Thank you to the author, publisher Manilla Press, and online book club The Pigeonhole for the chance to read this. This is an honest and voluntary review.

 

Rosaline is still mourning the loss of her beloved mother when she discover her father intends to submit her to a nunnery. As she enjoys her last few nights of freedom she falls head over heals for the charming, but forbidden, Romeo Montague. As she begins to see behind Romeo’s charm he turns his sights on her younger cousin Juliet.

 

A fascinating reimagining of the most famous love story in the English language. Rosaline is lifted from a brief mention of the girl Romeo is teased about forgetting to a complex young lady finding her place in a world where she is expected to follow the social rules and have no say in what happens to her.

 

If you know the original play well I’m sure you’ll pick up on many more moments than I did, but I enjoyed that so much of the moral or caring lines attributed to Romeo are here given to Rosaline. Suggesting that like so much of her life her autonomy is overwritten by a domineering male.