When You Were Mine Review

When You Were Mine
by Rebecca Serle
Expected Publication: 05.01.12
From Goodreads:

In this intensely romantic, modern recounting of the greatest love story ever told, Romeo’s original intended—Juliet’s cousin Rosaline—tells her side of the tale. What’s in a name, Shakespeare? I’ll tell you: Everything.     Rosaline knows that she and Rob are destined to be together. Rose has been waiting for years for Rob to kiss her—and when he finally does, it’s perfect. But then Juliet moves back to town. Juliet, who used to be Rose’s best friend. Juliet, who now inexplicably hates her. Juliet, who is gorgeous, vindictive, and a little bit crazy...and who has set her sights on Rob. He doesn’t even stand a chance.     Rose is devastated over losing Rob to Juliet. This is not how the story was supposed to go. And when rumors start swirling about Juliet’s instability, her neediness, and her threats of suicide, Rose starts to fear not only for Rob’s heart, but also for his life. Because Shakespeare may have gotten the story wrong, but we all still know how it ends….

My Thoughts: This book had me a little torn.  There are parts of it that I really liked, and parts that I didn't care for.  But because it was based on Romeo and Juliet I was both equal parts excited by the idea and horrified it would be epic fail, which thankfully it wasn't.

I'll begin with what I did like-

The main character is supposed to be Rosaline, Romeo's first love from Shakespeare's immortal play.  And although there were parallels to the play, it wasn't a re-telling. 

Rose (Rosaline) was easy to like.  She just felt real, like she'd be someone I'd know and like.  Her relationships with her friends and potential love interests was very real and I thought she handled her heartbreak like an adult.

Len!  He's just the voice of reason, and his relationship with Rose is the stuff YA couples are made of.  I don't know if he was meant to remind me of Mercutio, but he totally did.  And that's a good thing, because Mercutio is my favorite character from Romeo and Juliet.  Luckily, Len's fate is much nicer than Mercutio's , and his character has some nice quirks that make him attractive but not perfect.

What I didn't like so much:

Juliet of the play doesn't have much in common with Rose's cousin Juliet in the book- other than the whole impulsive teenager aspect.  In the play Juliet and Romeo fall in love, and it's not a vindictive move against Rosaline.  But Rose's cousin is portrayed as being fairly unlikeable.  She purposely goes after Rob to hurt Rose, although it seems that she does love him.

While I thought Rose was very realistic about Juliet and Rob's new romance, her friends  were very catty and insulting.  Obviously Juliet must be a slut if Rob fell in love with her so soon after declaring his interest in Rose.  Although, to be fair, boys get stupid when it comes to beautiful girls.  I guess it's some of the same behavior me and my girlfriends displayed in high school towards love rivals, but it just comes across as crass and immature.

And that brings me to Rose's friends.  For the most part they were very two dimensional- Olivia is blond and ditsy, but with a heart of gold!  And even though she's a virgin in the beginning, she's very boy crazy.  Charlie, Rose's bff, is a mean girl.  Yes her mom died, and that gives her some depth, but mostly she's just mean.  The two girls are very into being popular.  A lot of what they said and did had me rolling my eyes.  It was nice though, how they supported Rose.

The most frustrating thing was how much her friends were pushing Rose to get Rob back from Juliet.  Exsqueeze me?  Get back the boy who suddenly ignores you, the boy who was your best friend and finally just kissed you but didn't have "the talk", the boy who danced all sexy with you and then hooks up with your cousin in the few minutes you take to freshen up in the bathroom? Really? Because Rob became a tool.  And yes, Romeo's kind of a tool too, in the play, but at least when he falls head over heels in love with Juliet, Rosaline wasn't his life long best friend and crush. She was just some girl he had a crush on who was giving him the cold shoulder.   

Sooo... I liked this book.  I didn't really, really like it or love it, but I don't regret reading it.  It wasn't quite what I expected.  Some of the characters are pretty shallow, but Rose and Len made up for that for me.  And even though Rob ditched her, I liked the flashbacks of his friendship with Rose.  It makes it a bit easier to see why Rose doesn't just claw Juliet's eyes out, and trust me, the book could have gone there.  And there is a sadness that comes from reading this book, as should be expected when reading a book based on the tragic love of Juliet and her Romeo. 

I wish it had focused a little more on Rob and Juliet's relationship, especially some of the rumors going around about Juliet.  It's hard to believe, in the times that we live in, that someone wouldn't have just made her go see the guidance counselor.   Still, the drama that comes out at the end was pretty interesting, and explains why the Caplets and Montag's aren't such good friends anymore.

When You Were Mine gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through Around the World ARC Tours in exchange for my honest opinion.