Anastasia

Anastasia was one of the best books I've read this year, for sure. Sophie Lark's writing was incredible, fluid and cohesive, as like charming. I loved how she constructed her magical world and how much competent was the narrative, that was amazingly developed. Anastasia was an amazing and interesting character, who grow up a lot in the narrative. She had an amazing development and her individual journey was amazing to read. Everything about her was shown to the reader. Damien was incredible was well. He is my favourite character from that book. He is intelligent, strong, a truly hero. He truly deserves the world. Damien had an amazing development, everything about him was shown and worked really well. The relationship between Anastasia and Damien was amazing to accompany. They had a lot of chemistry and all of their scenes was really amazing, with a lot of sparkles moments. I finished the book totally in love with them.

This has to be the best book I've read in a longggg time. I don't want to get all soppy about it but this is definitely one of those stories that sticks with you. Such a fascinating cast of characters whom I've come to love in their own ways. I simply couldn't put this book down, and finished it in two -very late- nights!

This book was everything I thought it was going to be and so so much more. Sophie Lark is already a favourite author of mine and I am always blown away by her writing but this hands down is her best book to date

I have to start off by saying: I read this in two days during ANY free time I had, I couldn’t put it down! Sophie has been one of my favorite romance authors in years but OMG she OUTDID HERSELF! Sophie really shows the magic in her writing through her first fantasy novel. Anastasia is so much more than romance. It is a world of its own, masterfully built. You can just tell it’s a labor of loveee. The characters are so complex and the rhythm of the story is impeccable. CHEF’S KISS!!! I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I screamed and everything in between. I was lost in this world in the most delicious way possible. Anastasia was one of my favorite movies growing up, and I studied the Russian Revolution for two years in high school. This exceeded ALL MY EXPECTATIONS AND SURPASSED ANY RESERVATIONS I HAD! It is clear to anyone with any knowledge about this history the INSANE amount of research that must have been behind this book that allowed Sophie to rewrite it and make Anastasia’s story completely her own. I wish everyone could read this. This is such a precious reminder that Love is the most powerful thing in the world, that magic is in those who believe, and that we are better than the worst parts of ourselves or our mistakes. Thank you Sophie, for giving your readers such a wonderful gift. P.S. Damien and Anastasia are so perfect that I can’t even call him my book boyfriend because to me they are one<3

Anastasia is the first step into the world of fantasy by author Sophie Lark. I have read nearly all of her backlist since I devoured Brutal Prince all those months ago, so I was excited to see what she would bring to Anastasia’s tale, even before I knew it would be in the fantasy genre. I am a huge fan of fantasy and fantasy romance so this felt like a must read for me! First off, this book was LONG. I don’t usually mind that at all. On the contrary, I enjoy getting into character development and feeling like I lived the journey with the protagonist(s). While there was always something to focus on during the first half of the book, I felt myself getting lost wondering where this was all going. I felt like the pacing was not reminiscent of her usual writing style - and her ability to suck you into a scene and make you bite your nails in anticipation was what I was looking forward to. There were many such moments, but separated by pages of detailed events that in the end, I’m not sure needed to be included. I suspect the details were meant to immerse the reader into life in Rusya and to make characters more endearing, thus furthering the impact of subsequent events. However, I felt myself tempted to put the book down or skip forward at times which has never happened for me in one of her books. That being said, the star for me, aside from Artemis, was the romance between Damien and Anastasia. This book certainly walks the line between fantasy and fantasy romance… not being quite one or the other. Despite the slow pace of events, you saw her skill at writing romance shining through especially with Damien’s POV chapters in the latter half of the book. She truly does capture the chemistry between characters so well; I yearned for more of Anastasia and Damien especially in the last leg of the story. Other than my personal preferences noted above and my slight disappointment in the pacing issue, the book is well written and I could not give it less than 4 stars. Hope everyone who enjoys a fierce heroine with a slow burn romance and political intrigue with a side of fantasy, will check this book out!