Queen of Someday
By Sherry D. Ficklin
Before she can become Catherine The Great, fifteen-year-old Sophie will have to survive her social-climbing mother’s quest to put her on the throne of Russia—at any cost.
Imperial Court holds dangers like nothing Sophie has ever faced before. In the heart of St. Petersburg, surviving means navigating the political, romantic, and religious demands of the bitter Empress Elizabeth and her handsome, but sadistic nephew, Peter. Determined to save her impoverished family—and herself—Sophie vows to do whatever is necessary to thrive in her new surroundings. But an attempt on her life and an unexpected attraction threatens to derail her plans.
Alone in a new and dangerous world, learning who to trust and who to charm may mean the difference between becoming queen and being sent home in shame to marry her lecherous uncle. With traitors and murderers lurking around every corner, her very life hangs in the balance. Betrothed to one man but falling in love with another, Sophie will need to decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice in order to become the empress she is destined to be.
In a battle for the soul of a nation, will love or destiny reign supreme?
Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin won't be your average young adult book. No, this book will have something extra special within it. Queen of Someday will be enhanced with embedded videos throughout the story. These videos will give you behind the scenes looks into the life of Catherine the Great, as well as author commentary. Enhance your reading experience with this new enhanced young adult book! Enhanced e-books are fairly new, and Clean Teen Publishing is excited to be able to offer one to you!
*Please note that on many reading devices may not be able to show enhanced content. In this case, you will be able to follow a digital link that is embedded within the e-book to view each video online. Currently the best reading platform for enhanced e-books is iBooks. However, most Kindle and Nook devices will allow you to follow the link to our external secure website to view the bonus content. An internet connection is required for viewing.
GRAB YOUR COPY OF QUEEN OF SOMEDAY TODAY!
Release Day: October 7, 2014
Published by: Clean Teen Publishing
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Series: A Stolen Empire Series
Praise for Queen of Someday:
“UGH. This book was just too perfect. How will I ever come down from this book high?”
~Kalla (Goodreads reviewer)
“If I could rate this book more than five stars, I would. It was INCREDIBLE.”
~Kelli from Beautiful Book Chaos
“Woah. This book kicked ass.”
~Leanne Bell (Goodreads reviewer)
“I don’t when the next book will be out but I can guarantee it will be too long.”
~Michelle (Goodreads reviewer)
“(This) book is utterly brilliant.”
~Pearl from Bibliopearl Reviews
“Ficklin's writing is a marvel to read.”
~Sara from Smitten Over Books
“Queen of Someday is a bright new addition to the YA scene…”
~Bobbi (Goodreads Reviewer)
“…holy crap I loved that ending. It was perfect!”
~Eileen Lee of Book Captain Reviews
Today Sherry is stopping by to tell us about Catherine the Great!
The real history of Catherine the Great is both brutal and lovely. A poor but clever German princess is brought to Russia in a political ploy to win the hand of the future Tsar, who turns out to be a moron at best, a sociopath at worst, and secure a Russo-Prussian alliance. It’s Game of Thrones with teenagers. Who could resist?
When I read the brief overview of her story, I immediately grabbed her memoirs and devoured them. Catherine was strong, smart, and cunning while still being a good person, or at least that’s how she made herself sound. Historians were alternately praising her and vilifying her as a slut and other terrible things that powerful men often say to demean powerful women. Her life was a struggle between political demands and personal losses, a tragedy to be sure. But how bad could it have been if she eventually ended up as the Empress of Russia?
From her humble beginnings to her wedding to Peter the III, very little is written about those early years except to say that her mother was a social climber determined to see her daughter on the throne. She was also cruel, cold, and untrustworthy, in Catherine’s own words. But it has been suggested that the little information written about those years is corrupt, the work of an Empress re-writing history for her own political gain.
Color me intrigued. So I dug in, got as many books and reports as I could find, then having all the information available, I decided to do what I do best. Make something up.
Now historical fiction is tricky because there will always be those people who complain about accuracy or defend one or another theories of the time. That’s why I wrote the author’s note, as a disclaimer that this story was, while based in history, a wild flight of fancy on my part. Dates, places, and people were changed, combined, we written to suit my fictional narrative.
My goal was simple. I wanted to show how young Sophie became the Empress Catherine. I wanted to give plausible events that might have changed and shaped the girl into the woman she became and I hope, on that front at least, I succeeded. But I also wanted any reader, no matter how well they knew the real history or how much they typically enjoyed historical fiction, to be able to pick it up and not just connect with the story, but understand Sophie.
So I hope you will join me in this flight of fancy, this lovely what if, and I hope you will all enjoy it as much as I did.
Thanks for stopping by Sherry
Now for Crystal's review!
I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Being both a huge historical fiction and of Sherry Ficklin’s writing, I was stoked for the chance to read Queen of Someday. Thank you so much, Clean Teen Publishing, for the opportunity.
I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Being both a huge historical fiction and of Sherry Ficklin’s writing, I was stoked for the chance to read Queen of Someday. Thank you so much, Clean Teen Publishing, for the opportunity.
As always, I’ll try to keep this spoiler free:
Within the first few paragraphs of the book we’re thrown into action and get to see how are main character, Sophie (the young Catherine the Great), handles herself when her mother and her are attacked on their way to St. Petersburg. We immediately see that she’s smart, tough, and cunning. By the time help arrives, Sophie has it all under control. I liked her right away.
Sophie’s mother is determined for her to marry the Russian Empress’s nephew, Peter, and become the new Queen of Russia. The marriage would secure her own future, and save their impoverished family. Sophie readily accepts the task and vows to do whatever necessary to succeed. However, she does not expect the politics, mortal dangers, and heart pounding endeavors involved in winning, not only Peter’s affection, but most importantly, the Empress’s.
Forbidden romantic meetings orchestrated by poetic hidden notes, the arrival of a rival princess, an attempt on her life, and the startling affection she has for another man; Sophie finds herself feeling dangerously uncertain. Not knowing who she can trust, Sophie must choose between the love of two men, the Empress and her religion, and finally her duty to her a family and her heart.
Sherry has a great and easy writing style. It’s easy to get whisked away into the worlds she paints. I read this book in a single afternoon, and it left me both satisfied and wanting more. Looking forward to the next one!
Being both a huge historical fiction and of Sherry Ficklin’s writing, I was stoked for the chance to read Queen of Someday. Thank you so much, Clean Teen Publishing, for the opportunity.
I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Being both a huge historical fiction and of Sherry Ficklin’s writing, I was stoked for the chance to read Queen of Someday. Thank you so much, Clean Teen Publishing, for the opportunity.
As always, I’ll try to keep this spoiler free:
Within the first few paragraphs of the book we’re thrown into action and get to see how are main character, Sophie (the young Catherine the Great), handles herself when her mother and her are attacked on their way to St. Petersburg. We immediately see that she’s smart, tough, and cunning. By the time help arrives, Sophie has it all under control. I liked her right away.
Sophie’s mother is determined for her to marry the Russian Empress’s nephew, Peter, and become the new Queen of Russia. The marriage would secure her own future, and save their impoverished family. Sophie readily accepts the task and vows to do whatever necessary to succeed. However, she does not expect the politics, mortal dangers, and heart pounding endeavors involved in winning, not only Peter’s affection, but most importantly, the Empress’s.
Forbidden romantic meetings orchestrated by poetic hidden notes, the arrival of a rival princess, an attempt on her life, and the startling affection she has for another man; Sophie finds herself feeling dangerously uncertain. Not knowing who she can trust, Sophie must choose between the love of two men, the Empress and her religion, and finally her duty to her a family and her heart.
Sherry has a great and easy writing style. It’s easy to get whisked away into the worlds she paints. I read this book in a single afternoon, and it left me both satisfied and wanting more. Looking forward to the next one!
Be sure to enter the giveaway!
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
The true story of Catherine the Great is one fraught with betrayal, intrigue, and romance. While a good deal of my story is drawn from actual people and events, I have been very liberal in the rearrangement of dates, events, and places. Whenever possible I took my cues from her own words, intermixing my own thoughts and ideas. My thought upon the creation of the book was simple. I looked at the woman she was when she claimed the crown and then wondered, how did an innocent girl from Germany become such a force of nature? Most people aren’t born cold or ambitious, but have circumstances that forge them into those people. And that was the story I wanted to tell in this book. I wanted to see the events in her early life that would have changed her into the person she became, and not knowing the truth of that story, I simply made something up. That is what we, as writers, do best.
If you are curious about the real history behind Catherine, I suggest heading to your local library and doing a bit of research. This is not meant to be a historically accurate representation, but a flight of fancy, one that I hope you, dear reader, will enjoy as much as I have.
WATCH THE OFFICIAL BOOK TRAILER:
ABOUT SHERRY D. FICKLIN
Sherry D. Ficklin is a full time writer from Colorado where she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens and house guests. A former military brat, she loves to travel and meet new people. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she’s on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is only seen in blurry photographs.
She is the author of The Gods of Fate Trilogy now available from Dragonfly Publishing. Her previously self-published novel After Burn: Military Brats has been acquired by Harlequin and will be released in 2015 with a second book in that series to follow. Her newest YA steampunk novel, EXTRACTED: The Lost Imperials book 1, co-written with Tyler H. Jolley is now available everywhere books are sold and her newest YA novel, Losing Logan, is due for release in 2014 from Clean Teen Publishing.
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