When I first picked up Escape From Verona, I admit that I was one nervous reader. This was due in part because Romeo and Juliet is my all-time favorite Shakespeare play. And I’m a huge Shakespeare geek. I own his entire collection (as well as a lot of double copies because I like to collect some just strictly for the covers or editions). So, going into this story I was nervous to see how it would play out. How well the characters would continue on AFTER. And it astounded me. The amount of detail and research that was put into this novel was phenomenal and so well-crafted. I read through this with such ease and I thoroughly loved every bit of it. To see things with Romeo and Juliet, a life between the couple on the run after faked suicides was excellent. I can honestly say that if Shakespeare were alive today, I think he’d be very proud if he read this. Romeo was a bit annoying to be honest. Haha! And I felt that the brief sex scenes (though few and far in between) weren’t really all the necessary and didn’t HAVE to be included or detailed but that’s just my opinion. But I really liked how the characters were developed for the readers. We see some interesting sides to them all. I loved the inclusion of characters from other plays! I definitely recommend this if you’re a Shakespeare fan. Especially if you like Romeo and Juliet. I know I’ll probably be rereading this one!4.5 stars!
