Juliet by Anne Fortier (Part One)

I haven't yet finished this book, but I really wanted to share it with you, so I'll review on the ending of it later.

It's about this woman (Julie/Guilietta) who travels to Italy after discovering that she is the descendant of the actual historical family upon which Shakespeare based the Capulets, there, she meets this man (Alessandro)who seems to hate her, but we shall see if that changes (read: I think he's the love interest), and tries to uncover the truth of the family legends.

Why I Love This Book:

1. It has an epigraph to each chapter from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the beginning of each chapter. If you've been reading my original blog (here), you'll know how much I love R & J! So, that, and the fact that the whole story is basically a discussion of the facts behind that, makes me just love this book!
2. It's sort of like two books (and romances) in one: our main character is travelling about Italy, trying to figure out Alessandro etc. AND she is reading these ancient manuscripts that depict the tale that R & J is based on. So, whole chapters are about the romance of Romeo and Guilietta in the Middle Ages, which is awesome!
3. The style is just great. The diction is very elevated and the way in which things are phrased is very interesting. It's almost like Fortier is trying the give her contemporary novel a Shakespearean feel (which, considering the subject matter, is so cool). One of my friends thought that it sounded pompous, but this was the same friend who pronounced Guilietta as "Gwill-e-etta" and "Ghoul-e-etta". I really apprectiate the style, but I tend to genuinely love classic novels like those of Jane Austen, so I may be biased.

In short, so far, it's an awesome book and I highly recommend it if you love romance, Shakespeare, history, and wonderful diction!