Release Date: September 27, 2011
Genre: YA Paranormal/Romance
Pages: 272 pages
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Harlequinn Teen
(Summary from Goodreads)
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....
My Review
I wanted to love this book but sadly the only thing I liked about it was the book cover. I was hooked when I saw the cover and the synopsis but the book did not live up to my expectations. There were so many positive reviews for this book so I looked forward to reading this story. In college I took a Shakespeare course and fell in love with the stories so I was happy to see a book that related to Shakespeare and his plays. In this story though, we don’t get Shakespeare but his younger brother Edmund Shakeshaft. I didn’t even know he had a brother. In The Juliet Spell, our main character Miranda Hoberman is trying out for the lead role of Juliet in her high school play of Romeo and Juliet. She so desperately wants the part that she comes up with this spell that was supposed to turn her into Juliet and help guarantee her getting the part but instead she ended up conjuring up Edmund Shakeshaft. Shocked to have been transported in time from 1597 to the present, it takes Edmund hardly any time to adjust and learn the ways of living in the 21st century. He adapts so well he ends up quickly becoming buddies with Miranda’s friends, Drew and Bobby and nabbing a girlfriend, Vivian who also happens to be Miranda’s frenemy. Being that he is Shakespeare’s brother, it is no shocker to learn that Edmund nabs the part of Romeo in the play and to Miranda’s delight, she gets to play Juliet. All seems well but as in true Shakespearean plays, there is always a tragedy.
Rees did a fantastic job in authenticating the voice of Edmund throughout the book. The language stayed true to the time period Edmund came from and it read much like Shakespeare plays. If you are not a fan of Shakespeare’s writing then you might not like this book.
As for the characters, I wanted to like Edmund but could not. Initially he started out as someone who I would like, he was sweet and a gentleman and was good to Miranda, but then he hooked up with Vivian and it went downhill from there. He actually started to turn into a jerk. He turned into what a horny teenage boy would be like in present time instead of the gentleman he was in England in 1597. Drew, was sweet and I could see that he liked Miranda, who was blind to it and only had eyes for Edmund. I liked Drew because he was always there for Miranda. Then there was Bobby who at first seemed like a jerk but in the end he redeemed himself.
As to why I didn’t like this story. It dragged on to me. To me there was no depth but just a lot of fluff. If you are looking for a light, fluffy read, this is your book. I did enjoy all the quotes from Romeo and Juliet that were throughout the book but that was it. I just wasn’t feeling the story but I kept reading because I wanted to see what would become of the characters. The ending was a bit of a shocker. Although I was not a fan of the book, there are many out there who enjoyed it. To each his/her own taste.
I give this book two out of five stars.
