This was a lot. It’s a combination of time travel and Romeo and Juliet retelling/continuation, and Withering Heights retelling/continuation. I think it was a little for science fiction then what I was prepared for. I found it pretty confusing and sort of found myself dreading coming to the book after the 60-75% mark.

I do think this would be good for those who liked This is How You Lose The Time War as it somewhat reminded me of that but with more classic reimaginings. But if you’re ready to really think about the interconnectedness and work hard for the payoff, then this is for you.

Overall, I did like the concepts, but found it just a little too difficult to understand for me. I’d love to have the author talk about this book as I believe whole-heartedly that they probably did a ton of research and mapping for this one.

2.75 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

I received an ARC of this title during an ALAN workshop and have since purchased a physical copy of the text and added it to my classroom library.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

A good twist on Romeo and Juliet is always welcome. I had a lot of fun with this read. Additionally, the cover is very eye catching!

I loved everything about this. I loved the characters, the time travel, the Taylor swift lyrics towards the end. Everything. The only downside comes with the time travel territory - it can get a little confusing keeping track of the time jumps. I've purchased this for my library.

I received this egalley as part of the ALAN conference and it is kept on a kindle in my classroom. My rating is based on the ratings provided by my students who have read the book and I look forward to when I get the chance to do so.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker is a story of Romeo who is in a coma and Jules who is by his side. There is time travel and traveling pods. The mission wake Romeo up!

I felt like this story was all over the place. I felt like so much of it was repetitive. At times I didn’t even know what was really going on because it was hard to stay focus. I was really disappointed in this read because it started off good for me and well then it just kind of fell flat and uninteresting.

Thanks to Flatiron Books and Net galley for providing an ARC of this book for an honest review.

I DNFed this one. I just couldn’t get into it and I love Romeo and Juliet. I didn’t realize this was going to be a dystopian. Just wasn’t my cup of tea. All opinions stated in this review are solely my own. Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of an arc in return for an honest review.

Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker; Flatiron Books, 369 pages ($18.99) Age 12 and up.

...

This dazzling, genre-defying novel offers a sublime mix of dystopian fantasy, time travel, suspense and romance all in the context of a brilliant, futuristic, cleverly plotted reimagining of "Romeo and Juliet."

Australian author Kathryn Barker performs a kind of alchemy as she ultimately finds hope in what at first seems to be the bleakest of landscapes, a ruined London in the year 2083 where a 16-year-old girl named Jules has spent two years visiting the hospital bedside of Romeo, who lies in a coma after their attempted double suicide. The narrative shifts between Jules and Ellis, a Black youth who was snatched from death in the early 19th century and is now a Deadender, living in a bus in a Wasteland with other accidental survivors from other eras who are trying to save the world, guided by an AI known as Frogs.

What caused the Fall? Travelers seeking to escape the bleak present jumped in pods to the future, then jumped forward again and again, depopulating the planet and causing collapse. Travelers can only jump forward, but a technology developed by Frogs enables Deadenders to travel back and forth in time.

Ellis, who knows how to synthesize a drug called Cat-9, is sent to wake Romeo from his cerebral catatonia and ends up falling for Jules, who has tried to cope with her personal trauma – and a terrible secret – by writing her own story in the style of Shakespeare. ("I set it way back in the past, with lots of silly clothes and frilly honor. Then to top it all off, I wrote it in iambic pentameter. Why? Because when it comes to William Shakespeare, I'm a tragic. Seriously – I'm the ultimate fan. Even as a kid I couldn't get enough of his plays - the irony of all those timeless themes when time is precisely what broke us." Jules and her pencil remind Ellis of another girl with a pencil as another classic of literature gets a wondrous reinterpretation here.

Jules is a most compelling heroine, in her combat boots and black hoodie, her left arm hanging useless (the nerves killed by her suicide attempt and the drastic measures taken to revive her). Here she muses on the desolation of her surroundings, the empty streets, the crashed pods with the remains of dead travelers, the crumbling theater, a supermarket empty of goods and now a storage area for books. "Everywhere I look, there's nothing but yesteryear gloom. Crumbling mansions covered in bird poo, invaded by overgrown grass. Rust and cracks and fallen-down heaps; things that will never work again." London is believed to be the last settlement, and there are mountains of rubbish beyond the Wall, which is festooned with letters from desperate Travelers to their loved ones in the past.

Barker makes excellent use of quotes from the bard throughout. At one point Jules muses: "O Romeo, Romeo – why did you leave me to deal with this .... on my own?"

After the heartbreak, the scheming, the betrayals, the gunfire, in the end, saving the world is all about love.

Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite Shakespeare’s plays. I like this gender-bent retelling with a mix of time travel. I hoped that Romeo and Juliet would have a happy ending. Therefore, I was pleased with this novel. It was most faithful to the original and had the same charm. Therefore, it was a very refreshing retelling. I recommend this for fans of Juliet Immortal, Still Star-crossed, and Romeo’s Ex!

An interesting retelling of the classic Romeo and Juliet. This so far is the most unique version of the Shakespeare story I've read. It's also a mix of Wuthering Heights. which I did not expect of all. This book is a wild ride.

An interesting idea but it tried to be too many things. I still recommend it for libraries as it is well written and will help develop interest in lessons which is always a huge plus for school libraries. The cover is lovely.

This was such a unique story with captivating tales on the well known tale. I loved learning about the time travel aspects and seeing the humanity charged consequences as a result. The dilapidated future was both chilling and intriguing to me. I feel like it was accurate in how humans would leap onto a trend without really thinking through the repairs of their actions both on others and the planet itself. All the smaller details really became the foundation of this book for me, making me root for certain outcomes and feel immersed.

As a history nerd, I really enjoyed this historical aspects of the story! I think some of the time jumping was confusing at first though. I found myself having to reread sections to fully understand what had happened. For me I was much more hooked by the mission to wake Romeo than the romantic plots but I think many people may disagree with me on that. Overall, this was a fun story with some emotional moments!

#Waking Romeo by # Kathryn Barker was not at all what I expected. It’s a genre-bending retelling of Romeo & Juliet that’s amazingly wonderful. Asking the big questions about true love, fate, and time travel. Yes it includes time travel.This is a novel any age group will enjoy.
Thank you for the advance copy,
# Netgalley, # Kathryn Barker, and # Flatiron Books 📚

I loved the futuristic take! Beautifully written, emotional and heart-wrenching, and characters that we already know and love. Would definitely recommend!

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Waking Romeo was a fun retelling to jump into. Not only do you get the lovely and dramatic Romeo and Juliet vibes, but you also get some Bronte added as well. Mixed in with some time traveling and you might be hooked. At least I was.

From the very beginning, things felt odd but very unique too. One wouldn't think things would end up working within this mixture, but it magically did. Kathryn definitely has a way with words because I fell in love with it all. So much happened throughout this that it was sometimes hard to digest. It's definitely best to do the opposite of what I did and that's to digest everything slowly.

Besides that, each twist and turn kept me on my toes. The characters were pretty likable too. Especially when it came to the overall mission to save and wake up Romeo. Out of everyone, I definitely like Ellis a bit more than Juliet and Romeo. It just seemed like he should have been the main character in my eyes. I also really enjoyed getting to know him more but wished we got to him sooner rather than later.

Other than that, the romance was also developed in an interesting way. Definitely not insta-whatever but complicated and real. I do think it was more of a back burner idea than anything though since it comes in and out throughout the book. Not really a main focus which I thought it would have been.

In the end, I'm really happy that I got the chance to jump into this. It was definitely entertaining from start to finish. I honestly can't wait for my next retelling and another book written by Kathryn!

It’s 2083 and time travel is possible and very much a thing, but there’s a catch: you can only jump forward in time, never back. Jules and her family are part of a community that have chosen to live in the “now”, avoiding the end of time that must be soon approaching given the current state of their world. If that wasn’t enough to be disheartened about, Jules also has to deal with the fact that Romeo, the love of her life, is in a coma with no sign of change evident.

Then a mysterious stranger lands in her time and says that waking up Romeo is not only possible, but necessary for their survival and the future of Earth. Jules has no choice but to go along with the plan, hurtling her – and Romeo by proxy – into a series of events that defy all explanation, just for the chance to change how their story ends.

I honestly don’t know if I can say much at all without spoiling something important; the provided synopsis is but a wee glimpse into the contents of this story.

As both a Shakespeare and a sci-fi lover, I was super stoked by the premise of this novel. I’m not sure either aspect was successful, however. I felt like the author was trying to tell me how clever they were with each Shakespeare reference without actually making it mean anything. I will say that Jules’ love of Shakespeare and how she honors it is sweet and clever, but also somehow unbelievable with the girl we meet and grow to learn.

Certain twists were very predictable, characters felt two-dimensional, insta-love abounds – insta for one character and insta-hate for another, but when the change happened, it was all in, very fast. Certain solutions were just too convenient, especially for such a plot-heavy read that strays towards convoluted all too often.

It is a very quick read, so if you’re looking for a book to take you away for a day, this could be the story for you.

Trigger warning: self harm and mentions of suicide (in the past), racism, loved one in a coma, death, violence, ableism, toxic relationships.

Wow. I am speechless. Do you ever read a book that so completely twists your brain in the best way? Waking Romeo is such a unique concept: a non-linear storyline that combines the stories of Romeo & Juliet and Wuthering Heights with time travel, an apocalyptic future, and plenty of insider tidbits for the literature nerds.

Barker brilliantly combines so many interlocking and overlapping storylines together (from R&J, Heights, and her own complex plot) in such an engaging, fast-paced way. You could never guess what was coming next or how things would turn out, and I absolutely loved that. The characters jump around in location and time, and sometimes that overlaps with their past/future selves in a way that only makes complete sense once you read about it later. This is the type of book that will have you saying "holy shit" aloud (I did it multiple times). The plot is crazy and at times a bit convoluted, but it is a riot from start to finish and I loved every second of it.

While some secondary characters fall flat, our main leads, Juliet (or Jules as she likes to be called) and Ellis, are well developed and interesting. They both go through their own journeys of self acceptance and healing, and while the central ideas/themes are hammered a bit hard, they are good messages. They really do have a star/time crossed romance, and I did think it was handled well. Don't worry, you will get a satisfying ending.

This is the type of book where things fall into place as you read, so if things seem confusing at first, I promise just keep reading and everything will click. This is 100% a book that would be so fun to reread, just because of how everything overlaps and interlocks ("time is a circle" and all that). I am surprised with how much I loved this book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it! But make sure to check TW because there are some heavy topics discussed.