Julie and Romeo: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A delightful read.
Review: The families of the Cappiacani's and the Roth's have been feuding in a Montague/Capulet sort of way for years and no one really knows how it all began. When Romeo Cappiacani and Julie Roseman Roth, both owners of local floral shops, meet at a small business seminar, the sparks fly between them and so starts a tale of forbidden love that will leave you rolling in the aisles! The two main characters are in their 60's and neither one can fathom why their families are always at each other. When Julie's daughters find out that she is consorting with the enemy, one is understanding as she has been in that same boat, and the other goes on the attack! Much the same for Romeo's family...his sons play the part of hulking thugs well, and the Italian matriarch grandmother has her own very personal reasons for pouring salt into the earth under Julie's rose bushes. Only at the end, during Grandma's birthday party, do we finally learn the real reason why the two families have hated each other for so long. This is a charming, humorous twist on the Romeo and Juliet story...compulsively readable and a satisfying tale.

Rating:
Summary: An old tale re-told
Review: JULIE AND ROMEO by Jeanne Ray

Two sixty-somethings, Romeo Cacciamani and Julie Roseman Roth, whose families have been feuding like the Montagues and Capulets for three generations, meet at a small business seminar in Boston. Both had been raised to hate the other's family, and Julie's first thought upon meeting Romeo was -"This handsome, perfectly nice gentleman is an evil Cacciamani?" Romeo, a widower with six children and a struggling florist shop, suggests dinner. Even though she is uneasy, Julie, a divorcee trying to keep her own florist business afloat, accepts.

Both Julie and Romeo have grown children, totally immersed in this family feud and dedicated to seeing that the growing relationship between their respective parents ends. Sparks really fly when Julie's ex-husband and Romeo's 90-year old mother start meddling, along with other family members.

Delighted by this chance for happiness, Julie and Romeo try to neutralize the opposition within their families, not an easy task. Their relationship just adds to the already fiery family vendetta.

Ms. Ray portrays her characters with understanding, poignancy, and humor, showing that love and passion are not exclusively for the young . Ray's work is full of sharp understated wisdom.

The novel gets funnier with each chapter and each situation that occurs. The scene in the CVS store where the couple has their awkward first "date" so as not to arouse suspicion, is hilarious, as is the scene in the cold-storage locker at Romeo's store. You will also be laughing out loud at some of the things the families do to each other, trying to "get even".

"Julie and Romeo" was a delightful reading experience, and is sure to bring pleasure to every reader.

This is a first novel by Jeanne Ray, who, by profession, is a nurse and is also the mother of the novelist Ann Patchett, bestselling author of "The Magician's Assistant" and "Patron Saint of Liars". I predict that we will be seeing more books by Ms. Ray in the future and I look forward to reading them.

Rating:
Summary: A fun read!
Review: Two middle-aged people who have been bitter enemies since childhood find love ~~ sounds tediously boring, doesn't it? NOPE! It is very delightful and you find yourself rooting for Julie and Romeo throughout the whole book. Where love is concerned, no one should be enemies!

Both are florists who own small flower shops. Julie has grown up with the memory of her father cursing Romeo's father so she embibed the hatred as well. Romeo is an only child who end up having seven children who play menancing roles in the book. One day, they were both attending a small-business seminar ~~ Julie's working to keep her shop open after her ex-husband walked out with a bridesmaid who had never been a bride ~~ and Romeo was there to get ideas to keep his business open and they run into each other and sparks began to fly ~~ only this time, it's the sparks from Cupid's arrows hitting his targets.

Naturally, their children and his mom become dismayed and gets involved ~~ what ensues is a hilarious book between two families. Somewhat loosely based on the traditional Shakespearan play, "Romeo and Juliet" ~~ this book is just as delightful and it's not a tragedy!

It's a fun book ~~ a quick read! Great for the flower lover in your family or just for the romantic at heart!

2-13-04

Rating:
Summary: Romeo and Juliet as gray panthers!
Review: Just when you thought Romeo and Juliet couldn't be told in any other manner, along comes first time author Jeanne Ray with her book Julie and Romeo. And if I had only one word to describe this book, it would be DELIGHTFUL. I cannot recommend this book enough and think its perfect for ones summer vacation or at any other time as well. I also imagine that Jeanne Ray has a real bright future ahead of her as an author.

When and how do family feuds begin? Thats exactly what Julie Roseman Roth and Romeo Cacciamani would like to know when they meet at a business seminar. For almost all of their 60 odd years, through marraige and children, all these two can remember is their families feuding in the manner of the Montagues and Capulets although nobody knows the origins of the feud. But this isn't Verona in the 17th century and we're not reading about two teenagers. Instead the story takes place in Boston in the 90's where these two adults continue to run their small florist shops. And as if the budding relationship between the two isn't already complicated, both now have to contend with their children who would just as soon continue the rivaly.

The book unfolds as a most delightful read as these two older people find love in all the wrong places and we move along with them laughing and sighing as their tale reaches its conclusion.

A fun and poignant read you won't forget too quickly. And next time you hear Romeo and Juliet, you'll be thinking Julie and Romeo.

Rating:
Summary: A romance starring 60 year olds full of zest and passion
Review: The title of this one led me to expect a contemporary update of the Romeo and Juliet story. But I was surprised to find that Julie Roseman and Romeo Cacciamani, the Romeo and "Juliet" of this book weren't teenagers but sixty-ish business owners. Both run rival florist shops in town, and have been predisposed to dislike each other- if for no other reason than the fact that Rosemans and Cacciamanis have always disliked each other (in other words, tradition). And then, one day while she is attending a business seminar, Julie runs into Romeo and, in the author's words:..."there he was, a nice-looking Italian guy sitting right at sixty. He was wearing pressed khaki pants and a white polo shirt with a sprig of chest hair flourishing at the throat. No gold chains. I was so surprised by my utter lack of hostility that I wanted to laugh".... If that excerpt doesn't spark your interest, let me add that this one also has romance (what else would you expect with that title?),a wonderful story, and great writing laced with humor. It moves quickly, with just enough depth and substance to satisfy and just enough suspense to keep you intrigued. I was absolutely charmed by this one and can't wait to read more from the wonderful Jeanne Ray. For many days after I finished the book, I felt as those Romeo and Julie were still (very welcome) houseguests.

Rating:
Summary: A Lovely Read
Review: If you like romance then this is the book for you. If you like your heroes to be in the early part of their lives with bodies like Greek Gods then stay away.
This is a sensitive and some times funny look at two sixty-year-old people falling in love.
Julie and Romeo each own a floundering florist business and due to divorce and death are now single.
All the odds are against their romance from the start. For as long as they can remember their families have hated each other; none of them knowing the reason why.
Not wishing to upset their children they court each other in secret. The results of which are tender and cheerful.
This book was an enjoyable read and one that is absolutely believable.

Rating:
Summary: Passion amidst the potted chrysanthemums
Review: There's a flower vendetta in Somerville. For years, the Rosemans and Cacciamanis have each owned a single florist shop in this Boston burb. The intensity of the rivalry and loathing between the two families would bring nods of empathy from warring drug kingpins. Then, Julie Roseman, divorced, meets Romeo Cacciamani, widowed, at a seminar for the owners of failing small businesses, and love blossoms like orchids in a hothouse. My, my. How will the children of each, raised on a steady diet of hatred for the other camp, react?

JULIE AND ROMEO is nurse Jeanne Ray's first novel. The plot is uncomplicated and the ending fairly predictable, perhaps even too pat, so it's not a heavyweight in the genre. But, it is charming, humorous, cute and even a bit clever. As an author's first offering, it's more than commendable - and Jeanne, if she sticks with writing, can only improve.

There are two features of this book which made it notable for me. First, Julie and Romeo are both aged sixty. It's refreshing to read a storyline wherein amour and heavy breathing aren't limited to the under-30 set. (Bravo, Ms. Ray, for reminding us of that. There was a reason my own 70 y.o. widowed grandfather ran off with our 60 y.o. widowed housekeeper!) Second, the volume is a quick read. For someone like myself with too many books and too little time, that's a big plus!

Rating:
Summary: What a charmer!
Review: According to Census Bureau data, there are 76 million "Baby Boomers." So what a nice change it is for all of us of that generation to read a romance in which the young lovers are in their sixties!

JULIE & ROMEO is a clear take-off on that other Romeo and Juliet, but not to matter. Author Jeanne Ray has done a wonderful--and believable--job by making her lovers into members of the two families which own a small town's rival florist shops.

Ray's descriptions of the florist's life are, once again, believable. There are points when she is detailing what it feels like to be a florist, to love the flowers, their scents, their colors, the spill of the soil, at which her writing is lyrical.

Though the novel is a love-story, it never becomes predictable, and that's quite a trick. Author Ray's subplots are compelling; her incidental characters are well-developed and interesting.

Altogether, JULIE & ROMEO is a touching book, and a fun one. In other words, it's a charmer!

Rating:
Summary: sweet love story amid families long standing feud
Review: Julie and Romeo's families have been hating, truly hating, each other for years. Julie is divorced and Romeo is a widower. The two meet at a conference and there begins destiny calling.

Short and sweet story with bickering families thrown in for good measure. Julie and Romeo run seperate floral shops. Humor abounds in this nice story of charm.

Rating:
Summary: CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!
Review: The book I read was called Julie and Romeo by Jeanne Ray. This book was fictional, a full-fledged love story and betrayal. This book is very much like Romeo and Juliet yet it has it differences, It deals with older people. The families are still rivalries but their kids are all grown up and Julie and Romeo have kids of there own and are divorced or widowed. In the beginning their kids were in love, even engaged but they split on there owns because of the problems that they caused between the families and they knew it just wouldn't work.
It all starts with Julie Roseman thinking about her past remembering how much her father hated the Caccimani family and how this was a name that wasn't brought up in her household. Her family had a flower shop and was always in competition with the Caccimani family. Years pass and she is now in her late forties she is at a class on how to make your small business big. She happens to run into Romeo Caccimani the son of the Caccimani family. She thinks nothing of it, besides he grew up to be quite handsome. They both know that the families hate each other, or did. They decided to go out and have coffee and they hit it off really well. Their children are the ones that disagree with there relationship. The whole time they knew about the family problems but their love worked it out in the end. Through the story she goes through many problems with family, love, and work.
I agree with the authors opinion because I think she is trying to state how people should follow there hearts and never give up even if there are many problems if love is there don't loose it.
The book is intended to be like Romeo and Juliet yet it is the opposite, the family problems and the strong love they have is very equal to Romeo and Juliet's love life.
The book affected me by helping me with my own love problem it made me not give up and keep holding on even though we have are differences and problems but every good relationship does.
This book was great and it perfect for any one who loves a good love story. It teaches morals and strength how to cope with love and family. This book really changed me and I won't forget the lesson I learned from it.