Explanations + Reviewing: Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

You may have noticed that after Day 5 my community service posts stopped happening. Well, I'll tell you why. First of all, I forgot to do Day 6. I got too busy to do Day 7. I had no wi-fi Day 8. And by Day 9, well-- I gave up. It's not like there was a lot to talk about-- if you'd read all my past posts they withered down to complaining about the heat, Windex getting in my mouth (had I mentioned that? if I hadn't, it's terrible), sore feet, waking up early, and having to be social. Also, doing the exact same thing every weekend. It's great knowing exactly what to do and how to do it (I'm very much a control freak-- at least, I am when it comes to a situation I'm in), so it's not all bad. It's actually gotten to the point where I don't mind it.

But enough about community service. I have other topics for this post, one of which is a book I recently read called Juliet Immortal.

It was another recommendation by my sister, who had been torturing me to read it for months (minor exaggeration) and I finally got around to it.

I liked it. I liked it lots.

Fans of Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver and Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush will relish this intense paranormal love story featuring Romeo and Juliet, literary history's most tragic couple, who meet again, not as true lovers, but truly as enemies.
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.

"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

Okay well let me start off by saying it is not like Shiver or Hush (thankfully, because Shiver was just okay and Hush, well... I did a review on that). And even if I loved both of those books, it still was nothing like Juliet Immortal.

Ahem... Quick Tip

This is one of those books that is very hard to review without giving away major spoilers, so in preparation for that, spoilers will be shown as [  ] with variating spaces between brackets. The type between them is white so you'll need to highlight to read them.

The Main Characters

Juliet wasn't immediately like-able. I didn't really enjoy reading about her until the last half of the book, and even then she was just okay. She seemed naive, love-sick, and indecisive, and then we suddenly see the darker side of her-- the side of her that grew in response to Romeo's betrayal. But if we're being completely honest here, [it wasn't actually Romeo's fault. Juliet killed herself, and he didn't anticipate that she would].

Romeo has got to be one of the best villains I have ever read. I was constantly questioning if he was a villain or not. If he still loved Juliet or not. If he was just insane or not. And that's what villains are supposed to do. They are supposed to make you question. Not just to question them or their goals, but yourself. In fact, I'm still not sure that he was the villain. I'm sure that he didn't start out the villain all those years ago when he was still Romeo Montague-- naive and innocent. Maybe he became one through all the choices he made and all the torture he went through.

About the Ending...

Not only was it kind of abrupt after the endless possible endings the author was offering, it was way too neat. Way too neat. Everything just fit together perfectly, and to be honest [the whole alternate universe thing made close to zero sense to me]. However, I didn't hate it. It was okay, and it wrapped things up, thus completing its assigned job. 

Final Judgement 

Things I Liked:

Romeo. Shocker here. I thought I would hate him (not as a character but as a villain. Does that make sense?) but turns out he was one of my favorite characters.

The creepy factor. Call me twisted. The creepiness honestly is one of the things that kept me tied to the book.

How Juliet [fixes the relationship between Ariel and her mom] < super minor spoiler. I liked this part because it shows what Juliet's job really is. To bring hope and love to people's lives. Also, it was just super touching.

Ben. I didn't like [the insta-love that happens between him and Juliet and how he ends up being Benvolio (how convenient, amiright?)] < this is NOT a super minor spoiler-- but he was so nice that I couldn't help but like him.

Contemporary Romeo and Juliet with a dark twist. Need I say more?

Things That Were Just Okay OR I Hated:

Juliet. Juliet could have been better. For me, who thinks the story rides on the characters-- especially the main character-- she was a little bit of a let-down.

Gemma. So bitter and angry and her mood-swings are cray. (I understand that half the characters in this book are supposed to be damaged people, but Gemma...)

Nurse. Nurse made me very mad. That is all. 

How convenient the ending was. With the amount of tension leading up to what I assumed would be a huge finale that would leave me clapping like an elated seal (that is a thing, by the way) this was also a bit of a let-down.

She will fight for light, and he for dark, 

Battling through the ages for love's sweet spark. 

Wherever two souls adore truly, you will find them, lo, 

The brave Juliet and the wicked Romeo.