ARC Review: The Juliet Spell

Title: The Juliet Spell
Author: Douglas Rees
Genre: YA Romance
Release Date: September 27th


I’m Juliet.

At least, I wanted to be.

So I did something stupid to make it happen.

Well, stupid and wonderful.

I wanted the role of Juliet more than anything. I studied hard. I gave a great reading for it—even with Bobby checking me out the whole time. I deserved the part.

I didn’t get it. So I decided to level the playing field, though I actually might have leveled the whole play. You see, since there aren’t any Success in Getting to Be Juliet in Your High School Play spells, I thought I’d cast the next best—a Fame spell. Good idea, right?

Yeah. Instead of bringing me a little fame, it brought me someone a little famous. Shakespeare. Well, Edmund Shakespeare. William’s younger brother.

Good thing he’s sweet and enthusiastic about helping me with the play...and—ahem—maybe a little bit hot. But he’s from the past. Way past. Cars amaze him—cars! And cell phones? Ugh.

Still, there’s something about him that’s making my eyes go star-crossed....

Will Romeo steal her heart before time steals him away? --Goodreads



This book surprised me! It was fun and cute. As a Shakespeare fan, I was completely grabbed by the story. Afterward, I wanted to run to my bookshelf and grab up my own copy of “Romeo and Juliet” to re-read for the millionth time. This was such an interesting, imaginative, modern idea.


However, I don’t give it the highest praise it could have received. Why? The characters bumped it down a notch for me. I wanted to see more from them as well as the romance. The idea, while absolutely fantastic, just didn’t live to the FULL potential because I felt the characterization wasn’t fully developed. The romance felt slightly cheesy at times (I‘m also not a fan of quick fall-in-love plotlines when the reader barely even knows the characters themselves), and I got a bit annoyed with the MC’s ignorance. I feel if the characterization had been built just a bit better, the story could have been even greater.

Still, The Juliet Spell was imaginative, fun, entertaining and cute. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it!


3 stars!