Romeo and Juliet, with its story of insta-love and teenage bad decisions, provides great fodder for modern authors to reimagine.
Here are my three favorite YA retellings of Romeo and Juliet:
Waking Romeo
About the Book
Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
Genre: YA Science Fiction, Dystopian
Book Review
“(We’re) squatting in a world that was built in the past, and peaked there. Died there, even. And yet here we are playing house, pretending there’s a pulse.”
In this post-apocalyptic wasteland created by selfish humans, Romeo and Juliet’s romance is a matter of life and death, not just for them, but for the whole world.
Nearly everyone time-traveled to the future hoping for a better life, but they didn’t think about the fact that the future they dreamed of would be built on the ashes of the society they left to crumble. With no one left to fix things, the future kept getting bleaker and bleaker, and the travelers kept jumping further and further, hoping for a better tomorrow.
Romeo and Juliet live in a tiny community of non-travelers, and their ill-fated romance occurred before the start of the book. But this Romeo and Juliette haven’t died – at least, not yet. Now Juliette’s permanently disabled, and Romeo has been in a coma for two years.
Their paths cross with a small group of time-travelers called the Deadenders, people snatched from the brink of death to try to fix the timeline. They’ve been sent with one mission: wake up Romeo. But the threads of time keep getting more and more tangled, and their task is harder than they can possibly imagine.
The world the author has built is breathtakingly bleak and brutal, littered with crumbling buildings, malfunctioned time travel pods and the bones of unlucky time travelers. The survivors try to keep a sense of normalcy, but their world shrinks day by day and their food supplies from the past won’t last forever.
This book is action-packed and tightly paced, but this is not a book to skim. It takes careful attention to keep all the timelines and time-traveling jumps straight in your head.
Juliette’s a heroine to root for as she comes into her own and learns to be resilient in the face of the dangers thrust upon her. She finds a guide in Elliot, a member of the Deadenders about her age, and together, they set out to wake Romeo and set into motion all the events to come.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.
These Violent Delights
About the Book
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
Genre: YA Fantasy, Historical Romance
Book Review
This is the Romeo and Juliette retelling you can’t live without. I screamed out loud when it ended because I’ll have to wait for the next book to spend more time with these characters.
In 1920’s Shanghai, Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov are heirs of rival gangs and bitter enemies – despite the fact that they were once lovers. But when a new madness strikes the city, it targets members of the Scarlet and White Flower gangs alike. With leads to follow in both gang’s territory, Juliette and Roma are forced to work together to save their people and their city.
The setting glitters brightly in this book. From Juliette’s flapper dresses to the tea houses and clubs where the gangs do their business, you’ll feel like you’re navigating the streets of historic Shanghai yourself.
Juliette is prickly, quick with a knife and beautiful. Roma is more pensive and interested in science and research. And the spark between them is pure dynamite.
Whether you’re Team White Flower or Scarlet, this book will pull you into their world.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book.
Roman and Jewel
About the Book
Roman and Jewel by Dana L. Davis
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Book Review
A hip-hop interpretation of Romeo and Juliet? Yes, please! I totally want to watch this on Broadway.
Jerzie James knows she’s the perfect person to play Jewel. She’s been working for this her whole life. So she’s crushed when they pick the famous singer Cinny instead to boost ticket sales, hiring Jerzie as her understudy. And to make matters worse, she and Cinny get off on the wrong foot when Jerzie has an immediate connection with the boy playing Roman.
Ah, young love! This book captures the feeling of seeing someone across the room and being instantly obsessed with them. And the kissing scenes managed to be both hot and sweet.
The setting was perfection. The author made the backstage of a Broadway musical come to life. And all the petty jealousies of who outranked who and who got the better part were so true to life.
The supporting characters were great. Cinny was the perfect villain, sweet in public and terrible once the cameras were gone. And Jerzie’s Aunt Karla was the perfect foil to her personality, with some of the best lines!
This is a must-read for contemporary ya fans.
Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Need more recommendations? Find more YA recommendations here.
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