Review of Queen of Someday (Stolen Empire #1) by Sherry D. Ficklin

Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: NetGalley
Publication date: October 7th, 2014
Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing
Genres & Themes: YA, Historical Fiction, Romance, Secrets, True Love, Responsibilities.

BLURB:

Before she can become the greatest empress in history, fifteen-year-old Sophie will have to survive her social-climbing mother’s quest to put her on the throne of Russia—at any cost.

Imperial Court holds dangers like nothing Sophie has ever faced before. In the heart of St. Petersburg, surviving means navigating the political, romantic, and religious demands of the bitter Empress Elizabeth and her handsome, but sadistic nephew, Peter. Determined to save her impoverished family—and herself—Sophie vows to do whatever is necessary to thrive in her new surroundings. But an attempt on her life and an unexpected attraction threatens to derail her plans. […]

REVIEW:

This story may very likely not appeal to everyone. I believe the only way of loving this book is by connecting with the main character and feeling like Sophie’s story is ”yours as well.” Why? Simply because she is the center of attention. She has three men falling for her. One is a prince whom she must marry, another is a friend and the third… a lover. It may seem unrealistic but let’s not forget that she is a princess and princesses…let’s just say they’re important.

Liking the character of Sophie wasn’t hard at all for me. She is intelligent, beautiful, honest to herself and full of hope.

Yet it is not enough. None of these qualities can help her change her fate. She MUST marry the Prince. Or must she…? There is another girl who covets the throne. Someone who can be an enemy…or a friend.

It was not a predictable story for me, since I didn’t even predict who her lover was going to be. While Peter, the Prince, is a player and loves games, the two others were very nice men. I did like one more than the other but, somehow, I had the feeling that, whatever Sophie did or whomever she chose, it was the right thing to do.

The secondary characters are not as present as I would have liked them to be. Also, even though Sophie’s mother is the kind to only care about her reputation and wealth, I did like her mild ‘villainy’ character and would have appreciated to see more of her.

The romance is touching and it did was one of the main elements of this book but I actually didn’t mind it at all. This author knows very well how to create a relationship either positive or negative between two or more characters. It was impressive.

The writing…how much I enjoyed it. As much as eating chocolate and ice cream. It was so beautiful and let’s not forget that this is an historical fictive story so it had that classy feeling and the kind who can make you travel back in time and really witness as if everything was all real and in front of you. It made the story feel very realistic if you weren’t convinced already by the characters and plot.

The plot, as I said, is mostly centered on the romance and on Sophie becoming Peter’s wife. I admit it could have been more detailed and complex but I still very much enjoyed it.

Sometimes pretty (or gorgeous in this case) covers can fool us into reading a book only to discover that what you read wasn’t worth your time at all. This book is not one of those, so I highly recommend it to you, if you like YA historical fictions.

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