About the Author

Rebecca Serle is a Huffington Post contributor with a popular column in which she writes about children's literature and literacy. She holds an MFA from The New School and her work has appeared in numerous literary journals. She's also contributed to Brooklyn-based YA blog, Forever YA. Last year, Rebecca founded Nurturing Narratives, a children's program centred around empowering children through storytelling. This is her debut novel.

Reviews

"A sweet, fun, and utterly irresistible read." -Deb Caletti, National Book Award Finalist

Gr 8 Up-Serle's modern-day retelling (Simon Pulse, 2012) of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is told from the perspective of the slighted Rosaline. Rosaline and Rob have been best friends since childhood and are finally pursuing a romantic relationship. As things start to fall into place for the couple, Juliet moves back to town and manipulates her way into Rob's heart. Juliet is portrayed as needy and broken, but her motives are underdeveloped and, therefore, not believable. While this is an interesting twist on the classic love story, those drawn to this plot may be dissuaded by the slow narrative arch. The story moves towards the climax with sometimes unnecessary detail to the mundane. Sarah Grace does a solid job of portraying Rosaline, but some characters come across as trite and annoying. Teens may be drawn to this title because a film version is in the works. However, there are better retellings available, such as Juliet Immortal (Delacorte, 2011) by Stacey Jay and Letters to Juliet (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2006) by Lise Ceil Friedman.-Rebecca Flannery, Lyman Memorial High School, Lebanon, CT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.