The Juliet Spell

2.0

2.0 (1)

205 0

Write Review Add to favorites

Author(s)

Douglas Rees

Publisher

Harlequin TEEN

Genre(s)

Teen Fiction

Age Range

12+

Release Date

September 27, 2011

ISBN

978-0373210398

Buy This Book

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....

Editor reviews

2 reviews

Not For Me

November 13, 2011 (Updated: November 13, 2011)

Overall rating

2.0

Plot

N/A

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Shakespeare retellings are usually among my favorite books. I love theater, so whenever I can find one, I am happy. The Juliet Spell sounded really great, but in reality just lacked some of the qualities I was hoping to find.

I loved the idea of this book. The whole idea just blew up a little bit too big for me and I had a hard time taking it seriously. The last quarter of the book is really what made me sit there in disbelief, everything just went too far.

The first red flag for me was how quickly Edmund adapted to modern day life. It was instantaneous, and I just had a bit trouble believing that. He would make a comment like "What witch craft is that", Miranda would explain it, and then he would pretty much be okay with everything.

The theater experiences in this book felt a bit off. I've been in tons of shows, and that was something that put me a bit on the edge. In addition to that, this book was a prime example of the "Love at first sight" and it drove me batty, especially since the main character had a perfectly good guy rooting for her!

The characters were an interesting.mix. Drew was hands down the best character of the book. He was SUCH a great guy, and there were so many scenes were I just sat there thinking "aw". A lot of the other characters while they had good qualities, I found the negative over powering them. No one really stood out from one another in my mind. A lot of their language felt really forced, and it wasn't natural.

The cover is absolutely gorgeous. I quite adore it. This book had some good qualities, but overall it really just wasn't for me.

Erica Top 50 Reviewer 192 reviews

Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0

User reviews

1 review

Overall rating

2.0

Plot

2.0(1)

Characters

2.0(1)

Writing Style

2.0(1)

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A(0)

Already have an account? or Create an account

Lackluster

August 29, 2011

Overall rating

2.0

Plot

N/A

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

If I could describe this book in one word it would be... lackluster.

I was SO excited to see this book on NetGalley. I love retellings of SHakespeare's plays. One of my all time favorites is Ophelia by Lisa Klein. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to my hopes. Actually, it was really disappointing. I finished it just because I hate to abandon books, but it was a chore.

The first sign that I wasn't going to fall head over heels in love with this book was the characters. I never made a connection with them. None of them. Miri was a little boring and self-absorbed for my liking. She constantly droned on and on about being in love and wanting to play Juliet. It got old really fast. She was also too wishy-washy. If you read the book, you'll know what I mean. There were other characters, but I don't feel like they're worth mentioning. They were just there, interacting, but not really contributing anything of significance. You never get the sense of any character development. They were very flat and one sided.

My major issue with the book was the plot. It was so rushed! Too much happened in a short amount of time. I never bought into the chain of events. It was like the pieces just magically made themselves fit into some puzzle and I was supposed to believe it all. I realize that this is fiction, but you have to at least give me a reason to suspend my reality. Sell me on the story, please! Along with being rushed, it felt choppy in places. Parts of the story lagged considerably. There were pages of time-traveling hoopla that didn't seem to flow with the rest of the story. I understand the purpose of the time-travel-- after all, that's how Shakespeare and his brother arrive in the 21st century, but it still didn't fully fit. I skipped many of those pages because it read like a physics textbook. Very boring.

Overall, I really didn't "feel" this book. I had high hopes that fell flat. I won't be buying this one for my classroom.

Good Points

cute idea