Sunday, August 15, 2010

Thirty-four: Juliet - Anne Fortier

***Full disclosure: This book was provided for free by Harper Collins at their Book Buzz session part of ALA Annual Conference ***

Julie Jacobs inherits a key to a safe deposit box found in Siena, Italy left to her by her mother after her aunt passes away suddenly. The family butler Umberto encourages her to go to Italy and find out what her family has left her using the name Giulietta Tolomei.

From the moment she steps on the plane, Julie is thrown into a crazy world of dueling families, hidden treasure and an old story about star crossed lovers.  Julie's mother leaves her with a box of documents all focusing on the story of Romeo & Juliet.  As Julie starts to explore these documents she realizes that she has descended from the original Giulietta Tolomei. 

Meeting her own "Romeo" - Alessandro, Julie is thrown into a full blown mystery that her mother never completely figured out before dying in a car crash.  Julie and her twin sister Janice end up helping their long lost father  - who posed as her aunt's butler all these years - find hidden jewels that were enclosed in statues of the original Romeo & Giulietta many centuries before. 

This book is an interesting look at a familiar tale.  I had a hard time putting it down.  While the ending seems very fairy tale like, it does make you think if everyone has their own Romeo out there somewhere.

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