(I admit to stealing this review off of Amazon.com. I apologize for that, but for some reason I am not able to put into my own words my thoughts on this book other than I thought it was an incredibly fun read)
This is a very well thought out and well written debut effort by Ms. Fortier, in which she mixes Shakespear's Tragedy with a popular romance novel and a dash of the Da Vinci Code.
The story follows American Julie Jacobs on a quest to Siena, Italy to retrace her Ancestry. She soon discovers that she is a direct descendant of Giulietta Tomei, the inspiration for Shakespear's Juliet. She also finds the descendants of the two feuding families from the tale of "Romeo and Juliet" are still living in Siena and still feuding. Julie is helped in her attempt to uncover the past a contessa and the contessa's handsome nephew (love interest). There is also an assorted quirky cast of Italian police, mobsters, and locals.
Julie's search involves old paintings, a journal, old relics, and antique texts. A good part of the fun of this book is unraveling the mystery, but the the heart breaking love story is also well represented. If had to find fault with the book is it does not know quite what it wants to be, historical fiction or romance novel, but then again that was part of the fun!
