep enough for young readers to glimpse the horror of revolution without going over the edge. All the Russian names might turn some people off, but there is a nice guide in the beginning to help you out - and I do feel more knowledgeable about how Russian names work now. I know this book is being pushed as a love story - and I did enjoy that part of it, it certainly fleshed out Anastasia's character, but for me, the true draw of this story was its historical context and the inside view of one of the most famous historical stories told.
As the youngest grand duchess in the family of Nicholas II Romanov, Anastasia has spent her insulated life among her older sisters and sickly younger brother. She's always ready for a prank, safe within a cocoon of wealth and privilege. Unfortunately, rumbles of unrest among her father's people begin to reach her ears through a boy she knows she probably should stay away from. And young love has a way of blossoming, even as the world Anastasia has always known begins to crumble around her.
Anastasia's Russian world, the political landscape and the closeness of the Romanov family all felt plausible and authentic. Her growth into young womanhood during such tumultuous times was especially poignant. Sometimes the first person narrative fell a little slack, but her aloofness felt almost like a forced maturity - as if she was searching for answers and a purpose for all the horrible changes to come upon her in such a short time. Occasionally, it was just a bit too spelled out for me.
Dunlap did her research and it was just deep enough for young readers to glimpse the horror of revolution without going over the edge. All the Russian names might turn some people off, but there is a nice guide in the beginning to help you out - and I do feel more knowledgeable about how Russian names work now. I know this book is being pushed as a love story - and I did enjoy that part of it, it certainly fleshed out Anastasia's character, but for me, the true draw of this story was its historical context and the inside view of one of the most famous historical stories told.
October 20, 2009
Anastasia is the youngest of all the grand duchesses and the one taken least serious. But when she meets a young soldier in the gardens of the palace, she finds herself learning more about life outside than any of her sisters. Her love blossoms for Sasha, the soldier - but she can tell she is viewed as a child in his eyes. And then he leaves for the front lines.
Anastasia's world starts to change. First, she is caring for the dying and wounded soldiers - trying to comfort them in their time of need. Some time later though, her parents are arrested and her entire family moved from location to location. Slowly, small freedoms are taken away from them, different factions and groups of guards looking after them. Sasha reappears and with all the love he has for Anastasia, he tries his best to help her and her family.
My love for the area and the mystery surrounding the last Tsar of Russia and his family convinced me this was a book I had to read. I fell in love with Sasha, the hard yet caring young man Anastasia herself loves. I love the character Anastasia and how aware she is of her role in the family - how she is the one to cheer others up - the forever childish little girl (even as she grows into a young woman).
The ending was so perfect for me. I liked that the author didn't say what happened on that fateful day in the story, but wrote up the historical account in a note at the end. I wished it to end differently, but you can't change history.
This is a must read if you have an obsession for historical mysteries such as the disappearence of Anastasia Romanov.
Anastasia's world starts to change. First, she is caring for the dying and wounded soldiers - trying to comfort them in their time of need. Some time later though, her parents are arrested and her entire family moved from location to location. Slowly, small freedoms are taken away from them, different factions and groups of guards looking after them. Sasha reappears and with all the love he has for Anastasia, he tries his best to help her and her family.
My love for the area and the mystery surrounding the last Tsar of Russia and his family convinced me this was a book I had to read. I fell in love with Sasha, the hard yet caring young man Anastasia herself loves. I love the character Anastasia and how aware she is of her role in the family - how she is the one to cheer others up - the forever childish little girl (even as she grows into a young woman).
The ending was so perfect for me. I liked that the author didn't say what happened on that fateful day in the story, but wrote up the historical account in a note at the end. I wished it to end differently, but you can't change history.
This is a must read if you have an obsession for historical mysteries such as the disappearence of Anastasia Romanov.
November 25, 2011
Ok... this book was the longest enumeration of "things' happening that i've ever read... i understand that the author was trying to keep to the historical facts, but the whole book felt like a history book with too many details. I did not really care for the characters and did not "swoon" over Sasha at all... i just found their "romance" irrelevant and annoying... it's just too bad...
ah! there was just nothing going on. Yes... i know there was a lot going on in Russia at the time, but if you're gonna talk about the constant change of rulers, you might as well talk about it from the tsar's perspective. I think the fact that Anastasia had little to no importance in the family forced the author to keep talking about the other members of the family... therefore all Anastasia "seemed" to do was talk about her family... Up until about page 200, NOTHING happens to the MC! NOTHING! all that is described is what happens to Russia....
You know when they say "a TOUCH of romance", they really mean, just a touch of romance... i'll try to keep that in mind next time...
ah! there was just nothing going on. Yes... i know there was a lot going on in Russia at the time, but if you're gonna talk about the constant change of rulers, you might as well talk about it from the tsar's perspective. I think the fact that Anastasia had little to no importance in the family forced the author to keep talking about the other members of the family... therefore all Anastasia "seemed" to do was talk about her family... Up until about page 200, NOTHING happens to the MC! NOTHING! all that is described is what happens to Russia....
You know when they say "a TOUCH of romance", they really mean, just a touch of romance... i'll try to keep that in mind next time...
February 27, 2011
Well, first off I have to say that I took notes to really review this book but I think I accidentally threw them away! Oopsy. So, I put this book aside hoping to find my notes, but nope. They are really gone.
There is so much tragedy surrounding Anastasia and her family. There are so many books written about them and I always appreciate people trying to give Anastasia a happy ending where there probably was not such a thing.
This wasn't my favorite book, I admit. I think it was well written and the storyline moved along well. I just didn't feel a lot of motivation to finish it. It took me awhile. I guess I just didn't like how Anastasia always met the guard in secret to have sex. I'm all for the secret love and some romance, but I guess it was just the sex part that bothered me. Personal preference.
There is so much tragedy surrounding Anastasia and her family. There are so many books written about them and I always appreciate people trying to give Anastasia a happy ending where there probably was not such a thing.
This wasn't my favorite book, I admit. I think it was well written and the storyline moved along well. I just didn't feel a lot of motivation to finish it. It took me awhile. I guess I just didn't like how Anastasia always met the guard in secret to have sex. I'm all for the secret love and some romance, but I guess it was just the sex part that bothered me. Personal preference.
November 3, 2024
I know a lot of people dislike this book, calling it a perversion of History, but I found it delightful and touching.
Apart from the invented romance, much of the information is true. How the family was treated, where they went, all of that stuff, was historically accurate. Even Anastasia and Alexei being players of the balalaika was true.
And since this book was marketed as a Romance from the get go, I really don't understand what people are all up in arms about.
Apart from the invented romance, much of the information is true. How the family was treated, where they went, all of that stuff, was historically accurate. Even Anastasia and Alexei being players of the balalaika was true.
And since this book was marketed as a Romance from the get go, I really don't understand what people are all up in arms about.
December 8, 2012
This heartwarming, amazing book just made me feel stunned. It was so amazing. I really didn't expect it to be good, but I was left speechless. It was so tragic, romantic and it tells you what someone would do for someone that they love. This book made me want to learn more about Anastasia and her sisters, and about the Cold War. An amazing, book. Please read it,you will be left stunned. :)
July 27, 2021
Like I've said previously, I really enjoy a good Romanov story, and this was no different. The only sad thing I found about it, is that it was over too quickly! I do enjoy a book that I can just read though.
Like so many other fictional books, this one is also about Anastasia, which you think I'd get tired of by now, but nope.
I find the different points of view about what that author thinks happened to her, fascinating. There are so many different theories out there!
The only "complaint" I have, is that I wish it were longer! I understand that it's mostly about a possible love story for Anastasia, but I felt like it all happened to quickly. She meets him randomly a couple of times and she's in love? I just feel like, because of both of their backgrounds, it would have taken more time for them both to realise. Especially since Sasha did seem like he could have been working for either side. Personally, I thought he was working for the enemy. Personally, the way Anastasia was written, I just believe she would have had more doubts, rather than just pushing them aside. Her family were prisoners and I don't think Anastasia would have felt "Oh, I have doubts, but I'll push them to the side".
Like so many other fictional books, this one is also about Anastasia, which you think I'd get tired of by now, but nope.
I find the different points of view about what that author thinks happened to her, fascinating. There are so many different theories out there!
The only "complaint" I have, is that I wish it were longer! I understand that it's mostly about a possible love story for Anastasia, but I felt like it all happened to quickly. She meets him randomly a couple of times and she's in love? I just feel like, because of both of their backgrounds, it would have taken more time for them both to realise. Especially since Sasha did seem like he could have been working for either side. Personally, I thought he was working for the enemy. Personally, the way Anastasia was written, I just believe she would have had more doubts, rather than just pushing them aside. Her family were prisoners and I don't think Anastasia would have felt "Oh, I have doubts, but I'll push them to the side".
June 7, 2010
Title: Anastasia's Secret
Author: Susanne Dunlap
Publisher: Bloomsbury
I make no jokes when I say I am obsessed with the historical figure that is Anastasia Nicholavna Romanov. I grew up with Don Bluth's animated retelling of the tale. While it was historically skewed, it made me fall in love with the idea of a princess so bent on spunk and ingenuity, and with the classic tale of self-discovery. Ever since then, I have devoured any young adult offerings about Anastasia - either before or after her death. My first take on this was one of those Royal Diaries books with the gilt pages...I devoured that thing like mad.
I loved it when I was little.
I recently also devoured The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn. It was okay, but it could have dealt with more length...and less ripping off of the animated movie.
Anastasia Romanov may be royalty, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have problems. Her brother, Alexei, is dealing with the life-threatening disease of hemophilia, which has no known cure. Her older sisters are dealing with the likes of men and society, when she's stuck in a time-warp of 'little girl' proportions. Tsar Nicholas the Second, her father, is worrying about a revolution going on in Russia, all the while watching his wife become entranced by the workings of 'holy man' Grigory Rusputin. Behind the scenes, a friendship with a soldier named Sasha also threatens to shatter the fragile piece of the family....
And then war is imminent. Battle lines are drawn, and the people of Russia are ready to take up arms. Sasha and Anastasia's relationship, which is barely able to be kept, is laced with feelings of something more. Grigory's influence on Alexandra and her son, Alexei, is growing tighter, and the governing of the country is becoming harder and harder to maintain. How is a girl supposed to grow up knowing the harshness of war, when she only knows what goes on in her own little world of royalty?
The characters that make up the pages of a historical novel are the hardest part to work out. History shows us a factual face, personal accounts give us a general personality, and rarely, we have diaries or journals that show the true mind of the figure. Anastasia had the first two down, and thus she's been pictured as a tom-boy with a lot of spunk and a mindset unlike the rest of her family. I always loved her general personality, and thus I'm really picky about how people depict her. Dunlap gives her a fresh face, keeping her rambunctious attitude and coupling it with the thought process of a teenage girl on the brink of adult-hood when she just isn't ready for it. The depth showed great apt for characterization. Anastasia constantly worries about things that we both can relate to, such as her relationship with Sasha, and things that we can never imagine, like the Bolshevik uprising in Russia. Her family is also depicted stunningly, with great personalities that are flexible yet true to what history tells us. Sasha didn't appear much, which disheartened me. His whole relationship with Anastasia was pretty thread-bare compared to the rest of the story. It was marketed as being more of a love story, so I felt cheated in that respect. The various servants and such also got confusing, but they were interchangeable, and more for historical accuracy than for characterization.
Plot and historical accuracy are also important. Being an Anastasia fan-boy, I naturally had an above-basic knowledge of what went on with the Romanovs, and I was immensely pleased to see a ton of historical fact and care used in the novel. Basic facts were there (ie, the Romanov's various pets, the political cartoons about Rusputin and the Romanov women), but she got everything down to the time of events(though Dunlap admitted to lightly moving some around to fit the character's needs, which was understood). The plot moved fast for me, and the interest in what would happen with Sasha and with Anastasia's handling of the war kept me going strong, though I could see how a reader less history-minded would get bored at some intervals.
Rating a historical novel is really hard, but as a fan of the time period, character, and history of events, I can't help but love this book. Dunlap did everything right in her research, and it comes out as a beautiful tapestry dedicated to a teenage girl often placed as a little kid. I'll admit I never really realized the impact of Anastasia's real age at the time of the events - and Dunlap gave me a lot to think about with that. Even her ending note provided a great website to go to about the Romanovs as well as some insight as to how the novel got started. The relationship with Sasha and some lack of interest in day-to-day events will dissuade readers who don't normally read the genre, but the writing is great, Anastasia is fresher than ever, and Dunlap just does too much right for me to not tell people to consider reading this book.
Cover Comments: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this cover! It's so delicate and enticing. Susanne gets some pretty kick-ass covers.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Author: Susanne Dunlap
Publisher: Bloomsbury
I make no jokes when I say I am obsessed with the historical figure that is Anastasia Nicholavna Romanov. I grew up with Don Bluth's animated retelling of the tale. While it was historically skewed, it made me fall in love with the idea of a princess so bent on spunk and ingenuity, and with the classic tale of self-discovery. Ever since then, I have devoured any young adult offerings about Anastasia - either before or after her death. My first take on this was one of those Royal Diaries books with the gilt pages...I devoured that thing like mad.
I loved it when I was little.
I recently also devoured The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn. It was okay, but it could have dealt with more length...and less ripping off of the animated movie.
Anastasia Romanov may be royalty, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have problems. Her brother, Alexei, is dealing with the life-threatening disease of hemophilia, which has no known cure. Her older sisters are dealing with the likes of men and society, when she's stuck in a time-warp of 'little girl' proportions. Tsar Nicholas the Second, her father, is worrying about a revolution going on in Russia, all the while watching his wife become entranced by the workings of 'holy man' Grigory Rusputin. Behind the scenes, a friendship with a soldier named Sasha also threatens to shatter the fragile piece of the family....
And then war is imminent. Battle lines are drawn, and the people of Russia are ready to take up arms. Sasha and Anastasia's relationship, which is barely able to be kept, is laced with feelings of something more. Grigory's influence on Alexandra and her son, Alexei, is growing tighter, and the governing of the country is becoming harder and harder to maintain. How is a girl supposed to grow up knowing the harshness of war, when she only knows what goes on in her own little world of royalty?
The characters that make up the pages of a historical novel are the hardest part to work out. History shows us a factual face, personal accounts give us a general personality, and rarely, we have diaries or journals that show the true mind of the figure. Anastasia had the first two down, and thus she's been pictured as a tom-boy with a lot of spunk and a mindset unlike the rest of her family. I always loved her general personality, and thus I'm really picky about how people depict her. Dunlap gives her a fresh face, keeping her rambunctious attitude and coupling it with the thought process of a teenage girl on the brink of adult-hood when she just isn't ready for it. The depth showed great apt for characterization. Anastasia constantly worries about things that we both can relate to, such as her relationship with Sasha, and things that we can never imagine, like the Bolshevik uprising in Russia. Her family is also depicted stunningly, with great personalities that are flexible yet true to what history tells us. Sasha didn't appear much, which disheartened me. His whole relationship with Anastasia was pretty thread-bare compared to the rest of the story. It was marketed as being more of a love story, so I felt cheated in that respect. The various servants and such also got confusing, but they were interchangeable, and more for historical accuracy than for characterization.
Plot and historical accuracy are also important. Being an Anastasia fan-boy, I naturally had an above-basic knowledge of what went on with the Romanovs, and I was immensely pleased to see a ton of historical fact and care used in the novel. Basic facts were there (ie, the Romanov's various pets, the political cartoons about Rusputin and the Romanov women), but she got everything down to the time of events(though Dunlap admitted to lightly moving some around to fit the character's needs, which was understood). The plot moved fast for me, and the interest in what would happen with Sasha and with Anastasia's handling of the war kept me going strong, though I could see how a reader less history-minded would get bored at some intervals.
Rating a historical novel is really hard, but as a fan of the time period, character, and history of events, I can't help but love this book. Dunlap did everything right in her research, and it comes out as a beautiful tapestry dedicated to a teenage girl often placed as a little kid. I'll admit I never really realized the impact of Anastasia's real age at the time of the events - and Dunlap gave me a lot to think about with that. Even her ending note provided a great website to go to about the Romanovs as well as some insight as to how the novel got started. The relationship with Sasha and some lack of interest in day-to-day events will dissuade readers who don't normally read the genre, but the writing is great, Anastasia is fresher than ever, and Dunlap just does too much right for me to not tell people to consider reading this book.
Cover Comments: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this cover! It's so delicate and enticing. Susanne gets some pretty kick-ass covers.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
March 15, 2023
2.5 stars
June 20, 2010
Susanne Dunlap has written a wonderfully romantic and tragic novel about the final days of Anastasia Romanova, more formally known as the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevna Romanova, the youngest daughter of the last czar of Russia. Told in the first person by Anastasia herself, the self-appointed fun-loving practical joker of the Romanov children, the novel starts at the time of the outbreak of World War I, when Anastasia's idyllic childhood begins to change forever. Dunlap intersects into Anastasia's story a fictional member of the family's guard, a soldier named Sasha, whom Anastasia befriends and sees secretly until he is sent to the front. Although at first Sasha sees Anastasia as no more than a silly child, when he returns from the war their friendship blossoms into young romance, even leading to secret meetings in pantries where the lovers exchange more than just kisses.
As the situation for the royal family deteriorates, their life of parties and balls evaporates and Anastasia and her sisters spend their time instead nursing and visiting casualties from the front and knitting stockings for soldiers. Soon the czar is forced to abdicate and the royal family is imprisoned in their own palace. The faithful young Sasha manages to get himself stationed nearby, always keeping an eye on his beautiful duchess. Anastasia trusts that Sasha will help keep her safe, but can he help the duchess and her family escape their doom?
Initially I was a bit bothered by the insertion of Sasha, an entirely fictional romantic interest for Anastasia, into this novel which is otherwise populated by actual historical figures. In an afterword, the author explains that Sasha and one or two servants are the only characters that came "entirely from my imagination. Everyone else--including the pets--had documented roles in the family's life."
But as the novel develops, the character of Sasha provides a method for the author to expose Anastasia (and thus the reader) to situations and conversations that help to move the story along and also provide useful background for the reader. For example, in one scene, Anastasia sneaks out of the palace at night to accompany Sasha to a filthy campground which houses thousands of poor people, living in unimaginable squalor not far from the ultra-privileged life of the young duchess. This provides background for the reader on the dire economic circumstances in Russia at this time, which would undoubtedly be hidden from the duchess. Also, there is no doubt that Sasha provides a dashing, brave romantic interest which adds tremendously to the already dramatic story.
An epilogue explains to readers how the royal family was eventually executed in Yekaterinburg, Siberia, but that since the secret graves where the bodies were dumped were not found until the 1990's, for many years speculation ran rampant that Anastasia and possibly her brother, the heir, may have escaped alive. Recent DNA testing from 2009 on the remains has finally put these long-standing rumors to rest.
As the situation for the royal family deteriorates, their life of parties and balls evaporates and Anastasia and her sisters spend their time instead nursing and visiting casualties from the front and knitting stockings for soldiers. Soon the czar is forced to abdicate and the royal family is imprisoned in their own palace. The faithful young Sasha manages to get himself stationed nearby, always keeping an eye on his beautiful duchess. Anastasia trusts that Sasha will help keep her safe, but can he help the duchess and her family escape their doom?
Initially I was a bit bothered by the insertion of Sasha, an entirely fictional romantic interest for Anastasia, into this novel which is otherwise populated by actual historical figures. In an afterword, the author explains that Sasha and one or two servants are the only characters that came "entirely from my imagination. Everyone else--including the pets--had documented roles in the family's life."
But as the novel develops, the character of Sasha provides a method for the author to expose Anastasia (and thus the reader) to situations and conversations that help to move the story along and also provide useful background for the reader. For example, in one scene, Anastasia sneaks out of the palace at night to accompany Sasha to a filthy campground which houses thousands of poor people, living in unimaginable squalor not far from the ultra-privileged life of the young duchess. This provides background for the reader on the dire economic circumstances in Russia at this time, which would undoubtedly be hidden from the duchess. Also, there is no doubt that Sasha provides a dashing, brave romantic interest which adds tremendously to the already dramatic story.
An epilogue explains to readers how the royal family was eventually executed in Yekaterinburg, Siberia, but that since the secret graves where the bodies were dumped were not found until the 1990's, for many years speculation ran rampant that Anastasia and possibly her brother, the heir, may have escaped alive. Recent DNA testing from 2009 on the remains has finally put these long-standing rumors to rest.
July 5, 2011
Dunlap’s first novel for young adults, The Musician’s Daughter, was one of my favorite historical fiction novels last year. Anastasia’s Secret however didn’t quite reach that level with me and was harder to get into. Although I love reading about the Romanovs and the Last Grand Duchess, I was just a little too disappointed because I was so hoping Dunlap’s second novel would be just as smashing as The Musician's Daughter. Of course you can’t always compare so critically because there were a few differences I would like to point out that shouldn't be compared. With Anastasia's Secret, Dunlap had to follow a set of rules/timelines because the character she was bringing to life had a very important history. Another reason why I tried to not judge too harshly was the fact that Dunlap (as she said in her author’s note) that she wasn’t use to writing in first person! That’s right. This story comes straight from Anastasia’s mouth and I must confess, Dunlap’s quite good at doing justice to the Duchess's personality. In fact, I couldn’t imagine Anastasia any other way.
After reading about halfway through the book I discovered a pattern in the storyline. The book slowed way down when Anastasia was talking about everyday life. Then it picked up (and skipped through time) again when Anastasia was with Sasha. It seemed like the entire novel evolved around Anastasia’s relationship with Sasha. I’m not really complaining about it because after all that is Anastasia’s “secret”, but I would have liked the scenes in between to have been more interesting. In The Musician’s Daughter I saw the streets of Vienna; in this book, I only heard about the Romanov family–it was hard to picture them.
Despite a few flaws and high expectations, I did think Anastasia’s Secret was still a decent historical romance and that Anastasia was brought to life in a way that was almost magical. I can’t wait until Dunlap writes another story for us. (You wouldn’t believe how excited I was when I found out this one was being released!)
Recommendation: If you’ve read Dunlap’s other novels then Anastasia’s Secret is a must. I would highly recommend to history lovers or historical romance junkies both teen and adult. If you like fast-paced books or have a tendency to abandoned books after a couple chapters then try The Musician’s Daughter–Anastasia’s Secret is probably not for you. Recommend to teens ages 14+.
Courtesy of Books and Literature for Teens (booksandliteratureforteens.blogspot.com)
After reading about halfway through the book I discovered a pattern in the storyline. The book slowed way down when Anastasia was talking about everyday life. Then it picked up (and skipped through time) again when Anastasia was with Sasha. It seemed like the entire novel evolved around Anastasia’s relationship with Sasha. I’m not really complaining about it because after all that is Anastasia’s “secret”, but I would have liked the scenes in between to have been more interesting. In The Musician’s Daughter I saw the streets of Vienna; in this book, I only heard about the Romanov family–it was hard to picture them.
Despite a few flaws and high expectations, I did think Anastasia’s Secret was still a decent historical romance and that Anastasia was brought to life in a way that was almost magical. I can’t wait until Dunlap writes another story for us. (You wouldn’t believe how excited I was when I found out this one was being released!)
Recommendation: If you’ve read Dunlap’s other novels then Anastasia’s Secret is a must. I would highly recommend to history lovers or historical romance junkies both teen and adult. If you like fast-paced books or have a tendency to abandoned books after a couple chapters then try The Musician’s Daughter–Anastasia’s Secret is probably not for you. Recommend to teens ages 14+.
Courtesy of Books and Literature for Teens (booksandliteratureforteens.blogspot.com)
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