Rating:


Author: Adapted by Claudia Gabel from William Shakespeare

Publication: August 31st, 2010

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Description: "You are deluded, Romeo. Vampires do not have the capability to love. They are heartless."

The Capulets and the Montagues have some deep and essential differences. Blood differences. Of course, the Capulets can escape their vampire fate, and the Montagues can try not to kill their undead enemies. But at the end of the day, their blood feud is unstoppable. So it's really quite a problem when Juliet, a vampire-to-be, and Romeo, the human who should be hunting her, fall desperately in love. What they don't realize is how deadly their love will turn out to be—or what it will mean for their afterlives. . . .

This riotous twist on the ultimate tale of forbidden romance is simply to die for. Via Amazon.

My Review:

From the moment I saw the cover and read the title I knew that this would be a light read, but for the cheap Borders-goodbye price, I decided I didn't mind. I've seen quite a few of these "classics with a side of paranormal fun" books cropping up lately, but this is the first one I've read. Got a lame story? Add some vampires to spice things up!

To be honest, I have never liked the classic Romeo & Juliet. That ending was not okay, I don't care if it's a classic or not. I hoped that, despite my dislike for the story of Romeo & Juliet, the "& Vampires" of this book would make it worth reading. I was happy to find that Romeo & Juliet & Vampires fixed all of the pieces in the original that I hated while tying in the added fun of vampires and vampire hunters. That's not to say that the famous story was completely changed or anything, I was actually impressed at how closely it kept to the original with  the whole vampire thing to work in, but it just enhanced it. At least in my opinion. The writing, though, was very different.

As you know, Romeo & Juliet is written as a play. Romeo & Juliet & Vampires made the story into novel format, which required the entire book to be rewritten. I personally was pleased with the change, though I would have apreciated it even more if the writing had been better. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed rushed and unprofessional for the most part. Alright for a light read, but not if you really want to be impressed.

If you're looking for a quick, fun read that will put a smile on your face, then you should check out Romeo & Juliet & Vampires. However, if you're a classics lover that might be offended by changes being made to a classic work, then you should probably steer clear.

Summed Up:

This was a quick, fun read that I enjoyed. For me, it "fixed" everything that I didn't like about the original Romeo & Juliet. The writing wasn't the best though and it was a bit of a turn-off knowing virtually everything that would happen.