Juliet Immortal [Kindle Edition]

Stacey Jay (Author)

Book Description

Fans of Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver and Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush will relish this intense paranormal love story featuring Romeo and Juliet, literary history's most tragic couple, who meet again, not as true lovers, but truly as enemies.

The most tragic love story in history . . .

Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.

"These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume."
—Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Letter from Author Stacey Jay

If you love Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet…

I love Shakespeare’s plays--the clever dialogue, the poetry, the epic themes, the tortured characters--but I could never understand why I should love Romeo and Juliet. Yet, it was assumed that I would. That I should. It is our culture’s ultimate, iconic love story, albeit a tragic one.

But is it? Really?

Let’s pretend for a moment that we’re talking about people we know. People we love. Our friends, our family. There’s a boy and a girl. They’ve known each other only a few days—and the boy was head over heels for someone else just a few days before that—but when denied the right to be together, they each decide suicide is their only option. And so they die.

Love over. Life over.

What exactly is romantic about that?

As much as I love Shakespeare’s work, I hate that so many readers come away from Romeo and Juliet viewing it as a fine romance. For me, Romeo and Juliet is a cautionary tale, about the disastrous things that can happen when you value anything--even your true love--more than you value yourself.

I have an amazing husband, but if something were to happen to him I would not even consider ending my life. Because my life is valuable. The love I’ve found with him helped me understand that, and helped me learn to love myself as much as he does. And I’m so glad I did, because I believe only when we love ourselves can we love our mate with the purity and awesomeness they deserve.

That’s why Juliet Immortal is about a Juliet who learns to love herself as much as the boy who loves her. About a Juliet who's been through the worst breakup imaginable and learns to love and trust again. It’s not a cautionary tale, or even a warning against sudden attraction or infatuation. Sometimes we fall hard and fast--especially when we’re young--and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t believe love is something to be approached with guards in place and walls erected. The only weapon you need in the quest for true love is found within.

Love yourself, value yourself and your good heart, and no failed romance will ever bring you as low as poor Juliet or her Romeo.

That’s what I hope my readers will take away from this book. That...and a love for unexpected monsters. Because what story is complete without a few unexpected monsters?

About the Author

STACEY JAY lives in the California wine country with her husband and their two boys. She is the author of the Megan Berry, Zombi Settler series and several other books for young adults.

From the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 992 KB
• Print Length: 322 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0385740166
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (August 9, 2011)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004J4X9SS
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,520 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Where Art Thou, Love Story? August 3, 2011

By Leah

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Die hard Shakespeare fans will probably faint when they see the premise of author Stacey Jay's JULIET IMMORTAL. The well-known tragedy of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, members of rival families who meet and fall in love, is a story which has been retold in different forms and manners. But the truth according to this book is that Romeo was the source of their demise... to gain immortality. Now, they battle for the souls of lovers on Earth in the never ending war between good and evil.

I was interested in this idea. How could an author possibly take Romeo and Juliet's tale and create a supernatural element? And being from California, it's nice to read about cities in your home state. Well, the idea sounded fairly standard: instead of the rival families, Romeo and Juliet are now part of warring factions-- he for the Mercenaries of the Apocalypse, she for the Ambassadors of Light. There are some fascinating ideas about the two sides, but their history, however, is confusing and a little comical. It took me about an hour to fully immerse myself in the mythology. The names alone require patience.

Poor Romeo is reduced to a blathering, over the top villain who likes to taunt Juliet. Juliet was a more complex character. Through her, Ms. Jay deals with issues some girls deal with: fitting in, finding yourself, and becoming a strong person. Juliet is capable of holding her own in a fight (which is refreshing considering the amount of female characters written who have the male lead fight for them), but when she meets a boy named Ben whom she feels an instant connection with, she becomes interested much like she was in Romeo in the play. I didn't understand their instant attraction; it felt like it was plunked into the story because there had to be a love interest.

The narration flows, yet it does have the tendency to be just as over-dramatic as Juliet's crazy counterpart. This feels like an extension of the play: Romeo and Juliet Immortal.

If you're a Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet fan, tread VERY cautiously with this one. If you're looking for an entertaining albeit contrived read and can digest some heavy-handed material, this is worth a look.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolutely Compelling Read August 15, 2011

By April VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay reexamines the Romeo and Juliet mythos. You see, Shakespeare gets it all wrong. Romeo and Juliet didn't die for love. Instead, Romeo killed Juliet to get immortality as promised by these beings known as the Mercenaries. Yet, Romeo's plans go awry when Juliet doesn't stay dead and is offered a position fighting for love and soul mates on behalf of the side of good known as the Ambassadors. Over the centuries, Romeo and Juliet find each other in battle in different times and different places. This time, though, is different from all the others. They find themselves in CA, Juliet inhabits the body of an emotionally damaged teenage girl named Ariel. Instead of focusing on her mission, she begins to fall for a teenage boy she meets named Ben. Will Juliet trust her heart and learn to love again?

Despite the cheesy summary, Juliet Immortal is an absolutely compelling read. Juliet's voice is so honest and so real. She is full of uncertainty, especially because she was burned so badly by Romeo. As readers we want Juliet to succeed and fall in love despite the obstacles because she is so likable, even with her faults.

Then there is Romeo who is delightful as a villain. He's bad, but also sexy. And quite dangerous. Yet, his motivations for joining the Mercenaries are legit. I felt that he wasn't a cliched villain, and I genuinely came to like his scenes.

I thought Juliet Immortal was incredibly romantic. I loved how it turned it's source material, Romeo And Juliet, on it's head. I loved the chemistry between Juliet and Ben, especially because as readers we just want her to be happy. I loved how big of a role love of all types - romantic, friend, family- played in this story.

The ending is great too. It left me completely satisfied. There were no cliff hangers. No sequel bait. There is an actual conclusion and resolution. Juliet Immortal is an excellent read if you love a strong romance and new takes on old stories.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Conflicting feelings over this one. September 18, 2011

By Roxana W. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I'll make sure to keep this non-spoilery.

Pros: So I'm pretty conflicted over this book. At the very beginning I easily adored it. It starts with action and suspense and dives right into the plot of the story. The style the romance takes on is very different from that of typical YA. Romeo is basically a sociopath, and Juliet, though once having loved him, is completely aware of this. They're both now part of an ongoing "war" between the Ambassadors of Light and the Mercenaries. The book starts with them being thrown into another one of their missions for their respective sides, except that this time around things are weird. Romeo is stronger, Juliet is weaker. She can't reach her Ambassadors so they can explain things to her. Her mission isn't making sense and is harder to handle than usual. Romeo's acting weirder than usual, etc. All of this, I enjoyed and I found the story overall to be very captivating. I'm a sucker for *genuinely* tragic romances, and I don't see enough of that in most books that claim to have them.

Cons: The writing is simple, sometimes a little cheesy, but what I really didn't like was the resolution of everything at the end. It was kind of confusing and all over the place. It was interesting, but still, it felt really disorganized. I wish the events at the end had been much neater and less thrown together. The author should also try to explain things a little more there because I'm left with a few questions that I doubt are going to ever be answered, since it doesn't look like this will have a sequel- although I'd read that if it did. Heck, several of the characters themselves ended up with attitudes that went something like, "I don't understand what just happened but I'm cool with it!"

I say give it a shot, it isn't entirely typical, but take it lightly. I'm not someone who is generally a fan of the story of Romeo and Juliet because of how it's been hyped into a story of True Love over the centuries, but I very much enjoyed this one anyway.

More About the Author

Stacey Jay is a recovering workaholic (or at least working hard at recovering) with three pen names, two small children, and a passion for playing pretend. She's been a full time mom-writer since 2005 and can't think of anything she'd rather be doing. Her former careers include theater performer, professional dancer, poorly paid C-movie actress, bartender, waiter, math tutor, and yoga instructor.

Find Stacey on the Web at http://staceyjay.com, or blogging at (http://staceyjayya.blogspot.com) or Livejournal (http://stacey-jay.livejournal.com).