Tori's Review: Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

Hardcover: 320 pages
Price: $17.99
ISBN: 978-0385740166
Released: August 9, 2011
Publisher: Random House 
Author's Website: Stacey Jay 
Buy it: Amazon
Obtained: Amazon Vine 
Genre: Young Adult 
Series: N/A
Book Order:
1. Juliet Immortal

"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.

My Rating: 

My Opinion: 
Since I am running on zero hours of sleep as I write this review (woo hoo all nighter!!), I'll leave the "intelligent" blabbering for another day. It's bullet point time.

**PLEASE NOTE: There are some spoilers mentioned in this review, but I have made it obvious where these points are so you can skim past and continue reading the non-spoilery segments. If you are interested in reading the spoiler paragraphs, please highlight the black text**


PROS
1) The cover and back cover blurb intrigued me enough to actually *want* to read this book without researching it in advance (read: checking any and all available reviews before requesting it).

2) I stayed up all night to finish reading JULIET IMMORTAL. There was a reason for me pulling an all-nighter--I found candy at about 1AM, got a super bad sugar rush, and the next thing I knew, I was 3/4 done with the book and it was 4:30AM. Awesome that time flew by, and it was even better that JI was a quick and relatively painless read.

3) The writing redeemed the weaknesses of the book. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future works by Stacey Jay.


CONS
1) The logic in this world is severely lacking. I won't reveal any spoilers, but Juliet's death raised a red flag for me. Likewise, Juliet's ability to see auras (or not see them at certain times), could have been developed further. By the end, I was left feeling incredulous... Juliet is how old? Shouldn't she be a bit more experienced with seeing this kind of stuff by now?

2) There were a few cop-outs--particularly by the ending, which I was not entirely satisfied with. What was the point of the story if the "gods" could simply transport the characters to an alternate universe in the end? That was too convenient for me.

3) Too many "I love yous." If I had to read that line one more time... To make it worse, the "instant connection-that's-more-like-I-LOVE-YOU-EVEN-THOUGH-I-JUST-MET-YOU" I dread in books played a prominent role in JULIET IMMORTAL. Juliet and Ben's relationship wasn't very convincing for me. An instant connection at first sight, followed by true love after three days with minimal interactions between the two? Romeo and Juliet interacted more than Juliet/Ben did. And then by the end of the book where she remembers Ben, but he doesn't remember her... and yet he can't keep his hands off her, despite the fact that he knew she married Romeo? My head is spinning just thinking about this.

4) Romeo would have been more interesting had he been kept a villain. I wasn't entirely convinced of his transformation into a "redeeming" character. The ending was also... I suppose it set the scene for a second book in this series, and while Romeo was an intriguing character otherwise, I'm not buying his sudden swap.


Despite the complaints, JULIET IMMORTAL was not a bad read; Juliet was a great character to follow, which I think was more important for me than some logical issues. Because I was able to connect with her, I breezed through the novel at a supersonic speed. I also loved how the author took Romeo & Juliet's story and made it her own. Some parts of the execution could have been better, but this YA was a lot more enjoyable compared to a lot of the other releases out in the market right now.

I'd recommend this book to most fans of the YA genre. JULIET IMMORTAL is a fun twist on the Romeo & Juliet story that I think a lot of readers will enjoy. As for those who are a bit more... critical of YAs as of late, if you can overlook the cons I listed, you may enjoy this; otherwise, I would suggest borrowing a copy from a friend or from the library if you want to read it that badly.