2 stars

I absolutely love Shakespeare, but retellings of his works tend to be hit or miss for me. A Daughter of Fair Verona caught my eye both because of its focus on the children of Romeo and Juliet and the fact that it is a MURDER MYSTERY. On top of that, I have seen Christina Dodd's name come up a lot in the historical romance space and figured that this would be a good place to see what she's all about.

The best part of the book for me personally was the character voice of our protagonist Rosie. She is a strong, sassy young woman who loves her family, her city, and her independence. Her relationship with her Nurse is an absolute delight and listening to her trade barbs with the Prince of Verona was probably the highlight of the book for me. Unfortunately, my enjoyment begins and ends there.

The rest of the book felt like watered down lemonade - something that you should theoretically enjoy based on the components, but ends up being spoiled by weak execution. Considering that this book is marketed for adults, the humor is incredibly juvenile and I actually considered DNFing after the first murder because of how grating I found the constant talk of virginity. The mystery aspects are minimal at best and for all that we are told about Rosie's intelligence, the author gives her precious little time to actually go out and try to figure out what is happening. With the romance, established character traits take a backseat in favor of both moving the plot in a particular way and emulating the Bard (neither of which I found particularly appealing).

Despite the fact that this book was a miss for me, I would honestly consider reading another book by Dodd. It probably won't be in this series, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book follows the oldest daughter of Romeo and Juliet as she gets caught up in a murder mystery.

This was a good book and I liked it! There was a lot of humor and I liked the setting of this one. Since it’s during Romeo and Juliet time, it happens a long time ago and that was interesting. There were a lot of interesting twists throughout this one.

I loved the characters and it was a fun read. I like the audiobook for this one too! I liked the narrator and the pacing.

Thanks so much to netgally and Kensington and RB media for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

An intriguing read- not my usual genre, but I was hooked from the first chapter. Sometimes a bit hard to follow with a large cast of characters as an audiobook so I would recommend it as a hard copy read

Straight away I noticed this book was a bit too modern, and far too American - jumping right on the 'woman power' train. However, I'm ever so pleased that this story didn't tear the original Romeo and Juliet to pieces (like another book released this year). The spinster daughter of the most romantic couple in history gets embroiled in a murder mystery! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC/audiobook, although I would have preferred a European narrator and less of the 'YA' speak I did enjoy this book, so 4-stars. Bring on the second in this series!

This was a cute book with a lot of goofy and melodramatic moments. It worked for the story, but threw me off at first! It was still a fun read, but I wasn’t really a fan of how it ended, since it was more of a “we’ll see what happens…” instead of just writing it lol. Some funny commentary on Romeo and Juliet in there, so probably a 3.5 rounded down.

🌈Queer rep: none

The premise of this book hooked me. How fun to explore an imagined world where Romeo and Juliet lived, procreated, and continued to cause mischief. Told from the perspective of their daughter, Rosie, this is a fiercely contemporary take on historical fiction. I enjoyed the humor but the ending felt very abrupt. Also, this read very much like YA, but it wasn't marked as such. The audiobook narrator did a lovely job portraying Rosie's youthful exuberance and flair for the dramatic. I'm left curious to read more in this series.

Thank you to RBmedia for gifting me with an ALC to review. All opinions are my own.

This is an interesting "sequel" to Romeo and Juliet. This is the story of Rosie, the eldest of their seven children. She's getting pretty old and her parents would like to marry her off. However, the man they arranged for her has already lost 3 wives under perhaps suspicious circumstances. Rosie does not want to marry him so she's not terribly upset when he dies.

Rosie is a modern girl. And I mean modern by today's standards, not of the time when Romeo and Juliet's offspring might have lived. The book seems like it's for a younger audience, perhaps teenager. I listened to the audio and the narrator had a young voice, which is appropriate for the character.

This is a well done retelling of Romeo and Juliet. In this retelling they lived and had many children. This story is about their 19 year old daughter Rosaline.

Many thanks to Net Galley and RB Media for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 ⭐️
I really love retellings, specially if the MFC is a strong, sassy, independent, smart and fearless one, and this Christina Dodd’s novel has exactly that. What if Romeo and Juliet had a daughter? Enter Rosie, who will captivate you from the very first page. This is a very entertaining mystery book.and the good news is that it is the first of an upcoming series so we will have more Rosie Montague’s adventures to come!

I really disliked the first 15% of this book and was ready to skip but I pushed through the difficult start and it was a fun ride. Rosie was adorable and quirky, the murder mystery was engaging. I did not expect it to wnd on a cliffhanger but I would be very interested in reading the next in the series

In "A Daughter of fair Verona" we follow Rosaline, the daughter of Romeo and Juliet. Yes, the Romeo and Juliet, who are still nauseatingly in love and parents to seven children. Rosie is the eldest and not romantically inclined at all. She has been betrothed several times but managed to matchmake every intended to someone else yet . Until now. Now, she is betrothed to be the FOURTH WIFE of Duke Stephano. All of whose previous wives have met their end by poison. She has no plans to marry the duke, thank you very much, but before she can do anything about it, Duke Stephano turns up murdered at their engagement party...

This book was so much fun! It is very tongue in cheek and makes fun of the unbelievable actions and "romance" in "Romeo and Juliet" .

Rosie is a very pragmatic and rational heroine, whose main goal in life is to keep her family safe. So, when she is accused to have killed the Duke and more people she knows turn up dead, she (and the original nursemaid from the play) start to investigate.

I enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story very much and wouldn't have guessed the culprit at all!
Seeing Romeo and Juliet as grown ups was fun and I liked their kind and compassionate character. I especially loved Romeos relationships with his children / daughters.

The language used in the book is reminiscent of Shakespeare's original work when the original characters are talking. Rosie's inner thoughts are much more modern. This didn't bother me, but I can imagine that some people may dislike it.

This was a 5 star read for me up until the last 2-3 chapters. For one, I think Rosie's actions regarding her "true love" don't really match her thoughts towards love up until this point. For another, I was of the impression that this is a standalone (and that further books will focus on the other children), but this book ends with a cliffhanger! I'm so frustrated! I want to know what happens next.
I listened to the audio version narrated by Suzy Jackson. Her voice fit Rosaline very well and her diction made it easy to understand the "old timey" language.

4.75⭐

Also, love the cover!

I saw this book around a few times and thought oh that’s a cute title but never picked it up. This could be because I never liked the story of Romeo and Juliet until someone mentioned the story makes a lot more sense when viewed as a comedy. This book (or audiobook in this case) does just that! You follow the daughter of Romeo and Juliet, Rosalind (might be Rosaline again I was not reading words but listening to them) the most sensible of the Montague family, and unusually old for an unmarried woman. And that is where all her problems stem she is happily unmarried but fate seems to have other designs for her and from here forth hijinks ensue. This book was so charming and the mystery part of it engaging! I was honestly disappointed when it ended. I so dearly hope that this book gets some sort of sequel I would love to hear or read (for if I do end up finding this book in the wild I may just pick it up and actually read it) this definitely feels like a very rereadable book and that is surprising for me because I rarely want to reread books.

Audiobook received for free through NetGalley

I absolutely loved listening tot he story, learning the characters, and following along on their adventures. Can’t wait for another if the series is in fact a series.

A Daughter of Fair Verona be Christina Dodd follows Rosalind, the oldest daughter of Romeo and Juliet (yes, that Romeo and Juliet) as she tries to find a husband before she is too old (she is 19) and hijinks ensue.

This book feels like if you mixed Bridgerton and Knives Out together and added in a bunch of romcom vibes, heavy on the com. While this is technically an adult book, Rosalind reads like she is her age so it has a little bit of an upper young adult feel. The tone is mostly humorous with a bit of darker themes.

I can see this being a book that a lot of people really enjoy. It was a lot more funny than I expected and the mystery kept the pace going so it never got boring. I think if you are familiar with Shakespeare, especially Romeo and Juliet, you will get more out of this story but that’s not a requirement.

This is also the beginning of a series so it doesn’t all wrap up in book one. It ties together enough to make it feel like a complete story but leaves some loose threads to make you want to read the sequel.

I listened to this as an audio arc and I think the narrator. Suzy Jackson, did a fantastic job as always. She has narrated a ton of books so if you listen to audiobooks, you have probably heard her before.

What a delightful, hilarious book! I will be the first to admit that I do not like Romeo and Juliet. It frustrated me back in high school, and it still frustrates me to this day. That being said, the description of this one had me so intrigued that I couldn’t skip it! In ‘A Daughter of Fair Verona’ by Christina Dodd, Romeo and Juliet did find their happily ever after together and have since had lots of children, the eldest of whom is Rosie. Rosie is feisty and bold, and she’s determined to be much more logical in life – and in love – than her parents were. Rosie was a fantastic lead character, and I loved her sarcasm and wit. Almost all the side characters added at least something to the story, and this book made it really hard to NOT like Romeo and Juliet.

This book had everything you could want: a murder mystery, excellent banter, funny romance, and hilarious characters. The tone will maybe not be for everyone, but I think it made the reading experience so much fun! I never felt bored or like it had been going on too long. The narrator was also wonderful. She captured the characters so well!

I am eagerly awaiting a sequel, and I fully recommend this!

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A marvellously good time!
Rosie is the ‘near 20’ year old daughter of Romeo and Juliet and still being unwed at that grand old age, is considered a spinster.
Forced to marry a man she hates she is soon accused of murder and she finds herself trying to uncover who the killer really is all while falling in love for the first time.
Spending time with Rosie and her family was pure pleasure and although this book is also a murder mystery as well as a love story it had me giggling and laughing along through out.
Narrator was fantastic 10/10