It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize this was a modern take on Romeo and Juliet. I mean, Verona Comics? The main characters' names are Ridley and Jubliee? Their families are at war? Forbidden love? All the signs were there, and yet. At least this take didn't involve such a tragic ending.

Verona Comics wasn't what I was expecting at all. The strap line has it as 'a fresh and funny queer YA contemporary novel about two teens who fall in love in an indie comic book shop,' which meant I was expecting something fluffy and fun. The reality is that it takes a really serious look at mental health and family relationships, and it isn't all that fluffy at all.

As queer YA books go, I loved the various rep in this novel. The main characters both identify as queer in different ways, and it was pretty refreshing to see a very gentle exploration of Jubilee questioning 'does dating a boy make me straight?' Jubilee's mom's were definitely the cutest couple of the book, such a sweet relationship.

I'm always going to be all over any book that has comics, comic books stores, comic con and general geekiness. This one of course doesn't disappoint, and the nerdy first love was pretty adorable. I was definitely glad for a little bit of light relief here and there, as there are some really heavy topics explored.

My heart hurt for Ridley, and his parents made me so, so angry. I found his chapters pretty tough at times, and just wanted to step in and sort his life out for him, starting with banishing his dad to deepest, darkest Antarctica. I really didn't agree with a lot of his actions in the book, which did make him a little hard to like, but I also felt massively sorry for him.

This is certainly a decent book that covers a whole ton of different aspects of YA life. Definitely worth a read.

Please see review posted to my blog or amazon account! Planning to add to mix for YA Lit course this summer.