Review: QUEEN OF SOMEDAY, by Sherry Ficklin

Well, I'm back. We made it home last night, and I spent all day today sleeping and recovering from the drive. During the downtime in our short vacation, I managed to read QUEEN OF SOMEDAY, by Sherry Ficklin. Since it's still technically Wednesday, and therefore a blog post day, I'd like to offer up a review.

First, in the spirit of full disclosure, I received a free digital ARC from the author, for the purposes of honest review. 

Now, for the honest review:

Catherine the Great is not somebody I know very much about, so I can't evaluate the novel from a historical perspective, but the story was right up my alley. I devoured the book in just a few short hours, and I would happily both recommend it to friends and read it again myself. It had nearly everything I love: political intrigue and court struggles, false friendships, dangerous affairs, vicious power plays, and so much more. I found each character equally compelling from the beginning, and I found Sophie, the main character, very relatable. Her desires and struggles realistic and complex. In my opinion, she was the perfect balance of strong, independent person and young girl who still gets in over her head and needs help. She was strong without being unrealistically flawless, and I would gladly read about her exploits for days.

I feel I also must commend Sherry Ficklin on her novel's positive portrayal of sex as something that can be enjoyable for women, not just men. The sex is by no means the focus in QUEEN OF SOMEDAY, but when it is discussed, it is discussed tactfully and in a positive manner. That is definitely something I would love to see in more YA. Not only are there extremely positive portrayals of strong women, these women are portrayed as having real desires--sexual or otherwise--and are never reduced to hurtful tropes or stereotypes.

Overall, I found QUEEN OF SOMEDAY a great read. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories with political intrigue, historical glamour, and court life. I would also suggest QUEEN OF SOMEDAY to anyone who enjoys Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, but who would like something smaller in scope that is less violent and sexually explicit. Sophie may not have been vying for the Iron Throne, but her struggle is no less thrilling.

'Til next time,
J.