Written by director and screenwriter Emily Dell, Verona is a story of violence, passion, and young love. Set in modern-day Verona, the Montoyas and Capulets are warring assassin clans, serving contracts for Henrys, Hamlets, and MacBeths. When Jo Capulet and Roman Montoya are thrown together after a mission gone wrong, they see in each other a chance for a new life, even if it means destroying everyone in their path.
VERONA is a modern-day, diverse retelling of Romeo & Juliet. Juliet Onishi Capulet is from a powerful family that produces munitions and assassinates people. Roman Montoya is from a more obviously criminal family of drug dealers and assassins. (One thread running throughout the book is the idea that sometimes the legal business owners are actually far shadier.) Anyway, both of them are assassins and they're pitted against each other so... of course they fall in love.
The book is 168 pages, which is enough to lay a great foundation for the story, but I would have loved more character development and a slower build for the central romance. That said, the original was pretty much insta-love, so this is a definite improvement!
This book is a lot of fun, with something for everyone. Explosions! Romance! Bad guys getting what they deserve! Best of all, Roman and Juliet don't die. There's enough here to give you that R&J feel, (Tybalt and other family members, poison/drugs, an apothecary-type person, etc.) but it feels fresh and original. The supporting cast alone makes this worth a read.
VERONA, which I read a while ago as a Fresh Romance Vol. 2 backer, is out on ComiXology today so, to celebrate, here is my review/rave about this modern take on Romeo & Juliet. Spoilers: assassins, explosions, and they don't die!
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