Jackson Pearce's Blog, page 2

I AM SO EXCITED.

SERIOUSLY I AM SO EXCITED.

Do you know what THE DOUBLECROSS is? Allow me to tell you, in this hastily-written (sorry) blurb:



Everyone in Hale’s family is a spy, going way back. His great grandfather. His grandmother. Both his parents. They’ve all worked for the Sub Rosa Society, an elite, top secret organization—so top secret that new agents aren’t recruited; they’re born.

Unfortunately for twelve-year-old Hale, he was born (as his mother puts it) “big-boned”– or (as his SRS classmates put it) “fat”. Despite the fact that Hale can diffuse an explosive, don a disguise in seconds, and speak eleven languages, he’s often overlooked by his SRS classmates because he’s not so great at running, fighting, or back-handspringing over a laser grid.

But one day, Hale’s parents are kidnapped by a rival spy organization, and it turns out Hale– with some help from his little sister, Kennedy– might be the only one who can save the day. The trouble is, when everyone’s a spy, who can you trust?

It’s a middle grade– my first! And I love it so much. It’s so much fun. It’s funny and adventure-y and antics-y. It’s full of missions and full of family and full of heart and full of explosives.

And here’s the cover for THE DOUBLECROSS (and other skills I learned as a super spy), which I adore:

TELL YOUR FRIENDS.

DID I MENTION I’M SO EXCITED?

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

Anastasia.

She’s everyone’s favorite Romanov. In fact, she’s usually the only Romanov people know by name. If you’ve been reading the other posts in this blog tour, you already know that the animated Anastasia movie is basically all lies. Why?

Because she’s the one who supposedly escaped and survived the executions.

Before I go on, I have to tell you something— this blog post is going to get kind of dark. So, to help, I’m going to put some photos of kittens here and there. If things are getting too dark for you, look at the kittens, okay?

Okay. Here we go.

Who was Anastasia?

Anastasia was the youngest of the Romanov sisters— her brother, Alexei, was the youngest over all. She was a pretty delightful and mischievous kid— one of the family doctors said she “held the record for punishable deeds in the family”. She played outdoors, liked acting, and was especially close to the other younger sister, Maria, who she shared a room with. When she grew older, she would visit the Red Cross hospital and play checkers with wounded soldiers and occasionally write poetry. Simply put, she was pretty cool. I think you would have liked her.

(Anastasia and her siblings)

What happened to her?

The entire Romanov family was executed in Ekaterinberg by a group of Reds who’d had them under various forms of house arrest for over a year. The execution was brutal— I won’t go into detail, but know that I cried over it several times while researching TSARINA. Actually, if I think about it too hard, I still cry over it.

Why do so many people think she survived the execution?

When the bodies of the Romanov family were excavated in 1991, they’d been exposed to the elements so long they were skeletonized. Through DNA and skeletal analysis, they were able to sort out who the Tsar and Tsarina were, as well as the handful of servants that had been executed with them. They also were able to identify Olga and Tatiana, the oldest two Romanov sisters, and then a third skeleton, which they believed to be Maria.

And then they were out of skeletons. Anastasia and Alexei weren’t there.

Actually, it could have been Maria and Alexei that were missing— the Russian scientists said that Anastasia was that third found skeleton, and it was Maria who was unaccounted for, while the American scientists working the case said it the third found skeleton was Maria and Anastasia was the missing daughter. Maria and Anastasia were similar in size and, obviously, would have the same mitochondria DNA since they had the same parents, so it was impossible to tell for sure. For the sake of this post, let’s assume Anastasia was the missing daughter.

So, doesn’t that mean it’s possible she and Alexei survived?

It never was particularly likely, seeing as how the soldiers who were there that night insisted that everyone was killed. I mean, why kill the servants and the dogs (seriously— they killed the family’s dogs) if you’re just going to let a legitimate heir to the throne survive?

But, the whole matter was put to bed in 2007, when two final skeletons were found in the forest near Ekaterinberg. These skeletons were in really bad shape. While the other skeletons had been burned and buried, these had been cut up, smashed, and appeared to have acid damage. The theory is that the Reds didn’t want anyone to know that the royal family was dead— at least not right away— so they wanted to do a really, really good job of hiding the bodies. Because Anastasia and Alexei were the smallest…

(you’re going to need a kitten for this)

…the Reds used their bodies to test out various disposal techniques— like dissolving them in acid, burning them, throwing them down a well, etc. When that didn’t work, they decided it was easiest to just bury the rest of the family and leave Anastasia and Alexei’s bodies elsewhere. They were hoping that anyone who found the bodies would assume these were just regular-old-graves, since the number of bodies wouldn’t match the number of missing Romanovs.

I heard some lady says she’s the real Anastasia.

Yeah, that lady is lying. Or maybe she’s just confused. I don’t know. Over the years, dozens of people have claimed to be Anastasia. Some have even claimed to be Maria, Tatiana, or Olga, and a few men have insisted that they’re Alexei. I would love it if that were true, but it’s not. DNA proves that the entire Romanov family is accounted for, now. Even if we can’t be totally sure whether it was Maria or Anastasia temporarily lost with Alexei, we now have seven bodies to match with seven family members.

Where is Anastasia now?

Before Anastasia and Alexei’s bodies were found, Russia held a state funeral for the other Romanovs, and interred them in the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. You can see video from the funeral services here:

When Anastasia and Alexei were found, their bodies were interred alongside the rest of their family. They’re all together now in the St. Catherine chapel of the Cathedral.

Here is something that I think you should remember though: The most interesting thing about Anastasia isn’t the theory that she might have survived. The most interesting thing about Anastasia is that, really, she wasn’t that interesting. She was just like you, or me, or any other teenager. She happened to be royalty, sure, but she also loved her siblings, was a bad speller, ate too much chocolate, and had a purple bedroom with butterflies on the walls.

So, instead of remembering what didn’t happen— her escape— maybe we can remember the things that did happen, and the Romanov family as they really were: People.

People with kittens, in fact:

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

In TSARINA, Natalya is on a quest to find a magical Faberge egg. The egg was enchanted by Rasputin for the Romanov family— with it, the Romanovs will always control Russia. The egg also keeps the Romanovs healthy, cures them when they’re sick, binds them to the land…it’s why Alexei Romanov’s hemophilia is no longer a problem, why it snows when the Tsar wants it to, and why wild elk happily eat from the Romanov sisters’ hands.

The magic may not be real, but Faberge eggs are. Here’s some knowledge about them:

1) A lot of people think any sparkly, bejeweled egg is a Faberge egg but…not so much. The term “Faberge egg” only applies to a very specific group of eggs made by the Faberge company between 1885 and 1917.

2) The eggs were commissioned as Easter gifts. The tradition began when Alexander III had the Hen Egg commissioned for his wife, Maria Feodorvna. She loved the egg so much that Alexander began commissioning them for her every Easter.

3) Each egg had a surprise inside. For example, the Moscow Kremlin Egg is a music box:

The Catherine The Great Egg has a mechanical sedan chair inside, with a little figure of Catherine the Great on it. The super cool chair has, sadly, been lost, but at least we still have the Egg itself….

[image error]

And the Standard Yacht Egg has a freaking boat in it:

4) After Alexander III died, his son, Nicholas II (the last Tsar— Alexei’s father) began commissioning the eggs both for his mother and his wife, Alexandra.

5) Only 57 of these eggs are left of the 65 that were originally made. The eight “missing eggs” were either lost, stolen, or misplaced over time. If you see one, call me?

6) Of those 65 eggs, only 52 were made for the Romanov family. Once other nobles saw how awesome the eggs were, they began commissioning their own. Very few could afford them, but the Rothschild family had a few, as did an industrialist named Kelch and the Duchess of Marlborough.

7) The eggs typically had something to do with the Romanov family. For example. in 1915, the egg for the Tsarina was Red Cross themed, since she and her daughters were volunteering with the Red Cross as nurses:

8) Despite the royal family’s reputation for unapologetic opulence, they actually didn’t commission any eggs at all in 1904 and 1905, since Russia was in the middle of the Russo-Japanese war and they thought it would be in poor taste to spend so much on luxuries. They also had some eggs made of less expensive materials during World War 1— for example, the Steel Military Egg:

9) Stalin, everyone’s favorite guy (much sarcasm there) sold a lot of the eggs in 1927 to try and raise money for the government, which is why all the remaining eggs are sort of spread out all over the world. Many are even owned by private (and very wealthy) collectors.

The Pelican Egg, for example, is in Virginia:

The Gatchina Palace Egg (one of my favorites!) is in Maryland:

The Diamond Palace Egg, which is in a private collection:

The Basket of Wild Flowers Egg belongs to the Queen of England these days:

Zero of the eggs are in my living room. Which, I know, my house is no place for a rare Faberge egg.

But still. I wish it was.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

In TSARINA, Rasputin is a major character— even though he never actually appears on screen. Rasputin is the one who created the Faberge egg that Natalya is so desperate to find. He’s one of those historical figures who, even in his lifetime, was something of an enigma. I mean, look at him. Does this look like someone you want in your house?

No. If you spy this man through the peephole on your door, lock it and then arm yourself with whatever is convenient.

And yet, the Tsar and Tsarina, the most powerful people in Russia, allowed him full access to their home and children. How did he do it? Was he really a mystic? A prophet? A holy man? Or was he just a crazy drunk?

Let’s think on this together.

Rasputin was born in Siberia. He had a pretty rough childhood (Siberia isn’t exactly the easiest place to live)— he never had a formal education, and his siblings, Maria and Dmitri, both died when he was young (Dmitri’s death was especially hard on Rasputin— Dmitri fell through some ice into a river. Rasputin saved him from drowning, but Dmitri later died of pneumonia). He was always sort of the weird kid— he shook and sometimes spoke strangely— but he wound up getting married and having three children of his home (two of whom he named after his lost brother and sister).

On day, Rasputin sort of just wandered away from home, leaving his wife and children behind. He trekked around for a while, sort of sampling different religious places and people and things, not so much in a scholarly way, but kind of in a vagrant way. Somewhere in the midst of all this wandering, he managed to get a reputation for being a religious healer.

The Tsarina, Alexandra, heard about Rasputin through some friends— a holy man who had the power to heal. Her son and the heir to the Russian throne, Alexei, had hemophilia, and was a very, very sick kid— he would get a bruise and nearly die on a pretty regular basis. The Tsarina was desperate to help Alexei, so she called up Rasputin.

Rasputin looked like a creeper. Let’s just admit it. He had those freaky eyes, and he drank a lot, and he smelled, and he had no real sense of personal boundaries. But the Tsarina really, really wanted this whole healing-the-tsarevich thing to work out, so she looked past all that, and convinced her husband to as well. She invited Rasputin into the Winter Palace to heal her son.

And you know, it actually seemed to work! Alexei did improve when Rasputin was around. There’s a lot of speculation as to why this is— some people think he hypnotized the boy, others think it was divine intervention…what it probably was, however, is that doctors at the time were really big on giving Alexei aspirin. Aspirin was new and fancy at the time, but it’s also a blood thinner. Giving someone with a bleeding disorder a blood thinner? Not such a great idea. So, when Rasputin would tell the doctors to get out and leave Alexei alone, it would actually give Alexei time to get the aspirin out of his system, relax, and heal.

(Rasputin, a drunk vagrant, hanging out with the heir to Russia, LIKE YOU DO.)

Rasputin was so successful that the Romanovs put him up in an place in St. Petersburg so he could stay close by. Eventually his daughter, Maria, came to live with him there. That sounds sweet of Rasputin— bringing his daughter to St. Petersburg to live the good life— until you hear about his…um…pastime.

Rasputin believed that sin was kind of like a poison inside you, and that you had to get it out. The only way to get the sin out was by committing sin. So…he had to get all the sin out by sleeping with the women of St. Petersburg and drinking vodka till he passed out. He didn’t want to! But he had to! To get the sin out!

(If you’re thinking that Rasputin might have been a little delusional, you’re not the only one.)

(If you’re thinking Maria Rasputin probably needed more than a little therapy, you’re not the only one.)

Given his love of getting all that sin out, it makes sense that a lot of the Russian public suspected that Rasputin was also getting freak with the Tsarina— after all, they were alone together an awful lot. There were even rumors that he was seducing the Grand Duchesses. However, there’s actually no evidence to support he was ever sexually involved with members of the royal family. The rumor alone was enough to make Rasputin pretty hated though, and the idea that the Tsarina of Russia was hooking up with a drunk womanizing mystic didn’t really help the Romanov’s reputation either. When Rasputin started giving political advice to the Tsarina while the Tsar was out of town, a group of nobles decided they’d had enough. Rasputin had to get dead, fast.

A noble named Felix Yusupov— who was super interesting in his own right, so Google him— helped plan the whole thing. They lured Rasputin out of his house by telling him there was a really awesome party going on down the street, full of booze and Yusupov’s super hot wife. Being a fan of the booze and super hot wives, Rasputin followed (some stories say his daughter, Maria, suspected something was up and begged him not to go). At Yusupov’s house, Rasputin was first poisoned with cyanide. After a few hours, though, he was still alive, so they decided to get hardcore with this murder and shot him. He collapsed, and when they went to inspect his body, he leapt up and fought them off and ran out the door. They shot him a few more times, then Yusupov clubbed him for good measure. Then they chained up his body and threw him into the river.

They really wanted him dead.

Supposedly, when Rasputin’s body was finally recovered? His cause of death was drowning.

Now, to be entirely honest— there’s lots of evidence that the story of Rasputin’s death, which was largely told by Yusupov, has been exaggerated. Modern science suggests it was actually one of the gunshots that killed him, and there’s even some speculation that an undercover British intelligence officer was the one who actually made the kill shot, since the Brits weren’t big fans of Rasputin either.

Here’s the thing though— few figures have managed to be as legendary as Rasputin. Is he a villain? A hero? Crazy? Mystical?

Yes. Yes, to all of the above.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

I won’t lie—I adore that animated Anastasia movie from the 90s. It’s got wonderful music, a lovely story, the animal sidekick is a Russian bat…what more could you want?

Here’s the downside to a movie like that though—people think that movie represents what really happened. I mean, sure, they know that the magic bits were probably fake, but they assume Anastasia really did escape, that Rasputin really was the bad guy, and that the talking Russian bat was…well. I don’t know what they think about the talking Russian bat. Either way, they take the animated movie as truth rather than a fictionalization of history.

Of course, TSARINA is also a fictionalization of history too, so don’t think I’m judging—but I am pretty proud of the fact that, magic aside, the book is rather historically accurate, even down to the street names. I admit, though, that there aren’t any Russian bats in my book. For this, I am sorry.

Anyway– in the author’s note in TSARINA I explain what history I modified and what history I stuck to. I thought for this post, it’d be fun to break down what history the Anastasia movie modified, and what bits are true.

Let’s break down the movie piece by piece, shall we?










In the movie:

Anastasia and her family are run out of the Winter Palace during the February revolution. Anastasia is about 8 years old, give or take. They flee for their lives! They run to the train station! Anastasia is accidentally lost in the chaos!

In reality:

Anastasia and her family were long, long out of the Winter Palace by the time the February revolution happened. Because the political climate in St. Petersburg had gotten so bad, they were living just outside of the city, in another residence called the Alexander Palace. Anastasia was actually about 16 at the time. The family was put under house arrest at the Alexander Palace, and eventually were moved across the country along with a handful of servants.

[image error]

Movie Anastasia at the time of the Revolution

Real Anastasia at the time of the Revolution (She’s on the far right. Okay, I know it’s not the most flattering photo of her, but they’d been captured and were living in Siberia, so cut her a break?)










In the movie:

Anastasia returns to St. Petersburg when she’s about 18, with a dog and a head full of amnesia. The rest of the royal family has been executed, but the rumor in St. Petersburg (delightfully explained via a musical number) is that Anastasia survived the execution.

In reality:

I’m sad to say, Anastasia did not survive the execution of her family. Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and their children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei all died. They were executed in a basement in Ekaterinberg, after having been imprisoned by the Reds for about a year. It was a brutal execution, and one that, quite honestly, I have to work very hard not to dwell on. For a long time there was speculation that Anastasia (or Maria) and Alexei survived, because their bodies were not recovered with the others. However, many years later, their bones were found and DNA confirmed that all of the Romanovs are accounted for.










In the movie:

A young man named Dmitri is holding auditions at the Winter Palace, looking for someone to play Anastasia so that he can collect the reward her grandmother— who survived the revolution by fleeing to Paris early— is offering.

In reality:

Basically, all of the “real” bits are in this section:

1) Anastasia’s grandmother, Maria Feodorova, did survive the revolution and desperately, desperately wanted to believe that her children and grandchildren did as well. She wasn’t living in Paris, though— she was in London.

2) There was, in fact, a man who defrauded noble families with impostors he tried to pass off as the grand duchesses. He wasn’t handsome, and he wasn’t named Dmitri— he was named Boris, and he was actually the husband of Maria Rasputin, who was Grigori Rasputin’s daughter.

3) The movie’s depictions of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg are pretty accurate.

And…that’s it for the real stuff, guys. There are some scenes here and there that include some real stuff (like, for example, the tiny clip where a lady is walking cheetahs? That’s supposed to be Luisa Casati), but as far as the Romanovs go…these three are the only biggies.

The Alexander Ballroom in the movie.

The Alexander Ballroom in real life (restored).










In the movie:

Rasputin sings the best villain song ever, after Poor Unfortunate Souls (which, obviously, is the number one villain song of all time). Rasputin has cursed the Romanov family because they betrayed him and threw him out of Russian court. His curse made each of them pay! But one little girl got away! Little Anya beware, Rasputin’s AWAKE!

In reality:

Rasputin sort of fueled the Russian revolution, but saying that he was directly responsible for the Romanov’s fate is a pretty huge stretch. Rasputin came into the Romanov’s lives because he was a “holy man” who the Tsarina believed could cure Alexei’s hemophilia. Was he holy? I don’t know. He was definitely a pretty strange guy, though. He was allowed access to the royal family that a lot of nobles were very uncomfortable with— especially since he was a drunk womanizer who didn’t bathe. Eventually, a group of nobles coaxed Rasputin out of his house, and murdered him, because his creep level had just gotten way too high. The royal family never betrayed him, and they continued to secretly love and miss him after he was gone.










In the movie:

Bartok

In reality:

Zero Bartoks

Here’s the thing though— if the Anastasia movie, no matter how inaccurate, makes people interested in Russian history? Makes them turn to Google and read up? Then it’s AWESOME. It’s sort of like a My First History lesson, which eases you into the whole thing by way of catchy songs and a charming love story. Plus, the songs, guys. HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE THE SONGS?

Yep. This movie rocks.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

This is a blog post from my TSARINA blog tour. It originally appeared on Birth Of A New Witch.

There’s a scene in TSARINA where Natalya sort of accidentally calls a wild Russian elk to her using the powers she’s inherited via the Romanov family’s magical Faberge egg. Sadly, I do not actually own a magical Faberge egg, and I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you don’t either. So, here are some ways to call an elk to you if you don’t have Faberge egg powers.

1. Use the Primos Hoochie Mama Cow Elk Call

This is a real item. I am not entirely sure why it is a Hoochie Mama Cow Elk Call, but I think it’s important that you’re prepared for the possibility that the female elk may arrive in short shorts and a crop top.

Oh, wait— I’m sorry. This call is apparently to attract male elk, so perhaps it is you, dear elk seeker, who will need to be wearing the short shorts, since you certainly don’t want to let the male elk down, especially since he could have come from “as far as 400 yards away.”

Additionally, this call works by sounding like a female elk in estrus, and/or seeking her lost calf. I’m not going to lie— I question the authenticity of a male elk who comes running looking for sexytimes upon hearing a mother calf crying for her lost child. That doesn’t seem like the sort of male elk you should be attracting. You’re better than that, elk seeker.

2. Molasses + Rock Salt

A website I found suggests leaving these strewn about— that the two together are an “elk sundae.” Another site suggests stewing marshmallows about. I’d like to suggest combining the two into the Ultimate Elk Sundae. I’d also like to suggest you putting them on the lawn of Megan Furr, my arch-nemises from middle school. I don’t have her current address, but I’ll look it up while you go pick up the molasses.

This is going to be a lot of fun, guys.

3. Find some elk urine and roll in it

This is a suggestion from an elk hunting board. To quote, “I never pass by a fresh urine mark without rubbing a little on me.” I want to make sure you all understand that this means, right now, there is likely a man walking around a forest, looking for some pee to roll in.

(I understand that this is a valid and ancient hunting technique, but I hope you hunters can also understand that it is disgusting.)

You can also buy bottles of elk pee or wafers of elk pee, and they will ship them right to your door the exact same way you receive packages and Christmas presents. These bottles are, like the Hoochie Mama Cow Elk Call, “sexual attractants”, though one bottle is also labeled ELK FIRE, which I would think would send mixed messages to the male elk. Anyway, you can order it for $7.97, and I now have another idea for when I figure out Megan Furr’s current address.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

So, some of you have noticed that I don’t update my blog as often as I once did. And I haven’t loaded a new video in quite a few months.

I appreciate the emails I’ve gotten– some that are genuinely concerned about me, and some that are very nicely asking for new content. I’m seriously very touched that people miss the videos, the posts, etc. It makes me feel special and warm and fuzzy and other positive things.

However, I haven’t really been absent from the internet! I’m actually super active over on Twitter (@JacksonPearce). But, I know, twitter is not the same thing as blog posts or videos. Here is an explanation:

I started doing videos before AS YOU WISH released. They were a way to promote the book, but moreover, they were fun. I got more and more into them as SISTERS RED, SWEETLY, and PURITY came out. I really enjoyed the YouTube community and the level of reader interaction videos entailed. I also really liked that videos allowed me to be more personable with readers, and talk about a wide range of topics. I know plenty of fans found me via my videos, not from my books, and I absolutely adored going to events and hearing how people enjoyed the YouTube channel. Since most of my energy was going into YouTube, I let my written blog slide entirely, since I just wasn’t able to generate enough content to do both.

But…as time went on, I began to get a little frustrated with YouTube. I was making so, so, so many videos– sometimes even one every day. I had/have over 13k subscribers! And yet…I’ve never sold 13k books on release day. I’ve never even sold 2k on release day– if I did, I would likely make the NYT bestseller list! And yet, if I didn’t upload a video for a month or so, I’d get emails complaining about the lack of content– emails from people who freely admitted they’d never read one of my books. Some of these emails were perfectly nice, but others were very demanding, and that upset me a bit. I felt a tad…betrayed? I was creating all this free content, spending lots and lots and lots of time on it, and then not only were viewers not buying or reading or checking out my books, but they always wanted more of the free stuff.

Making videos was beginning to feel like an obligation rather than something I did just for fun.

I don’t mean to imply that I think anyone owes my books a read just because they like my videos– if they’re not your thing, they’re not your thing, and that’s okay. I also know that most of the people who want new videos/blog entries aren’t trying to be demanding or mean about it– I know you’re just being really awesome, invested, and kind readers/fans! But as I stressed about making videos and writing books and finding the time to do both while still, you know, leaving my house occasionally, I realized something: I am a professional author. I am not a professional YouTuber/blogger.

YouTube and blogging are things I do just for fun– so sometimes, when I am working on a book or going on vacation or even just sitting in my underwear watching Cool Runnings on TBS (DON’T MOCK MY LOVE FOR JAMAICAN BOBSLEDDERS), I won’t be making videos or posting entries. It’s not that I don’t appreciate my readers or video fans, or that I don’t enjoy making videos…it’s just that every now and then, I need to step back and take a break. Sometimes that’ll be for a week. Sometimes that’ll be for longer. I’ll always come back to YouTube– because like I said, making videos is fun!– but I can’t allow videos or blogs to feel like a job. Not only does that make it very not fun, but it messes with my head, and clouds what my real job– which I adore– is: writing books.

So, in short: I promise I will make videos again, eventually, and I really, really, really appreciate the fact that you guys miss them. Until more YouTube happens, please come visit me on twitter? I promise we can hang out there and drink hot chocolate together and such things. You guys are the best.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

Guys. I just don’t even know what to say. Because this might be my favorite cover ever. I think? I don’t know. I’m just overwhelmed. My feels are just feeling so hard.

Isn’t it the best? It is. You can say it. I said it a whole bunch of times.

Just as a refresher, here’s my very informal summary– TSARINA is about a noble girl named Natalya living in the midst of the Russian Revolution. She’s in love with Alexei Romanov, who tells her all about a magical Faberge egg blessed by Rasputin himself– an egg that keeps the Romanov family in power. When the Romanov family is captured and the egg goes missing, Natalya must align with her closest friend, a girl named Emilia, and her greatest enemy, a Red boy named Leo, to find it and save Alexei’s life, his thrown, and her way of life.

There is magic and Russia and it is just the best. AND…you can preorder it. RIGHT NOW. I KNOW RIGHT?

CLICK HERE to preorder TSARINA because you’re awesome, and this is the sort of thing awesome people do.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

So.

I have some news.

I am pretty pumped.

No, I am really really pumped. I am making that EEEEEEEEEEEEE noise that balloons make when you pull the blowing-in part all straight across.

It is this:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.

Mirrored from JacksonPearce.com.