This books mood board! Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark (and NetGalley ily) for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Set during the unknown days and hours before Romeo meets Juliet, Fair Rosaline gives voice and context to the character we all know of, but have never heard from. As Solomons recognizes in the Authors Note, although Rosaline is a pivotal character in the first Act of Romeo and Juliet, she never actually appears or speaks, leaving the audiences perception of her entirely up to Romeo’s opinions of her. This novel works to remedy that.
Much of the first half of the book read very similar to the Romeo and Juliet story we all know. Romeo playing out the same story, just with a different girl. There was even a moment when he, quite randomly, suggested suicide to Rosaline where she is shocked by the suggestion. These “callbacks” to exact phrases or actions, especially that of Romeo, from the original play, were interesting at first but began to feel contrived after they appeared in the narrative in ways that felt forced, like the fain double-suicide suggestion.
Alongside the cruelty that Romeo shows after Rosaline rejects him, the dramatic emotions of love he expressed before start to not add up. Is he meant to be nothing more than a sociopath predator? I’m fine with him being both, but wished his character didn’t come off as so one-dimensional. Perhaps too much was relying on our preconceived notions of Romeo’s character and our assumed empathy for him, assuming that there would be no need for it in the book. I felt like this hindered his character.
I can happily say though that Rosaline as a character was likable and well-rounded, challenging and strong-willed. She read like a real teenager, just as the immaturity of Juliet felt true to her characters significantly young age of 14, something that is often not represented in most renditions. Seeing the relationship between the two girls develop was a highlight of the book.
Throughout, the imagery is rich and the setting captivating. All the components are there for compelling writing, yet the delivery overall didn’t completely land for me. The Shakespearian language intermixed with the modern felt clunky and mostly reminded me why we no longer talk that way.
The twists at the end were fun and I was happy to see that the some stakes were created in order for the reader to have the unknown to look forward to. Prequels can get into tricky territory in trying to create stakes for the reader that also match the tone and emotional investment already embedded in the original conclusion. I wouldn’t say this book matched the tone necessarily (I think that’d be pretty impossible to do with Shakespeare), but it did well to create a fresh, somber Italian world filled with crypts and woodland frolicking.
The cover of Fair Rosaline, hitting shelves in September 12, 2023.