As a reader who doesn't usually read anything besides YA Fantasy, this was a little out of my comfort zone. However, this book was quite interesting and held my attention the whole way through.

"Tsarina" is about the rise to power of Marta, a humble girl who lived as a serf, to the Empress Catherine of Russia. Her life was rough - she started out as a bastard and her stepmother treated her poorly. Marta stood up for herself when a group of soldiers came up to her, and the captain came to her home afterwards and bought her. He took her to his home and raped her. This all set her on a path to meeting Tsar Peter, who fell in love with her and vice versa. She was pregnant 12 times with his children, however, only two survived past the age of 8 (neither of which were boys), multiple being stillborn, dying from fever, or dying right after birth. Peter "cheated" on her quite a lot - back then, it was not frowned upon, and was actually the social norm. However, when SHE had a lover, he was killed and his head was put into a glass jar on her nightstand.

Long story short, she had a long and heartbreaking life.

Anyways, it's pretty much a biography from first person POV, but not written by Catherine/ Marta. The author did state she took some creative liberties in the writing of it, but all is based on what little information we have regarding Catherine's life.

It really was an interesting story, and for a person who doesn't like reading this kind of book, I was thoroughly intrigued by "Tsarina".