"We walk alone through this world, but if we're lucky, we have a moment of belonging to something, to someone, that sustains us thought a lifetime of loneliness."

The Bronze Horseman was incredible and heart wrenching and unbearable. Tatiana and Alexander was the same. The history, the details, the love story, the grueling reality of heartbreaking life and war. It's an incredible story. How lucky are we that story tellers with this kind of dedication exist? Im better for reading these books.

Russians! Russians and their suffering! I don't know if my poor heart can take any more of Russians and their suffering! <- And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I have been lamenting for the last month or so. My family is thoroughly annoyed with me. In the case of my father and sister, they wish I'd shut up and/or read a different book. On the other hand, my mother has been recommending any book with Russians in it that she can think of with the stipulation that I have to suffer in silence.

All joking aside, Tatiana and Alexander was a wonderful book! I have to start off by saying that I absolutely loved The Bronze Horseman. I was also convinced that there was no way that either of the other two books in the series would be able to even come close to the level of The Bronze Horseman. I have never been so wrong in my life (shameless Hobbit plug).

Second, I have to talk about how well the title fits the story. The Bronze Horseman was about Dmitri, Dasha, Pasha, the Metanovs, Leningrad, Russia, the War, it was about everyone including Tatiana and Alexander. But Tatiana and Alexander, this book was about Tatiana and Alexander; their lives, their experiences. Sure, other characters were very present (Vikki, Edward, Ouspinsky, etc.), but they were mere cameos, fleeting and present only in that they made an impact on the lives of Tatiana and Alexander. The Bronze Horseman was all encompassing. All of the characters were more or less near each other and their lives interconnected. In Tatiana and Alexander, Tatiana and Alexander are separated. Not only are they separated physically and geographically but, as the story goes on, they become separated emotionally and mentally. The title Tatiana and Alexander demonstrates this separation perfectly.

All in all, this was a great book that I would recommend to anyone. This series will definitely be finding its way to my permanent bookshelf, sooner rather than later. I cannot wait to read The Summer Garden and see how Tatiana and Alexander's story ends.

I am speechless. I stayed up until five last night because I simply could not even blink without knowing what would happen next.

This book is simply perfect. I would not change one word, and I already know it is going to be the best book I will have read in 2021.

I honestly do not have the words to describe this book. It is everything... life. And the author did a magistral work at balancing the stories, the dynamic and static nature of grief, and a plot that had my heart pulverize my rib cage.

I am absolutely certain I will reread both this book and the previous many times in the upcoming years and I have already bought the last one.

If you haven’t read this series, please do yourself a favor and try it. I don’t think any human being capable of emotions could possibly not fall in love with Simons’ writing and her characters, and settings. And with my dear dear Shura.

I didn't like this one at all compared to the first one! I felt a lot of things were repetitive and Tania actually become somewhat annoying. Also the flash blacks threw me off (listening via audio). I don't think I'm going to continue.

Maybe it's just because the first installment of this series, The Bronze Horseman, was so spectacular, but I was very disappointed by Tatiana and Alexander. I am planning to make a video review of the trilogy, but this review is specific to T&A (just as I hope that the issues I encountered will be specific to T&A and not bleed over into The Summer Garden).

Tatiana and Alexander is divided into three parts. I would estimate that about 75% of the first part and 40% of the second part was unnecessary filler - either rehashed scenes that we saw in the first book or Tania or Shura miserably bemoaning the pain of their existences and repeating the same ~significant phrases~ (mostly just the names of places where they met in TBH) over and over ad nauseum. So much angst, everywhere.

I understand the need for angst, and I would have had no problem with its presence in this book - if Paullina Simons had these characters do anything else. Ostensibly Tania is working as a nurse and Shura is fighting through hell and high water, but for the first half of the book these plotlines take a backseat and feel like an excuse for PS to write more repetitive angst. Parts of the book start to read like fanfiction; it's just too much angst and flashback sex scenes that serve no purpose, and the pacing is super wonky (I suspect that this is because PS wanted to pad her page count after the hefty first volume). Also, the supporting cast of characters honestly just sucks compared to the characters in The Bronze Horseman. The only minor characters that are any good are the ones who were also present in TBH. Even Tania, to my horror, started to seem flat and one-dimensional, although PS redeemed herself in this regard in part III (more on that later).

Despite my irritation with Simons' writing in this book (WHAT IS HER EDITOR THINKING? is the real question here), you can't help but feel for these characters because of the first book. PS basically uses TBH as a crutch - no matter what she does in the sequel, she has you in her clutches because you are already so emotionally invested in the characters. I don't like that PS took the cheap way out like this, but it did manage to save the book from being a one-or-two-star (although that could change in the future).

Okay, now that I have lambasted this book, I'll mention the things I did like. Without spoiling anything, I will just say that the plot twist occurring midway through the book was a saving grace for the war plotline and, although I had an inkling beforehand, it still packed a punch. Also, the third book was a huge improvement over parts I and II. It was interesting to see descriptions of the part of WWII that occurs during this book; it was plain to see that PS painstakingly researched the history, and I really appreciated that. And while I wish that she had cut down on the flashbacks to the events of the first book (information we knew already), I appreciated the flashbacks to Alexander's life before the events of TBH.

I'm not sure if this rating will stand or if I will move it down to two stars; I'm on the fence at the moment. I hope that The Summer Garden will be more like the first book than the second.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed The Bronze Horseman but it was still really good. I didn't love Tatiana's sections and I didn't like most of the New York characters. I dis like alexander's sections a lot though!

I enjoyed the first book so much but this one was a slog for me. Too much was a repeat of the first one just from his point of view and then war war war. The ending wasn't that satisfying for me. I'll read the third one just to see where the characters go.

Not as good as The Bronze Horseman, but I couldn't put it down.

This book series glorifies physical abuse as justified after having survived tragedy. The idea that it's romantic for a woman to stay with her extremely abusive husband for "love" is repulsive.