Juliet Immortal

Gr 9 Up—Stacey Jay's re-examination of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (Delacorte, 2011) presents the real story behind the star-crossed lovers—Romeo bartered Juliet's love for him for a chance at an immortal life. Now they are undying spirits on two different missions. Juliet is an emissary for the Ambassadors of Light. She works to bring together those rarest of creatures: true soul mates. And Romeo is a mercenary whose orders are to find the soul mates and convince one to murder the other. For the last 700 years, the former lovers have battled one another, but their current mission is different. Nurse, who usually guides Juliet in her missions, is absent and Juliet doesn't have the super-human strength she typically is granted. And she's falling in love with one of the soul mates she is supposed to be helping. Meanwhile, Romeo is trying to convince Juliet to help him with a spell that will free them. For a book with a gimmicky plot, this story is dark. The peril for Juliet and her new love starts with a bang and escalates with each chapter until the story culminates in a gruesome and violent climax. Read by Justine Eyre with just the right mixture of maturity and teen romance chirpiness, listeners will never look at Shakespeare in the same way again.—Heather Campbell, formerly Philip S. Miller Library, Castle Rock, CO