Mundie Moms

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Book Review & Author Guest Post- Romeo & Juliet & Vampires

Adopted from William Shakespeare
By Claudia Gabel
Published by Harper Teen
Released August 31st, 2010
Source- The Publisher
4 stars- I really enjoyed this book

"You are deluded Romeo. Vampires do not have the capability to love. They are heartless."

The Capulets and the Montagues have some deep and essential difference. Blood differences. Of course, the Capulets can escape their vampire fate, and the Montagues can try not to kill their undead enemies. But at the end of the day, their blood feud is unstoppable. So it's really quite a problem when Juliet, a vampire-to-be, and Romeo, the human who should be hunting her, fall desperately in love. What they don't realize is how deadly their love will turn out to be-or what it will mean for their afterlives... (taken from back of book)

I know what you're thinking, another classic with a vampire twist!? Let me just say, do not judge this book by your skepticism. If I had done that, I would have missed out on a brilliantly written classic, with a deadly twist. Claudia Gable did a wonderful job at keeping this classic true to it's form and adding a wonderful twist, or two of her own.

The Capulets are powerful vampires, while the Montagues are the vampire hunters. Juliet hails from the powerful vampire family and Romeo comes from a family of vampire hunters. With a new Prince on the throne, both families are forced into a truce, and are ordered to stop killing each other. I love Juliet's character, as despite being from a vampire family she is repulsed at the thought of killing a human. She's about to turn 16 and when that happens, she'll become a vampire. In order to fully turn, she has to kill someone. If she doesn't make her first kill by midnight on her 16th birthday, she can die. To seek revenge in her cousins death, her parents have told her who she must kill, and it's Romeo. There's one minor problem. Romeo and Juliet might have run off to secretly get married.

I really enjoyed reading Romeo & Juliet & Vampires. Claudia adds a great historical and paranormal spin to a classic I always struggled with reading. Her writing style gives Romeo & Juliet's tragic love story a fresh twist, making it an engaging, and quick read. There's love, war and a little bit of humor provided by Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio. With out giving anything away, the ending was great and not at all what I expected. I definitely recommend picking this book up.

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Recently we asked Romeo & Juliet & Vampires author, Claudia Gabel, "What inspired you to add vampires and you own twists to Romeo & Juliet's story?"

When I saw Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at my local bookstore, I thought to myself, “That is absolute genius!” I knew my grad school friends were most likely upset that anyone would dare to mess with Jane Austen’s literary masterpiece, but I saw this monster-remix as an amazing opportunity to appeal to people who were perhaps a bit too intimidated to pick up the original.

Suddenly I found myself thinking about high school and reading the classics for the first time. I encountered Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet when I was a sophomore, and found it particularly daunting. I wanted to love the play, but I struggled so much with the language and structure that I wound up buying the SparkNotes in secret. (Sorry, Mom, but I wasn’t the only one!)

Enter Eureka Moment, stage right. Why not write a “mash-up” of the most renowned (and challenging to read) love story of all? Given how many teens are exposed to Romeo & Juliet in English class, I thought it made perfect sense. Adding vampires to the Bard’s story seemed like a no-brainer, too—no paranormal creature is more popular with teens these days.

As for why I chose to make the Capulets a family of vampires, in many teen paranormal novels, the heroine is on the periphery of the supernatural, rather than in the thick of it. I figured that Juliet should be the vampire because I thought it would be a nice change of pace to have the female protagonist in that role. I also wanted Juliet to go through a metamorphosis, so I created some new vampire lore in the book. Children of vampires actually start out as humans and then slowly transform into hungry blood-suckers the day they turn 16. There’s an initiation rite, too, and severe consequences if that act isn’t carried out. It makes for a very interesting predicament in Romeo and Juliet’s relationship!

With all that said, now that Romeo & Juliet & Vampires is on the shelves, my hope is that sophomores across the land will read it alongside Shakespeare’s play instead of reaching for the SparkNotes.

~Claudia Gabel

You can read an excerpt and find out more information on Romeo & Juliet & Vampires at HarperTeen's site here http://tinyurl.com/25su5e2


Thank you to Claudia for answering our question. Thank you to HarperTeen!

Thoughtful Thursday- Stand Up 2 Cancer

Cancer has directly effected me via family and friends in various forms. I have a lot of respect for people who are on the front lines in the fight against a disease that in some cases rears it's ugly one morning, changing lives forever. I have even more respect to those who have it and fight it with everything they have!

The odds are 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will get some form of cancer, in our life time! That number is horrendous! WE can help in the fight against cancer and change these odds! Stand Up 2 Cancer is trying to raise money for cancer research. On September 10th, 2010 @ 8pm est YOU can help them meet their goal!

Want to get involved? Want to learn more? Than be sure to visit their site here

Here's more ways you can help (taken from Stand Up 2 Caner's site):
* STOP smoking
* NEVER start smoking
* MANAGE your stress
* GET a Mammogram
* GET your colonoscopy
* GET a prostate exam
* GET your skin examined
* JOIN an advocacy group
* CUT back on red meat
* EXERCISE
* AVOID highly refined sugar
* AVOID transfat
* WRITE to Congress
* ADD Anti-Cancer food to your diet
* Take a friend to treatment

Don't forget to tune in Sept. 10th. 100% of your donations go to fighting Cancer!

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