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What Members Thought
For the most part, I enjoyed this novel that explored the historical roots of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (which actually took place in Siena and not "fair Verona") and its echoes in the present. Twenty something Julie Jacobs learns that her Aunt Rose, who raised her since she and her twin sister, Janice, were four years old, has died. Instead of equally dividing her estate, Aunt Rose has left the bulk of the estate to Janice. This leaves Julie with nothing but some photos. However, when her
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I don't care that much about this book. The heroine (so-called lovely Giulietta, descendant of Juliet from Shakespeare's masterpiece) is not believable, the puzzle and mystery, although interesting from the premise, are not believable, and the whole book felt not believable for me. Weak plot, weak dialogues, weak ending. The only great thing is the setting, beautiful Sienna, and some interesting historical background.
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Oct 05, 2015
Heather Griffitts Clark
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction
I fell in love with the scenery of the book. Having read about medieval Sienna in the past, I loved the historical context of the story. At times, it was a bit difficult to keep all of the players straight, but I chalk that up to having listened to it instead of reading it. All in all, I loved the historical symbolism, the mystery and the ties to Shakespeare. I thought the audio version was fantastic; the narrator made the reader feel truly a part of the story.
Fortier is a newcomer to the historical adventure genre popularized by Carol Goodman and Kate Mosse. Like Labrynth or the Night Villa, Juliet is the story of a modern woman who finds a connection with the past. In this one, she discovers she's the descendant of Juliet (as in Romeo and). Fun read overall.
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I wanted to love this book, and I tried. It held my interest, but the whole time I was reading it I just desperately wanted it to be better written and better structured. The present-day parts of it were just too much like bad chick lit, and I really wanted the author to stop using so many exclamation points in the dialogue. Good idea, poorly executed.
Apr 05, 2010
Carly Thompson
added it
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review of another edition
Shelves:
never-finished,
shakespeare-related
I only read the first 30 or so pages of this book before I gave up. Part of the problem was that I wasn't in the mood to read this but I found the writing to be cliched and the characters to be uninteresting.
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I really enjoyed this... maybe just because I teach Romeo and Juliet so it was interesting to see another side to the story, but I was fascinated.
Jul 29, 2011
Jeanne Bufkin
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2012
Nov 24, 2012
Nicole
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
italy
Oct 29, 2020
Christina
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
romance,
historical-fiction
