Monday, September 01, 2008

Saving Juliet, by Suzanne Selfors


Mimi is the fourth generation of an acting dynasty and none too happy about it. She'd rather be getting ready to go to college (pre-med) and not stuck doing Romeo and Juliet with shallow pop idol Troy Summer. And then things take a turn for the weird when a magic charm transports her and Troy into Verona itself. To escape, they end up rewriting the greatest love-tragedy of all time.

I imagine that books like this exist on two planes -- to provide an author with a cute setting to tell a story and also to entice young readers to read classics. But like Ophelia, this story transcends its Shakespearean setting to become both a decent adventure and a heartfelt coming-of-age story. I liked this story a lot, except for a far too conveniently tied-up ending (I would actually recommend skipping the last too chapters altogether -- what was her editor thinking?!).

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