Bookworm Blogger #YA: Review: Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Synopsis:
"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

Review:

If you know the story of Romeo and Juliet then forget everything you know. This isn't a romantic tragedy in the Shakespearean sense. Its a supernatural dark romance. The wicked, twisted evil bad-guys (Mercenaries)versus the selfless good-guys (Ambassadors).

A war has been raging for centuries and it just so happens that Romeo and Juliet were real people who got caught up in the war. For entirely his own reasons Romeo made a promise, thinking he was doing the right thing, but got dragged into a Mercenary life. Over the years his perception got twisted and now he wants nothing more than to end Juliets life.

They aren't immortal in the strictest sense. They shift through time taking over human bodies to accomplish their deeds. Juliet must make sure those marked as soul-mates meet, and find true love. Romeos task is to stop her and turn one of the couple towards the dark side. In this story Juliet jumps into the body of Ariel Dragland, a teenager badly scarred from a childhood accident. Romeo jumps into Dylans body. A trickster young man who plays with Ariel with wicked, spiteful intentions. But both Romeo and Juliet don't realise why this shift is different. It feels different, their supernatural abilities are different, petered down and almost non existent. Somethings changed and soon they will have to work together to figure out how they can both survive the shift.

I found this book difficult to get into in the beginning. The first chapter was easy, but the second chapter had to be re-read a couple of times for me to understand the underlining story. Once I got it I couldn't put it down. The secret behind the Mercenary and Ambassador magic is a little vague but something I can live with. The writing is beautiful, as is the character of Ben - so suitably better matched to Juliet than Romeo ever could be.

The ending was a surprise. Everything I'd read until that point stuck, but then the twist seemed to slot into place and help make sense of the battle between R & J.

I loved Ariel, such a brave character for the author to write about. I was sooo disappointed to finish this, I wished it had carried on but thankfully Romeo Redeemed is next to be reviewed :)