A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd
1st in series, Daughter of Montague. Historical mystery, retellings, comedy. Cliffhanger. Splashes of romance and maybe more to come. 1st person.
Once upon a time, a young couple from two warring families, met and fell in love. Tragically, betrayal and lies were told and ended with the lovers both killings themselves.
At least that’s the ending per Shakespeare.
In this twisted tale, Romeo and Juliet are alive and the parents of seven children. So far. They can’t keep their hands off each other! Monologues, poetry, passion, it’s all too much for Rosie, the oldest. At 20 she is considered a spinster. Up until now, she has managed to re-direct any suitors to another sister, or friend or someone more appropriate for the groom. But now, Duke Stephano is not to be denied. Even though he has had three previous wives, he has made it impossible for Rosie to escape being his next victim...correction, bride.
As fate would intervene, Rosie falls in love at first site at her betrothal ball with someone else! Then she actually stumbles upon her betrothed, dead in the garden, with a dagger in the heart! Of course, she’s going to investigate. There are already talks about ghosts wandering the halls.

🎧 I alternated between an ebook and audiobook for this story. The narration is performed by Suzy Jackson who has a wonderful sense of comedic timing and delivery. There are specific voices for the main characters. The action and comedy kept me engaged and actively listening. I listened at my preferred of 1.5 and could have go one slightly up or down on this one. The humor and sarcasm was riveting and I enjoyed the story up until the very last 20 seconds when I realized it wasn’t the end, but a cliffhanger. Ugh. And a year now to wait? Good thing I have multiple formats to refresh when the time comes to continue.
I recommend the audiobook version for clearly hearing Rosie’s personality.

The ebook is great for the descriptions and keeping the family, and friends straight.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher RBMedia.
4.5 because of the cliffhanger.

I just--no. I had to DNF, as it was too far over the top and I was looking for something just a little more grounded in a historical setting and not so "relatable." It's just my opinion, not a bad book but I had higher hopes than this.

I LOVE this book! Dodd did an amazing job writing an older Romeo and Juliet and leaving a lot of humor in there. The Montague family is enchanting. Rosie is hilarious and headstrong. There are so many political machinations that she has to work through to keep her reputation and find love, not to mention the murders. I was surprised by the murderer, but thinking back over the book the hints were there and I just missed them. The twist at the end with the romance was kind of expected, but I was still sitting there with my mouth hanging open. I can’t wait to read the next book and see how Rosie deals with everything. Who knew I love Romeo and Juliet stories so much?

I ended up choosing to DNF this book because I didn't feel like it was a book for me in terms of genre and overall plot. However, from what I listened to, I can provide the following: I thought there was some solid satire and poking fun at the tropes of Shakespeare and the misogynism of the era (there was a fantastic joke about a woman understanding math). The first person narration was the right choice, but the language shifts from casual, almost modern-speak back and forth to Shakespearean prose was somewhat jarring, but felt like it was supposed to be quirky.

The narration was good, and felt appropriate to the age of the character. Her pace and emotion was accurate to the tone of the story, and worked well with the first person narrative. Male voices were a bit of a challenge, but didn't pull one out of the story either.

What would happen if Romeo and Juliet didn’t die and actually got married and love and happy life with plenty of children?…

You wind up with Rosie, Romeo and Juliet’s eldest daughter and the most levelheaded, anti-romantic family fixer! She keeps the Montague family together… and somewhat out of trouble! All the while making love matches for her friends and sister out of all of her suitors!

Until she is matched with someone she can’t avoid… that is until the ant lines up dead at their betrothal party. Now she asked to fix things again and find out who killed her mostly suitor… at the same time as she’s falling in love for the first time!

This was such a fun, YA historical murder mystery! The Shakespeare characters are re-created in a fresh and vibrant modern style that keeps their authenticity, but makes it fun for younger and newer audience. I really liked the character of Rosie. She’s sharp and clever and someone you could picture as your best friend!

As I was reading this, I wasn’t sure if I was reading a romance or a mystery but you definitely got a plenty of both elements.

I listened to the audio narration provided by Suzy Jackson and found her voice work complimented The writing with its fresh and vibrant flare. Her character vocals were great fit and very distinguishable.

This is book one of the Daughters of Montague series, and I will definitely be along for more Montague daughter or more of Rosie!

This was a smart and well written adaption on a popular story.. I thought the characters were well formed and intriguing. The mystery was strong and kept me interested throughout.

A delightful story that reimagines what would have happened if Romeo and Juliet had survived and got married and had kids. Seven of them. In this retelling by Christina Dodd, Romeo and Juliet did live and they went to have seven children. The eldest Rosaline, Rosie, is a feisty, smart girl now 20 years old and still unmarried. Her father arranges her marriage with Duke Stephano, aging and already thrice married. The duke is found murdered on the night of the betrothal and so the mystery begins. This is an entertaining story, a rom-com. Very fluid prose and an easy quick read. Perfect for fans of historical romances with a dash of contemporary attitudes and dialogues. The ending probably means there's going to be more since it is supposedly part of a series. The audiobook narrator has done a fantastic job of bringing to life the various characters. Loved it on audio.

What if….the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, didn’t end in a tragedy, but rather, with a proud union of the Capulet and Montague families? What if…their initial union produced a daughter, whom they named Rosaline? And what if, that daughter of theirs was not as keen to marry as her parents were?

This book combines a murder mystery with the wit and charm of a classic Shakespearean play. This story has everything you could imagine: humorous interactions, banter, overprotective mom and dad, and the ever amazing Nurse. The Shakespearean euphemisms and the throwbacks to the story of Romeo and Juliet were entertaining and so fun to listen to.

THIS WAS SUCH A GREAT LISTEN!!!!!! Such an entertaining take on a what if? related to Romeo and Juliet. I truly loved all the banter and family bonding present in this story, as it just made everything funnier and so much more engaging. I was laughing my head off from the very beginning, and never stopped until I listened to the last word. Let me just say, that ending….I NEED the second book to be released ASAP so I can find out what happens!

Highly recommend, and I promise you, you’ll enjoy this entertaining, yet still thrilling read.

Favorite Quotes:
- "'What's worse for a maidens reputation than canoodling?' Nurse demanded. 'There was no poetry'"
- "You haven't" - pause - "taken sick with the family fecklessness, have you?’”

It started out okay. This is not a stories that takes itself too seriously and it’s kind of camp and over the top. The narrator is at times addressing the reader directly and it reads more like young adult that adult fiction.

And I will never understand how/why Romeo and Julias firstborn is named after Romeos girlfriend that he dumped for Julia, but fine.

I was okay with this book even though it was not perfect, and then comes the effing ending. Are you kidding me? What the actual…?

SPOILER: So Roise wants to marry Lysander but his family are not impressed with her dowry and Rosie, Nures and Lysander comes up with the idea that at night sneak off and get caught by their family in a compromising situation and have Lysander ask for permission to marry Rosie to avoid a scandal.

Everything is going to plan and Rosie is making out and being felt up by a man in the moonlight, only to realize it’s not Lysander but Prince Esculas who has prevented Lysander to show up and is taking his part in this scheme instead and she’s not forced to marry him instead. He says stuff like, I want to marry you because your house is neat and you have nice breasts. And everyone is okay with this sort of.

This is SA, not cute at all. Rosie is not as angry as she should be and I effing lost it.

There was so cute banter between her and the Prince and you could have change her mind at some point and that Lysander was just a shallow thing. I hated this ending and I was fine with this book but now I… I just can’t. 1,5 rounding up

What if Romeo and Juliet lived? The result is this beauty! The story follows their daughter, Rosaline, aka Rosie. I absolutely love Rosie—she's such a fun character with a lot of spunk! I found myself laughing at the shenanigans of both Rosie and Romeo. The murder mystery is captivating, and I was fully invested in the story.
The narrator, Suzy Jackson, does a wonderful job portraying Rosie, and her accents were spot on. This was such a delightful listen. I highly recommend it if you love a good murder mystery with a dash of Shakespearean flair. I’m looking forward to reading the next book!

The premise is creative--what if Romeo and Juliet had both survived--and the story was entertaining. It took a while to get into the story, but overall it was an enjoyable read. It's written in a very modern/anachronistic tone that was hard to get into as first (similar to the tone of the Dickinson TV show). The main character was a little hard to like at first because of her internal dialogue was about how different she is from other girls. I ended up enjoying the story after the first few chapters. The mystery is well developed and kept me on my toes.

Thank you Netgalley, Christina Dodd, and RB Media for the audiobook. A fun and witty narration by Suzy Jackson. A tale as old as time ... a new twist to the Romeo and Juliette we thought we knew! It was funny and a great listen!

This potentially silly but actually clever, engaging, funny, and even insightful book was tons of fun to listen to. Rosaline, the eldest daughter of Romeo and Juliet (yes, in this version they didn’t die but lived a long, loving, and particularly fecund life), keeps finding clever ways of avoiding marriage until all of a sudden — she can’t seem to avoid her impending nuptials to a real brute whose wives seem to die rather quickly after marriage. The reader was perfect for the text -- I think listening to it really added to my enjoyment.

Full of lovable characters, several dead bodies, surprising plot twists, an even more surprising who-done-it reveal, and plenty of snark, the story is a masterful depiction of how a strong, intelligent, heroine living at a time where only her virtue and virginity “count,” manages to get what she wants from life despite the very real constraints on women at the time. And she does it with the kind of wry commentary that kept me in stitches. I haven’t read Dodd before, but an online browse makes me think she usually writes thrillers. This had many of the plot elements of a thriller, but I had such faith in our heroine I guess I never got too stressed — a real plus in my book.

As an aside, I also appreciated the way the author did not change any of the character’s personalities or any element of the original Shakespeare story (aside from a clever explanation of how they survived), unlike other story extensions I have read (and was greatly irritated by).

This was so enchanting and fun! I loved the banter and the breaking of the fourth wall and the underlying murder mystery was so ludicrous and sprinkled with other Shakespearean tidbits that it made me giggle constantly.

“My name is Rosie, Rosaline if I’m in trouble, and I’m the daughter of Romeo and Juliet. Yes, that Romeo and Juliet. No, they didn’t die in the tomb…"

This was delightful easy murder mystery story that focuses on the eldest daughter of Romeo and Juliet, Rosaline or Rosie.

Rosie is twenty years old, strong willed, smart and a trained swords woman; she has thus far evaded marriage to many unacceptable potential husbands until Duke Stephano. This one is not that easy to avoid and on the night of her betrothal he is found murdered. Rosie being a young apprentice in alchemy become the main suspect. . In pursuit of the killer of her betrothed, our heroine meets her true love, courted by a prince a while the body count keeps going up.

A Daughter of Fair Verona was an enjoyable audiobook narrated by Suzy Jackson, who did an admirable job. While this story was historical fiction in content it has a contemporary feel. While the murder will be solved ..which I never guessed who, there is a cliffhanger at the end signaling this is the beginning of a series. This was my first novel by Christina Dodd and I rather enjoyed her writing style – it was uncomplicated and straight forward.

Thank you, Christina Dodd, Recorded Books and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released on June 25, 2025.

A Daughter of Fair Verona is a light and fun story about Romeo and Juliet's eldest daughter, Rosie. Rosie a a spunky, sassy and smart young woman who is betrothed to a rather horrible man. When he is found murdered on the very same night their engagement is announced; Rosie must figure out what happened in order to clear her good name. This is a fun, light summer read that lovers of Shakespeare will enjoy! I loved the audio - the narrator was animated and lively!

Rosie, the eldest of seven siblings born to Romeo and Juliet, is considered a spinster at 20, having never married. Her father announces her engagement to Duke Stephano, a man rumored to have killed his previous two wives. Rosie has a history of diverting her suitors to other women, yet this time, she fears she won't find a replacement for the Duke. On her way to the announcement, she encounters Lysander and is immediately taken with him. However, upon meeting the Duke in the garden, she discovers him dead, a knife lodged in his chest. Porcia, known for her gossip, accuses Rosie of carrying a knife into the garden. Found by Prince Escalus standing over the body, Rosie is sent to clean up after tripping over the Duke's body. Although skilled with swords and knives, thanks to Romeo's training, Rosie is innocent. Despite this, she is now suspected of murder and embarks on a quest to find the true culprit. Meanwhile, Lysander seeks her affection, and Prince Escalus appears wherever she goes. This story drew me with its unexpected twists and the mystery of the killer's identity.

This book has it all. Humor, good pace, Easter eggs, mystery, romance, family drama, thriller-ish, character-driven, historical, spunky female, coming-of-age, and reimaging of a famous story. Rosie is fantastic, someone I'd love to know in real life, and the adult versions of Romeo and Juliet are hilariously realistic as you would think they'd be if they had survived. For a pragmatic, non-romantic, spinster virgin, Rosie takes it all in stride, dodging men and marriages, grossed out by her parents and their poetic love story that's still ongoing, with the eighth child on the way, and the only thing she has in common with them is her dad's bushy eyebrows. (How is that not funny?) Lots of people die or are attacked, Rosie's life is in danger, and not even her advanced math skills seem to help her, but the fact that everyone keeps gifting her daggers might. (See what I mean?) There's an apothecary shop called Toil and Trouble (I'm not kidding) and there are other Shakespeare references throughout. Whether you read Romeo and Juliet and loved it or hated it, this story is charming, funny, twisty, and the end will leave you breathless.

OMG what a good time this book was! A Daughter of Fair Verona was witty, hilarious, and keeps you on your toes trying to solve the mystery.

We all know the story of Romeo and Juliet but what if they didn't die? What if they lived happily ever after and had many many children? This is the story of Rosie, their eldest daughter and her quest to never marry. She's thwarted previous marriage proposals by helping her betrotheds find their one true loves but she's in hot water when her third suitor winds up murdered and she's the main suspect!

The plot of this book was unique to me and kept me on my toes trying to figure out who the actual murderer was. The characters were funny and full of life. I loved how Romeo and Juliet were described and how Christina Dodd gave them so much more depth than the story we all know did. I honestly did not care for Rosie's love interest...he was okay but I was secretly rooting for someone else and with that cliffhanger of an ending I am VERY excited to see what happens next!

I was blessed with an ALC of this book and I found the narrator, Suzy Jackson, to be such a delight to listen to. Her voice sounded young enough to portray Rosie properly (Rosie is 19/20) and she added such charisma to the story with her inflections and tones. Honestly, a 10 star performance!

I highly enjoyed this book and will definitely be continuing the series. Give this one a go if you're into romcoms, historical romance, or just looking for a funny good time with a mystery sprinkled in. Thank you so much to RB Media for providing me with an ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What an entertaining, exciting turn of events. This story plays out much like a great comedic theatre performance one might expect to have seen in the days of Shakespeare himself. With a wonderful blend of Shakespearean prose with modern wit and style. This reminds me of the humour of movies like Princess Diaries, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and mixes it with the macabre humour and suspense of shows like Knives Out. I honestly did not even notice the passing of time, so caught up was I in the telling of fair Rosaline’s tale. Rosie is everything I love in a heroine. She is witty, sassy, opinionated, determined and full of snark. The men opposite her, have you giddy with girlish glee and yet also keep you guessing. This story takes you on a wild journey with excitement, suspense and loads of sarcastic wit and style. But let me tell you, just when you think you know where things are going, be prepared to have the rig pulled out from under you. More than one shocker of a bomb drop in this one, I had to immediately go check if there was a sequel planned. I know this is only just releasing, but in a token Bridgerton reference, “Christina Dodd, You Must Make Haste!”
A note on the audio, the story is fabulous but I truly believe if you have the chance to listen, you should! Suzy Jackson portrayed the ideal choice of heroine, giving voice to the inner monologue of Rosaline. Her exuberance and infliction draws you in and keeps you enthralled til the end. This was quite literally a front row seat at Shakespeare’s own theatre.