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Still StarCrossed Melinda Taub Books

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Still StarCrossed Melinda Taub Books

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. It took me a while to get into it. I picked it up because I'm enjoying the ABC series and wanted to see what the book was like and how much they deviated from one another (so far, other than physical appearance, not very much). The language can be a bit off putting, although I think Taub did her best to stay true to a Shakespearean form of dialogue while still making it readable for modern audiences. You pick it up fairly quickly.

Then there got to be a point where I couldn't stop reading. I had to know who the man in black was. What Benvolio and Rosaline would do to save themselves and Verona. It's rather ingenious to write a story that picks up right after Romeo and Juliet's deaths, and is believable in its plot and conflicts. The characters are well developed, the story intriguing.

It has your requisite YA love triangle, and I have to admit, although I don't do it often, I skipped to the very end to make sure that Rosaline picked my preferred suitor (she did). If she hadn't, I probably wouldn't have kept reading. I hope the same thing happens on the TV show, especially considering the insane amount of chemistry those two actors have!

I've never read anything like this, but I can honestly say that after I finished, I wanted a sequel. I kept wanting to be in the world of Verona with the Capulets and Montagues. I'd recommend this one.


Tags : Amazon.com: Still Star-Crossed (9780385743501): Melinda Taub: Books,Melinda Taub,Still Star-Crossed,Delacorte Press,0385743505,Family - Multigenerational,Historical - Europe,Romance - General,Characters in literature;Fiction.,Families;Fiction.,Vendetta;Fiction.,Characters in literature,Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),Families,Fiction,Historical Fiction (Young Adult),Love & Romance,Vendetta,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Young Adult Fiction Family Multigenerational,Young Adult Fiction Historical Europe,Young Adult Fiction Romance General

Still StarCrossed Melinda Taub Books Reviews

Boy meets girl while she is being attacked by five thugs who he swiftly drives off with his superb swordsmanship! They soon learn one another's identity when, to their dismay, their arranged betrothal is decided by their families. While engaging in adventure and solving a mystery a tender, passionate love develops between them. Highly recommended.
Watched the first season on ABC and of course it was cancelled. That left me hanging, so I decided to read the book. Really enjoyed it. Loved the ending!
The idea of writing a sequel to one of the greatest fictional creations in history written by (IMHO) the greatest playwright and poet who ever lived, is pretty audacious. Writing it in a decent approximation of Shakespearian English adds to the audacity. Could it possibly work? The answer is a resounding yes. In Melinda Taub's delightful Still Star-Crossed, we catch up with the denizens of Verona mere weeks after the deaths of Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, and Mercutio. The Prince of Verona, Escalus, is at his wits' end. Despite the tentative peace promised by the Montagues and Capulets in the wake of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, Escalus knows it's only a matter of time before old grievances bubble to the surface and lead to more violence and death. Knowing it as a certainty, the Prince concocts a bold scheme to link the two families together by ordering a marriage between Romeo's friend, Benvolio, and a Rosaline, a relative of the Capulets. The tale of their relationship as it develops from dislike to friendship to love, is truly delightful. I would like to think that Will Shakespeare himself would have approved!
I must admit, I bought this due to ABC canceling the TV series, as I had to know how it ended, I wasn't disappointed in the story at all and glad I got to see it the end
A beautiful and engaging read. I loved how the author explored Verona on the aftermath of Romeo and Juliet's deaths. In the middle of trying to end the animosity between the Montagues and the Capulets, the streets of Verona are shaken with deaths from the two Houses in the hands of a mysterious masked man. We see here Rosaline of House Capulet and her sister Livia, Benvolio of House Montague, and Prince Escalus of Verona as key players in the story. I also loved the Shakespearean language used by the author, which is unpretentious and not overbearing. While I wasn't swooned by most of the romance parts (why are people so gullible in Verona?), I loved how the action scenes slowly built up until the climax. The ending is also satisfying.
While the plot is very good, the author's switch from modern form of language in her descriptions to a very poorly contrived form of Shakespearean dialogue is incredibly annoying. While I understand the author's purpose in attempting to keep the dialogue as Shakespeare would have written it, she really needed to study harder to use it well.
I am glad to see it will be a television show because the story is good, but reading the poor imitation for dialogue often pulled me out of the story.
I feel a bit like a jerk for giving this book 3.5 stars. I really wanted to enjoy it more, but I found myself struggling a bit to finish it.

At first, the style of the dialogue--somewhat Shakespearean in nature-- was very offputting to me. I struggled to get through it simply because it seemed to be over the top. However, as I continued to read, it started to click by about page 30. I'm not sure if the style gradually tamed itself a bit, or if I became used to it, but at that point I accepted it and even began to enjoy it.

Another thing that lowered my review was the poor romance. For a book based off of a legendary, ill-fated romance of sorts (arguably just infatuation) the romance in this book was frustratingly slow and then all of a sudden far too fast in terms of build-up. It just wasn't written in quite the right way for me as a reader of YA romance/fiction books. Rosaline was likable enough and so was Benvolio, but they didn't mesh well at all. Benvolio wasn't as rounded as a character as Rosaline was and for the most part, all of the other characters seemed very flat and rote.

The book moved at a sluggish pace for the first two thirds, peppered with the occasionally boring death before it started to pick up. I found my attention waning, struggling to find interest to finish the book.

However, despite all those critiques, I really liked the idea behind the book. The author was talented at weaving in many characters from the original play and explaining their actions and their reactions to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. I enjoyed seeing what happened in Verona afterwards and I liked the author's creativity in that regard.
I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. It took me a while to get into it. I picked it up because I'm enjoying the ABC series and wanted to see what the book was like and how much they deviated from one another (so far, other than physical appearance, not very much). The language can be a bit off putting, although I think Taub did her best to stay true to a Shakespearean form of dialogue while still making it readable for modern audiences. You pick it up fairly quickly.

Then there got to be a point where I couldn't stop reading. I had to know who the man in black was. What Benvolio and Rosaline would do to save themselves and Verona. It's rather ingenious to write a story that picks up right after Romeo and Juliet's deaths, and is believable in its plot and conflicts. The characters are well developed, the story intriguing.

It has your requisite YA love triangle, and I have to admit, although I don't do it often, I skipped to the very end to make sure that Rosaline picked my preferred suitor (she did). If she hadn't, I probably wouldn't have kept reading. I hope the same thing happens on the TV show, especially considering the insane amount of chemistry those two actors have!

I've never read anything like this, but I can honestly say that after I finished, I wanted a sequel. I kept wanting to be in the world of Verona with the Capulets and Montagues. I'd recommend this one.