Sherry Ficklin

I absolutely LOVED this book, The Hollow Queen by Sherry Ficklin. It is the first book I have read by this author and I will definitely be reading others by her, This is the story of Elizabeth Romanov, who was stripped of her title, her wealth and her power and her relationship with her half-nephew Peter II who became King. I loved the relationship between the two and the strength this woman had to arise above all adversity.

I loved this book so much I finished it in one day as I couldn't put it down - even having my 8 month old granddaughter couldn't keep me away - I was reading parts of it to her!

I promise you will not be disappointed in this book at all! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.… (more)

3.5/5 stars
I struggled a bit starting my review on this, because I wasn't completely enamored with it, and trying to put my finger on the problem, I skimmed through some of the other reviews.
Which made me feel something I never thought I would. I feel the need to defend a book, which I liked but not loved.

So, after skimming though the reviews after reading the book, I must says it's rather funny. A lot of people say 'don't know anything about Russian history' and then start listing what they hated about this book, which are mostly the most historicly accurate parts of this book.
Sophie (later Catherine the Great) did come to court by invitation of the empress Elizabeth, and her marriage to Peter was arranged (that's how it went in those days, children of nobles were married off to eachother to create or strengthen alliances between countries).
That so many of the men at court turn their attentions her way is also understandable (and again, historically based, Catherine did have several lovers later in life), Sophie, after all is Emperess Elizabeth's favourite choice, and engraceing themselves to her (or even winning her hart), mans gain of political power, when she becomes Emperess.

Also, knowing history and knowing what would happen (as in who would end up marrying whom etc), didn't affect my enjoying the story. (Compare it to watching 'Titanic': you know the ship is going to sink but does it really affect how you're enjoyng the rest of the movie?)

That being said, there were parts of the story that were just pushing it too far, like the repeated 'call me Sophie' when meeting new people. Not done.
And one thing that really bugged me: 'Rina'. Not the character, but the name. The diminutive (pet name) for Ekatarina (as is her full first name) is either a form of 'Katinka'(sometimes spelled with an 'e' instead of 'i'), or 'Katya'. It's never shortened to 'Rina', especially not in the day and age the story is set.
Sophie seems to take some social liberties (like meeting men without a chaperone), but if you read some historical accounts, she's not pushing it as far as one would believe, morality was not as rigid then as we now believe it was.

All in all, it's a nice hitorical fiction, where the author has taken liberties on the romantic side, and in the modernicity of the language used, which in my opinion made it more accessible for people who are not history-lovers.
To all those who hated the storyline, I urge you to look up Catherine the Great's history. You'll be surprised, this is actually only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to amourous and political scheming.

Last remark: the money spend on producing the bonus videos would have been better spent on a professional editor. I cam across several typos (tables instead of stables, to instead of too, tour instead of your..)… (more)