A review by albon
When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle
2.0
2017 review:
When You Were Mine isn't a terrible book. But it's also not good. Imagine a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in high school, told from the POV of Rosaline, the girl Romeo was in love with in the beginning. (I think. I haven't actually read the original play). That's what you're getting in this book.
But it doesn't add anything to the original story. And I feel like a retelling should do that.
It's the most stereotypical writing of an american high school I think I've ever read. We have the popular kids and the losers. The girls call each other sluts. Rob (our Romeo), is never held responsible for his actions. Juliet is the evil one who takes him away from Rosaline. And sure, you feel sorry for Rosaline because that sucks, but Rob and Rosaline's relationship was never really developed enough for you to feel like Rosaline missed out on a great love. And we don't really know what went on with Juliet and Rob either, not really.
[For some reason I never expected Juliet and Rob to both die at the end. Obviously that's how the orginal story goes, but this is a modern high school retelling and I wouldn't even have blinked if the Rebecca Serle had changed their ending. So that caught me by surprise, and I really liked the last 20% more than the rest of the book. (hide spoiler)]
At the end of the day I'm really happy I read this, but only because it's been on my shelf for years. It was probably one of the first books I bought when I started buying books online. That should give you a hint to how long I've owned this book.
Everything was just too basic and superficial. Shakespeare deserves better than this, and so do you.
When You Were Mine isn't a terrible book. But it's also not good. Imagine a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in high school, told from the POV of Rosaline, the girl Romeo was in love with in the beginning. (I think. I haven't actually read the original play). That's what you're getting in this book.
But it doesn't add anything to the original story. And I feel like a retelling should do that.
It's the most stereotypical writing of an american high school I think I've ever read. We have the popular kids and the losers. The girls call each other sluts. Rob (our Romeo), is never held responsible for his actions. Juliet is the evil one who takes him away from Rosaline. And sure, you feel sorry for Rosaline because that sucks, but Rob and Rosaline's relationship was never really developed enough for you to feel like Rosaline missed out on a great love. And we don't really know what went on with Juliet and Rob either, not really.
[For some reason I never expected Juliet and Rob to both die at the end. Obviously that's how the orginal story goes, but this is a modern high school retelling and I wouldn't even have blinked if the Rebecca Serle had changed their ending. So that caught me by surprise, and I really liked the last 20% more than the rest of the book. (hide spoiler)]
At the end of the day I'm really happy I read this, but only because it's been on my shelf for years. It was probably one of the first books I bought when I started buying books online. That should give you a hint to how long I've owned this book.
Everything was just too basic and superficial. Shakespeare deserves better than this, and so do you.