Tatiana & Alexander book review

Tatiana And Alexander by Paullina Simons
Series: The Bronze Horseman #2
Genres: Historical Fiction
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The Bridge to Holy Cross is a powerful story of love and hope -- a passionate and epic love story from the Russian-born author of The Bronze Horseman. The world at war ...two people in love. Tatiana is eighteen years old and pregnant when she miraculously escapes war-torn Leningrad to the West, believing herself to be a widow. Her husband, Major Alexander Belov, a decorated hero of the Soviet Union, has been arrested by Stalin's infamous secret police and is awaiting imminent death as a traitor and a spy. Tatiana begins her new life in America. In wartime New York City she finds work, friends and a life beyond her dreams. However, her grief is inescapable and she keeps hearing Alexander calling out to her. Meanwhile, Alexander faces the greatest danger he's ever known. An American trapped in Russia since adolescence, he has been serving in the Red Army and posing as a Soviet citizen to protect himself. For him, Russia's war is not over, and both victory and defeat will mean certain death. As the Second World War moves into its final violent phase, Tatiana and Alexander are surrounded by the ghosts of their past and each other. They must struggle against destiny and despair as they find themselves in the fight of their lives. A master of the historical epic, Paullina Simons takes us on a journey across continents, time, and the entire breadth of human emotion, to create a heartrendingly beautiful love story that will live on long after the final page is turned.

This review may contain spoilers for The Bronze Horseman. Please don’t read this one if you don’t want to have the ending spoilt.

Tatiana and Alexander is the second book in The Bronze Horseman series and I really enjoyed the drama in this one. The first book is all about the heartbreaking sadness of their love and being so close and not being able to be together, the second book is more about the war keeping them separated. I loved the whole part of this book, I think it was a great insight to them both as people and watching them try to survive totally different scenarios. I think this book was an interesting look at the history between America and the USSR especially following WWII and the way they treated their own people in the POW camps. I loved reading and rooting for them together and hoping for the happy ending that they finally deserved. I genuinely wanted there to be some light at the end of the tunnel but I LOVED the insight and learning about the different countries and the world they found themselves in.

We follow Tati and Alexander as they travel through the world separately and being pulled towards each other. I adored Tati in this book, I think she grew up so much and became a completely different person. It was an odd experience to see purely because in the first book she is definitely more of a child and innocent, brave but innocent. Tatiana and Alexander was the complete opposite and I loved that about it, she became a person who had her own thoughts and feelings and her life didn’t revolve around a man his thoughts. Watching Alexander battle his way through Europe made my heart break over and over again, I loved the fact that I learnt so much about the world through his eyes and the way he held himself never changed. This book definitely reaffirmed my love for him as a character and I loved him all the more for it.

The best bits of Tatiana and Alexander for me was definitely the history of the world and watching how the world crumbled and tried to put itself back together again after the devastation. I think this was the first time I felt sympathy for the Soviet Union, having seen the amount of death that Leningrad and being blockaded. However as the time goes on and you see the way they treat their own people and other officers in the camps they liberate, that sympathy very quickly goes away!

I think the way everything ends up happening means that the entire book feels as though it’s wrapped up too neatly. I would have loved for everything to be a little bit harder to deal with in the end but ah it was the happy ending I suppose.

DEFFO! I love this book, I think this series will always be one of my favourite. Go read it if you haven’t!

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!