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The Bronze Horseman #2
Tatiana and Alexander
The epic saga of love and war continues—the heart-stopping sequel to Paullina Simons's beloved international bestseller The Bronze Horseman.Tatiana is eighteen years old, pregnant, and widowed when she escapes war-torn Leningrad to find a new life in America. But the ghosts of her past do not rest easily. She becomes consumed by the belief that her husband, Red Army officer Alexander Belov, is still alive and needs her desperately.
Meanwhile, oceans and continents away in the Soviet Union, Alexander barely escapes execution, and is forced to lead a battalion of soldiers considered expendable by the Soviet high command. Yet Alexander is determined to take his men through the ruins of Europe in one last desperate bid to escape Stalin's death machine and somehow find his way to Tatiana once again.
559 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Paullina Simons
37 books5,031 followersPaullina Simons was born in Leningrad, USSR, in 1963. At the age of ten her family immigrated to the United States. Growing up in Russia Paullina dreamt of someday becoming a writer. Her dream was put on hold as she learned English and overcame the shock of a new culture.
After graduating from university and after various jobs including working as a financial journalist and as a translator Paullina wrote her first novel Tully. Through word of mouth that book was welcomed by readers all over the world.
She continued with more novels, including Red Leaves, Eleven Hours, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross (also known as Tatiana and Alexander), The Summer Garden and The Girl in Times Square (also known as Lily). Many of Paullina's novels have reached international bestseller lists.
Apart from her novels, Paullina has also written a cookbook, Tatiana's Table, which is a collection of recipes, short stories and recollections from her best selling trilogy of novels, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross, (also known as Tatiana and Alexander) and The Summer Garden.
After graduating from university and after various jobs including working as a financial journalist and as a translator Paullina wrote her first novel Tully. Through word of mouth that book was welcomed by readers all over the world.
She continued with more novels, including Red Leaves, Eleven Hours, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross (also known as Tatiana and Alexander), The Summer Garden and The Girl in Times Square (also known as Lily). Many of Paullina's novels have reached international bestseller lists.
Apart from her novels, Paullina has also written a cookbook, Tatiana's Table, which is a collection of recipes, short stories and recollections from her best selling trilogy of novels, The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Cross, (also known as Tatiana and Alexander) and The Summer Garden.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,946 reviews
June 9, 2023
Better than the first! Really enjoyed this one
August 17, 2017
❝We walk alone through this world, but if we’re lucky, we have a moment of belonging to something, to someone, that sustains us through a lifetime of loneliness. For an evening minute I touched him again and grew red wings and was young again in the Summer Garden, and had hope and eternal life.❞
I did it again guys. I binge read 500+ pages within a few hours. XD I think I've read almost 2000 pages within a span of two days! I've been finishing each book in this series in a day and I can't stop.
Reading Tatiana and Alexander was truly aggravating and stressful, sometimes in a good way in other ways not. It definitely wasn't as great as The Bronze Horseman but it was still good nonetheless. The book continues a little bit before where we left off in The Bronze Horseman and follows Tatiana trying to start a new life in America without her husband and Alexander trying survive the war and live long enough to somehow find a way back to his wife.
The first part of the book felt more like The Bronze Horseman told in Alexander's POV because it consisted of a lot of flashbacks about his past and how he got to the Soviet Union with his family. Plot progression in regards to what happened directly after the events of the first book moved very slowly. But I found myself not minding because I loved learning about Alexander's life and seeing moments with Tatiana through his eyes.
Life with Tatiana and Anthony in America was tough. I was struggling with wanting for her to wait for Alexander or wanting her to stop moping. I can't even begin to explain how stressed I would get when she would go on dates!
Surprisingly, I was bored with a few chapters here and there. At times, I found myself skimming or zoning out while reading because I just wanted them to reunite already. After reading The Bronze Horseman, I already had a feeling that Alexander and Tatiana would be separated the whole book and would only reunite until the very end which was exactly what happened.
I'm also predicting that in the final book we're going to finally see them living together as a family but all hell will break loose once again because these two people just can't catch a freakin break and have the happy ending that they so desperately deserve! Now that the war is over, they have to overcome the challenges within their relationship and their family. I'm desperately hoping that Paullina Simons doesn't butcher their relationship, butcher everything I loved about them in book one, to the point of no return and expect us to feel handy dandy when they finally have their happy ending. Gah, I swear this series will be the death of me!
January 9, 2014
10++ big beautiful stars and then some
WOW!!!! This second installment of The Bronze Horseman trilogy was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! This is truly the most EPIC LOVE story EVER told bar none. I am writing this review through the tears left over from reading this book.
This book was the PERFECT sequel to The Bronze Horseman. In many ways, it not so much followed it as it did complete it. While things are still very open for book 3, I felt like this book was the second half of TBH. It was utterly BREATHTAKING!!!!!!
When we left Tatiana and Alexander in TBH, Alexander had arranged for a pregnant Tatiana to get passage to America by having her think he was dead (he was sure they were going to execute him) but as fate would have it, he wasn't and was made to serve in the penal battalions at the front of the war. Tatiana meanwhile in America is forced to try and live on with their infant son believing that he is dead.
I don't have words to describe and BEAUTIFULLY and SEAMLESSLY the author wove together Alexander's story with Tatiana's as well as flashbacks and memories. We learn a lot about Alexander in this book. While the books are not written in first person, a lot of what we saw in The Bronze Horseman was through Tatiana's eyes and in this book, we are taken back to events seen in TBH and also some events that we didn't see (that happened in between) and are shown them through Alexander's eyes. It explains so much leaving no question unanswered.... We also see Alexander's childhood through intermingled flashbacks that help the reader understand how he became the man he is.
The HEARTACHE and LONGING in this book almost killed me. I was openly crying or sobbing every 10 pages or so. You'll just be reading normally and your emotional state will be relatively stable (well, still full of aching for them missing each other but bearably so) in a 'current' scene but then a memory will be inserted and just throw you right over the emotional edge.
The happy memories of each other are inserted throughout the entire book at times when Tatiana and Alexander are despairing beyond all hope, and the memories of each other serve as a means to get them through. To get up one more time. To put one foot in front of the other. Not to give up.... In this same way, they help the reader get through their separation by constantly giving hope.
And their reunion!!!!! Wow. Wow. Wow.
Alexander and Tatiana are both SUCH strong characters - some of the strongest I've ever read about.
I don't think I have ever sobbed through a book so much - but in a completely good way. This is such a story of survival and love. The author's ability to make you FEEL every single thing that Tatiana and Alexander are going through is just incredible.
No piece of music, book, story, movie, show, anything has EVER made me FEEL as strongly as this book did.
If I were going to be stuck on a desert island for the rest of my life and could only bring one series of books, it would be these.
The LOVE that Tatiana and Alexander share is beyond words. You just have to experience it for yourself. I don't think anyone but the author can do it justice.
Again, this book is long, not as long as the first one though but my print copy is 559 pages. But it did not drag even once. I read every. single. word. every syllable even as slowly as I could. I didn't want it to end.... And there is absolutely zero fluff. Absolutely everything mentioned is a vital part of the story.
And as with the first one, the writing is also broken up really interestingly. It is in chapters, but within those chapters are little sections, each one is a writing work of art. I really don't know how to explain it, but each one is not just telling you what is happening, but it has a greater point ... Its achingly beautifully poetic... This writing style becomes more and more poignant as the series goes on because as you know more and more about the characters, the author is able to make the sections more and more emotional until every single one of your heart strings is raw.
The ending is perfect and this being the romance love story that it is, everything does work out in the end, which believe me is what will keep you going throughout it.
I'm starting book 3 right away which follows Alexander and Tatiana in their new life in America with their son as they face life after the war together.
These are by FAR my FAVORITE books ever. There is nothing else in their league.. This story is one that i will reread over and over again and will stay with me forever.
And tell me that's not the most beautiful book cover ???? :)
CASTING: see above
****************************
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October 3, 2020
Tatiana and Alexander = The Bridge to Holy Cross (The Bronze Horseman, #2), Paullina Simons
Tatiana and Alexander is a romance novel written by Paullina Simons, and the second book in the Bronze Horseman Trilogy. The novel continues the story of Tatiana Metanova and her husband Alexander Belov.
Tatiana finds work as a nurse at Ellis Island, where she and Anthony start living. She befriends Vikki, another nurse, and Edward Ludlow, a doctor, who Vikki believes has taken a liking for Tatiana. Although she has started to build a new life for herself and Anthony, the possibility that Alexander might still be alive haunts her. Her suspicions are further raised by Alexander's Hero of the Soviet Union medal which she finds in her bag.
Tatiana buys land in Arizona from the money that Alexander had hidden in the Bronze Horseman book. Gradually, she starts getting over her past, and is known to everyone as the "Angel of Ellis", because of all the immigrants she has helped get jobs.
Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, Alexander narrowly escapes death at the hands of the Soviet Government. However, he is ordered to lead a battalion of convicted criminals and head westward into Germany. Alexander finds this to his advantage, as then he could escape to America. He, after losing many men, finally makes it to German soil, where he encounters Pasha Metanov. He had survived the attack on the train, and joined the German Army. When he comes to know about his family, and Alexander's plan, he agrees to surrender to the Germans. Thus, they are taken to Colditz.
تاریخ خوانش روز دوازدهم ماه دسامبر سال 2017میلادی
عنوان: تاتیانا و الکساندر؛ کتاب دوم از سه گانه ی اسب سوار برنزی، نویسنده: پولینا (پائولینا) سیمونز (سایمونز)؛
داستانهای سری «اسب سوار برنزی»، در روز بیست و دوم ماه ژوئن سال 1941میلادی، یعنی روزی که «آلمان» علیه «شوروی»، اعلان جنگ داد، آغاز میشود؛ اینروز زندگی دو خواهر، و خانواده شان را، به کلی دیگر میکند؛ یکی از این خواهرها، «تاتیانا»، آنگاه که پی خوراکی میگردد، با «الکساندر»، سربازی جوان، از ارتش سرخ، دیدار میکند، و این دو عاشق هم میشوند؛ اما عشقشان رازی با خود به همراه دارد، که برای هر آنکه از آن راز خبردار شود، به مرگ محکوم خواهد شد
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Tatiana and Alexander is a romance novel written by Paullina Simons, and the second book in the Bronze Horseman Trilogy. The novel continues the story of Tatiana Metanova and her husband Alexander Belov.
Tatiana finds work as a nurse at Ellis Island, where she and Anthony start living. She befriends Vikki, another nurse, and Edward Ludlow, a doctor, who Vikki believes has taken a liking for Tatiana. Although she has started to build a new life for herself and Anthony, the possibility that Alexander might still be alive haunts her. Her suspicions are further raised by Alexander's Hero of the Soviet Union medal which she finds in her bag.
Tatiana buys land in Arizona from the money that Alexander had hidden in the Bronze Horseman book. Gradually, she starts getting over her past, and is known to everyone as the "Angel of Ellis", because of all the immigrants she has helped get jobs.
Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, Alexander narrowly escapes death at the hands of the Soviet Government. However, he is ordered to lead a battalion of convicted criminals and head westward into Germany. Alexander finds this to his advantage, as then he could escape to America. He, after losing many men, finally makes it to German soil, where he encounters Pasha Metanov. He had survived the attack on the train, and joined the German Army. When he comes to know about his family, and Alexander's plan, he agrees to surrender to the Germans. Thus, they are taken to Colditz.
تاریخ خوانش روز دوازدهم ماه دسامبر سال 2017میلادی
عنوان: تاتیانا و الکساندر؛ کتاب دوم از سه گانه ی اسب سوار برنزی، نویسنده: پولینا (پائولینا) سیمونز (سایمونز)؛
داستانهای سری «اسب سوار برنزی»، در روز بیست و دوم ماه ژوئن سال 1941میلادی، یعنی روزی که «آلمان» علیه «شوروی»، اعلان جنگ داد، آغاز میشود؛ اینروز زندگی دو خواهر، و خانواده شان را، به کلی دیگر میکند؛ یکی از این خواهرها، «تاتیانا»، آنگاه که پی خوراکی میگردد، با «الکساندر»، سربازی جوان، از ارتش سرخ، دیدار میکند، و این دو عاشق هم میشوند؛ اما عشقشان رازی با خود به همراه دارد، که برای هر آنکه از آن راز خبردار شود، به مرگ محکوم خواهد شد
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
August 24, 2016
A pesar de las difíciles situaciones con las que parte el libro, inicié la lectura muy esperanzada, sobre todo por la increíble entereza de Alexander. También acompañé a Tatiana en la dura tarea de encontrar su lugar en Nueva York, sin Alexander. Esta primera parte de la novela también es muy estremecedora ya que, a modo de recuerdos, se cuenta la llegada de la familia Barrington a Rusia y como, poco a poco, se van destruyendo los proyectos, las ilusiones y sus vidas.
Sin embargo, cuando ya llevaba más de la mitad del libro (y más de tres años de separación de sus protagonistas) me comencé a desesperar, no sólo por todos los infructuosos intentos de Alexander de escapar, sino porque la desesperanza empieza a hacer mella en su espíritu . Por su parte, Tatiana comienza a comprender que, a pesar de que todas las fibras de su ser se lo impiden, debe tratar de salir del estupor en que la tiene sumida la pena y dejar de ser una mujer a medias.
Es impresionante la habilidad de Paullina Simons de influir en el estado de ánimo del lector, porque en esta parte del libro realmente lo estaba pasando mal con la lectura. No es que no me gustara, por el contrario, la narrativa es tan soberbia que te impide separarte del libro, pero de verdad afecta. Afortunadamente, cuando sientes que todo está perdido, la autora te saca a flote dando a Tatiana la confirmación a sus sospechas de que Alexander no había muerto, y nuestra heroína nuevamente va en busca de su único amor, en un final impactante, emotivo y desgarrador.
Es un libro absolutamente recomendable. El Epílogo es realmente maravilloso y llega a sanar el corazón de los personajes y, por supuesto, el de los lectores. Es el cierre perfecto y, por lo mismo, me entran dudas respecto de si leer o no El Jardín De Verano. Acepto todos los consejos que me quieran dar.
Sin embargo, cuando ya llevaba más de la mitad del libro (y más de tres años de separación de sus protagonistas) me comencé a desesperar, no sólo por todos los infructuosos intentos de Alexander de escapar, sino porque la desesperanza empieza a hacer mella en su espíritu . Por su parte, Tatiana comienza a comprender que, a pesar de que todas las fibras de su ser se lo impiden, debe tratar de salir del estupor en que la tiene sumida la pena y dejar de ser una mujer a medias.
Es impresionante la habilidad de Paullina Simons de influir en el estado de ánimo del lector, porque en esta parte del libro realmente lo estaba pasando mal con la lectura. No es que no me gustara, por el contrario, la narrativa es tan soberbia que te impide separarte del libro, pero de verdad afecta. Afortunadamente, cuando sientes que todo está perdido, la autora te saca a flote dando a Tatiana la confirmación a sus sospechas de que Alexander no había muerto, y nuestra heroína nuevamente va en busca de su único amor, en un final impactante, emotivo y desgarrador.
Es un libro absolutamente recomendable. El Epílogo es realmente maravilloso y llega a sanar el corazón de los personajes y, por supuesto, el de los lectores. Es el cierre perfecto y, por lo mismo, me entran dudas respecto de si leer o no El Jardín De Verano. Acepto todos los consejos que me quieran dar.
October 5, 2017
➦No spoilers, people, I promise. Again, I got this second book on audio and, no surprise there, it's over 30 hours long. This is also where we see the worst of the siege of Leningrad and, I kid you not, after reading this book I've dreamed of being starved to death for multiple night in a row. I don't know, I might be too impressionable, but damn. It makes you appreciate every single thing in your fridge and make you want to stuff yourself. You know, just in case.
➦This also is a book where things get steamy. After following these characters for such a long time you definitely feel like you know them. It might have even felt a bit personal and uncomfortable being there during their... ahem, private moments. Ah, hell, who am I kidding?
➦I will also tell you that I have attempted to read book #3 in this series and dropped it. Not because it sucked, or anything but simply because it was a completely different setting and a completely different life and struggle. Some things were beginning to sound a bit redundant so I put it on pause... for now.
February 4, 2018
Espléndida continuación de esa maravilla que es el Jinete de bronce, Tatiana & Alexander no es un libro fácil ni para sus personajes ni para el lector, que sufre y se desespera con lo que le ha tocado vivir a Shura, el verdadero protagonista de esta entrega, como Tatiana lo fue de la primera. Uno de los personajes masculinos más complejos, humanos y perfectos en su imperfección que he tenido el placer de leer.
Como Cassie en su reseña http://alacamaconunlibro.blogspot.com..., encuentro muchos paralelismos entre los padecimientos de Shura y los de Jamie Fraser (en los primeros 3 libros de la saga Outlander), dos hombres hechos para la guerra, que han sufrido como nadie pero aún así son capaces de sacrificarlo todo por amor y amar de manera incondicional, sin reservas.
El libro cuenta, además, con un magnífico epílogo, que pone el broche de oro a una historia emocionante que me ha llegado al corazón como pocas. Ahora, a por El jardín de verano.
Como Cassie en su reseña http://alacamaconunlibro.blogspot.com..., encuentro muchos paralelismos entre los padecimientos de Shura y los de Jamie Fraser (en los primeros 3 libros de la saga Outlander), dos hombres hechos para la guerra, que han sufrido como nadie pero aún así son capaces de sacrificarlo todo por amor y amar de manera incondicional, sin reservas.
El libro cuenta, además, con un magnífico epílogo, que pone el broche de oro a una historia emocionante que me ha llegado al corazón como pocas. Ahora, a por El jardín de verano.
April 17, 2014
♥♥♥♥♥A LOVE STORY♥♥♥♥♥
"What about our life has ever been easy?"
Truer words were never spoken. Can these two, please, have less heartache and more happy times in Lazarevo?
My emotions ran the gamut from crying to wanting to punch someone in the throat. My heart ached for both of them as they struggled to go on with life. When times were hard I relied on Alexander's words, 'I have to have faith.'
Orbeli was introduced in TBH and we learn more about it in this book. Orbeli was the ultimate sacrifice that Alexander gave to Tania. When Tania learns the meaning behind the name, Orbeli, she has hope and faith in their love for one another.
The story flowed from Alexander's past as a child to where TBH left off. The glimpses into Alexander's childhood portrayed how he became the man we meet in TBH.
We walk alone through this world, but if we're lucky, we have a moment of belonging to something, to someone, that sustains us through a lifetime of loneliness.
SERIES:
Continuing story. Must be read in order.
Novellas:
(#0.5)(#1.5)(#3.5)
January 20, 2018
Tatiana me tuvo (y me tiene) completamente FASCINADA. Pero, sin duda, este libro es fundamental para conocer, entender y adorar a Alexander.
Una vez más, todas mis emociones a flor de piel. ¡Qué maravillosa historia! ❤
Una vez más, todas mis emociones a flor de piel. ¡Qué maravillosa historia! ❤
August 10, 2013
5+ Stars!!! - Also reviewed at: Lady Jayne's Reading Den
“Where did they teach you how to live after you’d lost it all? Who taught you how to go on after you had lost everything?”This song, “My Love” by Lene Marlin (link below), is my theme song for this second book in the Tatiana and Alexander trilogy.
~ Tatiana
MY LOVE by Lene Marlin
The haunting voice and the lyrics…How my heart aches as I listen to it…Especially because every time I listen to it, now, it will forever remind me of Tatiana and Alexander’s achingly, hauntingly beautiful love story, that is not only etched into my heart but my whole body. My chest aches, my eyes water, my breath catches, my skin feels tight, sighs escape...I can’t help but want to cry and sigh whenever I think of these two! And those of you who have EXPERIENCED and LOVED this trilogy, I believe you KNOW what I’m talking about. Don’t you?
It has taken me so long to write my review for Tatiana and Alexander - over a year - because I was so CONSUMED with wanting to read the last book, The Summer Garden, that I just couldn’t stop to review this one.
Also, I’ve really struggled with how to write a review for this one without spoiling the book for anyone who hasn’t read the first. Strangely, now that I’m re-reading The Bronze Horseman, I’m ready to try.
I started this second book armed with the quote below:
"If it were not for hope, the heart would break."This quote/mantra helped me to be able to breathe when I first started this book, after all I went through with Tatiana and Alexander in The Bronze Horseman. I hugged my hope for Tatiana and Alexander tight. Because of this, I found I was able to breathe in the first couple hundred pages, but then …as I read on, my chest grew tighter and tighter…and tighter. I ACHED. I was RAW. But I kept clutching on to that hope. My heart still broke, but it was also healed.
~ Thomas Fuller
Without any plot spoilers I will say, though, that you will learn about both Alexander’s and Tatiana’s lives before they met each other through flashbacks. You’ll also discover some additional things about scenes in the first book. I really appreciated seeing scenes from The Bronze Horseman from Alexander’s perspective as I was longing for that in the first book. You will understand just how momentous that scene on the street, when Alexander sees Tatiana for the first time in her white dress with red roses, eating an ice cream, really was for Alexander.
Alexander and Tatiana are the embodiment of courage, strength, determination, and an enduring, epic love, for me.
"Kiss my forehead".I cannot promise you that you’ll be in one piece when you read this. In fact, if you have the experience I did, you’ll be shattered. But I do wish you what I also experienced, which is Hope and Love - the excruciating loss of hope and love…and the heart bursting regaining of hope and love... so INTENSE that you’ll never be the same.
She obeys.
"Kiss my lips".
She obeys. And obeys.
"Tania…"
"Shh."
"Can't you see I'm breaking?"
"Ah," she says, "You're still in one piece then."
This is not just a “read”. It is an EXPERIENCE. I really can’t explain it any other way!
Orbeli!!! What does it mean? It means so much. And, well, you’ll just have to experience it for yourself.
One of my favourite quotes from this book and which gives the title of the last book, The Summer Garden, such meaning:
“There is one moment, a moment in eternity. Before we find out the truth about one another. That simple moment is the one that propels us through life – what we felt at the very edge of our future, standing over the abyss, before we knew for sure we loved. Before we knew for sure we loved forever. …P.S. Tissues required.
Before all that, you and I walked through The Summer Garden, and once in a while my bare arm touched your arm, and once in a while you spoke and that gave me an excuse to look up into your face, into your laughing eyes, to catch a glimpse of your mouth and I, who had never been touched, tried to imagine what it might be like to have your mouth touch me. Falling in love with you in The Summer Garden in the white nights of Leningrad is the moment that propels me through life.”
P.P.S. These books are not for everyone, but they are precious keepers for me and many others who have been captivated by Alexander and Tatiana's story.
~*~*~*~
Edited to add another song!:
Oh, my. *sniffles* It feels like fate. The day after I finally write my review for Tatiana and Alexander, I come across this poignant and haunting song (link below) which is absolutely PERFECT for this book! Just PERFECT. This song makes me want to weep, as I did with this book.
IF I COULD BE WHERE YOU ARE by Enya
Reading Order:
1. The Bronze Horseman - My Review Here
2. Tatiana and Alexander ( also titled The Bridge to Holy Cross, in some editions)
3. The Summer Graden – To be reviewed.
Credits:
My Alexander – Henry Cavill
My Tatiana – Teresa Palmer
DISCLAIMER: I do not hold the copyright to any of the images, videos or music used in this review. They are posted to add visuals and "soundtrack" to the review and for fun. If any of these are yours and you would like me to remove them, please let me know, and I will do so as soon as possible. If I can identify the copyright, I will do so.
July 10, 2018
Una lectura súper intensa de la que me resulta muy difícil plasmar lo que me ha hecho sentir. He sufrido mucho, me he desesperado, me he emocionado, he llorado mucho con esta historia y con Tatiana y Alexander, pero ha valido la pena.
Los primeros capítulos con los flashback y los cambios de escenarios me molestaron un poco pero tenía un sentido, teníamos que conocer mejor a Alexander, por todo lo que ha pasado, por cómo ha tenido que sobrevivir, es un personaje muy complejo, fuerte, hermético con muchos defectos y virtudes, ha conseguido durante años no quiere sentir pero cuando Tatiana entra en su vida ya no puede continuar siendo el mismo, ella es su luz y por ella daría la vida. Lo he podido comprender mucho mejor y entender ciertoS comportamientos que me hicieron “odiarlo” en el primer libro, es un gran personaje Y Tatiana un personaje que evoluciona y crece de forma increíble, ya no es la adolescente dulce y terca, aquí ha de ser fuerte y sobreponerse aunque este rota y su corazón se haya quedado a miles de kilómetros. Sigue siendo la adolescente altruista con ese gran corazón y que nunca se da por vencida.
Si en el Jinete me gusto como escribe Paulina Simons, aquí me ha llegado al corazón el modo en que transmite las emociones y sentimientos de los personajes, yo sentía su dolor, la tristeza, la desesperación y su alegría. Su forma poética de escribir me ha encantado.
También ha habido momentos en que me he desesperado y se me ha hecho pesada tanta guerra y viendo que no llegaba el reencuentro pero ha valido la pena.
Si el Jinete fue una novela grandiosa creo que esta es mucho más, mucho más intensa, desgarradora, emotiva y preciosa porque esta pareja me ha robado el corazón Tatia y Shura
Me ha encantado el epílogo, con esas páginas se podría cerrar perfectamente el círculo pero yo quiero más
Los primeros capítulos con los flashback y los cambios de escenarios me molestaron un poco pero tenía un sentido, teníamos que conocer mejor a Alexander, por todo lo que ha pasado, por cómo ha tenido que sobrevivir, es un personaje muy complejo, fuerte, hermético con muchos defectos y virtudes, ha conseguido durante años no quiere sentir pero cuando Tatiana entra en su vida ya no puede continuar siendo el mismo, ella es su luz y por ella daría la vida. Lo he podido comprender mucho mejor y entender ciertoS comportamientos que me hicieron “odiarlo” en el primer libro, es un gran personaje Y Tatiana un personaje que evoluciona y crece de forma increíble, ya no es la adolescente dulce y terca, aquí ha de ser fuerte y sobreponerse aunque este rota y su corazón se haya quedado a miles de kilómetros. Sigue siendo la adolescente altruista con ese gran corazón y que nunca se da por vencida.
Si en el Jinete me gusto como escribe Paulina Simons, aquí me ha llegado al corazón el modo en que transmite las emociones y sentimientos de los personajes, yo sentía su dolor, la tristeza, la desesperación y su alegría. Su forma poética de escribir me ha encantado.
También ha habido momentos en que me he desesperado y se me ha hecho pesada tanta guerra y viendo que no llegaba el reencuentro pero ha valido la pena.
Si el Jinete fue una novela grandiosa creo que esta es mucho más, mucho más intensa, desgarradora, emotiva y preciosa porque esta pareja me ha robado el corazón Tatia y Shura
Me ha encantado el epílogo, con esas páginas se podría cerrar perfectamente el círculo pero yo quiero más
December 10, 2010
GAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!
My emotions are so raw from this book.. !!
After reading The Bronze Horseman I immediately had to download book 2, Tatiana and Alexander.. this book takes up where TBH leaves off.
It also led me to the beginning of Alexander's story and into his past.. how he came to Russia, and everything that happens to him and his family from the time they arrived and then everything that happens to him and Tatiana after TBH ends..
Following TBH, this book took what was left of my shredded emotions and completely tore my heart out.. for me it was 10 times more emotional and heartbreaking than TBH.. I am now completely, emotionally gutted... but OMG what an amazing and wonderful story Paullina Simons writes.. There is nothing like reading a book that can pull such raw emotions from you. She is so gifted and is truly in a league of her own.
I couldn't possibly wait to read this book after finishing TBH and definitely think that everyone should read book 2 following TBH.. it is very different from TBH, but sooooooooo sooooo good.. just stock up on your tissues ahead of time.. you will absolutely need them for for this book.. now I'm desperately on the hunt for book 3, The Summer Garden !!!
My emotions are so raw from this book.. !!
After reading The Bronze Horseman I immediately had to download book 2, Tatiana and Alexander.. this book takes up where TBH leaves off.
It also led me to the beginning of Alexander's story and into his past.. how he came to Russia, and everything that happens to him and his family from the time they arrived and then everything that happens to him and Tatiana after TBH ends..
Following TBH, this book took what was left of my shredded emotions and completely tore my heart out.. for me it was 10 times more emotional and heartbreaking than TBH.. I am now completely, emotionally gutted... but OMG what an amazing and wonderful story Paullina Simons writes.. There is nothing like reading a book that can pull such raw emotions from you. She is so gifted and is truly in a league of her own.
I couldn't possibly wait to read this book after finishing TBH and definitely think that everyone should read book 2 following TBH.. it is very different from TBH, but sooooooooo sooooo good.. just stock up on your tissues ahead of time.. you will absolutely need them for for this book.. now I'm desperately on the hunt for book 3, The Summer Garden !!!
September 14, 2013
4.5 ★'s
After finishing The Bronze Horseman how could you not continue on with this book? We were left with Tatiana believing that Alexander was dead and she was left alone and pregnant. She struggles in deciding if she should continue on with their plan and ultimately does that, working her magic and making it to America just in time to give birth.
Let me just say....
and not only that but it will severely test your patience! I was desperate to find out what happened but of course, nothing could be that easy!
The author takes us on a journey down memory lane...we get to find out quite a bit about what makes Alexander tick and more about his relationship with his parents. Not a lot of excitement but at least it did make me dislike his parents a little less.
Fortunately, the time will Tatiana moves in a forward pace for the most part. We get to find out what happens to her in New York and what she does with herself and the baby. You would think this is an easy road but it is not.
That was the difficult part...reading how much both of them suffered being away from the other. Alexander hoping that Tania made it to the USA but having to still live under horrible circumstances and fight the war. Tatiana being in a much better place but left with doubts if Alexander did die or not, and if he did, should she move on with her life?
I wish I could say that there wasn't a lot of war/military history in this one but I would be wrong. It was b-o-r-i-n-g!! I am just not into that but I do like that it seemed to be factual...and I did like knowing what Alexander went through because it seems like a lot of that will come back to bite him in the butt. Thankfully, we are done with that for the most part.
There were a few surprises...one in particular was something I knew would happen even though I'm quite sadden by how things ultimately turned out.
I was really blown away by Tatiana...she has definitely grown up! I love how determined and focused she is and she never ceases to amaze me. What happened towards the end was amazing and I loved her conviction!
You can see how there will be some problems. It will be interesting to see how things play out in the next book, The Summer Garden. Sadly, I don't have any idea if they end up together or not so I'm going in with no expectations....well, mostly.
Favorite quotes:
♥ “It’s not marriage bait, it’s the wedding tackle."
♥ “Falling in love with you in the Summer Garden in the white nights in Leningrad is the moment that propels me through life.”
After finishing The Bronze Horseman how could you not continue on with this book? We were left with Tatiana believing that Alexander was dead and she was left alone and pregnant. She struggles in deciding if she should continue on with their plan and ultimately does that, working her magic and making it to America just in time to give birth.
Let me just say....
and not only that but it will severely test your patience! I was desperate to find out what happened but of course, nothing could be that easy!
The author takes us on a journey down memory lane...we get to find out quite a bit about what makes Alexander tick and more about his relationship with his parents. Not a lot of excitement but at least it did make me dislike his parents a little less.
Fortunately, the time will Tatiana moves in a forward pace for the most part. We get to find out what happens to her in New York and what she does with herself and the baby. You would think this is an easy road but it is not.
That was the difficult part...reading how much both of them suffered being away from the other. Alexander hoping that Tania made it to the USA but having to still live under horrible circumstances and fight the war. Tatiana being in a much better place but left with doubts if Alexander did die or not, and if he did, should she move on with her life?
I wish I could say that there wasn't a lot of war/military history in this one but I would be wrong. It was b-o-r-i-n-g!! I am just not into that but I do like that it seemed to be factual...and I did like knowing what Alexander went through because it seems like a lot of that will come back to bite him in the butt. Thankfully, we are done with that for the most part.
There were a few surprises...one in particular was something I knew would happen even though I'm quite sadden by how things ultimately turned out.
I was really blown away by Tatiana...she has definitely grown up! I love how determined and focused she is and she never ceases to amaze me. What happened towards the end was amazing and I loved her conviction!
You can see how there will be some problems. It will be interesting to see how things play out in the next book, The Summer Garden. Sadly, I don't have any idea if they end up together or not so I'm going in with no expectations....well, mostly.
Favorite quotes:
♥ “It’s not marriage bait, it’s the wedding tackle."
♥ “Falling in love with you in the Summer Garden in the white nights in Leningrad is the moment that propels me through life.”
February 26, 2016
So intense and stressful!!!!!
August 26, 2017
6++++ STARS
Paullina Simons stole my heart and is never giving it back.
Or I'm gonna need a suppport group after this trilogy
Guys.... GUYS... I was so nervous I was going to hate this one. Maybe it's the dreaded sophomore slump, that seemingly inevitable second book ailment most trilogies suffer that was making me a bit jittery when I started this book. The Bronze Horseman blew me away like no other romance novel before it (and I´ve been reading for a very long time), so I wondered where Paullina Simons would take me in the second entry. A lot of the times middle books feel like filler and there's very little worthy stuff in them. But this one? This one took my love for the first book and made it exponential. It was LOVE SQUARED. Scratch that. Love to the eleventh power. I don't even know how anything else is going to top this trilogy for me.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will say the first 30% or so of the book took me a little by surprise. I did not expect to get such an extensive set of flashbacks dating all the way to when our darling Shura was just 11 years old, prepping to leave America with his parents so they could live according to their deluded Communist ideals in the Soviet Union itself. So yes, I suppose I should say that first portion of this book was filler just because we already got all that backstory in the first book. Not with such detail, but we already knew the salient points of Alexander's backstory. So were all those flashbacks needed, no... not really if I'm being honest (which I'll always be), but they still kept me interested. I love this story and these characters so much already that I'll gobble up all I can about them. And I adore Paullina Simons' style, so lyrical in parts and yet so simple in others. She's enrapturing with the raw passion and emotion she uses to construct every sentence. The writing is lush, evocative, envolving. It's packed full of sensual yearning and so much tragedy.
Which brings me to the 50% mark, upon which I just could not put this book down at all. Weird, for a book where the main characters spend so much time apart. I was beginning to get worried with Tatiana's almost apathetic attitude to all the loss and suffering she'd been a victim of. But then Paullina finds a second gear and boosts the story with new twists. Alexander is fighting for his life, like only someone as fierce and determined as he could. Tatiana can't let go. It's a penance of the heart, a silent scream of agonized loving. Tatiana is back to being the Tatiana I know and love and I'm freaking devastated again at all the stuff happening on the page.
I couldn't read the pages fast enough and yet I found myself slowing down, rereading everything up to three times because I wanted to stay in the moment. And then when these two come together again, (we all know they will eventually... they have to), it's the sweetest torture. I sobbed and trembled along with Tatiana. My heart was racing, I was hoping to God the enemy wouldn't get their paws on them. I was there with them in postwar Berlin.
I am so glad there is a third book because as nice as that ending was, I am a total and complete glutton and I can't get enough of this story. I don't even care that The Summer Garden is as big the Encyclopedia Brittanica and 5 regular sized books fit in it nicely. I think it isn't going to be enough to satisfy my need for this couple. So yes, Paullina Simons stole my heart and I am sure it's too late for me now. I'm enamoured with these books and as far as I am concerned she can have my heart for life, keep it and lock it away for giving me Shura.
Paullina Simons stole my heart and is never giving it back.
Or I'm gonna need a suppport group after this trilogy
Guys.... GUYS... I was so nervous I was going to hate this one. Maybe it's the dreaded sophomore slump, that seemingly inevitable second book ailment most trilogies suffer that was making me a bit jittery when I started this book. The Bronze Horseman blew me away like no other romance novel before it (and I´ve been reading for a very long time), so I wondered where Paullina Simons would take me in the second entry. A lot of the times middle books feel like filler and there's very little worthy stuff in them. But this one? This one took my love for the first book and made it exponential. It was LOVE SQUARED. Scratch that. Love to the eleventh power. I don't even know how anything else is going to top this trilogy for me.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will say the first 30% or so of the book took me a little by surprise. I did not expect to get such an extensive set of flashbacks dating all the way to when our darling Shura was just 11 years old, prepping to leave America with his parents so they could live according to their deluded Communist ideals in the Soviet Union itself. So yes, I suppose I should say that first portion of this book was filler just because we already got all that backstory in the first book. Not with such detail, but we already knew the salient points of Alexander's backstory. So were all those flashbacks needed, no... not really if I'm being honest (which I'll always be), but they still kept me interested. I love this story and these characters so much already that I'll gobble up all I can about them. And I adore Paullina Simons' style, so lyrical in parts and yet so simple in others. She's enrapturing with the raw passion and emotion she uses to construct every sentence. The writing is lush, evocative, envolving. It's packed full of sensual yearning and so much tragedy.
Which brings me to the 50% mark, upon which I just could not put this book down at all. Weird, for a book where the main characters spend so much time apart. I was beginning to get worried with Tatiana's almost apathetic attitude to all the loss and suffering she'd been a victim of. But then Paullina finds a second gear and boosts the story with new twists. Alexander is fighting for his life, like only someone as fierce and determined as he could. Tatiana can't let go. It's a penance of the heart, a silent scream of agonized loving. Tatiana is back to being the Tatiana I know and love and I'm freaking devastated again at all the stuff happening on the page.
I couldn't read the pages fast enough and yet I found myself slowing down, rereading everything up to three times because I wanted to stay in the moment. And then when these two come together again, (we all know they will eventually... they have to), it's the sweetest torture. I sobbed and trembled along with Tatiana. My heart was racing, I was hoping to God the enemy wouldn't get their paws on them. I was there with them in postwar Berlin.
I am so glad there is a third book because as nice as that ending was, I am a total and complete glutton and I can't get enough of this story. I don't even care that The Summer Garden is as big the Encyclopedia Brittanica and 5 regular sized books fit in it nicely. I think it isn't going to be enough to satisfy my need for this couple. So yes, Paullina Simons stole my heart and I am sure it's too late for me now. I'm enamoured with these books and as far as I am concerned she can have my heart for life, keep it and lock it away for giving me Shura.
February 1, 2018
Le doy máxima puntuación porque la historia en sí lo merece. A grandes rasgos me ha gustado más que el primero. Aquí he conocido a Alexander sí porque el anterior era más de Tatiana a mi modo de ver. Y la verdad es que me ha conquistado, si bien en el primer libro no estuve de acuerdo con algunas de sus “cosas”, para mí aquí es un personaje que con sus luces y sus sombras, es maravilloso.
La trama gira entorno a la desesperación por volver uno a los brazos del otro sin saber si están vivos. El coraje de Alexander por mantenerse con vida, la valentía de Tatiana... son personajes estupendos. Mentiría si dijera que no he tenido mis mas y mis menos con ciertas actitudes de Tatiana que no he comprendido y que mis queridas compañeras de LC sufridoras de mis desaires han sabido aguantar, aunque no me lo perdonen.
He tardado mucho en leerlo, porque en ocasiones tanta guerra se me hacía pesada y tanto dolor imposible de aguantar. Todo y eso, os animo a leerlo, aunque si sois como yo deberíais buscar el momento oportuno para saborearlo mejor.
La trama gira entorno a la desesperación por volver uno a los brazos del otro sin saber si están vivos. El coraje de Alexander por mantenerse con vida, la valentía de Tatiana... son personajes estupendos. Mentiría si dijera que no he tenido mis mas y mis menos con ciertas actitudes de Tatiana que no he comprendido y que mis queridas compañeras de LC sufridoras de mis desaires han sabido aguantar, aunque no me lo perdonen.
He tardado mucho en leerlo, porque en ocasiones tanta guerra se me hacía pesada y tanto dolor imposible de aguantar. Todo y eso, os animo a leerlo, aunque si sois como yo deberíais buscar el momento oportuno para saborearlo mejor.
February 7, 2017
Another beautifully written read! The second installment in TBH series did not disappoint. Granted, much of it was filled with struggle, heartache, and tension, but it did not lack the eternal love and persistent hope generated in the first book.
The character development was huge, especially in Tatiana's case. She showed a remarkable growth in maturity; so much that, at times, I missed the former, more carefree Tania. I found it difficult to see Tatiana in such a massive state of longing for a large part of the book; she was just existing as time passed her by...But her strength would always prevail, and what she was able to accomplish was admirable.
Alexander was faced with struggles that no man should ever have to endure, and my heart continued to ache for him. There were a lot of flashbacks in this book, which allowed us to get to know who Alexander was before meeting Tania- all the way back to his not so fortunate childhood.
This book is a captivating continuation to the astounding relationship of Tatiana and Alexander. To be honest, I wasn't sure how to rate this at first because it caused me so much heartache. But I realized that if something inspires me to the extent in which this book has, whether happy or sad- it warrants five stars all the way!
The character development was huge, especially in Tatiana's case. She showed a remarkable growth in maturity; so much that, at times, I missed the former, more carefree Tania. I found it difficult to see Tatiana in such a massive state of longing for a large part of the book; she was just existing as time passed her by...But her strength would always prevail, and what she was able to accomplish was admirable.
Alexander was faced with struggles that no man should ever have to endure, and my heart continued to ache for him. There were a lot of flashbacks in this book, which allowed us to get to know who Alexander was before meeting Tania- all the way back to his not so fortunate childhood.
This book is a captivating continuation to the astounding relationship of Tatiana and Alexander. To be honest, I wasn't sure how to rate this at first because it caused me so much heartache. But I realized that if something inspires me to the extent in which this book has, whether happy or sad- it warrants five stars all the way!
April 3, 2019
Of course I’m giving this epic book 5 stars. It deserves nothing less. Like I said in my review of book 1, nothing I write in my review will do this book justice. It’s an experience. A journey.
This is the type of book that makes all other books look bad. It’s the type of book that will make you want to “up” your reading game.
I can’t recommend this book enough. It will give every type of reader something they love. This book is rich in history, bravery, survival, suspense, love, friendship, loyalty, heartbreak, loss, sadness, and every emotion under the sun.
I urge everyone out there to read this epic and beautifully written trilogy.
This is the type of book that makes all other books look bad. It’s the type of book that will make you want to “up” your reading game.
I can’t recommend this book enough. It will give every type of reader something they love. This book is rich in history, bravery, survival, suspense, love, friendship, loyalty, heartbreak, loss, sadness, and every emotion under the sun.
I urge everyone out there to read this epic and beautifully written trilogy.
February 19, 2018
Ειλικρινα δεν ξερω τι να γραψω...
June 22, 2019
Μου άρεσε λίγο περισσότερο απ το 1ο βιβλίο!
Αν έλειπαν οι αναφορές για το παρελθόν τους, θα ήταν καλύτερο και δεν θα με κούραζε τόσο!
Αν έλειπαν οι αναφορές για το παρελθόν τους, θα ήταν καλύτερο και δεν θα με κούραζε τόσο!
May 3, 2015
A Universe of Heartbreaking, Poetic Stars
"Once upon a time, young girls met young boys when the moon was full and the nights were dark, when there was a fire and singing and joking, when there was wine and taffeta and dancing, when the music was loud and the laughing, too, when one pair of eyes stared at another, and the girl's chest swelled and the boy came up close, and suddenly she looked up, he looked down and ...
Once there was first love."
What do you do … how do you go on … when your one true love is lost?
Give Up?
Move On?
Keep Faith?
"In Alexander's life there was one thread that could not be broken by death, by distance, by time, by war. Could not be broken. As long as I am in the world, she said with her breath and her body, as long as I am, you are permanent, soldier.
And he believed."
Soul shattering. The only way to describe this gorgeous sequel.
Our characters, Tatiana and Alexander are separated by distance, by war, by death. Their struggles while physically opposite, are emotionally and spiritually one. The heart ache and devastation seem never ending. How can two souls endure? How can two hearts beat strong? How can two people possibly survive? When everything they are is gone?
"I will make you insane, her memory screamed ... On the outside you will walk and smile as if indeed you are a normal woman, but on the inside you will twist and burn on the stake, I will never free you, you will never be free."
With multiple timelines and character pov's Paullina Simons is able to create a connection that has her reader gasping for more. Near impossible to put this book down ... long even, after it's ended.
Alexander's past is revealed and relived. Life changing moments are remembered. Tatiana works and lives in the now. The future is contemplated.
Despite all of the sorrow, pain, suffering, fear, regret and longing ... Despite lies, war and death ... Love will conquer all.
"There is one moment, a moment in eternity. Before we find out the truth about one another. That simple moment is the one that propels us through life - what we felt like at the very edge of our future, standing over the abyss, before we knew for sure we loved. Before we know for sure we loved forever."
I cannot give this book, this series or Paullina Simons enough praise. I am forever changed for having read this beautiful work of art, which to me felt just like an extension of the first. I know the third book will be no exception. I look forward to more storytelling from this amazing author, who has stolen my heart <3
"Once upon a time, young girls met young boys when the moon was full and the nights were dark, when there was a fire and singing and joking, when there was wine and taffeta and dancing, when the music was loud and the laughing, too, when one pair of eyes stared at another, and the girl's chest swelled and the boy came up close, and suddenly she looked up, he looked down and ...
Once there was first love."
What do you do … how do you go on … when your one true love is lost?
Give Up?
Move On?
Keep Faith?
"In Alexander's life there was one thread that could not be broken by death, by distance, by time, by war. Could not be broken. As long as I am in the world, she said with her breath and her body, as long as I am, you are permanent, soldier.
And he believed."
Soul shattering. The only way to describe this gorgeous sequel.
Our characters, Tatiana and Alexander are separated by distance, by war, by death. Their struggles while physically opposite, are emotionally and spiritually one. The heart ache and devastation seem never ending. How can two souls endure? How can two hearts beat strong? How can two people possibly survive? When everything they are is gone?
"I will make you insane, her memory screamed ... On the outside you will walk and smile as if indeed you are a normal woman, but on the inside you will twist and burn on the stake, I will never free you, you will never be free."
With multiple timelines and character pov's Paullina Simons is able to create a connection that has her reader gasping for more. Near impossible to put this book down ... long even, after it's ended.
Alexander's past is revealed and relived. Life changing moments are remembered. Tatiana works and lives in the now. The future is contemplated.
Despite all of the sorrow, pain, suffering, fear, regret and longing ... Despite lies, war and death ... Love will conquer all.
"There is one moment, a moment in eternity. Before we find out the truth about one another. That simple moment is the one that propels us through life - what we felt like at the very edge of our future, standing over the abyss, before we knew for sure we loved. Before we know for sure we loved forever."
I cannot give this book, this series or Paullina Simons enough praise. I am forever changed for having read this beautiful work of art, which to me felt just like an extension of the first. I know the third book will be no exception. I look forward to more storytelling from this amazing author, who has stolen my heart <3
January 26, 2018
Qué puedo decir que no haya dicho ya sobre este libro? Que me parte el corazón, que no lo supero, que sufro con Tatiana y Alexander lo inimaginable, pero que volvería a leerlo infinitas veces más. Es la historia de amor más grande con la que me he encontrado a lo largo de mis años como lectora.
August 1, 2012
I need more stars... I can't talk right now, tears are flowing.... There just aren't enough stars....
December 29, 2018
Bello, duro y triste
Tania, Tania...
Sé quien es el que grita mi nombre. Eres el jinete implacable, el jinete que me exige que vuelva...
Este libro es la continuación de El jinete de Bronce y al igual que primero sigue es duro pero al mismo tiempo hermoso. Este libro se adentra en la historia de Alexander y Tatiana me atrevería a decir que es la historia de Alexander, ya que se conoce sus pensamientos y la forma en la que creció.
El pasado de Alexander ayuda a entender quién es y todo lo que hace, y debo decir que él es unico, es hermoso y valiente como pocos. Alexander tuvo una niñez dificil, y se vio arrastrado a una vida y una cultura que se hizo dura para él. Una familia que de a poco se transformó en algo que no espero. Mientras crecía las cosas se complicaron y en su camino aparecieron personas que fueron buenas y otras que fueron malas. Se ve desde su punto de vista el momento en que conoce a Tatiana y a la familia de esta, el asedio de Leningrado, el enfrentamiento con los filandeses, el Ladoga, a su vez, sus decepciones y sueños.
Él vivió cosas muy fuertes y agitadas para tener una corta edad, Ojo con este spoiler. Creo que Alexander es alguien que afrontó con valor todos los problemas pero al mismo tiempo sus defectos también brillaron, ayudó mucho a los Metanov, pero al mismo tiempo se sentía hastiado de todo, fue un disoluto pero también leal y sacrifico muchas cosas a lo largo de su vida.
Me encanto su cinismo y humor negro, la forma en la que se expresaba desde pequeño y veía el mundo, también me gusta su carácter y seguridad, él es ahora uno de mis favoritos, no pude evitar caer ante su hechizo, ante su palabras y su lucha constante.
Me sentí mal durante la mayor parte del libro era tanto dolor, tantas cosas malas una detrás de otra, y de cierta forma creo que la autora fue muy injusta con sus personajes, casi todo el libro estuvo rodeado de un aire melancólico y triste y era entendible pero fue demasiado. Alexander paso por tanto, que en una escena en específico trague grueso y me sentí muy mal OJO lee este spoiler bajo tu riesgo es algo muy importante del libro, terminalo antes de leer esto
"Quitame la ropa" dijo alexander "Acércate, túmbate desnuda a mi lado y arráncame la carne con los dientes, como en tu sueño. Y cuando termines de desollarme, devórame hasta que no quede nada de mí.
Al mismo tiempo de leer la historia de Alexander, también se ve la vida de Tatiana una lejos de todo lo que conocía, de su familia y de él. Para ella es difícil y ya no es la misma, me sentí tan mal por ella, sentía que nada tenía solución, y con ella también hubo escenas fuertes. Tatiana sigue siendo la misma, entregada e inteligente. Buena de verdad y con la capacidad de dar todo por quienes ama, ella toma una decisión importantísima en el libro, teniendo que dejar atrás muchas cosas, pero esa decisión cambia todo. , a parte de esto ella es fuerte, y un poco más dura. Me agrado verla con esa seguridad y a veces con un humor bien particular. Adoro a Tatiana es tan ella, tan buena, tan única, tan especial que es imposible no querer cuidarla y abrazarla, decirle que todo estará bien, es de mis favoritas y merece todo, todo en la vida.
Una historia de romance, de separación, de la vida, con una crítica bien sutil al comunismo, a esa filosofía que vende que todos somos iguales pero que en el fondo, solo pretende obtener todo de las personas y luego arrojarlas a la basura, bien documentada acerca de este tema. Acerca de la actuación de cada país durante la segunda guerra mundial. Leer sobre campos de concentración no es fácil, leer acerca de la depravación del ser humano no es fácil, leer sobre una guerra que cobró tantas vidas y sueños no es fácil, pero a veces es necesario para entender muchas otras cosas, y para agradecer. Me sentí identificada con muchas cosas, ya que vivo en Venezuela, sentí rabia e impotencia y deseo que todo gobernante soberbio no tenga mas poder, y que todos aquellos que han sufrido las consecuencias de una guerra puedan vivir tranquilos.
Tania, Tania...
Sé quien es el que grita mi nombre. Eres el jinete implacable, el jinete que me exige que vuelva...
Este libro es la continuación de El jinete de Bronce y al igual que primero sigue es duro pero al mismo tiempo hermoso. Este libro se adentra en la historia de Alexander y Tatiana me atrevería a decir que es la historia de Alexander, ya que se conoce sus pensamientos y la forma en la que creció.
El pasado de Alexander ayuda a entender quién es y todo lo que hace, y debo decir que él es unico, es hermoso y valiente como pocos. Alexander tuvo una niñez dificil, y se vio arrastrado a una vida y una cultura que se hizo dura para él. Una familia que de a poco se transformó en algo que no espero. Mientras crecía las cosas se complicaron y en su camino aparecieron personas que fueron buenas y otras que fueron malas. Se ve desde su punto de vista el momento en que conoce a Tatiana y a la familia de esta, el asedio de Leningrado, el enfrentamiento con los filandeses, el Ladoga, a su vez, sus decepciones y sueños.
Él vivió cosas muy fuertes y agitadas para tener una corta edad, Ojo con este spoiler. Creo que Alexander es alguien que afrontó con valor todos los problemas pero al mismo tiempo sus defectos también brillaron, ayudó mucho a los Metanov, pero al mismo tiempo se sentía hastiado de todo, fue un disoluto pero también leal y sacrifico muchas cosas a lo largo de su vida.
Me encanto su cinismo y humor negro, la forma en la que se expresaba desde pequeño y veía el mundo, también me gusta su carácter y seguridad, él es ahora uno de mis favoritos, no pude evitar caer ante su hechizo, ante su palabras y su lucha constante.
Me sentí mal durante la mayor parte del libro era tanto dolor, tantas cosas malas una detrás de otra, y de cierta forma creo que la autora fue muy injusta con sus personajes, casi todo el libro estuvo rodeado de un aire melancólico y triste y era entendible pero fue demasiado. Alexander paso por tanto, que en una escena en específico trague grueso y me sentí muy mal OJO lee este spoiler bajo tu riesgo es algo muy importante del libro, terminalo antes de leer esto
"Quitame la ropa" dijo alexander "Acércate, túmbate desnuda a mi lado y arráncame la carne con los dientes, como en tu sueño. Y cuando termines de desollarme, devórame hasta que no quede nada de mí.
Al mismo tiempo de leer la historia de Alexander, también se ve la vida de Tatiana una lejos de todo lo que conocía, de su familia y de él. Para ella es difícil y ya no es la misma, me sentí tan mal por ella, sentía que nada tenía solución, y con ella también hubo escenas fuertes. Tatiana sigue siendo la misma, entregada e inteligente. Buena de verdad y con la capacidad de dar todo por quienes ama, ella toma una decisión importantísima en el libro, teniendo que dejar atrás muchas cosas, pero esa decisión cambia todo. , a parte de esto ella es fuerte, y un poco más dura. Me agrado verla con esa seguridad y a veces con un humor bien particular. Adoro a Tatiana es tan ella, tan buena, tan única, tan especial que es imposible no querer cuidarla y abrazarla, decirle que todo estará bien, es de mis favoritas y merece todo, todo en la vida.
Una historia de romance, de separación, de la vida, con una crítica bien sutil al comunismo, a esa filosofía que vende que todos somos iguales pero que en el fondo, solo pretende obtener todo de las personas y luego arrojarlas a la basura, bien documentada acerca de este tema. Acerca de la actuación de cada país durante la segunda guerra mundial. Leer sobre campos de concentración no es fácil, leer acerca de la depravación del ser humano no es fácil, leer sobre una guerra que cobró tantas vidas y sueños no es fácil, pero a veces es necesario para entender muchas otras cosas, y para agradecer. Me sentí identificada con muchas cosas, ya que vivo en Venezuela, sentí rabia e impotencia y deseo que todo gobernante soberbio no tenga mas poder, y que todos aquellos que han sufrido las consecuencias de una guerra puedan vivir tranquilos.
January 31, 2018
//RELECTURA// Por muchos corazoncitos que ponga y muchos emojis llorones que añada jamás podré plasmar lo que siento con la historia de Tatiana y Alexander. Este libro era el único que no había releído porque fue mucho sufrimiento la primera lectura, ¡como para repetirlo! Y qué gran acierto ha sido volverlo a leer. He sufrido y mucho pero he disfrutado muchísimo más que la primera vez. He sido capaz de entender mucho más a Shura, de comprender los motivos que le llevan a actuar de determinados modos tanto en lo que ya he leído como en lo que me falta por leer. Adoro a Tatiana y jamás habrá otra protagonista como ella, la Luz personificada, la que salva vidas y las rescata de la muerte, pero como Shura... Como Shura, nadie. A pesar de lo que le hicieron sus padres, de lo que le hizo el Ejército, de lo que le hizo Stalin, no hay nadie más grande que él. Sus defectos, su fortaleza, su carácter... Lo adoro todo de él. Lo digo siempre que releo esta historia, hay un "antes" y un "después" de ella en mi vida. Nada puede superar a lo que siento cada vez que vivo a través de ellos.
[Y dicho esto, me voy a llorar 😂]
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//PRIMERA LECTURA// No puedo expresar con palabras los sentimientos y las emociones que he tenido leyendo este libro. Maravilloso e inolvidable ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
[Y dicho esto, me voy a llorar 😂]
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//PRIMERA LECTURA// No puedo expresar con palabras los sentimientos y las emociones que he tenido leyendo este libro. Maravilloso e inolvidable ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
April 10, 2019
An infinity amount of stars.
While reading this, my heart was broken in a million pieces but at the same time, swelling to take up my entire chest. It caused too many feelings, my heart almost couldn't handle it. My love for this book is forever. It can't be put into worlds how deep it runs. Tatiana and Alexander takes us on a journey of joy-faith-heartbreak and everlasting love. I have never, and will never love two characters with the same, deep, passion, as I love Tatiana and Alexander.
I am forever grateful to Paullina Simons for writing this phenomenal masterpiece. Her beautiful words are like balm for my soul. With Tatiana and Alexander, my life is complete. Once again, my mind is blown with her ability to destroy my heart, body and soul. Tatiana and Alexander was so beautiful to read it was almost painful. And heartbreakingly beautiful.
There's no need for anyone to write anything ever again. Tatiana and Alexander propels me through life. They are always there with me and will never leave. I have lived a thousand lifetimes with them. If it's possible, I may even love this book more than "The Bronze Horseman." Impossible to decide. "Tatiana and Alexander" was so beautiful it hurt. EPIC doesn't cover it.
I have never in my life read a more beautiful love story. And I will, never again.
My heart is overflowing with love. I don't know how to continue on with my life after reading this. When I'm dead, and they cut me open, my love for Tatiana and Alexander will be ingraved in and on my heart. This book spoke to my soul.
QUOTES
She seemed very close. He could almost reach for his ruck and feel for her dress, and see her, white dress with red roses, hair long and flowing, teeth gleaming. She was very close. He didn’t have to touch the dress. He didn’t need comfort. She needed comfort. She needed himj so much, how was she going to get through this without him? How was she going to get through losing him without him?
They kissed away Orbeli and Dimitri, they kissed away war and communism, America and Russia. They kissed away everything, leaving behind only what remained–pale fragments of Tania and Shura.
“Did you knwo that the stars in Perseus that are yellow might be close to imploding, but the stars that are blue, the biggest, the brightest–”
“And they are called novas.”
“Yes, they shine, gain in brilliance, explode, then fade. Look how many blue stars there are around the smile, Tatia.”
“I see.”
“Do you hear the stellar winds?”
“I hear rustling.”
“Do you hear the stellar winds, carring from the heavens a whisper, straight from antiquity…into eternity…”
“What are they whispering?”
“Tatiana…Tatiana…Ta…tiana…”
“Please stop.”
“Will you remember that? Anywhere you are, if you can look up and find Perseus in the sky, find that smile, and hear the galactic wind whisper your name, you’ll know it’s me, calling for you…calling you back to Lazarevo."
Tatiana wipes her face on Alexander’s arm and says, “You won’t have to call me back, soldier. I’m not ever leaving here.”
Someone cried for his wife. Alexander was almost certain it wasn’t him.
Forgive me for leaving you to the dogs of war, for being so quickly willing to believe in your death. I was slow to love, but quick to abandon you.
Where is he? Where is the splendid horseman, my gold ring and my chain, my black bag and my brightest day?
Alexander knew what was ahead. It was tomorrow. He was leaving. It was tomorrow. He had left. It was tomorrow. And he was without her.
She is coming, my life, my fate; The red rose cries, “She’s near, she’s near;” And the white rose weeps, “She’s late;” The larkspur listens, “I hear, I hear;” And the lily whispers, “I wait.”
That’s it for me, Tatiana thought. That’s it. I feel it. I can’t continue. I am going to lie down on his sled and close my eyes and he will pull me along the snow to my Fifth Soviet building, except when we get there, I will not feel his hand on my cheek.
Alexander had handed her his life and said, this is for you. I cannot save myself, I can only save you, and you have to go and live your life the way you and only you were meant to live it.
He wanted to pick up his heart from the floor. But it was dark, and he couldn’t find it. He heard it roll away from him, he heard it beating, bleeding, pulsing in the corner.
Every day of forgetting was a day of increased remorse. How could you forget me so quick, she thought Alexander was saying to her, when I have paid for you with my life?
Have you been looking for me? she had once asked him, and he replied, All my life…
“Tania, last time in Morozovo, I let you go, but not this time. This time we live together or we die together.”
Falling in love with you in the Summer Garden in the white nights of Leningrad is the moment that propels me through life.
“Tatiana, my wife, we never had a future. We’ll live tonight for five minutes from now,” he whispered. “That’s how we always lived, you and I, and we will live like that again, one more night, in a white warm bed.”
While reading this, my heart was broken in a million pieces but at the same time, swelling to take up my entire chest. It caused too many feelings, my heart almost couldn't handle it. My love for this book is forever. It can't be put into worlds how deep it runs. Tatiana and Alexander takes us on a journey of joy-faith-heartbreak and everlasting love. I have never, and will never love two characters with the same, deep, passion, as I love Tatiana and Alexander.
I am forever grateful to Paullina Simons for writing this phenomenal masterpiece. Her beautiful words are like balm for my soul. With Tatiana and Alexander, my life is complete. Once again, my mind is blown with her ability to destroy my heart, body and soul. Tatiana and Alexander was so beautiful to read it was almost painful. And heartbreakingly beautiful.
There's no need for anyone to write anything ever again. Tatiana and Alexander propels me through life. They are always there with me and will never leave. I have lived a thousand lifetimes with them. If it's possible, I may even love this book more than "The Bronze Horseman." Impossible to decide. "Tatiana and Alexander" was so beautiful it hurt. EPIC doesn't cover it.
I have never in my life read a more beautiful love story. And I will, never again.
My heart is overflowing with love. I don't know how to continue on with my life after reading this. When I'm dead, and they cut me open, my love for Tatiana and Alexander will be ingraved in and on my heart. This book spoke to my soul.
QUOTES
She seemed very close. He could almost reach for his ruck and feel for her dress, and see her, white dress with red roses, hair long and flowing, teeth gleaming. She was very close. He didn’t have to touch the dress. He didn’t need comfort. She needed comfort. She needed himj so much, how was she going to get through this without him? How was she going to get through losing him without him?
They kissed away Orbeli and Dimitri, they kissed away war and communism, America and Russia. They kissed away everything, leaving behind only what remained–pale fragments of Tania and Shura.
“Did you knwo that the stars in Perseus that are yellow might be close to imploding, but the stars that are blue, the biggest, the brightest–”
“And they are called novas.”
“Yes, they shine, gain in brilliance, explode, then fade. Look how many blue stars there are around the smile, Tatia.”
“I see.”
“Do you hear the stellar winds?”
“I hear rustling.”
“Do you hear the stellar winds, carring from the heavens a whisper, straight from antiquity…into eternity…”
“What are they whispering?”
“Tatiana…Tatiana…Ta…tiana…”
“Please stop.”
“Will you remember that? Anywhere you are, if you can look up and find Perseus in the sky, find that smile, and hear the galactic wind whisper your name, you’ll know it’s me, calling for you…calling you back to Lazarevo."
Tatiana wipes her face on Alexander’s arm and says, “You won’t have to call me back, soldier. I’m not ever leaving here.”
Someone cried for his wife. Alexander was almost certain it wasn’t him.
Forgive me for leaving you to the dogs of war, for being so quickly willing to believe in your death. I was slow to love, but quick to abandon you.
Where is he? Where is the splendid horseman, my gold ring and my chain, my black bag and my brightest day?
Alexander knew what was ahead. It was tomorrow. He was leaving. It was tomorrow. He had left. It was tomorrow. And he was without her.
She is coming, my life, my fate; The red rose cries, “She’s near, she’s near;” And the white rose weeps, “She’s late;” The larkspur listens, “I hear, I hear;” And the lily whispers, “I wait.”
That’s it for me, Tatiana thought. That’s it. I feel it. I can’t continue. I am going to lie down on his sled and close my eyes and he will pull me along the snow to my Fifth Soviet building, except when we get there, I will not feel his hand on my cheek.
Alexander had handed her his life and said, this is for you. I cannot save myself, I can only save you, and you have to go and live your life the way you and only you were meant to live it.
He wanted to pick up his heart from the floor. But it was dark, and he couldn’t find it. He heard it roll away from him, he heard it beating, bleeding, pulsing in the corner.
Every day of forgetting was a day of increased remorse. How could you forget me so quick, she thought Alexander was saying to her, when I have paid for you with my life?
Have you been looking for me? she had once asked him, and he replied, All my life…
“Tania, last time in Morozovo, I let you go, but not this time. This time we live together or we die together.”
Falling in love with you in the Summer Garden in the white nights of Leningrad is the moment that propels me through life.
“Tatiana, my wife, we never had a future. We’ll live tonight for five minutes from now,” he whispered. “That’s how we always lived, you and I, and we will live like that again, one more night, in a white warm bed.”
July 12, 2013
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE BRONZE HORSEMAN
4.5 STARS
I couldn't possibly choose a passage from this book that best encapsulates the theme of Tatiana and Alexander's continuing battle against the odds of World War II. So I'm nicking something from Neruda which I find fitting because Shura, for the most part of this book, sounds like a hybrid between a South American poet and... well, Chuck Norris. In fact, try reading that poem and you'd get a sense of Shura's pervading mood in this one.
I also have the vaguest suspicion that the contraceptive pill was invented solely because of Shura's "Sugarstick".
I find reading Tatiana and Alexander the perfectpunishment book for someone who has kept on raging against the hero and heroine being together too much too frequently. Or for someone who complains about shallow plot devices and transparent twists that just seems tedious when you already know where its heading five chapters in. This one you already have a vague idea what's going to happen in the end. But you keep yourself glued wanting, NEEDING to see how Paullina Simons will get you there.
It's like watching Rocky. You know he's going to win because... well he's Rocky, but you want to see how he'd beatcommunism Ivan Drago. Fitting, no?
Initially, the story is divided into three storylines points: Alexander in the aftermath of that choice he made for him and Tatiana in Morozovo, his past as told from his POV until a few of the events of TBH and Tatiana carving life for herself and her son in New York City. I was very partial to the Shura POVs early on and it was done really well (insert dirty, lascivious smile here) craftily avoiding the traps of redundancy by bringing something new to the table and stopping appropriately at some point so as not to hamper the story from moving forward.
And writers planning to jump in the alternate POV bandwagon should probably take notes.
But the loss of this storyline somewhere in the middle did make me feel the merging stories of present day Shura and Tatia (ie post-TBH) got a little too indulgent. I was finding my mind drifting amidst their internal monologues because I have gotten myself attached to both these characters and reading about the mental torture of surviving the distance of an ocean and war, the doubts and uncertainties, the injustices endured and the temptations resisted... the mind can only read so much angst without getting distracted for a while. To be reassured that yes you are sitting beside a loved one and there's food in the table, that someone just liked your vacation photo in Facebook and somewhere, someone watching Honey Boo-Boo on TV.
There's still stretches of scenes that defy belief, plot twists that border on the fantastical juxtaposed with Tatiana's realistic descent into grief. Moments of Shura's near-impossible, superhuman feats (he may or may not have his very own Inglourious Basterds somewhere down the line) grounded by his one weakness. Man of Steel that one. Seriously. I'm not even kidding.
But never letting you forget when and where it is and what you've gotten yourself into.
Because just as in The Bronze Horseman, this book vividly portrays the horrors of war, what it reduces men into and what it leaves in its ravaged path. What's new in this installment is the looming threat in the aftermath: from the bigger picture with the evolving political landscape, to the personal imprints it will leave our two protagonists.
Some have said they are happy with how things ended in this book, and I can now fully understand the trepidation to continue to The Summer Gardens. That last two chapters and watching too many episodes of Mad Men will tend to do that, I guess.
And ten 1950s bucks says, Don Draper has nothing on Alexander Barrington (Gad, even his name gives me girly tingles).
4.5 STARS
"Love is so short, forgetting is so long."
-Tonight I Can Write
I couldn't possibly choose a passage from this book that best encapsulates the theme of Tatiana and Alexander's continuing battle against the odds of World War II. So I'm nicking something from Neruda which I find fitting because Shura, for the most part of this book, sounds like a hybrid between a South American poet and... well, Chuck Norris. In fact, try reading that poem and you'd get a sense of Shura's pervading mood in this one.
“Our commander is a man who can kill another in a tiny cell with nothing. Just by the sheer force of his will.”
I also have the vaguest suspicion that the contraceptive pill was invented solely because of Shura's "Sugarstick".
I find reading Tatiana and Alexander the perfect
It's like watching Rocky. You know he's going to win because... well he's Rocky, but you want to see how he'd beat
Initially, the story is divided into three storylines points: Alexander in the aftermath of that choice he made for him and Tatiana in Morozovo, his past as told from his POV until a few of the events of TBH and Tatiana carving life for herself and her son in New York City. I was very partial to the Shura POVs early on and it was done really well (insert dirty, lascivious smile here) craftily avoiding the traps of redundancy by bringing something new to the table and stopping appropriately at some point so as not to hamper the story from moving forward.
And writers planning to jump in the alternate POV bandwagon should probably take notes.
But the loss of this storyline somewhere in the middle did make me feel the merging stories of present day Shura and Tatia (ie post-TBH) got a little too indulgent. I was finding my mind drifting amidst their internal monologues because I have gotten myself attached to both these characters and reading about the mental torture of surviving the distance of an ocean and war, the doubts and uncertainties, the injustices endured and the temptations resisted... the mind can only read so much angst without getting distracted for a while. To be reassured that yes you are sitting beside a loved one and there's food in the table, that someone just liked your vacation photo in Facebook and somewhere, someone watching Honey Boo-Boo on TV.
There is one moment, a moment in eternity. Before we find out the truth about one another. That simple moment is the one that propels us through life - what we felt like at the very edge of our future, standing over the abyss, before we knew for sure we loved. Before we knew for sure we loved forever.
There's still stretches of scenes that defy belief, plot twists that border on the fantastical juxtaposed with Tatiana's realistic descent into grief. Moments of Shura's near-impossible, superhuman feats (he may or may not have his very own Inglourious Basterds somewhere down the line) grounded by his one weakness. Man of Steel that one. Seriously. I'm not even kidding.
But never letting you forget when and where it is and what you've gotten yourself into.
Because just as in The Bronze Horseman, this book vividly portrays the horrors of war, what it reduces men into and what it leaves in its ravaged path. What's new in this installment is the looming threat in the aftermath: from the bigger picture with the evolving political landscape, to the personal imprints it will leave our two protagonists.
Some have said they are happy with how things ended in this book, and I can now fully understand the trepidation to continue to The Summer Gardens. That last two chapters and watching too many episodes of Mad Men will tend to do that, I guess.
And ten 1950s bucks says, Don Draper has nothing on Alexander Barrington (Gad, even his name gives me girly tingles).
“He was sixteen and he was ready.Nothing.
Her lips moved to his mouth. “Are you afraid?” she said.
“I’m not,” he said, throwing the cigarette and the lighter on the floor. “But you should be.”
October 15, 2013
*** 5++++ INFINITE, HEARTBREAKING, UNFORGETTABLE AND ALL CONSUMING STARS ***
I just can't get over how much IN LOVE I am with these books...with this EPIC and TIMELESS story...with Tatiana and Alexander...
It truly is the most consuming and beautiful love story I ever read! Full of devotion, ache, longing, angst, despair and above all hope. If they were lucky to find each other, they will always find away towards each other. They can't conceive a world without the other in it!
So there are love stories and then there are Tatia and Shura story...
After being torn apart,Tania and Shura are trying to survive in a world consumed by war, trying to survive without each other.
The book goes back and forth with both POV's...showing her journey to her new life in NY, with their son Anthony.
And showing how Alex tale of survival, from the NKVD interrogations, to the penal battalion to POW camps. We also get several "flashbacks" of Shura's life before the war, since he was a little kid leaving America for Soviet Union to many key moments of his life, that molded him to the man we first met in the previous book!
Tatiana
She is most definitely one of my favorite heroines EVER! The most selfless, brave and resilient character!
She never gives up and she will do everything for the love of her life!
How can she go on, if she left her soul behind?
“Live as if you have faith,” she said, “and faith shall be
given to you.”
Alexander
*sigh
Shura, Shura, my precious Shura <3
Could I love him more? I don't think so! What he went through in this book just broke my heart...constantly holding on in his memories of her,of his everything. At all costs he must survive and get back to her. No matter how impossible it seems, he will never give up.
The flashbacks gave a whole new take on his actions and all he went through. Even as a teen he truly was the wise one, and could see what his parents denied to see.
And then,we see how one moment changed the course of his life forever.
In the whole book, many of his chapters were the most heartbreaking I ever read and left me a sobbing mess...from the bittersweet memories of Lazarevo, where he felt everything he hoped for slipped through his fingers, to the last time he saw his father, or the "delusions" he had with Tatia and with his father...
"Don't worry, Dad. I'll make you proud. I'll be ungreedy and unselfish, unprideful and unvengeful. I'll be as hard a man as they come. Let's go. I'm ready."
"I don't want you to be a hard man, Alexander. I want you to be a good man."Harold paused. "A better man than me."
You are Shura, you sure are!
Overall
I'm starting to lack words to describe how I think this series is PERFECTION!
It'll stay with my forever and ever!
Now, did you get how much I love this book? ;)
November 5, 2014
Finishing this book leaves me almost breathless. Throughout all of its 560 pages, I was kept captivated. My heart was in my throat and my feelings were on edge. Paullina Simons' love story between Tatiana and Alexander, combined with their fatal lives during World War II, drags me in and leaves me completely anxious inside.
Even though the storyline in this book is quite different from the first book, I loved it so much! I needed to know what would happen to our two main characters and I cared deeply for them. Yes, I still have a problem with the way Alexander sometimes behaves but that's a slight error in a big and beautiful masterpiece. I can only say: Read this story! You will not regret it :)
Even though the storyline in this book is quite different from the first book, I loved it so much! I needed to know what would happen to our two main characters and I cared deeply for them. Yes, I still have a problem with the way Alexander sometimes behaves but that's a slight error in a big and beautiful masterpiece. I can only say: Read this story! You will not regret it :)
March 8, 2017
Straight out the gate I am going to tell you this one was not as good as the first. Though I did enjoy catching up with old friends, I did not enjoy hearing every stinkin' detail of where they had been and what they had been up to. I especially did not want to hear about every damn random thought that flickered through their minds. If this had been a meet a friend at a restaurant to catch up on life situation, I would have been falling out of my chair screaming, “CHECK PLEASE!!”
Now don’t get me wrong, I still did enjoy a lot of what this story had to offer. I liked the general plot of the story and it was nice seeing the continuation of the characters I had fallen for originally. I would have liked to see more with new characters, such as making the few that were provided more memorable. As it is now, I can only think of two of them and I couldn’t tell you their names if my life depended on it. Tweaking this character issue would probably fix my next issue, the two hundred or so pages of repetitive filler. It would have added a new flavor to the rehashed content of those pages making them more interesting and tolerable.
Geez…this review makes it sound like I hated the story. I assure you I did not. I’m just the type of reader that gets more critical as the series progresses. I figure you got my attention…now you must work harder at keeping it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I still did enjoy a lot of what this story had to offer. I liked the general plot of the story and it was nice seeing the continuation of the characters I had fallen for originally. I would have liked to see more with new characters, such as making the few that were provided more memorable. As it is now, I can only think of two of them and I couldn’t tell you their names if my life depended on it. Tweaking this character issue would probably fix my next issue, the two hundred or so pages of repetitive filler. It would have added a new flavor to the rehashed content of those pages making them more interesting and tolerable.
Geez…this review makes it sound like I hated the story. I assure you I did not. I’m just the type of reader that gets more critical as the series progresses. I figure you got my attention…now you must work harder at keeping it.
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