Why Romeo Hates Juliet by Anna Mara - #review

Why Romeo Hates Juliet by Anna Mara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare is one of my favorite plays. (Actually, anything by Shakespeare is one of my favorites!) But while the Bard's version has the couple's families fighting, Anna Mara's version, entitled "Why Romeo Hates Juliet" (my italics), it's the couple who do all the fighting.

And they don't play well with others. Between Juliet and Romeo, there are fights, accidents, property damage, black eyes, twin arrests (his for drugs - which did not belong to him - and hers for assault). These two are dangerous for and to each other. Juliet tries to 'teach him a lesson' and winds up super-glued to Romeo, necessitating a hospital visit. And that's just the first 48, y'all.

The characters certainly change and grow during the course of the book, each of them separately as well as in relation to each other. While the individual growth takes them to a better place ... their change as a couple threatens to be the death (literally) of both of them. Petty back and forth revenge ploys turn into an immense conflagration later on.

Sarah (Juliet's sister) needed to step up her "Cher Moonstruck" treatment of the two of them, slap them both upside the head and tell them to 'Snap out of it!'

I'm not the biggest fan of 'high heat/spice' romances, but was grateful Ms. Mara kept things classy. Make no mistake, the descriptions were detailed, (I might have tugged at my collar once - or twice), she did not use crass colloquialisms for certain bits and pieces of human anatomy.

Overall, I did enjoy the story. There were a few surprises, which is always nice. And I did catch myself carrying my e-reader into the kitchen while I fixed lunch. The name "Why Romeo Hates Juliet" was definitely an attraction to me, but the book lived up to the promise and was quite enjoyable. I would both recommend this book to others and be open to read more of the author's work.

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(Disclaimer:  I 'purchased' this copy for free at Amazon, having received an email from deal-notification service such as Bookbub, BookRiot, eBookSoda, Freebooksy, Robin's Reads, etc.  I was under no obligation to review.)

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This book helps me fulfill the following 2019 read-a-thons and reading challenges:

#WintersRespite Read-a-thon
You Read How Many Books? RC
52 Books in 52 Weeks RC (beach read)
GoodReads RC
PWOW RC (friends section - #10 - strong family bonds);
Reading Women RC (#18 - romance or love story)
Literary Escapes RC (PEI)

My 2019 #WintersRespite Read-a-thon Signup

Thank goodness for GoodReads!  I only found out about this readathon a couple of moments ago on Goodreads and so am dashing off this "I'm in" post in time for the starting gate.

I don't really have a 'plan' for reading, but I may let this double as my "book basket for all January reads".  I'm figuring around 15+ books.

The group hashtag is #WintersRespite and there are groups on Facebook, GoodReads and Instagram.

There's no 'required number of reads', so if you are planning on trying to get even one book done, come join in with sister and brother bibliophiles, and take some time off from your real life. :)

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MY LIST

1.  Best Self: Be You, Only Better by Mike Bayer (January 1) DONE
2.  In the Midst of Winter by Danice Hope (January 1-review will post January 8 on a tour) DONE
3.  Why Romeo Hates Juliet by Anna Mara (Jan 3) DONE
4.  First Frost by Liz DeJesus (Jan 4) DONE
5.  The Little Leprechaun Who Loved Yellow! by Sally Huss (Jan 4) DONE
6.  Brownie Points for Murder by Nicole Ellis (Jan 7) DONE
7.  The Mountain Man's Dog by Gary Corbin (Jan 7) DONE
8.  Ruthless by Susan Kiernan-Lewis (Jan 8) DONE
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Thursday Bookish Post - Bai Tide by Erika Mitchell

  

Thanks to Tina at Mommynificent and Katherine at Katherine's Corner for hosting these wonderful link-ups!  Click on the buttons to see the other participants and link-up!

TT&HH is a meme hosted by Lexxie at (un)Conventional Book Reviews.  All y'all readers out there are welcome to share a food or drink related quote from a book you are reading or have read.  Click the button above to get the full details and to link up your post(s)!

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BOOKNIFICENT THURSDAYS

  

SYNOPSIS

After the events of Blood Money, CIA case officer Bai Hsu is assigned to a high-security private school for what he’s told is an easy assignment. Just a few months after he arrives, a hostile operative with ties to North Korea tries to break in to a school event, with motives unknown.

As his investigation progresses, he unravels a plot that, if not stopped, will result in the untimely and murderous deaths of tens of millions of people. In order to stop the attack, Bai must recruit the one person he absolutely cannot trust in order to break into one of the most isolated, dangerous countries in the world.

Bai Tide is Bai’s greatest challenge yet. A mission that will take him from the windswept beaches of San Diego to a whiteout blizzard in the foothills of Pyongyang, and make him question everything he thought he knew about working in the field…and about himself.

Note:  I just finished reading Bai Tide and will review it on the blog as part of a TLC virtual book tour on February 6, 2017!

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THIRSTY THURSDAY & HUNGRY HEARTS

The following quote from Bai Tide shows why even well trained spy types sometimes have trouble when they conduct operations in hostile territory.  It also describes two characters' breakfasts ... someplace that will probably never show up on Michelin's radar.

"She'd already thrown a few handfuls of oats into the trough by the time I joined her, neither of us feeling the need to speak as we worked to chew our breakfast.  We washed our oats down with cautious sips of frigid water until our stomachs registered they'd had enough.  Cindy draped a tattered saddle blanket from a dark corner of the barn around her shoulders, and we set off through the snow again, grateful to have slipped away before the villagers found us."

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#WINTERSRESPITE

I'm also shelf-deep in the

so if you want to party with 68 other readers around the world at any point in the next 10 days, head on over (click the button) and sign-up!  There are no goals or levels that you do not set for yourself, just sharing the reading vibe goodness!

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QUESTION(S):

Did you come here specifically for one of the memes?  Which one?

Are we friends on GoodReads?  If not, would you like to be? :O)

My #WintersRespite Readathon Sign-up/Goal Post

So, winter is about 1/3 gone and, yeah, I'm ready for some respite.  In swoops Michelle at Seasons of Reading Blog (chock full of bookish challenge and readathon goodness) to provide just that.

It's pretty laid back (think curling up in front of a fire with a comfy quilt and a nice mug of hot chocolate) and a turning the pages of a 'book book' or lots of swiping with your reading finger! *lol*

If you want to challenge yourself to read more than you did last year, go for it!  If you don't have a lot of time for sitting down and reading, one book can make a successful readathon for you!  (Audio books are supposed to be good for those with busy schedules as well ... but I don't listen to many of those.)

So anyway...

1.  Finish up 3 of the books listed on my "currently reading shelf" on GoodReads:

• Bai Tide by Erika Mitchell - Asian American 'company' man tries to foil plots kidnap a young Asian woman who just happens to be a brilliant nuclear physicist and one the could cause the death of tens of millions of people.  About half-way through.  Enjoying so far!

• Altdorf: The Forest Knights #1by J.K. Swift -   I chose this book in the first place for the European Reading Challenge and also because it takes place in 13th/14th century Switzerland - where my mother was born.

• Hound of the Sea by Garrett McNamara - radical surfing memoir.  Received for a book tour.

2.

• write/post review of Bai Tide.  (cannot post until Feb 6th - is on a book tour)
• write/post review of Altdorf
• write/post review of Hound of the Sea

Now, I know that is not really a reading goal, but if I let things pile up too much, between finishing a book and writing the review ... let's just say it gets messy in my head! *lol*  It's like doing dishes after every meal.  It does nothing for your nutrition, but if you don't, they turn into a big stinky pile in your kitchen sink!

3.  spend today (Tuesday, 17 January, 2017) going through my various challenges, etc, and make a 'lineup' for the rest of the read-a-thon and the month.  I don't expect to be reading all of this, it's just my next read from each of my reading challenges more or less.

a.  When We Last Spoke by Marci Henna
b.  A Death by Any Other Name by Tessa Arlen
c.  Tough Justice: Takedown (#1-8) by Cassidy, Snell and Curtis
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d.  Gateway to Nifleheim by Glenn G. Thater
e.  A Dead Red Oleander by R.P. Dahlke
f.  Every Trick in the Rook by Marty Wingate
g.  The Jakarta Pandemic by Steve Konkoly
h.  The Year God's Daughter by Rebecca Lochlann
i.  Sunborn Rising: Beneath the Fall by Aaron Safronoff
j.  No Ifs, Ands or Bears About it by Celia Kyle
k.  Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers

4.  Finish one reading challenge.  (Actually, the European Reading Challenge is a good candidate for this goal, as I signed up for 3 books - from three different European countries.)  And Altdorf represents my 2nd book for that challenge.

(When I finish The Year God's Daughter (above) I will have finished my commitment to the European Reading Challenge!)

5.  Read at least 2 books for the COYER challenge.

6.  Visit 3 other #WintersRespite blogs each day (starting today).

That's probably enough goals for now.  Once I really get underway, I'll see how things are going and adjust as necessary.

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1st Updates in Blue entered on Friday, 20 January, 2017 2033 hrs.
2nd updates in Red entered on Saturday, 21 January, 2017 2025 hrs