Don’t think I’ll ever think on Romeo & Juliet in quite the same way after being given this alternate view of their love story. He’s gone from a teenager so desperately in love and ready to give up all for his love to nothing more than a philanderer of indeterminate age!
Very often, reworking a classic story is a disastrous idea and just doesn’t work but on this occasion, it’s excellent. It leaves us with a whole new story and really, the reader could write any ending they wanted.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to any Shakespeare fan.

I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of Romeo and Juliet from the point of view of Rosaline. I now need to go back and watch the original from a totally different perspective and wonder what I missed. The book is a bit slow to get going but I was thoroughly invested in our protagonist and rooting for her as we relive the events of the play. A real sense of the heat of Verona and the fear of plague as characters fall in and out of love and destinies are fulfilled.

Actual rating 4.5/5 stars.

An entirely new spin on Shakespeare's well-known Romeo and Juliet, that paints each character in an entirely new light, all told from Rosaline's perspective.

I adore Shakespeare's original and so when I received an arc for this retelling I dropped all my other reading plans to start this, straight-away. I did not read any of the synopsis and so feared it might be too accurate a revisit to the original, and so provide the reader with nothing new, but I need not have feared.

Rosaline is given life, rather than being a female who hides off page, and through her insights we start to see both Romeo and Juliet for who they are, which is very different from the star-crossed and ill-fated lovers we already know them as. All characters feel far more human here and I loved this new take on such a beloved tale. It remained a sinister tragedy and I mourned the events that occurred just as much as I did the conclusion to this tale, that meant my time with these characters was done.

Fair Rosaline was one of those books I just had to read as soon as I saw it advertised on Twitter. I was not disappointed! Beautifully written and heart rending, this exploration of womanhood in a man’s world had me reading past my bedtime. 5 stars! I want to read it again!

Fair Roseline the girl who had a lucky escape. We all know the story of Romeo and Juliet this is the story of the woman who Romeo passed up and what could have been.

Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons is the reimagining of Romeo and Juliet, from the perspective of Rosaline, the girl who came before Juliet, and who was alluded to only briefly in the original play. The gamble when writing these retellings/reimaginings of classic and well-loved stories is always going to be whether it adds something to the original, and more importantly whether it adds something positive for the individual reader.

Fair Rosaline begins on a high note; her descriptions of a late mediaeval/early Renaissance Verona still only just recovering from a terrible plague are vivid, capturing the stifling sense of rot and death in the city, while the descriptions of the lavish country homes of the more wealthy up in the hills are equally immersive once we move out there, and I loved the descriptions of the fantastical gardens of the Montague house on the night of the first party. Rosaline herself is well portrayed as a passionate and determined young woman, grieving the death of her mother and the freedom she is about to lose as she is on the countdown to being dispatched to a nunnery by her father; a man also grieving his wife, and struggling in his relationship with his daughter. Recurring phrases, expressions and even scenes draw direct parallels with the Romeo and Juliet we all know, which binds it well to the original.

As said initially, reimaginings like this are always a gamble. Where this novel unfortunately lost me was in the reimagining of Romeo and his circle. While the original character was no doubt not flawless, the perspective explored and developed here was one I didn’t particularly enjoy reading, and I also feel was pushed too far. To my mind, the feminist imagining of Rosaline and the meditation on the perceived worth of women of the time could have been successful without this counter aspect pushed so far. I can already see there have been, and I know there will be more, people who love this; there was some great descriptive writing capturing the period, and some great character writing of Rosaline and a few of the other characters but, personally and overall, this wasn't for me.

I thank the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review, and wish the author every success with the book.

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC, this was a really gritty, slightly darker exploration of Romeo from Rosaline’s perspective. What if he wasn’t the hero? What if he was abusive? I really loved the heroic fire in Rosaline, she’s ready to take him down. I also appreciated the new take on Tybalt.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It was interesting to read about Rosaline and her story. Loved reading the women side of the story .

Fair Roseline is a retelling of Romeo and a Juliet that (with artistic expression) tells the story of Romeo’s prior love, Roseline but with an even darker turn than the love story we all know.

Following the death of her mother, Rosaline Capulet is to be sent to a nunnery, the idea being to protect her heart from the pain and misery of love. Rosaline is given 12 nights before she must leave, she is free spirited and longs to see and experience as much as she can. On her first night, Rosaline sneaks into a party held by rival family the Montagues where she meets Romeo - they talk, she leaves, but then he starts to court her. However this isn’t a beautiful romance, what follows is a toxic, predatory relationship before Rosaline breaks free - only for Romeo to now start preying on her young cousin Juliet. With her days freedom ever reducing, Rosaline and her cousin Tybalt must try save Juliet from Romeo’s grasp.

I’ll admit I struggled at the start with this one - Romeo is gross, he’s described as an older man, he gaslights Rosaline, encourages her to steal money, emotionally manipulates and you experience this desperate girl’s need to be loved and the freedom he teases her with. It can make an uncomfortable, enraging read when you’re in Rosaline’s infatuated stage where she doesn’t see this as toxic. That said the moment that Rosaline breaks free from this cycle and gains her agency back, the experience of this book totally changed for me - that’s not to say that Romeo’s behaviour (now to Juliet) is any less tolerable but you’re no longer in the head of someone rationalising it.
The authors note at the end of the book is a great addition and does point out that Romeo is always assumed to be as young as Juliet but we’re never told that he is. The author decides to make Romeo (and Paris) an older man, a predator who grooms the innocent and highlights how this isn’t a story about romance but a story about the failings inflicted on a young girl who was not protected by those around her.

I’ll admit my knowledge of Romeo and Juliet is mostly reduced to a certain Leonardo DiCaprio film, but I have always been surprised how a story about desperation, death and the suicide of children has been romanticised. Juliet, and the girls before her, are still here caught as pawns in the cycle of greedy men and power, however here Romeo is a willing participant, the villain not the victim. Friar Laurence is also an awful person, working with Romeo to help dispose of his victims. Meanwhile Tybalt is And I can imagine yes that will be hard for some people to accept or adjust to, especially with more experience of Shakespeare - however it’s also important to take this at its own merit and own form of art.

Rosaline is described as free spirited, strong headed etc, which you don’t experience until she’s out of Romeo’s grasp. Unfortunately before this she is frustrating and reckless but, in her defence, desperate, mourning her mother and neglected by her father and manipulated by someone, and older man, who can see and wield this weakness and inexperience. However once free, after finally connecting the dots and breaking the illusion of Romeo’s devotion, Rosaline is a strong and enjoyable character who is fierce and cunning and motivated by love all while still showing signs that she too is still a girl herself. There’s not a whole lot to say really about Romeo and Juliet themselves as neither have a POV or any real growth, Juliet is just young and naive, but it’s not their story. I want to say Romeo at times is too dastardly, cold and manipulative to be realistic - but I also know that sadly there are likely men like him right now inflicting such harm on women and moving onto their next victims with the same obsessive abusive cycle, so I won’t be naive here. I do wish we had at least a chapter of Romeo’s POV to hear how he justified his actions, did he think what he was doing was wrong? You get the idea that Romeo thinks each time he is love but he is fickle and selfish, he indulges gluttonously and absolutely on love and desire until he is full and sated and then moves on to his next. Romeo does not think he is a monster. He was going to marry Rosaline, then switches his feelings off entirely and becomes infatuated with Juliet who he actually does marry. While I would have still hated him, I would have liked to have understood how his mind worked if his character is to be changed so drastically.

Tybalt on the other hand was my favourite character. I adored him (for once!) and how he was written as a cousin, friend and lover. In Tybalt you could really see how young these characters were, how boisterous and reckless but protective and loyal they are, in him you can see the hope of these characters to be away from rivalry and expectations and just live simply and with love - he’s a wonderful character and I would have loved more of him.

Writing wise, the pacing is good and the story keeps you engaged with themes of love, death, mourning, vengeance, empowerment etc, which builds up with intensity as the nunnery grows closer. I enjoyed the casual incorporation of Shakespeare’s work from Romeo’s regurgitated love declarations to Mercutio during the battle with Tybalt - a scene which is brutal and heartbreaking and brilliantly recreates this intense, life changing moment for all the characters.
Overall I thought this was an interesting and powerful reimagining, clever and well thought through with deep, complex characters and it stays with you after you’ve finished.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.25/5 stars! I think this book would be enjoyable for fans of Shakespearean tales. I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan, so I think I was just the wrong audience for this story. The author does a good job of creating an entire world and backstory for Rosaline and the writing style was enjoyable.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I really enjoyed this book, I do not remember all of the details of the famous tale, but I think the author's version of events is outstanding.

This book is about Fair Rosaline, a very misaligned and unheard from character in Romeo and Juliet. The book tells the story from Rosaline's POV, she is a very strong and intelligent girl/woman and I felt that the author really bought the character to life. They also managed to depict the time and locale extremely vividly.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction with a hint of a thriller.

This has been quite an unexpected delight!

I went into this book with very little expectation; drawn in by the gorgeous cover and the title. Using beautiful, lyrical prose and persuasive storytelling, Solomons quickly draws the reader into a feverish story featuring Romeo and Juliet's oft-forgotten "Rosaline". Anyone who is familiar with Shakespeare's best-known tragedy, will remember the titular character. Well, perhaps not remember her. She is, after all, only mentioned briefly by Romeo and then cast-away quickly enough.

I have always felt that poor "fair" Rosaline deserved a bit more attention. Especially because I remember my highschool English teacher spending quite a lengthy amount of time concentrating on the passage in the play in which she is mentioned.

Rosaline is the older cousin of Juliet, and as such, one of the Capulet household. Her recently widowed father is dismissive and cold towards her, focused only on his own grief. He plans to send her to a nunnery. Rosaline is horrified but ultimately unable to do much, as she has very little power as a woman in the 16th century. She buys another few days of freedom and decides to sneak to a Montague party and see what all the fuss is about.

When she meets Romeo, she is enchanted and enthralled by his quick wit and use of romantic prosaic language. I will admit, I myself briefly felt charmed by Romeo in this novel. Which I think speaks for the strength of Solomons writing.

In the space of the novel, just like Rosaline, I go from finding myself charmed to being horrified when Romeo's deception is cruelly revealed. I won't spoil anymore, but will caution any purist Shakespeare fans or Romeo & Juliet diehard romantics --- this is NOT the story for you.

I've come across a few very venomous reviews online and can see why people aren't a big fan. I myself really enjoyed the read and sped through it much quicker than I thought I would.

I only have two rather small issues. My main one being that I felt that the latter half of the book was not as strong as the beginning. The ending felt overblown and unrealistic. My main issue with it being that I don't understand how or when Juliet went from being a child, hopelessly in love, to being a-okay with Rosaline having murdered Romeo. It feels like a chapter was missing that would have explained her change of heart. But I suppose then the whole last part could have been skipped.

Overall, an enjoyable and surprising read.

Fair Rosaline really strips back the "romance" of Romeo and Juliet to examine how women were (in some places still are) considered property, second rate, lesser than their male counterparts and if not capable of making a good marriage were condemned to the nunnery.

With this fate in sight Rosaline meets and falls for the charismatic Romeo, who promises the world but delivers on nothing.

A fascinating re-writing of the traditional tale from the perspective of the women in the family.

Well this was an absolute blast! If you buy into Romeo and Juliet being one of the greatest love stories you should step away from this book (I seriously urge you to - there's already at least one outraged GCSE English Lit essay that should have been a review on here, and the world doesn't need any more!). If you've always found Romeo fickle, the Friar useless, and wondered which part of 'dead children in a crypt' you're meant to find romantic then oh boy have I got a book for you!

This is an unabashedly feminist retelling from the perspective of Rosaline, and I thought it was glorious! The terrible options available to women are skewered with barely concealed rage. The Nurse is given the scant respect she deserves. The Friar gets his just desserts. And Romeo...well I don't want to spoil that for you but it's fitting! I wonder if this Rosaline is familiar with the poem from Much Ado About Nothing? I can't help but think she'd enjoy it:

"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never."

"I cannot think of love or life, surrounded by and mocked by death on every side. It makes me see the end, before we've even begun."

A subversive, conceptual retelling of one of the most iconic stories of all time. Fair Rosaline invokes the true nature of the tale of R&J, the tragedy and pain that was meant to be the focal point of a story misconstrued as a romantic fairy-tale.

Giving a powerful, echoing voice to the voiceless Rosaline, this reimagining is a dark, electrifying tale with the poetic beauty of a classic but the cinematic intensity of a thriller. Rosaline was everything I wanted in a truly strong leading woman — she is unapologetic and fiercely loving, risking everything to protect her young cousin from a predator that could ruin her life. Young and naïve in some ways, but strong enough to fight with everything she has against a patriarchal world that she doesn’t believe in. It delves into dark, uncomfortable things that made me want to look away but I couldn’t put this story down until I’d read the whole thing.

As a narrator, Rosaline starts slowly building up the world and climate of Verona at the time, and the personal tragedies she’s lived through. Her storytelling was emotional, raw but clear — she’d go on tangents but it never felt like info-dumping or filler. As we move along, she begins to question why she’s a possession, why she’s treated so differently to the boys and men — and realises she cannot tolerate them to hurt Juliet too as she tries to unravel the Gordian Knot that has started to tighten around her. Her language was reminiscent of a classic Shakespearean but with a more accessible, readable style and beautiful subtle references to the original tale.

The setting was rich and vivid, transporting us to another place and time with cultures and superstitions from years gone by on the page for all to see. Telling a twisted version of a famous story is always risky — but this paid off. Fair Rosaline is a triumphant reimagination that is a classic of it's own in the making.

Fair Rosaline - Natasha Solomon
4/5

A different take on the story of Romeo and Juliet beginning with Romeo's love for Rosaline, Juliet's cousin. She finds out that he is not what he seems and she was not his first love. She then has to try and save Juliet from him but will she have time before she is sent by her father to live her life out in nunnery. I really enjoyed the story considering its not my usual genre and it was told very well. I think for me it seemed a bit too drawn out which is a shame because it made me lose interest a couple of times, apart from that it was an enjoyable read.

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★★★★☆

I can only imagine how daunting it would be to take on a text as infamous as "Romeo and Juliet" and somehow try to make it your own, but Natasha Solomons does just that.

Rosaline, although mentioned only by name in the original play, becomes a force to be reckoned with in this retelling. She has had to mature beyond her years, and is outspoken for the things and the people that matter most to her (I was getting strong Marian Halcombe vibes at several points, but particularly when Rosaline climbed up Juliet's balcony). This book is more about the sexism and lechery that occurred in the Elizabethan era, and throughout time itself. Both Rosaline and Juliet are perceived to be of value only because of their virtuosity and not because of their own character, and Romeo is painted much truer here than originally in the play. His age is never mentioned by Shakespeare, but the audience is frequently reminded that Juliet is no more than 13, implying that Romeo is much older than she. While "Romeo and Juliet" has morphed into the epitome of romances, the original plot is much more uncomfortable than people recall. Solomons brings this to the forefront and shows Romeo's manipulative nature from the beginning, as well as highlighting the failure of all the Capulet adults that failed both Juliet and Rosaline.

I did think that the first half lacked some pace, and I am not one for long chapters that this book does have. However, neither of these aspects bothered me enough to take away from a wonderful ending and a beautifully written novel. It's an interesting commentary on perspective, and really shows how it can warp who's side you are on just depending on how much of the story you are told.

A beautifully written take on the classic Romeo and Juliet, however in this book Rosaline is finally given her own voice. I really enjoyed reading this I loved the character of Rosaline, a strong female lead who wants to live her own life and not be condemned to the nunnery. This is truly a great feminist retelling which picks up on the problems in the original classic, mainly being how young Juliet truly is and how Romeo is actual a troubling character. I loved the modern spin on characters views and I think this is a must read.

Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons is a Romeo and Juliet feminist retelling.
The author writes such a significant take on the beloved classic. She gives Rosaline a powerful voice. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Rosaline Capulet, a maid spoken of but not seen in Romeo and Juliet. This is her story from before, during and after the star crossed lovers saga.

Like millions of others, as a curriculum necessity, I had Shakespeare thrust upon me. However, unlike many of my contemporaries I did enjoy the stories, and got to know them well. Well, with this offering put aside all you thought you knew about the story of Romeo and Juliet, and be prepared for a very different telling.

I loved that Rosaline, after initially succumbing to Romeo’s charms, became a feisty young woman. With time not on her side, her endeavours to release Juliet from the clutches of not one, but at least two predators were heroic.

Shakespeare repeated the age of Juliet, but no mention of Romeo’s, so I like to think that he thought the morals of the days were suspect, and there is no doubt in this telling that the issue of Juliet being a child was important to her peers, but simply seen as an asset to her morally deficient elders.

I think both should be read as independent stories, though as a companion novel to the original, Fair Rosaline is excellent.

Thank you NetGalley.