O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell

GENRE

Adult Historical Fiction / Retelling (306 pgs.)


SYNOPSIS

Before Juliet Capelletti lie two futures: a traditionally loveless marriage to her father's business partner or the fulfillment of her poetic dreams, inspired by the great Dante. Unlike her beloved friend Lucrezia, who looks forward to her arranged marriage into the Medici dynasty, Juliet has a wild, romantic imagination that takes flight in the privacy of her bedchamber and on her garden balcony. 

Her life and destiny are forever changed when Juliet meets Romeo Monticecco, a soulful young man seeking peace between their warring families. A dreamer himself, Romeo is unstoppable once he determines to capture the heart if the remarkable woman foretold in his stars.

The rich tale of passion, revenge, and tragedy on the cusp of the Italian Renaissance: a fresh twist on the Bard's beloved Romeo and Juliet. 


MY REVIEW


I will start off this review by saying that this novel has earned the honor of making me cry for at least a good five minutes after I finished the book. Not quite sure if that is an honor, but there it is. Not many books have really made me genuinely cry, rather than just tear up and sniffle. I can assure you there were many tears, a runny nose, and many tissues involved. It was a good cry.

That being said, I immensely enjoyed this book. The main reason I enjoyed it so much was that as an aspiring author, this is the genre that is dearest to my heart. It is something of a sub-genre to traditional Historical Fiction. This genre takes a well known story/legend (Romeo and Juliet, King Arthur, etc.) and retells it, kind of in a "What really happened," sort of way that makes the legend/story historically accurate and real, if that makes sense. I think this genre is just so instrumental in really bringing the legend to life. 

Robin Maxwell did a fantastic job of integrating the famous story of Romeo and Juliet into the historical time period of the Italian Renaissance. Throughout the story she was able to maintain the delicate balance between the famous tragedy we all know and a new, historically-accurate twist. 

Both halves of the tragic couple were very well written. Juliet was a strong, fierce character who I was instantly drawn to. I could really relate to her love of writing poetry, and her strength in continuing to write it no matter how badly  it was frowned upon at that time in history. Romeo was just as well written, and possessed such a great depth of character. Rather than being the swoony-heartthrob romancy-cliched Romeo, he was full of life; vibrant, soulful, and most definitely intriguing. 

The historical setting of this novel was truly breathtaking. Robin Maxewell's decision to set her novel in Florence rather than in the traditional Verona was an extremely good choice on her part. Since Florence was really the epicenter of the Italian Renaissaince, it just added so much more depth to the story. 

The way Robin Maxwell reinvented the plot of this story was absolutely amazing. I really could not put this book down. The way Maxwell is able to draw you into the story and make you completely absorbed in the plot was alarmingly good. I found myself (when Juliet is in trouble) yelling at my book, which to me, is a sign I am completely and irrevocably in the story.

All in all, this was a fantastic read. Robin Maxewell's historical re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet was truly breathtaking, in every sense of the word. It was absolutely moving and beautifully written. I definitely think Shakespeare would be proud.


MY RATING

5*****




Appropriateness Factors

There are a couple of bedroom scenes, not to graphic, but they are there. As always, take it for what it's worth.


Book #1 in Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Ransom My Heart by Meg Cabot

GENRE

Adult Historical Fiction / Romance (396 pgs.)

SYNOPSIS

He's a tall, handsome knight with a secret. She's an adventurous neauty with more than a few secrets of her own. 

Finnula needs money for her sister's dowry, and fast. Hugo Fitzstephen, Earl of Stephensgate, is returning home to England from the Crusades, has money, saddlebags of gold and jewels, and lots of it. What could be simpler than to kidnap him and hold him for ransom? Especially when he's more than willing to allow himself to be caught by such a winsome captor. 

Well, for starters, Finnula could make the terrible mistake of falling in love with her hostage, only to realize he's been lying about his identity all along... But then, so has she. 

Now their lives--and the lives of everyone they know and love--could be in mortal danger. Is Finnula Crais in hell? Or in heaven?


MY REVIEW

This book had really good promise for me. I've only read a couple of the Princess Diaries books (I'm more familiar with the movies), but the ones I read were really enjoyable. When I first saw this book on the shelf, I thought it would be a great combination of Meg Cabot's signature humor and some good historical fiction.

This book just really missed the mark for me, and on every level... plot, characters, setting. I think with a bit more effort on Meg Cabot's part, it could have been much better written. 

Let's start off with the characters. I really loved the character of Finnula Crais, our leading lady. She is strong, tradition-defying sassy wench, but as soon as her love interest is introduced, she loses it. She's so hell-bent on not conforming to the constraints of medieval society, yet she ends up becoming everything she is not... the quiet, sub-servient wife of a nobleman, who is completely won over every time she's taken for a tumble in bed, to be frank.

Hugo Fitzstephen, our protagonist male, starts off the book with promise, but doesn't really grow out of his "lusty" stage. I really couldn't see him coming to love Finnula any deeper than the lust he has for her sexually. 

The villains of the story were totally cliched, with really nothing redemptive about them. In a novel, I like a villain to have something more... something that makes it a bit harder to really hate them. Not in this story. It was just cut-and-dry cliche.

Speaking of cliche, the whole plot of the story was completely unoriginal. It really read like a cheesy, Harlequin romance novel. I thought the beginning of the novel really had some promise, but by the end of the story, I was really left disappointed. It was like all of the hard work Meg Cabot put in to the beginning of the book was for nothing. 

The historical setting was passable at best. I'm pretty sure medieval women who went around in men's pants (as our leading lady did) were either disgraced or burned for witchcraft in those days. The narrator also adds that kidnapping and ransoming noble gentlemen was common practice for those medieval maids strapped for cash. It was just completely unbelievable.

The only thing I got a good laugh over was how Meg Cabot managed to include some of the medieval vernacular into her dialogue. She made some medieval "thees" & "thous" sound a bit more modern, which was fun. 

For those of you who don't know what the literary term "suspension of disbelief" is, look it up. You will become quite familiar with the term if you decide to read this novel.


MY RATING

1.5*/*


Appropriateness Factors

Please do not think that this novel is appropriate for tween girls just because it is written by Meg Cabot! There are quite a few (surprisingly) graphic bedroom scenes. Please proceed with caution, especially younger readers!


Book #18 in Historical Fiction Reading Challenge