AJRyan: /* Books */

2026-06-29T04:34:15Z

Books

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	\| ''[[Convincing Alex]]'' \|\| 1994 \|\| [[Alex Stanislaski]] and Bess McNee \|\| Book 4; Alex mistakenly arrests soap-opera writer Bess		\| ''[[Convincing Alex]]'' \|\| 1994 \|\| [[Alex Stanislaski]] and Bess McNee \|\| Book 4; Alex mistakenly arrests soap-opera writer Bess
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	\| ''Waiting for Nick'' \|\| 1997 \|\| [[Nick LeBeck]] and [[Frederica Kimball\|Freddie Kimball]] \|\| Book 5; Nick and Freddie visit the O'Hurley family in this book		\| ''[[Waiting for Nick]]'' \|\| 1997 \|\| [[Nick LeBeck]] and [[Frederica Kimball\|Freddie Kimball]] \|\| Book 5; Nick and Freddie visit the O'Hurley family in this book
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	\| ''[[Considering Kate]]'' \|\| 2001 \|\| [[Kate Stanislaski Kimball]] and Brody O'Connell \|\| Book 6; the next-generation closer, set a generation after the first five books		\| ''[[Considering Kate]]'' \|\| 2001 \|\| [[Kate Stanislaski Kimball]] and Brody O'Connell \|\| Book 6; the next-generation closer, set a generation after the first five books

AJRyan: Created page with "'''The Stanislaskis''' (also marketed as ''Those Wild Ukrainians'') is a six-book contemporary romance series by Nora Roberts centered on the children of Yuri Stanislaski and Nadia Stanislaski, a family of Ukrainian immigrants making a life in Brooklyn, New York. Each novel follows one member of the close, loud, fiercely loving Stanislaski family — and, in the final book, a member of the next generation — as they find love against the backdrop of the fami..."

2026-06-29T04:02:09Z

Created page with "'''The Stanislaskis''' (also marketed as ''Those Wild Ukrainians'') is a six-book contemporary romance series by Nora Roberts centered on the children of Yuri Stanislaski and Nadia Stanislaski, a family of Ukrainian immigrants making a life in Brooklyn, New York. Each novel follows one member of the close, loud, fiercely loving Stanislaski family — and, in the final book, a member of the next generation — as they find love against the backdrop of the fami..."

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'''The Stanislaskis''' (also marketed as ''Those Wild Ukrainians'') is a six-book contemporary romance series by [[Nora Roberts]] centered on the children of [[Yuri Stanislaski]] and [[Nadia Stanislaski]], a family of Ukrainian immigrants making a life in Brooklyn, New York. Each novel follows one member of the close, loud, fiercely loving Stanislaski family — and, in the final book, a member of the next generation — as they find love against the backdrop of the family's working-class New York roots and irrepressible group meddling.

The series began in 1990 and concluded in 2001, spanning eleven years of publication and following the family across two generations.

== Overview ==

The first four novels each spotlight one of Yuri and Nadia's grown children: [[Natasha Stanislaski|Natasha]], the eldest, a former ballerina who has sworn off love; [[Mikhail Stanislaski|Mikhail]], the eldest son, a gifted carpenter and sculptor; [[Rachel Stanislaski|Rachel]], a sharp-tongued young public defender; and [[Alex Stanislaski|Alex]], a tough NYPD detective. A fifth book, ''Waiting for Nick'', turns to [[Nick LeBeck]], informally adopted into the family as a teenager, and his lifelong love for family friend [[Frederica Kimball|Frederica "Freddie" Kimball]]. The sixth and final book, ''Considering Kate'', closes out the series a generation later with [[Kate Stanislaski Kimball|Kate]], Natasha's daughter.

Across all six books, the Stanislaski parents — bull-voiced, big-hearted Yuri and warm, formidable Nadia — anchor the family's Brooklyn brownstone, and the extended Stanislaski clan (aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and a constantly multiplying crowd of grandchildren) provides both comic relief and a soft place to land for every couple in the series.

== Books ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Title !! Year !! Focus Character(s) !! Notes
|-
| ''[[Taming Natasha]]'' || 1990 || [[Natasha Stanislaski]] and Spencer "Spence" Kimball || Book 1; Natasha owns a Manhattan toy store
|-
| ''[[Luring a Lady]]'' || 1991 || [[Mikhail Stanislaski]] and Sydney Hayward || Book 2; Mikhail is Sydney's tenant and a carpenter/sculptor
|-
| ''[[Falling for Rachel]]'' || 1993 || [[Rachel Stanislaski]] and Zackary "Zack" Muldoon || Book 3; Rachel is assigned as Nick LeBeck's public defender
|-
| ''[[Convincing Alex]]'' || 1994 || [[Alex Stanislaski]] and Bess McNee || Book 4; Alex mistakenly arrests soap-opera writer Bess
|-
| ''Waiting for Nick'' || 1997 || [[Nick LeBeck]] and [[Frederica Kimball|Freddie Kimball]] || Book 5; Nick and Freddie visit the O'Hurley family in this book
|-
| ''[[Considering Kate]]'' || 2001 || [[Kate Stanislaski Kimball]] and Brody O'Connell || Book 6; the next-generation closer, set a generation after the first five books
|}

The series has also been reprinted in omnibus form, including ''The Stanislaski Sisters'' (''Taming Natasha'' / ''Falling for Rachel'') and ''The Stanislaski Brothers'' (''Luring a Lady'' / ''Convincing Alex'').

== Setting ==

The Stanislaskis is set primarily in and around New York City, with the family's crowded, music- and food-filled Brooklyn brownstone serving as the emotional center of the series. Individual books branch out into other corners of the city reflecting each sibling's professional life: Natasha's toy store in a bustling Manhattan shopping district, Mikhail's gritty downtown carpentry studio, Rachel's courtrooms and public defender's office, and Alex's precinct house. ''Considering Kate'' returns to Brooklyn, where Kate buys a dilapidated building to open a dance school, with Brody O'Connell hired as her contractor.

== The Stanislaski Family ==
''Main article: [[Stanislaski Family]]''

At the center of the series are [[Yuri Stanislaski]] and [[Nadia Stanislaski]], who fled the Ukraine with their two eldest children, made their way through Hungary and Austria, and eventually settled in Brooklyn, New York, where Yuri found work as a carpenter and Nadia raised the family. Their four children — Natasha, Mikhail, Alex, and Rachel — and their found-family fifth child, Nick, each anchor one novel; by ''Considering Kate'', the family has grown to include a sprawling second generation of grandchildren.

=== First Generation ===
* [[Yuri Stanislaski]]
* [[Nadia Stanislaski]]

=== Their Children ===
* [[Natasha Stanislaski]]
* [[Mikhail Stanislaski]]
* [[Alex Stanislaski]]
* [[Rachel Stanislaski]]
* [[Nick LeBeck]] (informally adopted into the family)

=== Extended Family ===
By the time of ''Considering Kate'', the Stanislaski family has expanded to include spouses, a full generation of grandchildren, and step- and in-law connections — among them Natasha's husband Spence Kimball and stepdaughter Freddie, Mikhail's wife Sydney Hayward, Rachel's husband Zack Muldoon, Alex's wife Bess McNee, and Nick and Freddie's daughter Kelsey. The "sheer number of Stanislaskis," as one in-law observes, makes the family nearly impossible for an outsider to keep straight.

== Themes ==

Recurring themes throughout the series include:
* The immigrant experience and the building of a new life in America
* Family loyalty, noise, and constant, loving interference
* Class and lifestyle contrasts between working-class Brooklyn and the wealthier or more buttoned-up worlds of several love interests (Sydney Hayward's corporate inheritance, Bess McNee's show-business career)
* Found family and informal adoption, embodied by Nick LeBeck's place in the family
* Coming home, both literally (Kate's return to Brooklyn in the final book) and emotionally

== Legacy ==

The Stanislaskis is among Nora Roberts' best-known family-centered category romance series, notable for its grounded, working-class setting and its use of a single sprawling family unit to anchor otherwise standalone romances — a structural approach Roberts would return to in later sagas. The series is sometimes referred to by readers and booksellers as ''Those Wild Ukrainians''.

== See Also ==
* [[Stanislaski Family]]
* [[Yuri Stanislaski]]
* [[Nadia Stanislaski]]
* [[Natasha Stanislaski]]
* [[Mikhail Stanislaski]]
* [[Rachel Stanislaski]]
* [[Alex Stanislaski]]
* [[Nick LeBeck]]
* [[Kate Stanislaski Kimball]]

[[Category:Series]]
[[Category:Stanislaskis]]

The Stanislaskis - Revision history

AJRyan: /* Books */