Manic Monday Mini-Review

Romeo: [They kiss] Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.

Juliet: Then have my lips the sin that they have took?

Romeo: Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.

Juliet: [they kiss again] You kiss by the book.

Ok...I'm an English teacher at heart and these are some of my favorite lines from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Aren't they so romantic and sensual?

And who does not love the words of the Great Bard and the romantic story-line of Romeo and Juliet. Notice I left out the whole tragedy thing...

The Juliet Club by Suzane Harper

This book goes great with all the Juliet hype of the last year from Taylor Swift's song, Love Story, to the movie that's out right now, Letters to Juliet, which also includes a sub-plot reference to the real Juliet Club.

The Juliet Club--Book Summary

Italy . . . Shakespeare . . . but no romance?

Kate Sanderson inherited her good sense from her mother, a disciplined law professor, and her admiration for the Bard from her father, a passionate Shakespeare scholar. When she gets dumped, out of the blue, for the Practically Perfect Ashley Lawson, she vows never to fall in love again. From now on she will control her own destiny, and every decision she makes will be highly reasoned and rational. She thinks Shakespeare would have approved.
So when she is accepted to a summer Shakespeare symposium in Verona, Italy, Kate sees it as the ideal way to get over her heartbreak once and for all. She'll lose herself in her studies, explore ancient architecture, and eat plenty of pasta and gelato. (Plus, she'll be getting college credit for it—another goal accomplished!) But can even completely logical Kate resist the romance of living in a beautiful villa in the city where those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet met and died for each other? Especially when the other Shakespeare Scholars—in particular Giacomo, with his tousled brown hair, expressive dark eyes, and charming ways—try hard to break her protective shell?

"In fair Verona, where we lay our scene . . . "

Fortunately, Kate and Giacomo do not fall prey to the twisted, dark end of Romeo and Juliet..."These violent delights have violent ends/ And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,/ Which as they kiss consume."

All in all, it was a fun, entertaining read. Not too deep, but what I really respect about the novel is how the whole thing is in 3rd person point of view. This, folks, is difficult to do. This means giving the perspective of every single character in the book without narrating in their voices. Much easier said than done...I give props to Suzanne Harper because if it were me, I would have just used first person point of view and told it all from only one character's perspective.