Romeo Redeemed by Stacey Jay

***1/2

 

From Random House:

Cursed to live out eternity in his rotted corpse, Romeo, known for his ruthless, cutthroat ways, is given the chance to redeem himself by traveling back in time to save the life of Ariel Dragland. Unbeknownst to her, Ariel is important to both the evil Mercenaries and the love-promoting Ambassadors and holds the fate of the world in her hands. Romeo must win her heart and make her believe in love, turning her away from her darker potential before his work is discovered by the Mercenaries. While his seduction begins as yet another lie, it soon becomes his only truth. Romeo vows to protect Ariel from harm, and do whatever it takes to win her heart and soul. But when Ariel is led to believe his love is a deception, she becomes vulnerable to Mercenary manipulation, and her own inner darkness may ultimately rip them apart.

The first in the series, Juliet Immortal, was one of my favorite books of last year.  You can read the review here.  Romeo Redeemed picks up where Juliet Immortal left off and without getting into spoilery territory, Romeo’s soul has been returned to his original body, a rotted, disgusting corpse that has been decomposing for centuries.  He is approached by an Ambassador of Light and given the chance to redeem himself – accomplish his task and his soul will be sent to the peaceful “mist” until he is needed again.  Fail and his soul will be returned to his corpse until it rots away and then his soul will remain tethered to this world, lost and tormented. 

His task is to make Ariel fall in love with him, to show her the power of love and light.  We met Ariel in Juliet Immortal and she is teetering on the edge of dark and light.  A girl with burn scars over half her body and episodes that make epilepsy look like a walk in the park, Ariel has always been ostracized from her classmates, mistreated and labeled a freak.  Not to mention that the body Romeo’s soul is sent to inhabit has just been busted trying to hook up with Ariel to win a $500 bet.  All this will make Romeo’s task nearly impossible.

For me, Romeo Redeemed is a story about the atrocities people will commit in the name of love and light and the lengths people will go to when they lose their way.  That even those who fight for good can lose sight of what’s really important in the name of the “greater good.”  Juliet Immortal was more about self-discovery and learning to forgive yourself and those who have hurt you.  Both journeys and stories are important, but I found Juliet Immortal to be more moving.  I also had no expectations of liking Juliet Immortal, but after being blown away by it, I definitely had expectations going into Romeo Redeemed.  Both books are exceptionally well written and captivating and I highly recommend both.  I am hopeful that we will see at least one more in the series. 

~Shel

P.S.  Kudos to whomever chose the covers for this series - they are both beautiful!

The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

From Goodreads:

I’m Juliet.

At least, I wanted to be.

So I did something stupid to make it happen.

Well, stupid and wonderful.

I wanted the role of Juliet more than anything. I studied hard. I gave a great reading for it—even with Bobby checking me out the whole time. I deserved the part.

I didn’t get it. So I decided to level the playing field, though I actually might have leveled the whole play. You see, since there aren’t any Success in Getting to Be Juliet in Your High School Play spells, I thought I’d cast the next best—a Fame spell. Good idea, right?

Yeah. Instead of bringing me a little fame, it brought me someone a little famous. Shakespeare. Well, Edmund Shakespeare. William’s younger brother.

Good thing he’s sweet and enthusiastic about helping me with the play...and—ahem—maybe a little bit hot. But he’s from the past. Way past. Cars amaze him—cars! And cell phones? Ugh.

Still, there’s something about him that’s making my eyes go star-crossed....

Will Romeo steal her heart before time steals him away?

I was torn between giving this book a 2.5 or 3 star rating. I wanted to love this book, really I did. It is such an interesting concept - time travelling Shakespeare? Awesome! William Shakespeare trying to figure out cars, tv and cell phones? Hilarious! Shakespeare skulking around a modern day production of Romeo & Juliet? Too funny! The problem was I really think this book could have been more. There was a lot of missed comedy between Will and his brother Edmund, who were by far the best characters in the book. The story seemed a little rushed, so I felt there was not enough development of some of the supporting characters, which would have been fun.

However, the part of the book I had the hardest time with was the believability of some characters, especially Miri’s parents. I could not suspend reality to believe that Miri’s Mom would just accept that Miri had some guy living with them that she accidentally conjured while performing a spell to make her Juliet in a play. Her Mom did not even question the story and seemingly had no problem with this boy moving into their house or the fact that the two became involved while living together. And then, when Miri’s Dad calls, he just accepts it too! I don’t know about you guys, but when I was a teenager (you know, last year), there is no way my parents would have bought that story without question, yelling and lectures on the idiocy of playing with things you did not understand.

All of that being said, I really did enjoy the book, I just did not love it and I really wanted to love it. In the end, after deliberating on it for a few days, I am going with 3 stars.

We received The Juliet Spell as an ARC from NetGalley.  HarlequinTeen releases this title TODAY, September 27, 2011!

~Shel

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

****

From Random House:

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
—Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The most tragic love story in history . . .

Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.

Most people I know tolerated Shakespeare in school.  A necessary evil to get a passing grade... Not me, I found a home in his prose.  I have a huge, leather bound, gold embossed, lovely tome of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare (a long ago birthday present from Bel & my brother).  This book is sacred to me, one of my most prized possessions.  Naturally, I generally hate it when people bastardize Shakespeare (I cannot even fathom watching the Leonardo DiCaprio version of Romeo & Juliet).  Given this, I shocked myself and Nat by picking up Juliet Immortal.  Admittedly, I never thought I would finish the book.  I figured my curiosity would leave me a chapter or two into the book.  I was wrong.  I went from a premise I was sure I would hate, to a book I could not put down.

Evil Romeo?  An epic battle of good and evil between Romeo & Juliet?  Unfathomable, and yet it caught my attention and forced me to become immersed in this book.  Juliet, as a force of light, fighting for love and protecting soul mates, despite having been so cruelly denied her own happy ending, could have been a complete cliche, begging for someone to reach into the book and beat her up, yet I found that the author tempered Juliet's anger and bitterness with true concern for others and a desire to do good in the world.  She also possessed an inner strength that made her not only tolerable, but likable.  Juliet is fueled by righteous anger and a need for revenge by blocking Romeo's attempts to destroy soul mates. 

Juliet's current assignment requires her to face her past and examine who and what she has become.  It also requires Juliet to search her own soul to see if she can find forgiveness and love for someone that she has hated for centuries to avoid a fate worse than hell.  Romeo for his part was wickedly evil and charming at times.  His cruelty is tempered by moments, just glimpses of the man he was, before.  This passage from Shakespeare's play kept popping into my mind as I read, especially the portions from Romeo's point of view.

"Love is a smoke rais'd

with the fume of sighs;

Being purg'd, a fire spark-

ling in lovers' eyes;

Being vex'd, a sea

nourish'd with lovers' tears.

What is it else? A madness

most discreet,

A choking gall, and a

preserving sweet."

Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare

I had no idea where Stacey Jay would take this tale, even right up to the end I could not figure it out.  Juliet Immortal is fast, action-packed, fun with heart.  There's humor, intrigue and murder - just the way Shakespeare liked it.  I give Juliet Immortal 4 stars for keeping me thoroughly entertained and desperate to get to the end.   

~ Shel