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A review by _kit_
Roman and Jewel by Dana L. Davis
2.0
I received a free ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
2.5/5
This novel shined brightest when it was focusing on the MC's love of Broadway, or drawing correlations between Romeo & Juliet/Roman & Jewel's fated relationship with Jerzie & Zeppelin's. The concept for the Roman & Jewel script and the glimpses into its plot that we see are beautiful and I really wish we got to see more, perhaps a little bit at the beginning of each chapter. The pieces where we see the parallels between the musical and Jerzie & Zep are the most beautiful prose in the book. Even as someone with only a passing knowledge of musicals, the love of theater in this story is infectious. The admiration and budding mentorship that Jerzie grows with the Lin Manuel Miranda-like writer Robert Christian Ruiz is really precious and I would have loved to have seen even more of that. Jerzie and Zep have a very cute relationship and it is enjoyable to read their conversations together where see them being playful or nerdy. However, the insta-love on this one is very hardcore which is never the most realistic trope. There are also some times where we see personality traits pop up in Zeppelin or Jerzie to be used as plot devices and then they get dropped without ever being fully utilized. For example, Zeppelin's over-protectiveness which in turn makes Jerzie stubborn and act out which caused one quarrel and then was never mentioned again. Cinny also had a bit of a hasty half-redemption arc. It was a quick book to breeze through and it was cute, I just feel like it had the potential to be so much more if the author had taken that leap and dove deeper.
2.5/5
This novel shined brightest when it was focusing on the MC's love of Broadway, or drawing correlations between Romeo & Juliet/Roman & Jewel's fated relationship with Jerzie & Zeppelin's. The concept for the Roman & Jewel script and the glimpses into its plot that we see are beautiful and I really wish we got to see more, perhaps a little bit at the beginning of each chapter. The pieces where we see the parallels between the musical and Jerzie & Zep are the most beautiful prose in the book. Even as someone with only a passing knowledge of musicals, the love of theater in this story is infectious. The admiration and budding mentorship that Jerzie grows with the Lin Manuel Miranda-like writer Robert Christian Ruiz is really precious and I would have loved to have seen even more of that. Jerzie and Zep have a very cute relationship and it is enjoyable to read their conversations together where see them being playful or nerdy. However, the insta-love on this one is very hardcore which is never the most realistic trope. There are also some times where we see personality traits pop up in Zeppelin or Jerzie to be used as plot devices and then they get dropped without ever being fully utilized. For example, Zeppelin's over-protectiveness which in turn makes Jerzie stubborn and act out which caused one quarrel and then was never mentioned again. Cinny also had a bit of a hasty half-redemption arc. It was a quick book to breeze through and it was cute, I just feel like it had the potential to be so much more if the author had taken that leap and dove deeper.