Here is the summary from Goodreads:
St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.
An evil presence is growing within Europe's royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina's strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar's standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina's help to safeguard Russia, even if he's repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.
The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart?
When my husband asked me what I was reading, I described it by saying, "Well, you know how I like Russian mythology and history? Ok, it has that, and vampires, but not the stupid sparkly kind and alot of other dark creatures like that. But its not stupid. It all makes sense and it tied together well." After a wonderful description like that, I don't know why he didn't fight me for my iPad right then and there to read it. Lets see if I can give you a better one....
I loved Katerina. She was strong, but not hard. She loved her family and was intelligent and kind. She wasn't snarky, but she also wasn't perfect. I loved that she wanted to be a doctor, and that the ending wasn't your typical "love" story ending (oh yeah, there was a little bit of romance, who wouldn't fall for a handsome prince?)
The only thing I didn't like about the book could quite possibly been a formatting or "Amanda just didn't read closely enough" error. There were a couple things that I didn't think were explained just mentioned, but then a few chapters later, were mentioned again in a different context and you were supposed to make the connection. I know thats really vague, but I didn't want to give anything away.
I would definitely recommend this to others. If I had time, this would be one that I would read again.
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
I downloaded this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I looked at this one on NetGalley but wasn't sure about it. I think I will take a look at it now. Thanks for the review!
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