BLOG TOUR: The Empress Chronicles

Hello everyone! Today I have the privilege of participating in a blog tour with a bunch of other bloggers, for a really cool book that came out recently, The Empress Chronicles, by Suzy Vitello. Without further ado, here we go!

     Liz was sent to live with her father and his new hippie girlfriend on their tiny farm. Her mom was hoping it would help her. In other words, this is Liz's worst nightmare. She has severe OCD. The thought of all the germs running rampant on that farm petrifies her. Liz has to learn to cope though, so she doesn't have a repeat of the painful incident that sent her there in the first place...
     150 years earlier, duchess Sisi of Austria is having her own problems. The Emperor is supposed to marry her older sister. And Sisi has fallen hopelessly for the mysterious Count S. When the cunning and deceptive Lola Montez gets involved, everything goes wrong. The thing Sisi really needs id a do over, but that's impossible right?
     When present day Liz find an old diary, and an ancient locket, these two characters will meet in a seemingly impossible way. 150 years ago, these two items held a curious sort of magic. Could it still be alive today? Liz's life-and therefore Sisi's- changes forever when she discovers that she has the power to rewrite history... And maybe give the young Empress a second chance, to get away.

This book is a historical fiction/magical realism/coming of age book. And somehow, the author managed to make it all work! The history buffs will be pleasantly surprised to see just how historically accurate this book is (I know I was!). Having known next to nothing about Empress Sisi before reading this book, I did some research when I finished and discovered that most of the details, except for the magic part of course, were totally correct! This made me very happy. Liz and Sisi are both very similar, in that they both had some of the same issues. Sisi was known for being exceptionally thin, and pretty much anorexic. And Liz, couldn't stand the thought of the germs that could be in her food, so she struggled with that as well. I thought Liz's OCD/annorexia provided a very interesting character, that we don't often see, especially in YA. And usually, with books that have dual point of views, it can be hard to tell one voice from the other. But I'm happy to say that this book didn't have this problem at all! Liz and Sisi's voices were always easy to distinguish, and each had their own tone, which I loved. This book was very well written, and very well researched, which are two thumbs up for me! I really liked this book, and plan on buying my own copy soon! 4 out of 5 noodles, and I cant wait for the rest of the series!