Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Book Review: The Diamond Secret

Title - The Diamond Secret
Author - Suzanne Weyn 
Series - Once Upon a Time #16
Genre - Fairytale Retelling
Format - Kindle
Published June 2nd 2009
Publisher - Simon Pulse

Synopsis
Nadya is a mischievous kitchen girl in a Russian tavern. Having nearly drowned in the Iset River during the turmoil of the Revolution, she has no memory of her past and longs for the life she cannot remember. Then two young men arrive at the tavern and announce that Nadya's long-lost grandmother has sent them to find her. Yearning for family and friendship, she agrees to accompany them to Paris for the joyful reunion. Nadya eagerly embarks on her journey, never dreaming it will be one of laughter, love...and betrayal.

Review
Nadya doesn’t remember the past who only who she is after the asylum working in the kitchen. She has fragmented dreams that might be the past but she’s unsure. When two handsome strangers taken an interest in her in the tavern they are sure she’s the granddaughter of a wealthy woman. Hoping to find the truth about her past and some family Nadya goes with them.  It’s while the trio journey to Nadya’s possible grandmother that she learns that truth about who they really think she is. However it’s not till they arrive at her possible grandmother’s home does she learn about the money for finding her. As Nadya has more dreams she questions who she is, what about the man she keeps seeing. Is she really the missing Anastasia?

I liked Nadya she was an interesting character who continued to get better as the story progressed. I wasn’t sure if I liked Ivan or Sergei at first but as the story progressed it was clear that they aren’t the bad guys but that they did have good reasons for doing what they did. I also enjoyed the chemistry between Nadya and Ivan and was curious to see how it would play out.

I’m not super familiar with the Anastasia story other than a general idea of what happened so it was interesting to see this prospective of the story.  I like the authors unique take on the story of Anastasia she creates a fast paced story that I found captivating. I found the characters easy to connect as the story went. I personally had a hard time connecting with the story and maybe parts of that have to do with the fact that half way through the book I had to google the real Anastasia and from that point I had a harder time loving it. It’s an interesting story but it just didn’t wow me. I wish I could say I loved it but for me it was just ok. I think it’s my fault for having to google because at first I was so excited but real life is depressing and it killed the excitement.  

2 comments:

  1. Nice review! I LOVED this huge series wayyyy back when! I didn't know it continued after I stopped but wow! And this is one I never read. Though from the sounds of it, it totally reminds me of the animated movie Anastasia! I think FOX did it though it totally looks like a Disney one! And it just seemed similar, though I don't know if there's a villain in this one as there was in the movie. I still feel like I don't know the whole story behind Anastasia. Though I do know it was a very, very sad one.

    Nice review, despite you getting upset by it towards the end! I highly recommend the others in this series. I don't know how far I really got, probably about halfway through. I wasn't as savvy about learning when new reads came out other than finding it on the shelf at some point! LOL! But my MOST favorite from this line of books was SNOW by Tracy Lynn! It was a very unique retelling of Snow White and I LOVED it! I read it 3-4 times back then, if not more. And this was a time in my teens when getting new reads wasn't as easy as it is now! Re-reading books happened a lot. I don't even remember the last time I re-read something now! LOL!

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  2. Not heard of this book but it sounds interesting. Great review! :)

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