This weeks reading

    This was a long, hard week and luckily I was able to find a little respite in reading. I finished two books.

  

 I received this advanced reader copy from NetGalley. I had never read anything by Ariel Lawhon and have always been interested in the story of Anastasia Romanov.  Like the author, I'm not big on princess stories, but I have always been intrigued that there might have been a possibility of a Romanov surviving. Unfortunately, in 2007 the grave containing the remaining children was discovered.

      At the beginning of the book, all I could think of was Disney's Anastasia and thinking, "I am not really getting anything out of this book." I wanted it to include a little more history. As the book went on, I became more involved. When the Bolsheviks started to revolt and the Romanovs were put on house arrest and into exhile, I started getting more into the story. I also learned in the author's notes that the Romanovs were prolific letter writers. Usually I like nonlinear books that jump around through different settings and times. The was that this book was organized was a little confusing to me though. Normally if I read in Chapter 1- Russia, 1900. Then Chapter 2, USA, 1920- I would be fine, but this one would say something like Russia 1920, 1916, 1913 all in the same chapter. I feel like it made me pay less attention to the time and I was aggravated by it in some way. With that being said, I had never heard the story of Anna Anderson before so maybe I would've felt differently if I was reading from a different perspective.

 

My second book of the week was Merry Christmas, Alex Cross. My upstairs neighbors loves James Patterson and always sends books down when she's done with them. (Which is why my Goodreads account has so many Patterson books read.)  I have discovered that I don't always loves James Patterson books but the ones I do like tend to be the Alex Cross books. This book starts with a hostage crisis and ends with a plot to create a new nerve gas and expose the public during the inauguration of the new president. I enjoyed following both storylines. (One thing I do like about James Patterson is that his books always have short chapters that I can spend a few minutes with and then put the book down. The problem is, sometimes I get into the story and don't want to put it down even though I can!) The only thing I disliked is that there was no relation between the 2 storylines other than the fact it was Christmas. 

Next up: Song of a Captive Bird by Jazmin Darznik

 

What are you currently reading?