Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC.

I requested this book because of the title and premise. I’m so glad that I did.

Historically, we never hear from Rosaline, she is a support character at best. But this is her story.

It did take me a few chapters to get into this book but once the events started happening, I was hooked. We learn about her and the Capulet family in far more detail. We learn far more about Romeo and who he was before he met Juliet.

The descriptions and language throughout are true to the Shakespearean that some people will have come across before. I also really liked the descriptions of ‘Italy’ in this.

If you like historical fiction then this one is for you.

An interesting retelling of the love story of Romeo and Juliet. Natasha Solomons has taken the character of Rosaline who is mentioned as Romeo's previous love interest before Juliet and rebuilt the story from that point.Romeo is painted as a rake, a serial lover of young women professing undying love, deflowering the young woman and then moving on. If this were not bad enough the young women he casts off are mistreated by a friar and many rich men of Verona. This retelling leads to a very different end.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Natasha Solomons/Bonnier Books for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I’m not a big Shakespeare fan in general but this version was SO good! Where the original evoked very little emotion from me, this story gave me all the feels..Romeo! What a ba&@%rd! Excellent- a thumping good read.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this retelling but I ended up really enjoying it. The entire book was filled with an eerie sense, and that spine-tingling feeling that something is wrong, and the dread when you begin to realise Romeo's behaviours before Rosaline does.

I think using Rosaline to expose Romeo's character and having this as the focus rather than the traditional star-crossed-lovers tragic ending was so much more well-suited to the modern age and made for a really interesting story, and Rosaline as a character was the perfect protagonist. She's naive but quickly learns the harsh reality of the world, and experiences so much of what women still go through today that even in this historical setting you felt like you could really understand and relate to her and know what she was going through.

A fantastic retelling of a classic which both manages to capture the original whilst completely being its own story too.

Fair Rosaline is a book of the authors retelling of the classic tale of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Young Rosaline living through times of pestilence, bubonic plague, loses her mother to this. Consequently this is to change her life as she has known it, and also how she envisioned it to be.
Young Rosaline is the authors story of how it could have been from her perspective.

I have to confess I have never read William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, so I don’t have any feelings that could have been altered, or comparisons by reading this version.
I found the book a very interesting read, and I enjoyed doing so. It captured my interest throughout.
A mix of characters, as in life some likeable, some definitely not.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

A fantastic retelling of Romeo and Juliet from Rosaline's POV. Rosaline is a wonderful character, strong and determined. I really enjoyed this retelling.
Thank you to Bonnier Books UK and Netgalley for the e-arc.

Fair Rosaline is a feminist retelling of Romeo and Juliet that is stark with rage at a world determined to crush young women.

This was such a stark and brutally honest take on the Romeo and Juliet narrative, one that exposes the violence enmeshed in the ‘romance’ of Shakespeare’s tale. It is gut-churning at times and exposes the horrors of patriarchal society. By using this lens, Solomons brings a new take to one of the most beloved tales of all time. For example, something that I have never fully considered is the true age of Juliet, which makes for horrifying reading here. I cannot think of a production that emphasises this at all, rather just the romanticised, rose-tinted romance.

Rosaline is a fantastic protagonist. Solomons writes her with a distinctively modern voice at times, becoming more accessible for a current reader, while still tapping into the Shakespearean style. It is flowery and descriptive, but deeply human and cuts like a knife. Solomons blends that heady rush of romance with the gritty reality of Rosaline’s life. This is still a deeply tragic tale. Though you know the bare bones of the story, you still mourn the events that occur. I would just argue that you mourn them in very different ways as different aspects of characters come to light. There is also somewhat of a mystery plot interwoven into the tragic ‘romance’, one that comes with a steep price of blood to pay. This is still a book marred by death and suffering. Solomons uses this to explore the cyclical nature of patriarchal violence and of violence itself. There is some excellent social commentary that rings very true for our age, allowing Solomons to use this classic tale as a vehicle to teach modern lessons around violence and revenge.

Fair Rosaline is far from the shrinking violet of its titular character in the original play. It has a thirst for blood and will stop at nothing to deliver the necessary truths of its story.

A feminist re-telling of Romeo and Juliet, Fair Rosaline’s narrative starts before the original play to make room for Rosaline’s experience, shaping her role in the traditional story. What struck me most, is the attention to detail the author pays. By using text and references from the original play, Solomons creates a convincing argument and an authentic story in its own right. I enjoyed the modern lens and how Rosaline’s observations of Romeo reveal him as one of the earliest and infamous ‘f*ck boys’, pre-dating the term by centuries. I cannot recommend this novel enough, it’s creative, clever and thoughtful. With the release of Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler earlier this year, I’m loving this new sub-genre of Feminist Shakespeare retellings, finally giving a voice to forgotten female Shakespearean characters.

I must admit I really went in blind with this book. I also must confess I have never watched the film or read Romeo and Juliet I didn't even know/recall it was based on the Shakespeare tale until I got into the first chapter - but with a twist - its told from her cousin Rosalina's point of view and I loved loved loved this book!

Set in Verona we meet Rosalina at her mothers funeral, the plague has set in and most people are dying, dead or ready to leave the city.
Rather than paying dowry, Rosalina's father Masetto decides to send her to a nunnery where she will spend the rest of her years. However before then she meets and falls in love with Romeo who is part of the Montagues family, which has a long running feud with Rosalina's Capulet family,

But Romeo isn't all he seems, in fact in this he is jealous, love bombs, has a million 'red' flags and likes to use gaslighting and manipulation to get what he wants. Your typical fxxk boy in this day and age! I loved how he was described as a 'practised prattler and accomplished flatterer

The feud is set to get bigger when he meets Juliet at a ball and drops Rosalina. Will she be able to save her cousin from this conniving and calculating man. I loved the characters and relationships with Rosaline, Juliet and Tybalt as well.

The book is full of lies, family, fighting and 'love' and I enjoyed every second of it

I also really enjoyed the Greek mythology references and it being set in a different time and world Natasha has done an amazing job!

Strangely enough whilst reading this book, I went to visit my Nan and I was lucky enough to visit Stratford upon Avon and see Shakespeare's house and buy a copy of Romeo and Juliet which I will definitely be catching up on!

I will be recommending this to others and looking out for more from this author.

This story was a retelling of Romeo and Juliet but from the perspective of Rosaline. I did enjoy reading the book and I liked the different perspective. I found Rosaline a strong and determined women who persuaded her father to not send her to the convent. This is when she meets Romeo and she has a whirlwind romance until he sets his eyes on Juliet.

I’m glad this book kept a similar theme of words used from the original Romeo and Juliet. Also, being familiar with the original story gave me an insight on the plot. Although this book gave the original some twists which were interesting to read about. I liked the suspense of wondering how this book was going to end. Having Rosaline behind Juliet during her romance with Romeo leads to some differences to the original.

I thought this book brought Rosaline to life from being a character who was only mentioned in the original. The author done well to retell this story and make it her own, including the twists. This book was written well and it was well thought out by the author. I recommend this book to those who like reading Romeo and Juliet.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author of the ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

I've read other books with an excellent take on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but this is a unique way of looking at the story. We follow the story through Rosaline, which in the original has little to no presence, other than the fact that she was Juliet's cousin and Romeo's first unrequited love.
In this story, Romeo takes an antagonist role. And rather a character I did not expect to hate considering how much I loved Romeo in the original. Romeo in this book, is seen as a villain to our women in the story. Who is a major factor as to why multiple women fall victim to sweet words and roses. Romeo in this book is a character full of contradictions. He is depicted to be kind, sweet and loving, however, the longer you get to know him through this book, the more you find yourself questioning if any of his words and feelings were ever real. And if it was real, then it was fleeting.
I loved the take on Rosaline in this book. Originally we would dismiss her role and focus on the romance between Romeo and Juliet. However, as she takes centre stage, she is brave and clever and a character worthy of all attention.
Yes, one may say that this is a modern take on the original play, however, in my opinion, this just seems like a much more realistic take rather than modern, compared to the original romance tragedy. We still get the patriarchal setting which is a common factor in almost all works from the Elizabethan era. The only difference despite the patriarchal setting is that the women in this book, are actually more forward with their actions and feelings. Needless to say, both the original and this retelling are magnificent on their own.

I rated this a four instead of a five because of how long the chapters are. Had it not been for the long chapters, it would have most definitely been a five-star read. As someone with a short attention span, it was really hard to focus on one chapter in such a long period of time, and I also felt stuck in certain chapters because of their length. Other than that, I loved and enjoyed this book.

I was really excited to get an eARC to read of this one. I adore the play Romeo and Juliet, not because I think its the greatest love story ever told, because I think it says MUCH more than that. However it does mean Im very protective of my interpretation of the play....

...so maybe its no surprise that an 'untelling' wasnt going to work for me. I REALLY didn't like what Natasha did with the plot and characters from the play.

I did like the way she sewed vocabulary and lines from the play in the character's dialogue. I liked Rosaline and really felt for her. I thought the convent itself was beautifully rendered on the page.

However Im not sure this book is for Shakespeare fans, maybe historical fiction fans will enjoy with a nod to a general knowledge of the original. But take care there are trigger warnings for this one.

The perfect read for lovers of Shakespeare. In fact, I would also recommend this book even if Shakespeare is not your genre of choice.
Rosaline is an incredible woman, she kicks ass…..Romeo on the other hand is portrayed as a dark character, a predator of young girls - nothing like the Leonardo DiCaprio version we loved in the 90’s.
An interesting and well written take on Shakespeare's famous Romeo and Juliet.

Fair Rosaline is Natasha Solomon’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the play about two teenagers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, who fall in love despite the bloody feud between their families, and which, as the whole world knows, ends tragically.

Solomon has chosen as her novel’s main character, Rosaline, the unattainable woman for whom Romeo pines out of unrequited love at the opening of the play. Other than references to her in the opening scenes of the play, Rosaline, (who we learn is destined to enter a convent hence her rejection of Romeo), has no speaking part and does not appear on stage, which gives Solomon license to develop her as a character in her own way, free from any textual constraints.

Without giving away any spoilers, the novel largely follows the trajectory of Shakespeare’s play, but offers a backstory for it, and supplies additional context for actual scenes and events within it. In doing so the author weaves into the dialogue, a number of Shakespearian quotes, and creates a vivid sense of scene and place, with a strong feel of the dark and gothic.

I was very excited at the prospect of reading Fair Rosaline, being a huge Shakespeare fan, and I have enjoyed a number of novels which reimagine his plays. However, I found this one a little problematic in a couple of areas.
In Fair Rosaline, Solomons has retained the setting of Verona and the historical period of the original play, but, the backstory she has developed, which I am avoiding mention of to avoid spoilers, is decidedly 21st Century, and for me this dissonance jars.

There is a further, similar issue for me, with characterisation. Largely Solomons respects the play’s textual context and evidence, so, as mentioned above, with Rosaline she has the freedom to develop a character who is by turns spirited, and strong, or lovestruck and easily influenced; someone who has agency, and someone who moans; someone who can sometimes be a bit whiny.

However Rosaline isn’t the real problem for me. It’s Romeo, who, for some reason has been turned from a teenage lovesick boy prone to crushes in the play, into a 30 year old player in the novel: he’s more than a bit of a love rat with a dark, manipulative side. Juliet too is changed and has even less agency than she does in the original play.

Textually there is lots of evidence in the play that Juliet is not yet 14, and Romeo’s age is not overtly stated. But, there are frequent references to him as ‘young man’, his behaviour is very much that of a teenage boy, he isn’t fighting in the army, and he’s still living at home with his parents, so again this metamorphosis in his character does not ring true, and felt to me as if it had been done only to enable the novel’s invented backstory.

The prose is generally good, and as mentioned the inclusion of Shakespearian quotes is a nice touch, but the endeavour to capture the poetry and feel of the original text is sometimes a little inconsistent.

To sum up it’s not a bad read by any means, and it’s an interesting attempt at a reimagining which, I am sure, will appeal to many readers, but for this particular Shakespeare fan there were a couple of wrinkles.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bonnier for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

From what I can remember, Rosaline is barely mentioned in Romeo and Juliet which really piqued my interest when reading the blurb for this book.

If you can get through the first quarter of the book, which is painfully slow, then I think you'll really enjoy this.
I love the character that Rosaline has become. She is feisty and determined to save her cousin, Juliet from falling in to the clutches of Romeo.

This is well written and the pace, once it gets going, is perfect. There are plenty of Shakespeare's original lines included and then blend well with the authors words.

Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons is a new novel with the vivid reimagining of Romeo's - THE Romeo of Romeo and Juliet - 'first' love Rosaline. Solomons's subversive retelling of the classic love tragedy by Shakespeare joins the new literary voices, like Isabelle Schuller and giving characters who had lived in the background real life and breadth, and making readers question what they thought they knew about the story.

Rosaline Capulet, Juliet's cousin, is mourning the loss of her beloved mother Emilia when her emotionally absent and grieving father tells her there will be no marriage for her but she must go to the nunnery and live out her days as a single woman. Further devastated by this news, Rosaline vows to live the 10 days' reprieve her father grants her in the fullest way possible. She decides to sneak into the Montague ball and there meets Romeo where her destiny changes forever.

Having taught the play for over twenty years, I was captivated by the way Solomons cleverly weaves the lines of the well-known characters into her novel. The writing is visceral and beautiful at the same time, with descriptions of the scenery and brutality of the reality of life in her created world. I loved her portrayal of Tybalt and suddenly the way he responds to Romeo's presence at the Capulet ball all makes sense. She brings up important issues of consent, of the limited agency that women were given in Elizabethan times, and the power of true love to change the course of someone's life.

I hugely enjoyed this retelling of Romeo and Juliet and it will definitely add some depth to the context of my teaching of the play.
Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

We all know the story of Romeo and Juliet, don't we?

Well in Fair Rosaline we are shown that there is always more to any story.

Rosaline is Juliet's older cousin who first has a relationship with Romeo. I love that we get to see more of the well known characters in a different light and it really emphasis just how wrong Romeo and Juliet's relationship was.

The author portrays just how tempting those sort of clandestine relationships must have been, especially with Romeo's well practiced sweet talk and false promises.

There is almost a modern feel to the book which gives it a refreshing twist and I don't wish to spoil it so all I'll say is there is a very satisfying ending.

Romeo and Juliet, but extra. We’ve all been there, in a stuffy classroom in summer term tackling Shakespeare’s fussy language and prose. It holds a bit of nostalgia for me, it was my first Shakespeare play and I loved it! I wish this had been written back then, so that we could have used it to imagine Rosaline and her involvement in Romeo’s story pre-Juliet. It’s a high stake twisting and twisty tale of love versus lust. I adored it! It cleverly padded out a lot of what Shakespeare had alluded to and the ending blew my mind! Thank you @netgalley and @natashasolomonsauthor for the eARC of this novel due out 3rd August. It’s a must read!

Romeo and Juliet were star-crossed lovers, but what about Rosaline, the Capulet girl Romeo loved before he set eyes on Juliet? In an atmospheric retelling of Shakespeare's play, the author paints a vivid and engaging picture of a passionate young woman in love with life. When Romeo abandons her, it seems her destiny is the convent, but first she must try to save her cousin Juliet from the fate she fears awaits her.
What a fabulous retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Natasha Solomons plunges us into Shakespeare's world, with all its motifs and poetic prose that mimics Shakespeare's language, but is far more understandable. The plot as it progresses is just as convoluted as any Shakespeare could contrive, with girls dressed as boys, messengers going here and there, just missing each other, poisons and antidotes, and dark secrets at the heart of it all. But this is essentially a feminist story - the women of mediaeval Verona may be subject to the patriarchy, but some draw on their own resources of courage and loyalty. Rosaline may be a young girl, but she has the strength to deal with life's challenges, the wisdom to see the truth, and the compassion to try to set things right for others, even if she cannot change her own destiny.
This is one for lovers and non-lovers of Shakespeare alike, a wonderful story in its own right, with an admirable heroine at its core. I loved it.

Fair Rosaline tells the story of the character quickly tossed aside by Romeo when he meets his Juliet, As a huge Shakespeare fan, this was one of my most-anticipated reads.
For those wanting to keep the romantic version of the star-crossed lovers, be prepared to be shooketh. Here, we have a very different Romeo from the one we currently see depicted. He is older, seductive, very aware of what he is doing, and ultimately a predator, moving from one young girl to the next. While this surprised me at first, I loved Solomon's movement away from the expected and into darker territory. Even darker was the representation of Friar Lawrence, whose dealings I won't reveal heal but are sinister. As much as I love Shakespeare, interpretations that take the story and characters in places I never thought possible are fascinating to read. I also loved fierce Rosaline herself, and seeing a warm side of Tybalt was equally pleasing.
The book uses some quotes from the play or variations of them, but some of them didn't quite work for me. I wasn't sure if Romeo was either repeating lines shared with Rosaline to show how much of a 'player' he is, or if Solomons wanted to take those words and give them to Rosaline. There were also lines spoken by Juliet about Romeo in the original play that here are used by Rosaline to talk about Tybalt. Maybe it's a way to show that the love between the latter pair is more worthy of those lines, I don't know. It just didn't quite work for me but that's probably just a personal taste thing!
I did enjoy the book and Solomons has created a descriptive and well-paced story in a darker Verona than we are used to. Obviously giving a voice, and such a feisty character, to Rosaline is well-overdue, but it's Romeo's character that is truly twisted. Be prepared to have the idea of a young, fawning, innocent Romeo smashed to pieces. It's about time we all grew up anyway.