Juliet

Author:   Anne Fortier

One-sentence summary: A modern-day Juliet unravels a mystery using clues her mother left for her in Sienna, Italy, revealing more than just her own history.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating:  8 (unanimous rating)

Our favorite thing about it:  The intricate layers of the story and the location.

Our least favorite thing about it:  Some of the book was predictable and a little cheesy.

Main Topics of Discussion: History, Sienna, Shakespeare, Power, Culture, Characterization, Love, Siblings

Our favorite quote: “Whatever demons, evil or good, had been conjured from the collective soul of the people of Sienna, they had been given life, and only the battle itself, the race, could execute justice.”

Notes:  We all really enjoyed reading this book, although we all noticed some of the same faults with it. Despite those faults we still rated the book fairly high because the experience of reading the book and following the story was so enjoyable.

We loved the location…Sienna, Italy. The book divides the narration between the 1300s and present day, so we also got a good dose of history. We learned interesting things about medieval Sienna as well as the historic Palio for which the city is famous. The city, with its architecture, culture, and city wards (contrade) is almost a character in its own right.

We also loved how the medieval and present day stories and characters were woven together in this romantic mystery. The dynamics between families and individual characters was constantly changing and being peeled back as the story unfolded. We felt that this book would actually make a pretty good movie.

Despite all those things that we loved and appreciated, there were still a few things that we didn’t like or would have changed. First, some parts of the romantic story were a bit cheesy as well as some of the dialogue. And the author, in trying to tie the medieval Romeo and Juliet together with the present day counterparts, took some turns in the story that seemed a little contrived to us.

We also thought that some of the characters were a little one-dimensional and we didn’t really like the Janice character at all. We didn’t really know why the author chose to make her more of a main character halfway through the book, but we would have rather her stayed in the US for the rest of the story.

So, overall this was a good story with an interesting setting and historical context.

Memorable Meeting Moments:  We gave Lindsay birthday books and cards and she chose the next book…only to correct her choice the next day! I think we stayed as late as we ever have at a meeting…12:30am.

What We Ate:  Sangria, Baked Mac n’ Cheese topped with Herbed Bacon Bread Crumbs, Arugula Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette, Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil, Garlic Bread, Angel Food Cake with Berries and Fresh Whipped Cream, and Pumpkin Cinnamon Cookies with Spiced Glaze.