Thank you NetGalley for an advanced audio copy of this book. This book is AMAZING. Solomons takes the story of Romeo and Juliet and takes it apart and retells it. Romeo is a player, he seduces women, including fair Rosaline, Juliet’s cousin. He has a string of women in his wake. He tells them all the same story. When Rosaline comes to her senses, her number one job is to get revenge for Juliet and TIbbold. Solomons has done a fabulous job weaving in quotes of Shakespeare, just to remind you of what you think you know. You don’t know it. You will be surprised. Please listen to the author interview at the end of the book. This would be a great for book club. Too many people want to sacrifice their daughters. Enjoy

Fair Rosaline is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet from the perspective of the side character to end all side characters, Rosaline, who does not get a line in the original play. I love retellings and thought it was interesting to tell such a well known story from such a peripheral character!

The novel is a very reimagined version of Romeo and Juliet where the same story beats happen, but as you'd expect, a lot was added outside of the original text. Roseline and Romeo have more of a real relationship, and Romeo's past and intentions become more and more sinister as the relationship progresses. There is a ton of additional background to make Rosaline more of a character instead of a brief reference. I thought this was cool and liked the reimagining of the story from such a different perspective. I wasn't expecting the darker Romeo and thought it was an interesting addition, although it made my little 8th grade first-read-Romeo-and-Juliet-and-was-in-love-with-Romeo heart sad!

About a third through the book it started to lose me. A lot of the dialogue is directly from Shakespeare or heavily Shakespeare inspired. However, the rest of the language is not. It was a little jarring to have informal descriptions of people and places and then get thrown into Shakespeare. I think that I had a hard time getting into the characters because of this. Rosaline is kinda shoehorned in a lot of the famous scenes, which was fun, but also reminded me that this was a retelling and didn't stand on its own quiet as much as I wanted it to. After a lot of the famous scenes I was just waiting for it to hurry up and reach the conclusion.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the experience. The narrator was great and she definitely helped bring light to the dense Shakespearian language. Highly recommend listening to it!

Overall, I thought this book was okay. If you want another perspective on Romeo and Juliet, I'd give this one a try! 2.75 stars rounded up to 3 from me. Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the advanced audiobook, my thoughts are my own!

3.75-4 stars

This book wasn’t absolutely everything I hoped it would be, but it was a lot, and I did enjoy it. It felt like Shakespeare fanfiction at first (in a fun way), and it’s one of those narratives where, *technically* speaking, it could have happened alongside the canon story events while still talking back to and commenting on some of the problematic nature of the original text. I really appreciated the characterization of Tybalt, Romeo, and (of course) Rosaline, and it was fascinating to explore the story more closely from her perspective. I’m very glad I got to read this book and may have a place for it in future classrooms.

Just finished the audio book. Usually I don’t like listening to books however this made my drive to and from work seem even quicker. This book totally immersed me into its world. I will definitely be purchasing a physical book.

Here is Roseline's review of Fair Rosaline
(This was suggested by someone very dear to me🤣)

This book had been on my tbr since June and I'm glad that I could finally read it. Thank you @Netgalley for my copy.

Rosaline is not spoken of much when we talk about the Shakespeare's Romeo ans Juliet yet she has always been a very intriguing character for me (maybe because we share a name). For some reason I always imagined her as a headstrong woman.

I never thought much of the original tale because the idea of Juliet being *13* and Romeo an adult was too much to bare.

Natasha Solomons beautifully written historical fiction based on one of the most famous fiction novels of all time is compelling and thought provoking.

I absolutely loved how Rosaline is represented in the book, how Romeo is exposed as a predator with a long history of pursuing much younger girls and how she saves Juliet from him.

Bold, lyrical, relevant and mesmerising, Fair Rosaline, the untelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, reveals the dark subtext of the timeless story of the so called 'star-crossed lovers'. So if you like retellings, thought provoking content and strong female characters, then this is your cue to read this book.

Completely bonkers. But then again, the OG Romeo and Juliet is bonkers too. We all know that the eponymous Juliet is - what? - 13 years old, but Romeo's age is never canonically specified, to my knowledge at least. So what if The Bard (tm) didn't write about a passionate teenage romance after all? What if Romeo is a grown man, a pedophile and groomer, who pursues pubescent girls in fair Verona? This is the book about that version of Romeo.

Fair Rosaline is a prequel of course, although the first half of the book extends merely over the few couple of weeks preceding Shakespeare's tale. The existence of a previous love interest always seemed kind of wrong in the original work, almost shocking in the eyes of romance readers, considering the alleged expanse of feelings Romeo is supposed to reserve for his balcony-climbing level infatuation with his chosen Capulet only. Solomons not only gives the vague idea of Rosaline a voice, but a backstory and family, and her own reasons for falling for a Montague at the tender age of 15 before being discarded.

But Rosaline is sharp-witted, and despite his lying and gaslighting soon discovers Romeo's duplicity. Behind him lies a path strewn with broken hearts of girls far too young to even marry. Supported by a friar of ambiguous morals, he drops his underage "conquests" as quickly as he's managed to seduce them. She may have managed to remove herself from his destructive passion in time, but what is Rosaline supposed to do when Romeo sets his sights on her beloved cousin Juliet next? And how can she keep Juliet safe without compromising her own reputation?

This book moves too fast to be believeable. Yet - and I'm far from a Shakespeare expert - if you consider the short timeline between two star-crossed lovers falling for each other and them committing extended suicide together (basically), Solomons simply follows the template as closely as possible, and I do get the speed of the plot advancing. If you could suspend your disbelief for Juliet's story before, I'm sure you can do the same for Rosaline.

I liked the choice of re-using some of Romeo's most famous quotes in his wooing of Rosaline - he's just a fuckboy using the same old pick-up lines every single time - although the Shakespearean dialogue beyond that wasn't my favourite of writer's choices. Still, that is about the only comic relief in this novel. Protect yourself going into this knowing that, among numerous others, I'm giving you major trigger warnings for child sexual abuse, rape, self-harm, suicide, and domestic abuse.

I grew up in the 90s, during the time of 'Let's turn Shakespeare into movies for teenagers! What could go wrong?'

I consumed them all- She's the Man, 10 Things I Hate About You, O, Romeo & Juliet...

I loved them all.

So even though I tend to find Romeo and Juliet to be too much teen angst, I wasn't surprised to find that I like this novel too.

It successfully walked the fine line between referencing the play enough to build a realistic and authentic world and just rewriting the play as a narrative. Rosaline was an engaging and sympathetic character. Tybalt's fire and anger is given a plausible and relatable backstory. Juliet is portrayed as she is supposed to be- a child who has been used as a commodity by the very people who should be protecting her.

This novel takes an overexposed play and puts a new and refreshing spin on it. Definitely one to read!

Such an amazing book! The story is phenomenal. This Romeo and Juliet “untelling” is one of my favorite takes on “the classics “ Seeing the story told from a different perspective feels like being on stage, watching the actors performing a parallel story, unseen by the audience. Emilia Atim’s narration is so beautiful and she is so involved with the story. I also enjoyed a lot the interview with the author at the end of the audiobook (Why isn't this done more often?)
I loved this audiobook.

As someone who wavers between loving and hating Romeo and Juliet, and Shakespeare in general (very sorry to my Not Husband, Tom Hiddleston), I have to say I was drawn in by this beautiful cover. Retellings are hit or miss for me, and this reads more like glorified fanfiction in parts, but I was certainly more amused than my friend Marquise.

Who is Rosaline? Do you, like me, not remember? That's because she is seen but once at the beginning of the original, when Romeo sneaks in to a Capulet party to look upon her, only to fall for thirteen year old Juliet instead. Even if that age is "normal" for the times, I feel as if I have to reiterate this. Juliet is thirteen. And Romeo's love is fickle. My favorite part of the original is often wondering if their love would have stood the test of time, had they both survived. I don't think it would have.

In any case, this book isn't about Juliet. Or even Romeo. It is about Rosaline, and her fervent desire for Romeo, and the way she so easily gives into him. She's young. And she's certainly not the only one. He ruins her, as he ruins so many in this story.

This didn't really begin to pick up for me until after Rosaline decided she was done with Romeo, which for her, came far too late. At this point, it almost turns into a bit of a feminist manifesto where she tries to save Juliet from making the same mistakes as her. As we all know, she fails.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Thank you NetGalley for this ALC

I honestly was torn about how I felt about this "retelling/prequel". First, this story will change your entire perspective of Romeo and Juliet, and that is what was difficult for me to navigate. We all have one very solidified idea of what Romeo and Juliet stood for: star-crossed lovers who would rather die for love than live apart. This story changes that entire narrative and archetype. I am not sure I am/was ready to relinquish this belief about Romeo and Juliet. One thing that did resonnate, and prompted thought, was when Rosaline tells Tybalt that to not give a character her ending, is to almost eradicate her from the plot - and this is what Shakespeare does to Rosaline and that Solomons tries to remedy. This premise, I loved. Solomons masterfully creates a Shakespearean feminist when crafting Rosaline. Rosaline is forward, smart, witty, logical, tempered, and assertive. She is everything that Juliet is not - and that dichotomy is one of the main tropes of this novel.

I wanted more from this, but it was definitely an original story that will challenge your reading of Romeo and Juliet.

I absolutely love and adore Romeo and Juliet, so when I saw this take on one of my favourite plays, I jumped at the chance to read Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons!

I enjoyed seeing a different perspective on what I look at as a tragic love story. Instead, this is a very feminist take, with a Me Too filter very present - all while keeping nods to the original dialog throughout. Rosaline becomes such a full character, and it's interesting to watch her begin to understand just how Romeo is manipulating her. Romeo is painted as a narcissistic groomer, praying on young women and leaving a path of deception in his wake; I loved how he spoke in half-truths to convince Rosaline that he truly loved her. Although the story was never slow, the pacing really ramped up around the 75% mark, and I was very interested in how the ending would all come together. My only complaint is that I wish the story had an even darker and more sinister tone.

Solomons describes this book as an untelling, rather than a retelling, with the idea that the traditional Romeo and Juliet play is happening just outside the scope of this novel - and that's exactly the thought I had as I read. This version exists in the same space as the original play.

I really enjoyed the audiobook narrators accent, which was very fitting to the story; their accent was not too hard to understand even at three times speed and I had no issues following along with the physical book in front of my eyes. The accent truly helped the ambiance of the story, but I wish that the narrator had a bit more inflection and expression in their voice, as at times I found it to be very monotonous. Within some paragraphs I noticed pauses at the end of some sentences (even at three times the speed these pauses were very noticeable); having these pauses in the wrong places almost caused the sentence and paragraph structure to be altered.

You'll be catching me re-watching the 1996 Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes version soon - but with a new filter in front of my eyes!

Thank you NetGalley, RB Media and Recorded Books for the complimentary copy to listen to and review.

The author calls this an "untelling" of Romeo and Juliet and it very much does pick apart the tragic love story that we all know. However, I do not think that's a bad thing. While still written in flowery language, indeed including language from the Bard himself when possible, the author creates a more modern woman and thrusts her into an archaic society where women were not even allowed to say "no" to a marriage they didn't want. I loved having a brash and outspoken female who did everything she could to fight for herself; and when she could do so no longer, fought for another woman.

I also loved the description and character given to the nuns and the nunery. When I first read "Romeo and Juliet" the nunery was kind of a joke to me: "get thee to a nunery" was hilarious as a teenage. But Solomons painted this nunery and the nuns very differently than any I had seen before. Instead of being locked away, the nuns were free to pursue their own interests and have their own space and autonomy- within the rules of the order of course. While I would have considered these rules harsh, for women forced into marriages they didnt want, the rules the nuns had were much more lenient. The inclusion of how money affected even something as "pious" as the convent was also a shocker.

Make no mistake, this book is still a love story; it's just not the love story we are used to hearing. It is a love for oneself, ones family, and for female friendships instead.

*4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account*

"I'm jealous of the moon when she gets to shine upon you and look upon your face when I am not there."

Such a romantic Shakespearean quote. It could have been said by the original Romeo. But alas, it's said by the unscrupulous scoundrel Romeo in the uniquely clever Fair Rosaline by inventive author Natasha Solomons, a retelling, or perhaps untelling, of Romeo and Juliet.

Before Juliet, the cad Romero met 15 year old fair Rosaline. She's grieving the loss of her mother when her father decides it's cheaper for him to place her in a nunnery than pay for a marriage dowry. Rosaline convinces him to give her a two week reprieve to adjust to this decision. She uses the time to experience all she will miss in the convent and it leads her to the dashing Romeo who seduces her with poetic words. Some might say the older Romeo was a bit of a predator; okay definitely predatorial.

When Romeo sets his mark on 13 year old Juliet, the once innocent Rosaline, will go to the extreme to protect her cousin from suffering the same fate.

I was enthralled with narrator, British actress Sheila Atim; especially as the naive Rosaline believing, "I cannot choose my fortune...I can only surrender to my fate." Then Rosaline's strength shines and this narrator's tone depicts Rosaline's determination with true conviction to save Juliet.

This Shakespearean #metoo story is written with a real Shakespeare feel and it gives the writer's storytelling real gravitas. The true relationship that blossoms is between Rosaline and Juliet. My favorite quote between them was pure Shakespeare, "If I can't make you laugh then let me bear your sorrows." Rosaline is more than a fair heroine.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publishers via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

More of an untelling than retelling, this story of Rosaline sheds light on one of the more mysterious characters from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Not much is known about Rosaline, but this feminist prequel brings depth and understanding to her character, and reveals more about Romeos character, too.

Although she is an unseen character in the original R&J, her role is important: Romeo's unrequited love for Rosaline leads him to try to catch a glimpse of her at a gathering hosted by the Capulet family, which is where he first spots Juliet (who also happens to be Rosaline’s cousin). In the play, Romeo reveals that Rosaline has renounced love and vowed to lead a life of chastity. That original text never gave her the avenue to reciprocate and freely express her emotions, romantic or otherwise, and while her fate beyond the story is unknown, the implication is that she remained alone. This book explores her feelings and choices, and gives readers a better glimpse into who Rosaline Capulet truly is.

Turning everything you ever knew about Romeo on its head, this book is a must-read for lovers of Shakespeare, retellings, and historical fiction.

Now we have the newly released Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons. I received an audiobook ARC of this through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this novel and Solomons’ reimagining of the play a great deal. There is a creepy, almost horror vibe to this book. Death imagery is everywhere as this already tragic story is given an even darker tone. The book opens with the death of Rosaline’s mother as a plague runs rampant in Verona. Once they are out of quarantine, Rosaline’s father announces that she will be sent to a nunnery, which was her mother’s wish for her. This leads Rosaline to sneak into a Montague party, disguised as a man where she meets and develops a mutual infatuation with Romeo. As the story continues, he sneaks into her room through the balcony and their relationship becomes physical, even as Rosaline slowly gains information on Romeo’s pattern of seducing young women and girls with Friar Laurence aiding him in manipulating and disposing of them.

My favorite aspect of this novel is the depiction of women living in Renaissance Italy. Often, people will imagine the past as even more oppressive and regressive than it was. Yes, women had far fewer opportunities than they do now. But that doesn’t mean that all women did nothing but cook and clean and bear children, or in the case of nuns, spend all day praying. There were job opportunities for women and nuns could pursue different fields of study, aiding their communities. Throughout the novel, Rosaline encounters quite a few different types of women and works with them in attempting to save Juliet. I wish period drama media had more nuanced depictions of women like this with women acting within the restrictions of their culture and trying to thrive as best they could.

I also appreciated how Juliet’s age was treated as an actual concern. Many times, people will handwave situations like this with “that’s how it was back then.” Well, that’s not entirely true. Yes, it was legal for girls to be married at young ages, but it was not common. Since one of the goals of marriage was the production of multiple healthy children, the bride being able to safely produce those healthy children was essential. So while there were outliers like Margaert Beaufort who became a widowed single mom by the age of 13, that was rare. Why? Because while Margert survived the birth of her son, other girls who were still growing might not. Besides, despite being married three times, Margaret had only that one child, suggesting that carrying and giving birth to that child at such a young age may have harmed her body to the point where she became unable to have more children.

So Solomons is right to highlight the issues with Juliet’s age. Whatsmore, Shakespeare himself highlighted the issue as well. For some reason, the bard chose to change Juliet’s age from almost 16 to 13. He also has Juliet’s father note how young she is when Paris attempts to arrange a marriage with her. This is significant because those lines don’t need to be included. But they were. While I’m not certain Shakespeare intended for Romeo to seem as predatory as Solomons depicts him, especially since Juliet’s father eventually agrees to marry her to Paris, it does seem as though this romance isn’t intended to be as glorified as it became.

So it was great seeing Juliet depicted in this novel as a girl who is still a child while also dealing with very adult concerns.

What I disliked about the book is how Rosaline still returns Romeo’s feelings by the time he meets Juliet. I understand that he is being set up as the overarching villain of the story, becoming easily infatuated with women only to use them and discard them once someone else catches his attention. But a key part of the play is that Rosaline has rejected Romeo and he begins the story by stalking her to her uncle’s home where he finds Juliet. This could have easily been resolved by having Rosaline accept the mountain of evidence for Romeo’s lies and manipulations before the party and breaking things off with him. That way, he could continue to pursue her against her wishes, as he does in the play, only to transition his obsession from her to Juliet.

Overall, I really loved this book and gave it four and a half stars, rounding up to five. The gritty realism of it and nuanced depictions of women really drew me in.

“𝙾𝚞𝚛 𝙼𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚜𝚘 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚝. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜.”

This isn’t a retelling, it’s an untelling of the classic Romeo & Juliet but told from Rosalind’s perspective.

Wow, I did not expect everything this book entailed but I frickin loved it! This is such a unique concept that was executed perfectly and the narration was truly fantastic. With appropriate nods to the love and tragedies of the Shakespearean classic this is a story that made me rethink all my preconceived notions about Romeo & Juliet. Have I convinced you to try it? I sure hope so.

Thank you Recorded Books for the alc via Netgalleyin exchange for an honest review.

*quotes from advanced copies may be different than in finished copies

This was a FANTASTIC feminist Romeo & Juliet "untelling" told from the POV of Rosaline that sees Romeo as a predator who preys on younger women and critiques the society/culture that drove young women into the arms of men like him when faced with few choices.

I loved how the pandemic/plague was a key part of the story, driving the plot in clever ways and how the author sprinkled actual lines from the play throughout the story. Great on audio with an author interview included at the end and perfect for fans of Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!! This was my first book by Natasha Solomons and definitely won't be my last!

I requested this book hoping for a different story than I got. It’s a lot darker than I had anticipated. The whole plot of pedos was too much for me. I’m not the right audience I guess. The audiobook reader however was perfect for the vibe. Thank you for the ARC NetGalley.

I have so many things to say about this book, but first things first: this book probably deserves a trigger warning or two for abusive/manipulative relationships and, arguably, r@pe. I don't think the "subversive" note in the book's description is sufficient because let me tell you, I was SHOCKED. I had to rewind the audiobook and listen again just to make sure I didn't miss something that would make it sound better.

I did break my reviewing rule. I read other reviews before I finished the book. I know, I know. That's not great. But I was SO CURIOUS about 15% in. I don't think reading them changed my opinion other than I am now weirdly protective of Rosaline because COME ON GUYS. SHE'S 15. A major theme in the reviews is Rosaline's role and the reviews range from insinuating everything that happens is Rosaline's fault to blatantly stating it is and I couldn't disagree more. None of this is her fault and to blame her is to remove agency and personal responsibility from the other characters. Not to mention Rosaline starts out as a victim herself! Let me reiterate: Rosaline is 15. Romeo is ~25. Who do we think had a bigger share in the responsibility for how things progressed?

The other major point the reviews are talking about is how this retelling somehow does a disservice to Shakespeare and the character of Romeo. As a former theater kid, I can assure you it does not. Ignoring the fact that this story is a retelling and, as such, has zero responsibility to be true to the source material; it's also pretty on par. I don't know which Romeo and Juliet you guys read, but it could not have been the same one I did because Romeo was absolutely this inconstant.

Though Rosaline does start out as a victim, that's in name only because it sure as heck isn't in mentality. This girl has some brains and and ton of brawn. I wish I'd had half the tenacity and fight at 15 as she does. She's a little bit naïve early on but did I mention SHE'S 15? That "little bit" is sincere, too. Deep down she knows he's full of it but she's never met a man who was nice to her before! Honestly it's a trauma response more than anything and she bounces back quickly. She is such a strong character and I'm absolutely living for the feminist vibes she gives off (as well as the others scattered throughout the story. Hello? An Abbey where the nuns actually enjoy life? Yes.) When Romeo uses generic phrasing to woo her saying she has alabaster skin (but her skin is darker) she totally calls him out. "Then speak how I really am. Not how I am supposed to be. Love is blind, not lovers." Love that. You go girl!

I think my only issue with the story was that Rosaline stepped on a bee early on and it hurt. And I spent an embarrassing amount of time waiting for that to become relevant to anything but if it was I missed it.

All in all, read this book. Give it the room it needs to be its own story and have its own life in your mind, separate from the source material. You're going to love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books Media for the early access audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone knows Romeo and Juliet. But before Juliet, it was Rosaline who had captured Romeo’s heart. In this story, the reader is introduced to Rosaline, who was off stage in the play. But Romeo isn’t quite the innocent he’s typically portrayed as. Instead, he’s a seducer.
The story begins with the death of Rosalind’s mother and her father’s pronouncement that her mother wanted her to enter a convent. She extracts a promise from her father for 12 more days of freedom. During that time, she meets Romeo.
In the beginning of the story, I found myself sighing a lot. Rosaline is so easily taken in. But, of course, she was only 15 years old and totally naive to the ways of the world. Even when she is warned, she fails to see. But, as the story progressed, she figured out what was going on and then her goal was to try and protect Julia. Of course, her attempts to warn Julia are met with the same obstinacy she was earlier projecting.
Once again, this is a reminder of how little ability women had to control their own lives. Repeatedly, Rosalind’s father reminds her that she is his to do with whatever he will.
I felt Solomons did a good job remaining true to the original while twisting it enough to come up with a different ending. The characters all felt realistic, except for Friar Lawrence. The subplot about him required a suspension of belief But, overall, the ending was well thought out.
Kudos to Solomons for a writing style that captures the language of the day without slowing down the pace of the story. And Sheila Atim was a great narrator, with the tone and vocal style of a Shakespearean actor. The two have a fun interview at the end of the book. Make sure to listen.
My thanks to Netgalley and RB Audio for an advance copy of this book.