Juliet Immortal
by Stacey Jay
Series: Juliet Immortal #1
Published on August 9th, 2011
by Random House Childrens Books
Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Amazon | B&N | Goodreads
Also by this author: Princess of Thorns, Romeo Redeemed, Princess of Thorns, Princess of Thorns
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.
"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
I am officially a Stacey Jay fangirl and as such, this review will be a little…. fangirly. Strap on in folks, I’m about to gush. This is now my second Stacey Jay novel and they’ve both been SO CLEVER and I LOVE clever stories. It amazes me how she reworks stories to that they’re wholly unique but still tie into the original story; basically, she’s amazing and I adore her.
First off, let’s take a second to look at that cover! Talk about a visually stunning cover and that sentence sure packs a punch; that’s just the start of the awesomeness.
I say this a lot and I’ll say it again, I love good writing and Stacey Jay’s books have good writing. Everything pulled me in and I instantly felt connected to the situation and to Juliet; I was thoroughly impressed with portions that were through Romeo’s POV and how spot on they were for his character. I LOVED IT ALL.
Obviously this is a take on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and it was insanely…. you guessed it, clever. In this book, Romeo actually helped Shakespeare pen Romeo and Juliet with the desire to make killing oneself for love seem romantic; Romeo kept quoting Shakespeare to Juliet and I laughed every time. Stacey really did a great job of combining the world of Romeo and Juliet into the modern world in this retelling; I’m not a fan of Shakespeare but I was enraptured by all the allusions. I especially loved that she took a classic story and made it new and relevant; that’s not easy but Stacey made it seem effortless.
We enter the story just as Juliet comes out of the fog and enters a new body, allowing us to understand how the elements all fit together without them explicitly explaining it to the readers. I loved Juliet as a character and most of all, I understood her; she is one deep character with many layers and I loved seeing her grow as the story progressed.
Naturally there was a battle between good and bad but in this case, it was The Ambassadors versus The Mercenaries; Juliet was a fighter for the light while Romeo was a fighter for the dark, constantly thrown together over the centuries. It’s interesting that Juliet doesn’t really believe in love as much as she believes in good; she fights more against the mercenaries than for the cause.
Real love has little to do with falling. It’s a climb up the rocky face of a mountain, hard work, and most people are too selfish or scared to bother.
The best part of this book was the self-realization that went on! As a perpetual student of psychology, I strive to understand my actions and grow as a person; I LOVED seeing Juliet grow and then have LOTS OF SELF-REALIZATIONS.
Also, Stacey Jay knows how to write some SWOONS!
Stacey Jay and her novels are amazing, that is all.
About Stacey Jay
Stacey Jay is a recovering workaholic (or at least working hard at recovering) with three pen names, two small children, and a passion for playing pretend for a living. She’s been a full time mom-writer since 2005 and can’t think of anything she’d rather be doing. Her former careers include theatre performer, professional dancer, poorly paid C-movie actress, bartender, waiter, math tutor (for real) and yoga instructor.
- Review: Ana of California by Andi Teran - November 7, 2015
- Blog Tour| Review| Giveaway {Persuasion by Martina Boone} - October 30, 2015
- Review: The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennett by Kate Rorick and Rachel Kiley - October 9, 2015
Twitter: Liza
I haven’t read any of her books before. I do have Of Beast and Beauty (I love B&B re-tellings!) and I should provably read it. I know loved Princes of Thorns and I’m glad that you finally found a five star book 🙂
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
This is on my TBR. Looks like I have to bump it up a bit. 🙂
Fantastic review, Liza! I actually saw this in a bookshop awhile ago but I wasn’t sure on whether or not I should get it and unfortunately I didn’t, but I’ll definitely be on the lookout for it now! I haven’t actually read any Shakespeare retellings and I think this would be a good book to start with! 🙂