Julie Jacobs, whose parents died when she was young, has grown up under the care of her great aunt Rose. When her aunt passes away, Julie inherits a key to a safety deposit box located in Siena, Italy. With nothing to tie her to her home in the U.S. and with a not-so-good-relationship with her twin sister, she flees to Siena to discover more about her family's history, including its connection to the original story of Romeo and Juliet. What she doesn't realize is that she's stepping into an unexpected world of danger and secrets.

This was Anne Fortier's debut novel. I'd read her second novel, The Lost Sisterhood, quite a few years ago. Both books have similar styles: a past and present parallel storyline, and probably categorized as historical fiction. I enjoyed both books. While this one had its unbelievable bits, I liked the way Fortier interwove the traditional Romeo & Juliet story with the present-day one. It was maybe not totally believable, but it was fun. This book seems to have mixed reviews, but I quite enjoyed it and would recommend it. ( )

Historical Fiction

Giving up at 23% complete. It is a mix between boring and laughable. I have too many other things to read to waste mire time on this. ( )

I definitely didn't enjoy this as much as THE LOST SISTERHOOD. I think the basic premise here appealed to me somewhat less and I could see certain plot element threads that Fortier carried throughout both books ( )

          Juliet is a story mainly set in Siena Italy that intertwines two time periods the 1300's and the present via a family mystery and supposed curse. Alternating chapters to define the time periods the story jumps back and forth progressing both story lines until they merge, twisting and turning like an Italian back street to a resolution.
          I found the premise interesting, This is an extrapolation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in terms of moving it backwards slightly in time and spatially to Siena (rather than Verona). While tossing in a modern mystery and some romance. The characters are readily recognizable and yet described in correlating terms for those not familiar with the Bard's work. I was also pleased at the sketching (within context of the storyline) of the play's origins and prior versions before it was re-vamped by Shakespeare.
          Now for the drawbacks. The writing around the 1300's setting is tight, well paced and engaging. However when Ms. Fortier moved her story-line into the present it became clumsy and several of the characters felt very one dimensional. An example of this would be the characterizations of the modern twins. There is no middle ground and neither is particularly like-able as a result. (obviously one isn't designed to be but that isn't the point). Likewise her grasp of the modern portions of the story in terms of setting, pace, and plot do leave something to be desired. Add in that in the modern story line I felt the plot unraveled somewhat about 2/3rds of the way through and the pace slowed.
          This is in direct contrast to her portrayal of Medieval Italy. Her grasp and characterization of not just characters, but setting, and plot pace belie her clumsiness in the modern story line. I was left wondering if the original story had been to tell the 1300's story (a well drawn mystery in itself) and then lightly draw it into the present, only to be told there must be two story lines and have to backtrack fitting the two together.
          Despite these drawbacks this is a fun read and I think will go over well with many readers. I'm giving this a 3.65 overall.
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I would like to thank Goodreads for allowing me to read this as it was an ARC. I also wish Ms. Fortier all the best in her future writing. I look forward to her development as a writer. ( )