Re-tellings are not generally my favorites because how many times can it be done and still be unique. This Romeo and Juliet re-telling is different. It isn't time travel. It isn't the same story told in modern times. It has a paranormal feel (Romeo is immortal). Juliet is not immortal but rather reincarnated. They find each other somehow in each of her lifetimes, but the ending is always the same. Can Sébastien and Helene break the cycle and find their happily ever after? Amazing description of current locales and times of yesteryear. It's an enjoyable read.

Romance novels aren't my usual genre of choice, but I was intrigued by the beautiful cover art as well as the premise of a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet mixed with a little time travel. Is this book believable? Not really... Is it silly at time? Of course... But if you can push those things aside and turn yourself over to the idea that maybe love does conquer all, then pack this in your beach bag and enjoy the ride.

"How do you love someone who you know your time is short?" The Author's note is not to be missed!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for this honest review.

A modern retelling to Romeo and Juliet, with a twist on the original "curse on both your houses" resulting in a Groundhog Day type situation. This is the first time I've read this author, it seems this is her first adult fiction after several successful YA books. I liked it, but it did read a bit YA to me. I enjoyed seeing how the immortal Romeo and the latest reincarnation of Juliet found each other, let each other in on their secrets, and figure out how they might finally break the curse once and for all.

What I did not enjoy was the ex-husband element of the plot. Completely bizarre and I know we are already suspending disbelief with the sci-fi elements, but come on. The dialogue was bad, his motivations were bad, it made no sense and felt juvenile.

That said, reading the author's note at the end made me tear up. This is clearly a very personal book for her, and I very much appreciated the story and the overarching themes.

I won’t lie, this cover completely drew me in! I am and always will be a sucker for a pretty cover. I also loved the premise. Romeo and Juliet are cursed and forced to find each other, love each other, then be tragically separated by death over and over.
I found myself loving the story of Sebastien and Helene but lost interest with all the past stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Romeo and Juliette retelling, with time travel and swoon. Helene had dreamed all her life of a romance that mirrored R&J, instead of the unfaithful marriage she was eager to escape. On a whim, she travels to Alaska, far enough that she could write a novel and focus on her independence. Until, she stumbles upon Sebastian, who is identical in most ways to the man she is writing a romance about, down to the last scar on his face. Are they Romeo and Juliette, the star-crossed lovers in modern day?

Evelyn Skye's writing is very quotable and lovely. I loved the idea of a modern day Romeo and Juliette. Don't hate me netgalley, but this one was not for me and one of my only DNF's of the year. I think the 3rd person POV didn't serve this story line well, I felt so far removed from the story, like I was observing it rather than experiencing it. It felt really rushed, story line wise. I didn't enjoy the time travel as much as I would have like too, I think she may have taken on too much with all the different time frame spans.

Not for me, but I won't not promote this book. I think that a lot of people would like this. All reviews are honest and subjective to the reader. TY for the advanced readers copy :)

Thanks for the free audiobook PRHAudio in exchange for an honest review.

Rating:3.5/5 Stars

Shakespeare was the one who told us the story of Romeo and Juliet, but what if the way of the story was wrong? This is the case with The Hundred Loves of Juliet-instead of Romeo dying alongside Juliet, he lives and becomes immortal. The only thing is that Juliet is reincarnated and ends up dying each time. This time around Helene (aka Juliet) moves to Alaska to get away from her soon to be ex-husband and she plans to write a book based off the vignettes that she has written down throughout her life. But that all changes when she runs into a man named Sebastian who looks like the man in all her vignettes and that she has casted as an imaginary man for herself ever since she was a kid. Sebastian wants to keep Helene at arm's length due to the fear of losing Juliet again, but he becomes surprised when she has memories of them and recognizes him even though she does not know that the vignettes are really their memories or that Sebastian really is Romeo. From there we embark on the journey of the what ifs, the past, and the fear of losing someone we love dearly.

Plot
When I was in middle school and high school I loved getting books of the retelling of Romeo and Juliet, so when I saw The Hundred Loves of Juliet, I just knew I needed it. I think the premise is great and has a beautiful message to it. Plus, at the end there is an author's note from Evelyn Skye explaining that she got the idea of this book because of her husband who became very sick during their first few years of marriage. She speaks about how there was great fear and grief over the possibility of losing him, which in the end inspired this book. With knowing the meaning behind the reason why she created this book, it definitely makes the message beautiful and meaningful. I personally believe that this book probably was a therapeutic, but very hard book to write.

Characters/Relationship
When I first started reading this book, I became excited when Helene and Sebastian both met, and I was ready for their relationship in the past and in the present be explored. But as time went on, I found these two characters to lack chemistry and they both seemed one dimensional. I found it hard to connect with one another and honestly, I cannot tell you much about their personalities besides that Sebastian likes French Toast and that they both are Romeo and Juliet.

Pacing/Narration
I am unsure if it was the narration, the speed of PRH's audio player, or if it was just the book, but the book seemed to have a slow pace and towards the middle to the end it seemed to really drag. I will admit I usually read my books at 3x-4x the speed depending on the audiobook app I am using and I personally need to listen to my books fast so it keeps my attention on the book, make my mind wander less, and oddly I seem to comprehend the story better with a higher speed and that could be just because I am needing to focus on the book. With PRH audio it only goes up to 2x the speed, so I think that may be the reason why the pacing seems slow. When it came to the narrators: Aspen Vincent and Joe Arden, I think they did a great job narrating the story.

Final Thoughts
The Hundred Loves of Juliet is definitely a unique twist on Romeo and Juliet, and I did find myself engrossed in the story for the most part. I was rooting for both characters and hoping that Sebastian would not have to lose another Juliet. The message of making the most out of the time we have left with our loved ones and the grief that comes with knowing we may have to say goodbye to a loved one sooner rather than later definitely made a huge impact on this book. I think if you love a good slower paced book and are a fan of retellings or Shakespeare, then you will enjoy this one. I look forward to seeing what other books Evelyn Skye puts out in the future.

Sweeping global settings, poetic prose, legendary star-crossed lovers, and a fresh take on my all-time favorite Shakespeare play--sign me up! Skye masterfully weaves together dual POVs, multiple timelines, and familiar and imagined romantic tragedies to create a book that is fresh, magical, and hopeful.

Romeo (in the guise of Alaskan crab fisherman Sebastian Montague) and Juliet (reimagined as recently scorned journalist Helene Janssen) can't help but be drawn to one another--that is their fate. But how can they escape from the curse of Mercutio: "A plague on both your houses"?

The Hundred Loves of Juliet by Evelyn Skye cleverly imagines the epilogue that Romeo and Juliet were denied, showcasing how curses can often be blessings in disguise. This rare and charming retelling weaves a beautifully spun and achingly romantic tale.

💛Review💛
4🌟🌟🌟🌟
📖Book 72/100
📚The One Hundred Loves of Juliet
💫Genre: Romance
✍️Evelyn Skye

📝Synopsis 📝
A woman by the name of Helen flees from her terrible marriage to a small town in Alaska. She then discovers she’s part of a love story that cycles from many years, to different lives, and even different parts of the world to none other than Romeo❤️

💭My Thoughts 💭
This was an amazing retelling of Romeo and Juliet. It started off amazingly, but it did fall short towards the end. I feel if the ending were stronger I could have given this one 5🌟’s. However, the story is beautiful and I really enjoyed every detail. I also enjoyed that it was a suspenseful read for me since it wasn’t predictable at all.
This gave me Time Traveler’s Wife vibes🤗
✨Thank you @netgalley & @randomhouse for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
📌Publication Date:
August 01, 2023
✨✨✨✨
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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

The Hundred Loves of Juliet follows aspiring author Helene as a writing retreat in remote Alaska turns into her own tragic, star-crossed romance when she discovers she is the reincarnation of THE Juliet, and her Romeo’s been cursed to live forever, losing her over and over again.

I love a Romeo and Juliet retelling any day, but this one truly exceeded my expectations. It has all the beautiful lightness of your standard romance, yet it is coupled with gorgeous moments so sweet and so sad that you can’t help but just ache. It was romantic, it was soft, and it was everything I was hoping for and more. Truly one for the hopeless romantic girlies.

The Hundred Loves of Juliet is a unique retelling of the Romeo and Juliet love story.

What if Shakespeare was wrong? What if Romeo did not die? What if Juliet was reincarnated time after time? What if Romeo is destined to find Juliet and lose her over and over again? That is the premise of The Hundred Loves of Juliet.

Helene Janssen has come to Alaska to flee her jerk of a husband, Merrick, and to write the novel she has always dreamed of. She settles in a small town and into a bar walks Sebastian Montague a local crab fisherman. Helene finds him familiar and then realizes he is the dream man that has been the hero of all the stories she has written since she was a teenager. Sebastian though is standoffish and does eveything he can to push her away.

Sebastian has spent a lifetime loving and losing his versions of his greatest love Juliet. Sometimes he loses her after two days, sometimes two years, but no matter which lifetime he has with her, it is never long enough. He is tired, he is grief-stricken and he will do anything to break the curse that sees Juliet die time and time again, Even if it means pushing away the latest reincarnation of his love. Helene however has other ideas, she worms her way into Sebastian’s life and breaks down his barriers. Sebastian then does something he has done only once before. He tells Helene who she is and about her past lives. Helene realizes that all the stories she has penned over the years with Sebastian as the love interest were really memories of her past lives. Can Helene and Sebastian make a life for themselves and break the curse? Is their love strong enough? Will her jerk of an ex-husband ruin everything?

Throughout the book are glimpses of their previous lives and the tragedies that afflicted them. I really enjoyed all the lives and Sebastian and Helene were a lovely couple. I was definitely rooting for them and feel the ending was hopeful. The author’s note at the end was heartwrenching. I highly recommend The Hundred Loves of Juliet, it was an uplifting romantic novel. I really hope that Shakespeare got it wrong.

Thanks to Netgalley, Random House-Ballantine and the author for the chance to read and review this book.

I do love a good modern re-telling and this one was decent! Evelyn's writing was beautiful and I felt like I was experiencing everything in this novel. I was wondering throughout the whole story how it was going to end, which in my eyes means it's a great story!

This is definitely one of the more unique and interesting love stories I have read recently!

While I love a good retelling of a classic, I don’t think this one was for me. I’m not a big fantasy person, and the whole reincarnation/immortal piece of the story kind of lost me, plus I feel like the MCs didn’t have a ton of chemistry, and I generally struggled to get into the book. I can see where people would love this one, but it sadly was not for me.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

The premise of this book had a lot of potential. The idea that the story of Romeo and Juliet is nonfiction and that Shakespeare just got it a little wrong in the retelling. There is a curse that leaves Romeo immortal, fated to relive his tragically short love story with Juliet while Juliet is doomed to die young and be infinitely reincarnated just to fall in love with Romeo and start the whole process again.

I liked the two MC but didn’t fully connect with either of them. They both kept making questionable decisions, to the point where I was getting annoyed.
For two people who claimed to love each other, they sure kept a lot of important secrets for no real reason. I will never understand in books when the two MC keep things from each other that could put themselves or their partner in danger. It’s just a different type of “miscommunication trope” and that’s my least favorite.

And I was left with a lot of questions. The curse was never fully explained nor were the particulars of exactly how the future would work if Romeo ages slowly while Juliet ages normally. There was too much left unanswered for me.

But it’s a sweet story and the message of living each day to the fullest is beautiful. I loved the author’s note tying this story to her own marriage and why she was inspired to write it.

A unique and cozy re-telling of the classic Romeo & Juliet. This picks up where the original story left off, because it turns out the star crossed lovers weren’t dead, and their love story went on for centuries.


▫️ If you’ve read and loved Addie Larue or A Witch in Time, you might really like this one. I’m not a HUGE romance reader, but I love when they have a sci-fi/fantasy twist kinda vibe.

Somewhere in the middle I did feel like the story dragged a bit, but never to the point I didn’t want to finish. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and loved the idea of Romeo & Juliet having a different ending. Even if it took centuries to get there

Read this if:
•You obsessed over Leo DiCaprio as Romeo back in the 90’s
•Romance with a twist is your style
•You are a fan of time travel

note: Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC!!Let's take a moment to contemplate the immortality of Romeo and Juliet. Since the time of Shakespeare, countless films, musicals, songs and books have been made inspired by the tragedy of star crossed lovers from rival families that never get their happy ending. I have read many versions of it, seen many versions of it and while it can be overrated, it is a story that can always have a hidden layer, a different way to bring the story to life.Like this one.So, here we go with the usual.Short summary: A version of Juliet completely unaware of her past lives bumps into her Romeo who is cursed to watch her die in every lifetime.Long Summary:When Helene was young, she dreamed of the perfect man and filled her notebooks with stories about him and about love in its purest form. But after a messy divorce, she has let go of such naive fantasies. She has moved to a small town in Alaska, where she is ready to write her novel and build a new life without romance. Fate has other plans, though.Helene soon meets Sebastien Montague, a handsome fisherman who is her invented hero made flesh, down to the most idiosyncratic details. But how can a man she created possibly exist in the real world?

I love the refreshing take on the classic tale as we get to read a happy ending and feel all the intense feelings of love and loss, victories and failures, revenge and a sweeping love story at the center.

THE HUNDRED LOVES OF JULIET by Evelyn Skye grabbed me by the heart from the first line through the last one, in a delightful immersion into the familiar tale of Romeo and Juliet and all manner of doomed lovers now living out its fate in Alaska in the persons of Helene and Sebastien. Well-written, poetic in descriptions, and warming in its descriptions of the place, the people, the emotions flaring between people who know one another without knowing the person they are in this incarnation. So, yes, a standing ovation for a marvelous tale, so well done with the optimistic and engaging Helene to lead Sebastien and herself on the way to a different ending to their supposedly doomed love story. Plus, Alaska? A brilliant stroke and setting! I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Another new to me author and I really enjoyed it! I'm always game for a retelling of a classic, especially a story like Romeo and Juliet and i'd have to say that Evelyn Skye did a great job overall. There were parts that felt a bit draggy but it picked up towards the last quarter and I simply had a wonderful time with Helene and Sebastien and whatever incarnation they might be.

The Hundred Loves of Juliet is actually quite clever and I always appreciate a storyline that offers up a bit of destiny, reincarnation and the thought that yes, these two were meant to be in whatever shape, name or form that might be.

Delightful characters no matter their names, I would gladly read from this talented author again and hope to do just that in the future.

4 solid stars!

From the blurb:
When Helene was young, she dreamed of the perfect man and filled her notebooks with stories about him and about love in its purest form. But after a messy divorce, she has let go of such naive fantasies. She has moved to a small town in Alaska, where she is ready to write her novel and build a new life without romance. Fate has other plans, though.
Helene soon meets Sebastien Montague, a handsome fisherman who is her invented hero made flesh, down to the most idiosyncratic details. But how can a man she created possibly exist in the real world?
While Helene tries to discover the truth behind his existence, Sebastien is determined to keep that truth from her, for he is a man scarred by serial tragedy, hiding a secret that has broken his heart time and again. Yet the shadows of the past emerge, endangering Helene and Sebastien's future before it even begins--and it becomes clear that it won't be easy to forge a new ending to the greatest love story of all time.
I cannot recommend this book enough, I absolutely loved it!! Throughout the story, I felt this hovering sense of looming tragedy, but yet there was also so much hope, especially with Helene's eternal optimism. I like how the couple's history throughout time was woven into the present story, both from Helene's stories and Sebastian's journals and memories. This is my first book by this author, but I definitely want to read more!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you’re a romantic at all, you need to read The Hundred Loves of Juliet.

Helene and Sebastien’s story was a stunning and beautiful retelling of Romeo and Juliet that won’t leave readers disappointed.

I already wish I could re-read this for the first time all over again and will definitely be recommending it to everyone I know.