The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler's armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.

 

Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana—and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander's impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects—a secret as devastating as the war itself—as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.

Buddy read with Lexxie!

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life.

I have had a really hard time deciding how to rate this book. I went into the book with incredibly high expectations. I just knew that I would fall in love with this book largely because I had been told that I would love it. I didn't love it. I liked it though and there were parts of it that I liked a whole lot. There were some sections of the book that didn't work for me nearly as well. I did enjoy reading this book overall despite my issues.

This book is set in Russia during World War II which is a really interesting period of time to read about. I did really enjoy the setting and the descriptions relating to the war. That was really the best parts of the book for me. The parts of the book set in Leningrad that deal with the hunger and desperation of the characters was incredibly done. This book would have easily been a 5 star read for me if the whole book had that same level of impact. I also really liked the last section of the book that was more war focused.

There were other sections of the book that didn't work for me nearly as well. Tatiana seems really immature during the first section of the book and kind of drove me nuts. She is young at the start of the story and it really showed. I also had some issues concerning Alexander's relationship with Tatiana's sister, Dasha. Alexander is actually Dasha's boyfriend during much of the book so Alexander and Tatiana keep their feelings for each other a secret. I didn't care for this aspect of the story at all.

This was a book that I think may have been a bit too long. I found myself growing tired of some parts of the book. The third section of the book that really focuses on the romance between Alexander and Tatiana was nice but it went on for too long in my opinion. During that part of the book, they were so removed from the war that it really changed the impact of the story. I think that the first section of the book could have been cut back as well.

I would recommend this book to fans of historical romance. There were parts of this book that were really strong and I did enjoy it. I do plan to continue with the trilogy soon to see what else happens.

Initial Thoughts
I didn't love this one. I thought I would love it. I was told that I would love it....but I didn't love it. I thought it was okay in the end. There were some parts of the book that were amazing while other parts I could have done without.

The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler's armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.

 

Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana—and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander's impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects—a secret as devastating as the war itself—as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.

I’m quite puzzled.

 

This book was highly recommended. I decided to read it, along with others that were listed on Goodreads’ top 100 romance novels. I should have done a little more research before I dived into this novel because what I have found is that you either really enjoy this book or you hate it. I fall into the latter category.

A young girl Tatiana meets Alexander. He is a soldier in the Red Army during the time when Hitler’s armies are attacking Russia. At the beginning of the book, the war had not yet arrived in their home town. Tatiana and her sister Dasha live in a cramped apartment with their family, sharing a room together. The book begins with Dasha talking about how in love she is with a man she had met the night before when she was out. Tatiana, not giving two flying f’s about this stuff brushed it off. The next day she meets Alexander, who we soon find out is the man her sister is madly in love with. ***Cue complicated love story*** Things pretty much go to shit after this part.

To be fair, the story would have been great and I might have really enjoyed the book if I wasn’t drowned in every single detail of what was happening in the story line. I found myself skipping over a ton of paragraphs full of ridiculous details of Tatiana and Alexander walking or getting on a bus. I could have enjoyed it if I didn’t loath Tatiana and her sister. Honestly, Alexander was the only redeeming character in the book because he had depth and a hell of a good back story. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to save the book for me because he was also kind of a jerk. He was double dipping in the sister pool and that lost him a heck of a lot of points for me. There was a constant “will they, won’t they” thing happening that drove me nuts and made me feel slightly embarrassed for Tatiana and Alex.

My final thoughts: this book could have been a good book. Take out the endless repetitive nonsense about walks, buses, and bullshit and you could have a good book. This book is a love story, not a typical one, but one none the less. It had some serious potential. It is also a book about survival during a horrific time in history, which also gave it some serious potential. Unfortunately, all of the potential was lost. Not a winner for me.

The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler's armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.

Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana—and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander's impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects—a secret as devastating as the war itself—as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.