Book Review: Romeo Redeemed

Author: Stacey Jay

Publication Date: October 9, 2012

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Series: Juliet Immortal # 2

                     

Seductive companion to the popular Juliet Immortal, in which former lovers—Romeo and Juliet—meet, not as true lovers, but truly as enemies.

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.

After reading the first book in this series, and being such a huge fan of anything Shakespeare, it was only natural that I would want to read the second book. I love the bluish hues on the front cover and the way that the ocean waves sweep over the female character, how breathtaking! Their romance really comes out on the cover of this book, it gave me so much to be hopeful for!

I loved Juliet Immortal. I am so sad to say that I was not in love with this book. There were parts of the book that were written really well and then again there were parts that were not. Even after reading Juliet Immortal I was left a little confused as far as what exactly mercenaries/ambassadors are or their purpose really. I did not understand it any better really in this book. There is a lot of information that is trying to be presented in this book. I felt like at times it was too much; I constantly having to go back and re-read over and over again. I wasn’t crazy about the switching POVs and the two separate stories either. I feel like Juliet Immortal would have been the perfect read without adding a sequel.

I did like Romeo’s character and I loved that I could see him change as the story progressed. A story is not worth reading if the main character does not change in some way or another. I liked watching the romance develop and I felt like this was where Romeo shone his brightest! Juliet is still my favorite and I wish there had been more of her and Ben, and less of Ariel; I’m sorry I just had to say it. Ariel just annoys me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but if she were a switch, I would turn her off! I think my biggest complaint would be that there was not enough Juliet in this story! I want what Shakespeare already had in place. Romeo & Juliet is not an incredible love story without an applicable dose of both!

I do have to give credit to Stacey Jay for being able to write a plot this twisted and manipulated! She is truly a talented writer and writes an eternal struggle between two characters that is so powerful and jaw dropping. Stacey writes Juliet in a way that makes me admire her that much more, not that I didn’t in the first place. Jay’s world writing is part of an unexplainable visionary that makes me think that it was just my personal preferences that turned me off from this story.

***A BIG thank you to the publishers for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion***