Note: this is more of a 4.5. I'll say this much, for a book about true love, soul-mates and finding 'The One' it really only accomplished one thing--I'm terrified of anyone who says that we have a forever kind of love. Seriously, either way you look at it (in the book at least) its a horrifying prospect.

To explain, everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet right? Young lovers, bitter enemies, dead cousins, secret weddings, poison and daggers cut short their lives (of woe). Well! Apparently in reality Romeo was a devious, manipulative creep who wanted life eternal (and was stupid enough to trust some shady folks to give it to him at their word) and Juliet was a naive, innocent who truly was Italian in all ways (deep love turned to deep hatred--Italians do nothing in half measures). So now the two are working for opposing sides (the 'Mercenaries' and 'Ambassadors') and either helping true lovers remain eternal or dashing their pretty hopes in a sea of jealousy, hatred and murder.

With me so far?

It only gets better from there.

Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare, was never one of my favorites of his plays. I've always learned towards Twelfth Night or Taming of the Shrew. Always thought there was something faintly...disturbing about the young lovers sacrificing everything. So for me this fit my view on things perfectly. Juliet is bitter, cynical and reluctant to help true love when it did her so wrong. Romeo is is a selfish, conceited malcontent who's more than half crazy and delusional to boot. Their interactions are intriguing to say the least. In their own ways they're both insane, both liars and opportunists.

I liked the fact that Jay makes the characters just a bit sociopathic and mercenary. With perhaps he exception of Ben (who is about as close to perfect as you can get honestly), everyone else works hard to further their own agendas. Juliet, who is our primary narrator save for the few times Romeo does during the 'Intermezzos', admits that her views may have been skewed. She acknowledges that despite everything she's done as 'Nurse' has told her because it was easier. The epiphanies she has at the end--and they come one on top of the other practically--are thought-provoking. Did she view Gemma fairly? Was Romeo truly trying to redeem himself? Was she really helping because it was the right thing to do or because it was the simplest thing to do?

My only complaint is with the confusing ending. Jay starts discussing 'what ifs' and she kind of lost me, which is unfortunate because its important to the ending to understand where she was going. Not just for Juliet, but for Romeo as well. If that last bit with Romeo at the very end wasn't included, I think I would have understood better. As it is, the last few lines (and implication behind them) muddied the water. It left me wondering 'So...who exactly is on the wrong side again?' ( )

This book was a fun, great, and quick read. Lots of fun scenes and great quotes. The end of each chapter leaves you wanting more so you really speed through book. The writing is great and really grabs your attention from the 1st line and keeps it. The characters are fantastic, I really love Ben and Juliet. The concept of this story (Romeo and Juliet being enemies) is interesting and original. There are some flaws; there's definitely insta-love between Ben and Juliet and the ending could use some work but overall it's a really good book and I enjoyed it a lot. ( )

CW: Person wants to cause a car accident to kill themselves and their boyfriend. ( )

The ending was so beautiful it made me want to cry. No joke. I didn't though. Only problem is that the ending was long drawn out, and there's a sequel. I just wanted a one night stand for once. Now I have all of the book's baggage. Tough luck. ( )

3.5 stars. The ending was surprising, and not in a good way. I wasn't not too happy with the starting over at the end thing, because all those memories were lost, and even though their souls were the same, their new relationship still didn't seem quite the same. A person's experiences are a huge factor that help shape that person's personality, and since modern Ben and Benvolio lived different lives, they seemed like different people. It just didn't sit well with me. And the way the ending worked out was confusing. Even with the explanation of different versions of time and whatnot, it didn't quite make sense. And when I thought of a somewhat logical explanation of what happened, I didn't like it at all. Does the real Ariel come back with false memories of how she met Ben, how she ended up "almost" dying from getting stabbed, etc? Did Juliet leave her mark on that version of time at all besides Romeo knowing what happened? If not, it feels like a terrible loss since Ariel would still be fighting with Melanie and Gemma, plus all those other little conflicts in Ariel's life that Juliet helped mend a little. It was all extremely confusing. And there were so many loose ends that are unlikely to be tied up in the sequel, which doesn't make me feel much better.

I know it sounds like I hated this book, but those problems were mostly for the ending. I really enjoyed the rest of the book, and Stacey Jay's prose was beautiful as usual. ( )