Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

Title: Juliet Immortal
Pages: 307
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
My rating: 4.8 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.69 stars
Published: August 9th, 2011

Description:

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
—Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The most tragic love story in history . . .

Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.

  
First off, can I just say that I love that quote from Romeo and Juliet?  That one sentence sums up the story, but when read has power beyond those words.

This book took me about 2 days to read, mainly because I didn't have a whole lot of time to read it.  And it was because it was just that good.  Juliet is such a lost soul in this book, its hard not to feel compassion for her and cheer for her to finally off Romeo.  But, oh, you regret feeling that way about Romeo.  Trust me, you will.

Juliet comes into the present day scene as a young woman who is shy, slightly disfigured, and has the most polar-opposite best friend a girl could get - and that's not even her life, she's just borrowing it.  She is sent to that time and place to protect two souls, two people who have the truest of love, from ending up like her and her most hated Romeo.  But then the unthinkable happens... she falls for one of them.  And begins seeing visions of herself as a shade and Romeo as a decaying corpse.  After everything being so straight forward and predictable for the past 700 years, it now seems to be completely off course.  And Romeo says she needs to love him again?  What is going on?

This story is the ultimate "what if" of the timeless tale of Romeo and Juliet.  What if Juliet was murdered?  By Romeo?  What if Romeo really didn't love her with an undying love?  What if they were fighting a eons-old battle for the souls of people that they were supposed to personify?  What if...?  The writer does a great job at keeping you guessing about the two ex-lovers, the characters surrounding them, and how they are all ultimately going to play together.  I just love this take on the tale, as well as how the author so seamlessly seems to put this alternate world together.  Whether you're a fan of Romeo and Juliet or not, I think you'll really enjoy this story.  And did I mention she had another one coming out this summer?  I can't wait to see what else she has in store!