The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

I came across an interesting modern story of Romeo and Juliet on Netgalley and thought I would give it a try. I really enjoyed the modern Pride and Prejudice that I read and was hoping for another hit. Here’s the description on Netgalley:

I’m Juliet.

At least, I wanted to be.

So I did something stupid to make it happen.

Well, stupid and wonderful.

I wanted the role of Juliet more than anything. I studied hard. I gave a great reading for it—even with Bobby checking me out the whole time. I deserved the part.

I didn’t get it. So I decided to level the playing field, though I actually might have leveled the whole play. You see, since there aren’t any Success in Getting to Be Juliet in Your High School Play spells, I thought I’d cast the next best—a Fame spell. Good idea, right?

Yeah. Instead of bringing me a little fame, it brought me someone a little famous. Shakespeare. Well, Edmund Shakespeare. William’s younger brother.

Good thing he’s sweet and enthusiastic about helping me with the play...and—ahem—maybe a little bit hot. But he’s from the past. Way past. Cars amaze him—cars! And cell phones? Ugh.

Still, there’s something about him that’s making my eyes go star-crossed....

Will Romeo steal her heart before time steals him away?

I’m afraid for me this book was not a hit. I had several problems with the story. First the spell itself is odd. Some random spell happens to work and then later on the explanations get really crazy for the age group the book is written for. Being a math major I could relate to several mentions of higher level math or science facts, however, I feel like most teenagers would have no clue.

I also didn’t care for the entire second half of the book. A lot of characters and obstacles are introduced to the plot. I would have preferred a much simpler plot. In the end, too much ends up going on and in a way that distracts you from the real story that is going on with the main characters.

I did like the first half of the love story between the main characters. I felt like there was a definite chemistry between the characters and it definitely piqued my interest in the book. However, as things kept going I was less enthused.

Overall I would give the book a 2/5. For me it wasn’t a great book. I do feel like it will have an audience though and while I didn’t love it others might enjoy it as a quick read.