Carole's Monday: The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

Author: Paullina Simons

Narrator: James Langton

Title: The Bronze Horseman

(The Bronze Horseman #1)

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Pages: Audiobook

Published: July 17th 2000

Where I Got It: My shelf (Audible)

The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler's armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.

Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana—and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander's impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects—a secret as devastating as the war itself—as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.

I picked this up because it sounded like a good tragic romance and it fits one of the reading challenges. 

The story follows Tatiana and Alexander in Soviet Russia. Tatiana meets Alexander who is a young officer in the Red Army. They are drawn together, but he is dating Dasha who is Tatiana's sister and he has secrets. War is coming and things are changing. 

I knew this was going to be long. Heck 20 something hours of audio and like 900 pages. I was prepared for that but I wasn't prepared for how long everything took. Yes, I loved following the two fall in love slowly...but it took forever. Everything took forever. It dragged on and on but I was invested in the characters and dealt with it. But oh.my.god stop describing ice cream. I wish I had read this instead of listening so I could skim some parts easier. 

Poor Tatiana. Everyone sucks. Her parents are jerks and dumb. Her sister is rude. Her friend was a jerk. Alexander loves her and all, but he is dumb too. Gah, I wanted to shake Alexander. WHY ARE YOU SO DUMB????? He obviously loves Tatiana but he keeps on dating Dasha....okay. Idiot boy. *grumbles* I just want Tatiana to be happy darnit!

This was really sad in a lot of spots even though Alexander is a dummy, he really loves her and it melted my cold heart. Oooo that ending. My poor heart! I know there are two more books, but still. 

Oooo I love the narrator. He did well here like normal. But even he couldn't fix how slow this was. Sad. 

Now....do I want to read/listen to the next one? I don't know. Maybe someday. 

In the end, I kept going because I was invested in the characters and I wanted to know what was going to happen. My only and biggest issue was not because it was long, but because it dragged on and took forever for things to happen. AND there are two more books after this. I'm undecided. We shall see. I'm going to stamp this with 2 stars. Just too slow for me. 

Russia