I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon

I Was Anastasia
By: Ariel Lawhon
Publisher: Doubleday
📖📖📖/5
// I received this ARC for free from NetGalley in return for an honest review //
Check it out on March 27, 2018!

I Was Anastasia follows Anastasia Romanov's last years as tsarevna of Russia and Anna Anderson, the woman who claims to be the murdered Anastasia Romanov herself. The story is told in duel fashion with one storyline following Anastasia up until her alleged death in 1918 and the other following Anna as she tries to prove to the masses that she is the true heir to the Romanov name. Anastasia's story moves in chronological fashion as Anna's moves backwards in time. Along the way the reader is never sure whether or not Anna truly is Anastasia and it leaves you guessing until the very end.

To be honest, I have no idea how I feel about this book. The duel timelines were not my favorite. It was often hard to follow the story because of how often it jumped back and forth. I also didn't like the story or any of the characters for about 80% of the book as well. There seemed to be little character development which is a pet peeve of mine. Without sounding too harsh, I kept asking myself when it would end and if I could stop reading it. Luckily, I stuck it out until the end to finally figure out if she was Anastasia or not. Sorry, no spoilers here! (Though honestly you could look up the true story online) The Anastasia story line, to me, was much more interesting than hearing about Anna and her troubles. It was interesting to read a bit of what her finalyyears could have been like. I found that I couldn't put the book down in the last 10% of the book. Had Lawhon kept the suspense that she packed into the last 10% throughout more of the story it would have been stronger in my opinion.

I did enjoy the writing style overall and Lawhon's description of the events in 1918-1919 were vivid and I found myself imagining what it must have felt like to be the family in their final moments. For these reasons I recommend this book to historical fiction lovers or those curious to read a story involving the last Russian royal family.

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