Status Updates From Rasputin and his Russian Qu...

mentions to shrugging, kissing on foreheads, and squeezing hands... How does he know this?? No reference to a source to say this actually happened.

Just double checked and it's definitely down as nonfiction, biography and history. Not sure how the author knows when a person spat something they said or smiled without seeing the references they got them from.
If it was a historical fiction novel based on real facts, I would rate the book quite highly. However, I'm not sure how it can claim to be the "true story" when there aren't in-text references or footnotes.

Hard to tell what is fact and what is the authors opinion. No references for the many dialogues between people. I can only assume they have been expanded on by the author to make the story entertaining. Where there are in-text references, it's for large sections of text but without any analysis of debate.

Reads like a story rather than an academic book. Not much analysis. Quotes from other sources seem to be used to provide the authors point of view only.

I'm finding it difficult to keep reading at the moment. It's detailed, but unfortunately quite boring.