The Juliet Club (no image currently) 

By Suzanne Harper 

When three American win a contest to journey to Italy for the summer, they are thrilled.  All of their entries in a Shakespeare contest won them this fantastic opportunity to go to Verona—the very place Romeo and Juliet is set!  Upon their arrival, they meet the other winners, and begin the trip with a bang.  Kate Sanderson, who has had a hard love life, decides that under no circumstances will she fall in love.  Lucy Atwell, the Southern belle, wants the opposite.  With three boys and three girls, the matchmaking probabilities are endless.  Because all of the students taking the seminar are to become members of the Juliet Club, they might just discover the true meaning of love and what’s it’s worth… this is a tale of eaves-dropping, romantic misadventures, and, most importantly, Shakespeare.   

I was very excited to read this book by Suzanne Harper… she wrote The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney, which I enjoyed very much.  This book did not disappoint me—I enjoyed it as much as I did The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney.  The Shakespeare aspect is what really made the book unique.  The only thing is that, like most contemporary novels, the characters seemed to be superficial at times.  The plot was sometimes predictable, but at others it took me off guard.  I enjoyed this book as a nice beach read… one to be devoured in one sitting.  Suzanne Harper did her best to capture the lovely Verona, Italy, and she championed. 

Book release: June 2008  

Scale (1-10): 7