Saving JulietAuthor Suzanne Selfors
Publisher: Walker Books
Source: Public Library
Challenges:For the Love of YA, The Library Challenge
256 pages
"Seventeen year old Mimi Wallingford, of the Broadway Wallingfords, has a life most girls can only dream of --- complete with the starring role in her family's production of Romeo and Juliet. But acting is not her dream, and she's fighting for the right to trade her script for a scalpel and become a doctor. Fourteen year old Juliet Capulet, of the Verona Capulet's, has lived a lonely life --- imprisoned by the feud that consumes her family and by her iron fist-ed mother's forcing her into an unwanted marriage. She will do anything to avoid her betrothed, even if it requires faking a boil on her bottom --- or something more dangerous. During the plays final performance, Mimi's wish to get away actually comes true when she and her heartthrob costar, Troy Summer, are magically transported into Shakespeare's Verona. Now that she knows the real Juliet, Mimi doesn't want to stand by and allow the play to reach its tragic end. But if saving her new friend means changing the ending of the greatest love story of all time, will she and Troy ever make it back to Broadway?"
The copy I have in my hands looks like a book that has spent a lot of time on the shelf. Why? I do not know. I thoroughly enjoyed the story Suzanne Selfors wrote!
At the beginning I didn't connect with the main character Mimi as much as I wanted to. I just went along with it. But as soon as the time travel happened, I was excited about her actions. I started to see the girl she was and her feelings were understandable. Surprisingly, Mimi didn't get on my nerves! I was kinda astonished too, to see that she didn't figure out what was going on until later in the book. But she if very funny at times. Mimi was very likable, she's just your average teenager besides the fact that she gets transported to Verona in to the story of Romeo and Juliet! The other character I want to talk about is of course the leading male character. Whenever they interacted and talked I was hanging on every word! He is famous and in the beginning, since the reader sees him through Mimi's eyes, he is a jerk. But then (of course) you learn that hey he actually isn't - he's really sweet and just acts all 'snotty' because of his agent. I really liked Troy the way he always defended Mimi (he throws a few punches for her) when she was in trouble and how much he cared about her even though she didn't realize it. All the characters, including the handsome Benvolio, Romeo and of course the sweet girl Juliet were awesome in this story!
I really enjoyed the plot. There was never a dull moment, sometimes it was slow but for the most part it was detailed and entertaining. I have never read the story of Romeo and Juliet but I can say now that I know the main story! I absolutely enjoyed how Suzanne Selfors wrote this. Mimi is telling us of the account a year after. And it quite entertaining at some of the commentary she puts in there. I laughed quite a few times! It had very good humor and was an easy, light read. It makes you feel like you went on a trip! The writing style is easy to read and doesn't confuse you. It wraps up nicely in the end too!
I would recommend this to people who like time/story travel and romance! It was a light, fun and quick read that left me feeling like I had a great time. Don't let the cover fool you, it's a very delightful read!
Excerpt:
A few words beforehand.
I'm not going to begin my story with "Once upon a time," even though many of you will call it a fairy tale. Fairy tales are fantasies. Fairy tales are made up and my story is true. Every single word.
I'm going to call this a life-is-the-stuff-of-dreams tale, because that's what it felt like, at first. It felt like a dream, except I'm not the only person who was there and who remembers. Dreams simply do not happen in tandem.
My name is Mimi, and you might think I'm completely nuts after you read this. But I won't mind because it's my story and it saved my life.
Fine then. You can turn the page.
This sounds good! I've never heard of this one but I really should get a copy, great review by the way! :)
ReplyDeleteDO NOT READ ROMEO AND JULIET!!!!! I really loved 'Saving Juliet', but Shakespeare is (in my opinion) painful! When I was younger I had to read edited Shakespeare and I liked it, but I read Romeo and Juliet last year, and when it is unedited it took me forever to read (and this is coming from the girl who can read the last Harry Potter in two days). It may have had a good plot, but it was just to hard to understand.
ReplyDeleteMaria - I hope if you read it, you'll enjoy it :) Thanks for commenting! (P.S. You've got the same name as my sister, I love the name Maria, it's beautiful)
ReplyDeleteShelby - I hear you, that's what lots of people say. I don't plan on reading it but thanks for the head up anyways! They don't call it a tragic love story for nothing eh? Also I believe you that it was hard to understand :/ Thanks for reading!