Tatiana and Alexander

Vilma's Book Blog

Incredibly powerful and heartfelt! Perfection! 6++++ Stars!

"A story of enduring love and hope amidst the bleakest of circumstances. It moved me to tears and consumed me completely. There isn't a more beautiful love story than that of Tatiana and Alexander. "In Alexander's life there was one thread that could not be broken by death, by distance, by time, by ward. Could not be broken. As long as I am in the world, she said with her breath and her body, as long as I am, you are permanent soldier." Once again. Big, fat, ugly tears. This story has gripped me so completely, heart and soul. I am not a huge crier, although I'm definitely an emotional reader, but these books have turned me into a crying mess, so deeply connected to the characters that the line between reality and fiction blurs. The horrifying experiences they go through, the painful longing for each other and all those times when they felt like giving up hope, it totally gutted me, tore my heart open and had me shedding tears. This book was just as amazing as the first, but a bit different because much of the book, they spent apart. The story unfolds through alternating past and present POVs, both through Tatiana's and Alexander's eyes. It's done seamlessly and in a way that offers a deeper understanding of everything that's transpired and of what they are each going through individually. It's incredibly powerful and eye-opening. In this book, we learn so much more about Alexander's past, his parents and his experiences as a child moving into the Soviet Union. His grit, prowess and intelligence is apparent early on as he endures constant change and tribulations from a young age, carrying the burdens of his parent's choices. Understanding his past helped me better understand the man Alexander was now. "Don't worry, Dad. I'll make you proud. I'll be ungreedy and unselfish, unprideful and unvengeful. I'll be as hard a man as they come." "I don't want you to be a hard man, Alexander. I want you to be a good man... A better man than me." And now, Alexander is a prisoner, accused of treason, forced to live an existence without Tatiana, where he is constantly beaten down mentally and physically. Reading about Alexander's journey here and what happens to him after is distressing and horrifying. I felt his pain, as he worked so hard to survive, to have courage, to remain stolid in his beliefs and in his love for Tatiana. "He dreamed of Tatiana, and when he woke up, he thought of Tatiana. Dreams and reality were mingled. Alexander didn't know where the nightmare ended and real life began." But naturally, as days turned into weeks and months turned into years, his once unwavering hope began to falter as insecurities began to take over. Would he make it out alive? Would he be the man he was? Would he see Tatiana again? Would she be waiting for him as she had promised? "There was no escape, not from the thoughts, not from the fear, not from the throbbing. Not from the realization that it had been many months, many years, and how long would one faithful wife wait for her dead husband? Even his Tatiana, the brightest star in the sky. How long could she wait before she moved on?" Meanwhile, Tatiana endures, establishing a half-life for herself and her child, caught between the responsibilities of her present and her past, including her undying love for Alexander. She's unable to let go of him, despite not knowing whether he's alive or dead, her heart just doesn't function without its soul mate. "I will make you insane, her memory screamed at her near the winter window sill as Tatiana smelled the brine of eternity. On the outside you will walk and smile as if indeed you are a normal woman, but on the inside you will twists and burn on the stake, I will never free you, you will never be free." The longing, the yearning, the unabated desire they feel for each other is ardent and alive despite their circumstances. It is absolutely painful to read. Their sadness consumed me and it was during many of these times that I felt crushed by their story. Life just didn't seem to give them a break. But again, this is the most amazing love story ever, and it was so inspiring to see how deeply, how completely they loved each other. It was more than a feeling though, they were simply not complete without the other. "Do you hear the stellar winds, carrying from the heavens a whisper, straight from antiquity... into eternity..." "What are they whispering?" "Tatiana... Tatiana... Ta...tiana..." "Will you remember that? Anywhere you are, if you can look up and find Perseus in the sky, find that smile, and hear the galactic wind whisper your name, you'll know that it's me, calling for you... calling you back to Lazarevo." This story is one of survival, hope and love. They must both survive their situations to be with each other again, as hope wavers, vacillating between the fortifying dream of seeing each other again and the looming threat of death and consuming hopelessness. Their enduring love is everything. Thoughts of Larezevo and benches and ice cream and white dresses with red roses... it's everything they grasp to keep going, keep loving, keep hope alive. There is truly no other series like this one, even as I write this review, with a lump in my throat, I marvel at the way the brilliant writing and this story of true love has affected me so much. It's beautiful. It's perfection. And it's absolutely unforgettable. "Shura, I'm yours. You may not like it today, you may not want it tonight, you may wish for it all to be different now, but it remains, and I remain as always, only yours. Nothing can change that. Not your wrath, your fists, your body, or your death." ["

Show more

August 23, 2013 Verified Purchase

Daniela

Unbelievably perfect.

"Oh my God. If I could give this book a thousand, a million stars, I would. So, people of Goodreads, you should do something about that. Sometimes, 5 stars are not enough. You guys can’t imagine how much I loved and adored this book. I was expecting something and got something different, and I say this in the best possible way. I realized this more and more the further I got into the book. BRILLIANT!!!! Just.Freaking.Brilliant! Tatiana and Alexander is the second book of The Bronze Horseman series, so, if you haven’t read the first book, you might want to reconsider reading this review. Tatiana Metanova had escaped the Soviet Union. She had survived the blockade. She had survived losing her family. She survived through the hunger, the desperation. She survived losing the last bit of hope, that one thing that kept her heart beating. Alexander. Or at least, that’s what everyone kept telling her. You need to move on. You need to move on. You need to move on. Tatiana believed she needed to move on too, but how could she? When part of her had stayed in Morozovo. How could she, when her heart couldn’t truly believe what her mind kept telling her. Alexander is dead. But, what about Orbeli? Tatiana is now in New York, working at Ellis Island, taking care of her beautiful baby boy, Anthony. He’s the one that’s keeping her alive. And hope. “We walk alone through this world, but if we’re lucky, we have a moment of belonging to something, to someone, that sustains us through a lifetime of loneliness.” Alexander was still where he was left behind. And then, he wasn’t. He barely escaped death by the hands of the Soviets, but he didn’t escape the war, the accusations, the constant threats. He became a prisoner of the Soviet Union and no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get out. But, if Tatiana got out, he would too. Eventually. Someday. Hopefully. This book, oh my God, this book. If I thought The Bronze Horseman was good, this was well beyond that. I loved it even more. In this book, we have more of both Tatiana’s and Alexander’s POVs. We get more Alexander. We get more Tania. We get Anthony and his iceee kweeem. This is truly Tatiana’s and Alexander’s story. They have been separated by everything in their lives. They each have ghosts to face, some of them they have to fight to stay back; while some other they have to do whatever they can to hold on to. Years pass and they both keep surviving. This is, in fact, a love story, the continuation of it actually… but it’s a story about how two people who love each other deeply, find their way back to the other. This is about how they fight and they trust and they hope, they’ll get back to the other. Problems come and keep coming, and sometimes you wonder… when is enough, enough? Will they make it? Will this get any easier? You’ll have to draw your own conclusion, but I’m pretty sure about mine. Tania, Tania, Tania. What a crazy girl. She’s the craziest of them all and the one who has more courage. She is one of the toughest girls. She’s smart and she understands and she feels so deeply, she doesn’t just love, she adores. She doesn’t just live, she breathes, tastes, sees, experiences life. She doesn’t just trust, she believes with all her heart that she’ll find a way, that she can do whatever her mind is set to do. And she does it. The way she sees and understands life, is something special, her vision is one of a kind. In this book, you see her struggle. Yes, in this book, she’s surviving, barely living but you still see her strength. You’ll never doubt she’ll do whatever she needs to do, whatever there is to do, to save him. To save the one who save her. To be with the one she loves most. Alexander. How can someone not love him? It is impossible. The way he thinks, the way he feels. It’s always too much. So much love, it hurts. So much passion and devotion, it breaks your heart and fixes it. In this book, we get a lot of time to get to know him. To see him and feel him, his pain, his love, in such a way that you’ll have no other choice but to understand his reasons of his desperation to survive. His real story is fascinating, everything that he is, it’s because of everything he’s been through since he was a boy. He grew up too much, too fast. Everything he knew was taken away from him too many times to count, and he had to do with what he had. He learned to be on his own, to be his own man, to believe in whatever he wanted. “Live as if you have faith,” she said, “and faith shall be given to you.” He’s tough, he’s passionate, he’s sweet, he’s romantic, he’s volatile, he’s intense. He is too much. But he is Shura. “Remember Orbeli.” Orbeli. Orbeli. Orbeli. Remember to never forget. Remember to wait. Remember to live. Remember to be happy. Remember to love. Remember that the one who loves you, will come back. That’s what it means to me. All I’ve said doesn’t even come close to explain how much I loved this book, because even though yes, it is a love story, it involves a lot of other factors, characters, situations, that makes the story even more interesting. There’s love, there’s betrayal, there’s kindness, there’s romance, there’s desperation. This is the kind of book you can’t put down, not even for a second. It’s the kind of book you devour because you need to know. ["

Show more

December 30, 2014 Verified Purchase

Megan

Great book 2

"After finishing TBH, I dove right into this book. I was heartbroken that Alexander faked his death to save Tatiana so I was dying to know what was going to happen next. I was desperately hoping neither of them had moved on, or that it wouldn't take 50 years or some insane amount of time to bring them back together. I really enjoyed learning more of Alexander's story, starting from right before his family left America and ending with him meeting Tatiana for the first time. I think I enjoyed Alexander's part of the book more than Tatiana's. Tatiana was just trying to adjust to life in America with her son and mourn her husband while having a nagging feeling something wasn't right about his death. My heart broke for Alexander though. Sacrificing himself to save his wife and unborn child. Then trying everything in his power to stay alive so he could one day search for them. The only thing I didn't really like was the way the book began. We already went through Tatiana making it out of the Soviet Union, getting into Sweden and making her way to America. I didn't really need a more detailed recap of all that. It should have picked up where it left off for her after TBH. But that was really my only complaint. Still a good read. ["

Show more

February 15, 2012 Verified Purchase

Robin Segnitz

Excellent continuation of The Bronze Horseman.

"4.5 Stars. ***Possible Spoilers*** The second installment of The Bronze Horseman trilogy is simply named Tatiana and Alexander. Tatiana and Alexander are separated for a large portion of this novel, with the author alternating between both of their points of view. Each of them longs for the other, while existing under entirely different circumstances. Paullina Simons was fantastic in portraying how the separateness affects both of them on a personal level, especially Alexander. Tatiana arrives in the United States as a pregnant refugee. Soon after her arrival at Ellis Island in New York, she gives birth to a son whom she names Anthony Alexander Barrington. Tania is placed in the hospital at Ellis Island to recover from childbirth and her lingering illness, and is eventually hired as a nurse to assist other incoming refugees. Tatiana is granted asylum and safety in America while she continues to mourn the loss of her husband. She reflects back to her time spent with Alexander while going through the motions and barely existing. Readers soon learn what has become of Major Alexander Belov. Although Alexander arranged for it to appear to Tatiana that he was killed in an attack while traveling to accept his Red Army promotion, he was actually taken prisoner by the Soviet NKVD after Dimitri informed Soviet authorities that he was an escaped American prisoner named Alexander Barrington who infiltrated Red Army ranks. The Soviet NKVD question and imprison Alexander Belov, hoping to coerce him into admitting that he is Alexander Barrington. Although he does not admit his true identity, Alexander is sentenced to a Red Army penal battalion to continue fighting against Germany during World War II. After some time has passed, Tania becomes convinced that Alexander faked his death in order to convince her to escape Russia. Alexander becomes ruthless in his fight to survive the war, hoping that he will someday be reunited with his wife. Paullina Simons takes readers on an incredible journey as Tatiana and Alexander attempt to find their way back to each other. In my opinion, Tatiana and Alexander does not quite measure up to the quality of The Bronze Horseman, which is one of the best novels that I have ever read, but I did find this novel to be well-written and fascinating. There were parts of the story that I found to be really beautiful, especially when Alexander reflects back to his own memories of the time he spent with his wife in Lazarevo. These memories were unique to the moments we had previously read about in The Bronze Horseman! I thought the historical aspect of Tatiana and Alexander was very interesting. The alternating points of view between the two main characters emphasized a huge contrast between the terrible reality for soldiers who fought in World War II battles in Europe and the freedom, safety and benefits found by individuals living in America during this same period of time. I found myself full of emotions and anxiety, hoping for our couple to be reunited before the novel was complete. Those that have read The Bronze Horseman will not want to miss the continuation of this beautiful story of love! ["

Show more

February 5, 2014 Verified Purchase