Words and Phrases: Romeo Redeemed by Stacey Jay

STACEY JAY

Seductive companion to the popular Juliet Immortal, in which former lovers—Romeo and Juliet—meet, not as true lovers, but truly as enemies.

Cursed to live out eternity in his rotted corpse, Romeo, known for his ruthless, cutthroat ways, is given the chance to redeem himself by traveling back in time to save the life of Ariel Dragland. Unbeknownst to her, Ariel is important to both the evil Mercenaries and the love-promoting Ambassadors and holds the fate of the world in her hands. Romeo must win her heart and make her believe in love, turning her away from her darker potential before his work is discovered by the Mercenaries. While his seduction begins as yet another lie, it soon becomes his only truth. Romeo vows to protect Ariel from harm, and do whatever it takes to win her heart and soul. But when Ariel is led to believe his love is a deception, she becomes vulnerable to Mercenary manipulation, and her own inner darkness may ultimately rip them apart.

MY THOUGHTS

I'm giving a big credit to my English teacher when I was a Junior. She convinced me to read Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare though I never finished it. But the classic is great, I don't have a liter of doubt with that. So, I'm glad that someone created a newer version of it. Stacey Jay. Having read the first book which is Juliet Immortal, I've been looking forward for the sequel. And I am more than happy that Romeo's narrating the story. I love books with a boy's POV. The first book left me, us, hanging. What happened to Juliet. What Romeo has become. How about Ariel. And everything else.

In Juliet Immortal, Romeo was a Mercenary- army of Darkness, while Juliet was an Ambassador of Light. At the end of the first book, Juliet refused the Nurse's offer and turned into oblivion. In contrary, Romeo grabbed the chance of claiming his soul by taking the Nurse's offer as Ambassador of Light. He was given a chance for a mission of impossibility- to make Ariel believe in love again.

Romeo started off as wicked, twisted, cold-hearted beast who killed people, making lives miserable and ceaselessly destroying two souls who were meant for each other. I'm amazed how the character evolved in such a way no one might question it. The character development is perfect. With all the dire and monstrosity of his past, Romeo has changed into a romantic, sensitive and sympathetic character which I eventually loved. (Fine, I loved him even in the first book!) His relationship with Ariel seems a little risky to me but I loved the drama anyway. Reading this book made me realize how Ariel's heart is darker than I ought to believe. I never imagined that she has a monster deep within herself. In the first book, I thought Ariel was just a troubled teenager who doesn't feel loved by anyone. But as the story progressed in book two, I realized that Ariel has much deeper wounds.

I like the drama and conflict within the characters of the story. Though, the roles of Mercenary and Ambassador are confusing. There are loads of conflicts in the story, body- switching, turning sides, but the writer didn't explain it clearly to the readers. There was a time when I have to go back to certain page trying to understand the situation. The ending is confusing. I couldn't see how the ending of the first book ever relate to this. I'm kinda disappointed with how the book ends. Romeo Redeemed is a total messed up Romeo and Juliet. I thought they will be together at the end of the story. Shockingly, they didn't. It was disappointing.

This book is something you either hate or love. For me, I like it better than the first one. Why? Because I thought Juliet as Ariel was a flirt. Yeah, I blurt it out now. I loved Romeo since then. And Dylan is so gorgeous I can't even! Ugh.

In all, I'm giving 4 out of 5 apples to Romeo Redeemed.