Q U I C K S T A T S
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐. 5
Setting: ⭐⭐⭐
Writing style: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
T H E B O O K
// Content Warning: Age gap (16 and 19) / Alcohol / Bullying / Car accident / Drugs / Suicide (mention) / Underage drinking / Underage use of recreational drugs //
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Age rating: 15+
Genre(s): Contemporary
Pub date: January 5th 2021
P R E M I S E
If Romeo and Juliet got the Hamilton treatment...who would play the leads? This is the story of a girl who thinks she has what it takes...and the world thinks so, too.
Jerzie Jhames will do anything to land the lead role in Broadway's hottest new show, Roman and Jewel, a Romeo and Juliet inspired hip-hopera featuring a diverse cast and modern twists on the play. But her hopes are crushed when she learns mega-star Cinny won the lead...and Jerzie is her understudy.
Falling for male lead Zeppelin Reid is a terrible idea--especially once Jerzie learns Cinny wants him for herself. Star-crossed love always ends badly. But when a video of Jerzie and Zepp practicing goes viral and the entire world weighs in on who should play Jewel, Jerzie learns that while the price of fame is high, friendship, family, and love are priceless.
M Y R E V I E W
↬ PRE-THOUGHTS
While desperately trying to fill up the void created by Chloe Gong (yeah, I'm still not over These Violent Delights), I combed Goodreads for Romeo and Juliet retellings until I came across this beauty.
I know this is supposed to be contemporary but the wide knife (?) on the cover gives me dagger to throat enemies to lovers vibes.
↬ PLOT
Roman and Jewel exercises the possibility of the infamous Shakespeare play becoming the next Hamilton.
This book follows Jerzie, a sixteen-year-old actor looking for exposure. She's met with smiles and promises of becoming the next Broadway star but all her hopes are dashed when she is dished out her part; the understudy of the mega-star, Cinny.
Davis definitely does not miss the star-crossed lovers from first glance (the one we're all so familiar with) and after meeting him by total accident (he smashed a door in her face for anyone wondering), she is starstruck and totally in awe. Don't worry, her love is reciprocated by debut actor Zeppelin Reid.
The problem though? Cinny wants him too. And my dude is loving all the attention he's getting.
Unsure of where she stands, Jerzie chooses to divert her energy toward other issues but an incident during rehearsals where she is forced to cover for Cinny leaves the whole world rooting for Jerzie.
↬ WRITING AND SETTING
Every theatre kid at heart will enjoy this because it's Broadway, and it's done right! The multiple references scattered around are actually accurate (Cabaret! Hailey Kilgore!). It's clear that the author not only knows musical theatre, she also understands it.
↬ CHARACTERS
Jerzie was a fascinating character to read about and I definitely enjoyed her interpretations of situations and watching her handle them on her own. I did get the general gist and realised she was black because she mentioned it every other page.
She falls in love with the cute, mysterious dude with dark hair and blue eyes and an unusual name because hE'S nOT LiKE OThEr gUYS™️. Unfortunately for Zeppelin, I did not like him. At all. His behaviour raised so many eyebrows and were red flags (to me at least) and as a result the romance felt icky. Honestly, I would have preferred an enemies to lovers between Jerzie and Cinny. Like ?? Y'all are really fighting over this one guy who likes to hook up with random people ??
You can already guess the villain from the premise itself (it's Cinny, if you still can't tell). I don't know why she was portrayed as some mindless, guy obsessed, empty actor because she had so much potential and would have had the best character arc had the author not made her the "villain."
↬ CONCLUSION
Pros: Broadway done right
Cons: Romance feels icky
Overall rating: 4/5
T R O P E S
Insta-love
Retelling
R E P R E S E N T A T I O N
Black main and side characters
S I M I L A R B O O K S
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
↬ Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can't stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.
But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick's changing landscape, or lose it all.
Muted by Tami Charles
↬ For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown. So, Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean Mercury Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the lies the girls have to tell are all worth it. Until they're not. Denver begins to realize that she's trapped in Merc's world, struggling to hold on to her own voice. As the dream turns into a nightmare, she must make a choice: lose her big break, or get broken.
B O O K S M E N T I O N E D
These Violent delights by Chloe Gong
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