Pre-reading: I'm hoping this will be as cracktastic as the blurb... :D

This is a totally cheesy vampire romance story. The only thing that sets this apart from the many, many other vampire romance stories is that it uses Romeo and Juliet as a framework for...a typical vampire romance. Yawn. ( )

review (and giveaway and interivew on my blog) later this week!

The classic Romeo & Juliet tale, but with a twist. The Capulet and Montague families have a deep hatred of one another--a blood feud really. Only in Romeo & Juliet & Vampires, it's a rather literally blood feud.

The Capulets are a great and powerful vampire family and the Montagues are a strong, forceful vampire hunting family. Each believes strongly that the world would be much better without the existence of the other. With a treaty in place to 'stop' the Capulets from killing humans and the Montagues from kiling vampires, things have settled somewhat but the hatred is still simmering.

When Juliet, the only Capulet daughter, and Romeo a Montague son, meet and fall hopelessly in love they know their future together won't be easy or smooth sailing but they have no idea just what all they will encounter and how much they will be tested.

I was excited at the prospect of a book that was mixing Romeo & Juliet and vampires directly after so, so many vampire books have pulled on Romeo & Juliet and I have to say I liked this book even more than I expected I would.

Claudia Gabel's vampire infused adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet is so much more than simply the classic tale with fangs stuck onto the characters. While the underlying storyline did stay very true to Shakespeare's original Romeo and Juliet, Gabel's vampire storyline felt like an original tale, too. The supernatural elements never felt forced or stuck into someone else's story--it was all a fully integrated, completely enjoyable story.

I haven't read any of the other classics/supernatural creature mash-ups before but if any of them are as good as this was, I'll have to give them a shot.

Another thing I noticed while reading Romeo & Juliet & Vampires was that I was able to keep track of the relationships between the characters a lot better than when I read Romeo & Juliet. I don't know if that's because this was in modern prose or why . . . but anyone who needs to read it for school might want to give this a shot (in addition to the non-vampire one!!) if you can be sure you won't include vampires on any tests or essays!

Both the classic Romeo & Juliet plot and the adapted vampire-y Romeo & Juliet plot are great. The Romeo and Juliet characters were great and I could especially understand Juliet and her struggle.

I hope you'll give this one a try.

(review from my blog: book-splot.blogspot.com--author interview posted there, too) ( )

Romeo & Juliet is the classic tragic love story. Whether they've read the play or not, everyone knows exactly what happens. I'm a big fan of William Shakespeare. I feel that his his plays transcend time and readers can easily find situations and themes in them that apply to modern life. I am also a big mash-up fan. I believe that the current trend of adding monsters to classic works is an entertaining way of dusting them off and wowing new readers. But mash-ups need to do more than add monsters to be successful. They need to add them in a way that enriches the story and makes it as good if not better than the original.

Having said that, Romeo & Juliet & Vampires takes the original play and rewrites it in novel format. I like this change. The novel format gives readers an insight into the thoughts and motivations of the characters that just can't be as clearly conveyed in a play. The wording in Romeo & Juliet & Vampires is also changed from the original. This updating into a more modern method of speech may appeal to those new to Shakespeare's works, but I believe it will disappoint long-time fans. What is Romeo & Juliet without memorable phrases like "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet."?

The very general, very basic idea of Romeo & Juliet is all that is left of the original. The vampires take over this reinvention, completely changing the entire story line. Even the famous, unforgettable ending is completely different. In the end, the book isn't even a tragedy anymore.

Romeo & Juliet & Vampires is very easy to read. It could have been more enjoyable if it didn't veer so far from the original or even if it had went a completely different direction making it more paranormal historical fiction. As it is, the book is too close to the original while being very far away from the message the original was trying to convey.

I believe those who have never read the original will find Romeo & Juliet & Vampires very satisfying, but I doubt who loved the tragedy will feel anything other than disappointment. Perhaps Romeo & Juliet was better left untouched. ( )