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A Reader of Fictions: Review: Romeo Redeemed

A Reader of Fictions

Book Reviews for Just About Every Kind of Book

Friday, October 12, 2012

Review: Romeo Redeemed

Romeo Redeemed
Juliet Immortal, Book 2

Author: Stacey Jay
Pages: 364
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Won ARC

Description from Goodreads:
Seductive companion to the popular Juliet Immortal, in which former lovers—Romeo and Juliet—meet, not as true lovers, but truly as enemies.

Cursed to live out eternity in his rotted corpse, Romeo, known for his ruthless, cutthroat ways, is given the chance to redeem himself by traveling back in time to save the life of Ariel Dragland. Unbeknownst to her, Ariel is important to both the evil Mercenaries and the love-promoting Ambassadors and holds the fate of the world in her hands. Romeo must win her heart and make her believe in love, turning her away from her darker potential before his work is discovered by the Mercenaries. While his seduction begins as yet another lie, it soon becomes his only truth. Romeo vows to protect Ariel from harm, and do whatever it takes to win her heart and soul. But when Ariel is led to believe his love is a deception, she becomes vulnerable to Mercenary manipulation, and her own inner darkness may ultimately rip them apart.


First Sentence: "We reach the lonely hilltop as the sun sets over Verona."

Review:
Something I love to do but don't get to all that often is read a series pretty much back to back. With a memory like mine, reading the series altogether is the only way that I can guarantee I don't miss key plot lines or internal references. Although Juliet Immortal has apparently not been especially popular with bloggers, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. Romeo Redeemed struck me as one of the most consistent sequels I have ever encountered. I liked and disliked the very same things about this one as the first, so, if you liked Juliet Immortal, you're in for another crazy, fun ride.

At the opening of Romeo Redeemed, Romeo wanders the earth in his specter form, more disgusting than any zombie. All he feels is pain. He hears the screams of people running away from him. Basically, he's Humperdinck if Westley followed through on his threats. The Nurse offers him a choice, though: perform a trial task for a chance to become an Ambassador or continue living in his refuse heap of a body. Unsurprisingly, he chooses to do anything other than be himself. His task: to make Ariel fall in love with him.

Ariel, the girl whose body Juliet inhabited and died in during Juliet Immortal in an alternate universe, has problems. She's got scars on her face, no self-confidence and she hears voices sometimes, and, when she does, she wets herself. Because of an episode like that, she's been a pariah at school since childhood, with only one friend, Gemma, who isn't necessarily the most supportive BFF all the time, focusing more on her own drama and needs.

Romeo has been put, again, into the body of Dylan. He takes over mid-date, after Ariel's learned Dylan was trying to sleep with her for a bet and before she tries to drive the car off the road. With foreknowledge of what she would do, he manages to prevent the accident. She gets out of the car and runs. He, with the need to woo her, talks her down and convinces her to spend the rest of the night with him.

As with Juliet Immortal, I liked the writing a lot, and the reading of the book was a pleasurable experience, but the romance plot line makes me antsy. My biggest problem is that Ariel, poor, damaged Ariel, would never trust someone so quickly, let alone a guy who bet on her and threatened rape. She has trouble trusting her mom, who loves her even if she's not great about saying so. Why would she trust Dylan/Romeo? In the course of just three days, she falls in love with him. I'm not saying he couldn't have made her fall in love with him over time, but three days? No. Issues with self-worth and trust do not go away that quickly. They just don't.

Romeo, too, inevitably falls for Ariel, which makes more sense, considering that's what he's always done. Romeo's thoughts: "Oooh, a pretty girl. I wonder if she'll sleep with me. Probably not yet. Maybe if we were in love? Oh, sweet torture to love her so but not be able to, you know, love her so." Thus, I can accept this part, and laugh at Romeo's idiocy. He manages to act all jaded for like twenty pages, but very quickly returns to his natural state: obsession with the first pretty girl to cross his path. Some people grow and change, like Juliet did in some ways, and some don't, like Romeo.

I so wanted to be able to give this book a 4, that extra bump up, but I just couldn't do it. What it came down to was the ending, which was just too cheesy. Where I wanted her to go tragedy, she went drama! Romeo and Ariel living happily forever after? I THINK NOT. Also, there's a twist that did not work for me at all.

Though by no means a perfect series, I appreciate these books for taking a fresh, completely unique look at an overdone series. For my tastes, they could have benefited from a couple dashes more cynicism, but at least I got to revel in how much Romeo and Juliet didn't work out.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Never underestimate the allure of the Goodwill.'"

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10 Comments:

Blogger Jenni said...

Oh no a cheesy ending! Ahhh! Am I reading a review of book 1 in a series or a sequel? I'm lost. The top says book 1 but the review screams sequel.

"She's got scars on her face, no self-confidence and she hears voices sometimes, and, when she does, she wets herself." Oy.

October 12, 2012 at 8:42 AM  
Blogger Katie said...

Glad you liked this one too! I'm so on the fence about JULIET IMMORTAL! I was drawn to it originally since I never liked the original "Romeo and Juliet," but I just don't know if I can take anymore instalove or love-on-fast-forward, you know?

October 12, 2012 at 9:42 AM  
Blogger Maji Bookshelf said...

LOL a cheesy ending huh? That sounds interesting!! Glad you really enjoyed this one! Great review, and new follower ;)
- Farah @ MajiBookshelf

October 12, 2012 at 11:15 AM  
Blogger Audra said...

Uhm, Ariel Dragland?! I judge that name. Also, the plot sounds convoluted. But zombie-like Romeo?! Now I'm intrigued!!

October 12, 2012 at 1:28 PM  
Blogger Christina said...

Ahem, oops. Fixed now.

Yeah, I mean, I like that she's not perfect, but the wetting herself went a bit far.

October 15, 2012 at 8:48 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Well, that definitely happens here, so...maybe if you're feeling permissive one day? I really liked Jay's writing is most of it.

October 15, 2012 at 8:49 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

I was surprised how much I enjoyed these. :)

October 15, 2012 at 8:49 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Bahaha, the plot is a little convoluted. He is kind of like a zombie.

October 15, 2012 at 8:49 AM  
Blogger Ironic Lady (BookSpark) said...

This sounds so good! I'm going to try reading Juliet Immortal soon, I've had it sitting on my bookshelf but never got around to reading it :/

Ana @ BookSpark

October 15, 2012 at 8:53 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

I hope you like it. I was surprised I did.

October 15, 2012 at 10:21 AM  

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