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|summary=A reworking of Romeo and Juliet, told from the perspective of Romeo's original love, Rosaline. Searle Serle doesn't really make more than very superficial use of the play - Shakespeare's Rosaline doesn't think much of Romeo, but this novel reverses that - and her characters are shallow and self-absorbed, leaving us with a fairly flimsy teen romance. However, the novel picks up and gains some maturing emotions towards the end, so it's not all bad.

Searle Serle doesn't make any more than a very superficial use of the play - Rob and Juliet fall in love but their relationship is doomed from the get-go. That's it, really. Even the very basic idea of Rosaline that Shakespeare gives us - she rejects Romeo, not the other way around - isn't taken up. Juliet spends most of the book as a cardboard cut-out of an evil bitch who's only good for slut-shaming (and slut-shaming ''really'' sets my teeth on edge). There isn't any real discussion of the main themes of the play beyond young love (and perhaps a bit of chance). And I didn't like the main characters - Rosaline and her friends are vapid, boy-and-fashion-obsessed, and Searle Serle spends endless pages describing their success at manipulating the high school pecking order. Best friend Charlie's main virtue is presented as her sharp-elbowed ability to get herself to the front of the popularity school. Sigh.

Having been so critical, I should say that the book picks up enormously towards the end - actually, when the focus shifts away from Shakespeare and when SearleSerle's Rose starts to take some steps towards a real relationship and not the girlish fantasy love affair she had with Rob. There are some lovely and truly intense scenes here and a real sense that Rose is beginning to understand what fantastic potential her coming-of-age will bring. If only the whole book had been like this, I would have loved it, Shakespeare or no Shakespeare.

For some intensely romantic books about ill-fated first loves, you could look at [[Dangerous to Know by Katy Moran]] and [[Lucas by Kevin Brooks]]. Or if you want to see what a YA author can achieve when riffing on Shakespeare, try [[Exposure by Mal Peet]], an updating of Othello.