by Carolyn Tara O’Neil
ASIN/ISBN: 9781250755537
Publication: February 22, 2022

**I received a copy of the book through NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.**

During the Russian Revolution, Anna narrowly escapes death after her family is massacred. Hoping to find her extended family, she enlists Evgenia’s assistance after Evgenia helps her escape the wrath of villagers. Despite being on opposite sides of the revolution, the two girls find they will have to trust each other to survive.

While I was not immediately hooked at the beginning of the book, I was still curious about Anna’s and Evgenia’s fates. I did not find either particularly likeable, but they both had my sympathy. They have strong personalities and are similar in how strongly they initially hold onto their convictions. I often wondered if they would ever be able to understand each other. Because they belong to different classes and hold beliefs about the Russian Revolution that conflict, they are often at odds with each other even as a tentative friendship begins to form. O’Neil does an excellent job of humanizing one side to the other.

I do not know much about Russian history, but I found this to be an interesting alternate retelling of the fate of Tsar Nicholas II’s youngest daughter Anastasia. Multiple moments filled me with unease. The ending was tension-laden as I tried to guess what would happen to Anna and Evgenia. Fans of historical YA fiction and alternate retellings may enjoy this one.