What if Romeo and Juliet didn’t die tragically in that tomb? Instead, what if they remained madly in love and grew comfortably middle-aged together and had a houseful of kids, the oldest of whom is a daughter named Rosalind who goes by Rosie? (Yes, Romeo insisted on naming their first daughter after the girl that he was infatuated with just prior to Juliet.) Rosie, who has just been betrothed for a fifth time to a villain after said villain pulled some power plays and her father was unable to avoid the match. Rosie, who managed to find alternative matches for her first four betrotheds because she only wanted to marry for love, but had yet to experience that magic that her parents still have all these years later. Christina Dodd addresses these questions and more in her fun and engaging new novel, A Daughter of Fair Verona.
You may be asking how we know Rosie’s new betrothed is a villain. It’s because he’s strongly suspected to have murdered his first several wives, including Rosie’s best friend Titania. Rosie obviously wants nothing to do with this monster and is heard making some unfortunate remarks right before the villain is found dead in her family’s garden during their engagement party. The same engagement party where she just met Lysander and fell head over heels in love at first sight and caused a scandal by being alone with him in a hallway for about 30 seconds.
Rosie, being the problem solving spitfire that she is, obviously has to solve the mystery, save herself, and find a way to marry her newfound true love. Oh, and did I mention that Lysander is from a family the Montagues have been feuding with for decades? Because of course he is.
I don’t want to tell you anymore about the plot because I want you to read this one for yourself. It is clever and funny and surprising, and one of the things I love most about it is that it is not written in prose for the lowest common denominator, but instead is obviously written by someone who has a real love for language and words and is unafraid to use them to set mood and feeling and be evocative.
Heads up: not everything is tied neatly in a bow at the end. A Daughter of Fair Verona is the first in a series about Rosie, so several things are left up in the air. And, surprisingly, I am okay with that, because I am very much looking forward to spending more time with Rosie.
4 stars out of 5.