Rating: 
Summary: What can you say about a perfect book?
Review: This book was recommended to my by the manager of a large book chain that I met in a dressing room in N.M. in Hawaii....figuring she knew what she was talking about I ran out and bought it. I was on vacation in and thought it might make good reading on the airplane back....Its the first time I have ever thought a flight was to short....what a wonderful, wonderful book:-) I wanted this book to last forever. Cant wait for the next installment. Beverly Jean Kawabe in Fukuoka, Japan
Rating: 
Summary: A Pleasant Read
Review: Julie and Romeo is a charming story of how love blossoms despite interfering relatives. I enjoyed it and found it relaxing, as if I had just strolled through a lovely garden. If you're looking for a pleasant way to spend the day you'd be wise to read Julie and Romeo and inhale it's heady fragrance.
Rating:
Summary: Great Reading
Review: I happened to be on a business trip when the man sitting next to me gave me his New York Times and as I was reading it I saw the ad for this book. When I got to my destination I happened by a book store and decided to get the book. What a wonderful treat for me. I started reading the book and could not put it down. I laughed so much. It was wonderful reading about Romero and Julie. The best thing was that they were older, more mature people and they found love. This just goes to show that you are never too old for love. The grandmother was so funny. But by far the funniest scenes were when Romero and Julie were caught naked in the flower shop by Raymond and when Romero and Mort got in a fight. I loved the fact that Tony and Sandy were able to find each other after 15 years.Treat yourself to a wonderful book about finding love when and where you least expect it. This was pure enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful and quick read.....
Review: Did you ever wonder what would have happened if Romeo and Juliette had been able to work it out? Although not many 15-year olds who've known each other for three days have had successful relationships, let alone marriages, what if Romeo and Juiette were older--a lot older. This is love story about an older Julie(tte) and Romeo, rival florist-shop owners whose parents were Hatfields and McCoys, Guelphs and Ghibbilines--feuding parties named Roseman and Cacciamania. From poisoning rose bushes and snapping the heads off unoffending daffodils, to placing dead fish or buckets of fleas on enemy premises in the dead of night, these warring parties have done it all. One day, Julie Roseman and Romeo Cacciamania meet at a business conference. Sparks fly, one thing leads to another and before you can say "here's pansies that's for thoughts" they are discovered naked in the Cacciamania florist shop in the middle of the night by Romeo's son. All hell breaks loose as the rest of the family members discover what these two love birds have been up to. Will the lovers overcome the divisions and distractions that have occupied their clans for generations. Will they be able to fend off outraged children and ex-spouses? Will their chance of happiness be ruined by a 90-year old rose assassain called Mama? To find out, take this book on your next flight, or to the beach. I read it in 6 hours, and found it absolutely delightful--rather like a Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie when both of them are 60 years old. There are chick flicks, and this is probably a chick book. Since I am near the age of the protagonists I could identify. I don't know if younger folks would enjoy it or not. It really depends on whether you think old folks can still "do it".
Rating:
Summary: An endearing, romantic read!
Review: I simply adored Jeanne Ray's first book. The dialogue was fresh, the main characters very appealing. Mr. Shakespeare would be very proud of Ms. Ray's retelling of his story. Well done. I highly recommend Julia and Romeo.
Rating:
Summary: Flirty and Charming
Review: This book attracted me for a very simple and not very intelligent reason. I liked the cover. I thought it was pretty. I know, not a very thoughtful way to pick out a book but, once I started this sweet tale I was enchanted. I found it to be very likeable and very sexy. It's a wonderful tale of love, the problems that always seem to come up with that and the endearing belief that it will conquer all. The cast of characters add a wonderful sense of adventure, humor and sometimes frustration. But, I completely enjoyed this book. It was a fast and fun read!
Rating:
Summary: new twist on an old story
Review: What a wonderful story! Two sixty-something people, Romeo, a widower, and Julie, a divorcee, whose families have been feuding a la the Montagues and Capulets for three generations, meet and fall in love. Each runs a family-owned flower shop and each comes equipped with the baggage of grown children totally immersed in the hatred caused by the feud and dedicated to seeing that the growing relationship between their respective parents ends. Add in Julie's meddling ex-husband and Romeo's ninety year old mother and the sparks really begin to fly. Ms. Ray portrays her characters with understanding, pathos and humor. She shows that love and passion are not the exlusive province of the young and that the young are just as prone as their elders to holding on to blind prejudice.
Rating: 
Summary: I laughed out loud so often I knew we had to publish it
Review: Last spring, I took home the manuscript for Julie and Romeo, pulled it out on the subway, and made an idiot of myself, laughing out loud and smiling continuously all the way back to Brooklyn. No novel that I can remember has ever made me feel so good about life and love and possibility. I came in the next day and told the editor who gave it to me that we absolutely had to do what it took to make the deal. I hope everyone who reads it enjoys it as thoroughly as all of us at Harmony.
Rating:
Summary: Warm, wise, and entertaining
Review: While the title, and basic theme might sound trite and tired, this is truly a wonderful reflection on human relationships. Ray's work is full of keen insight insights and wisdom and profound in an understated, matter of a fact way. The major protagonist, Julie, is reminiscent of those rare, wise, older people we occasionally have the good fortune to encounter who have grown patient and tolerant through life times of experience. After her husband leaves her for a trophy bride she finds herself a single struggling small town florist, who has also become caretaker for a daughter, whose marriage also failed, and two grandchildren. Rather than wallowing in self pity, she is pragmatic and focuses on day to day essentials -- work and family, and has come to accentuate the positive, having come to recognize that prejudice and anger are self indulgences which thwart happiness and success. She is caught by surprise by the opportunity for a personal happiness and satisfaction she had forgotten could exist, in the form of her family's personal, and professional nemesis, her town's rival florist. Ray effectively and humorously depicts the dogmatism and impetuousness of the young who unblinkingly embrace the prejudices of their families. She also eloquently focuses on what is truly important in life: family and friends, and the essential characteristics for happiness -- tolerance, generosity, humor, and forgiveness. This is one of the most refreshing books I've read in years. Not only did I finish it in one "sitting", I don't think I even blinked. It is such a touching, yet entertaining book, that I look forward to giving copies to friends with the hope it will make them smile as it made me.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful, funny, fresh and charming
Review: Jeanne Ray gives us a delightful reworking of the Capulet-Montague feud in "Julie and Romeo" - with, thankfully, a much happier ending! Main characters Julie Roseman and Romeo Cacciamani own rival florists' shops in Boston, and have been carrying on their families' long-standing and bitter feud. They meet at a conference for small business owners, and, you guessed it, something magical happens... but their families are not so easily persuaded to give up the feud (even though no one knows exactly how it all started). The strengths of this book are many: (1) the characters are a little offbeat and incredibly real (I especailly loved Mrs. Cacciamani, who is exactly like the dowager Italian women I have known, and whose antics made me laugh out loud. I could absolutely see my Italian friend Carmela's mother or grandmother doing the same things!); (2) the lovers are also atypical - instead of beautiful people in their 20s or 30s obsessed with career or getting married, they are older, experienced, a little more sober, so that their falling in love is unexpected and sweet; (3) the book is unabashedly romantic in the best sense of the term; (4) there is enough sex and irony and humor to keep things from getting sappy or maudlin -- and to make you laugh out loud (I giggled uncontrollably at the party scene at the end); (5) I enjoyed the way Ms. Ray took the familiar Romeo and Juliet setup and tweaked it in an original way; (6) the author has a fresh and refreshing voice. And, on a more superficial note, I loved the close-up photos of flowers that opened each chapter. As heartening as the first crocus of spring, as passionate as a red rose, as charming and bright as a daffodil, as lush and romantic as a peony... what's not to like about "Julie and Romeo"?
| 
