DNF Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Title: Dreaming Anastasia

Author: Joy Preble

Series: Dreaming Anastasia

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Publication date: September 1^st 2009

Format: borrowed library e-book

Pages:   321

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college—until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams…

My Thoughts: 

I got about 40% through this book and I just cannot connect with any of the characters or the story. It seems like a good premise but it seems scattered and disconnected. None of the characters stand out they just all sort of blend together into this sort of odd story. I am going to set it aside for now and, maybe, try again later.

I think the main thing that makes this book so uninteresting to me is the back and forth between characters. Sometimes it makes sense and other time I found myself having to back track to know who was talking. It doesn't help that sometimes the scenes take place in present day and other times they take place in the past. It was all very disconnected. 

I did like that this story is based on a true fairy tale. Most of us are familiar with the 1997 movie Anastasia with Meg Ryan and John Cusack and/or the Russian history of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Preble's story is very interesting take on Anastasia's possible disappearance and it focuses on the Russian folklore surrounding Baba Yaga, an old scary witch. I actually liked the the witch was included in this story because I have never heard it told this way before. 

I think that I might try one of Joy Preble's other books but this one just doesn't seem to be for me. I might try to pick it up again but honestly I just wasn't really into the main characters enough to really care about where their story was going. 

If you are into fairy tale retells then this might be more your style. Maybe I should stick to the supernatural :)