Manic Monday: Anyone But You, Never

Title: Anyone But You
Authors: Kim Askew and Amy Helmes
Genre: YA
Release Date: January 2014
Publisher: Merit Press (Twisted Lit Series)

Original Take on a Classic!

 

Dear Readers, 

(As posted by Guest Authors, Kim Askew and Amy Helmes, for Fictionally Yours Siempre.)

 

One of the best things about writing our Twisted Lit series of Shakespeare-inspired YA novels is that we're constantly learning new things about the Bard.  We've read and seen productions of Romeo and Juliet countless times, but one aspect of the play always left us baffled: Why did the young lovers' families, the Montagues and Capulets, hate each other so much in the first place?

 

This simple question is one Shakespeare left unanswered, and its the inspiration behind our latest novel, Anyone But You, a modern spin on this bittersweet saga told from the perspective of two different generations. Only by resolving the mystery behind their ancestors’ falling-out can Gigi and Roman hope to avert their own tragic ending.

 

Though we’ll never truly know why Romeo and Juliet’s families were sworn enemies, it’s possible to conjecture about what prompted Shakespeare to write about them. Around the time the Bard penned the play, his wealthy patron (The Earl of Southampton) was tied to a real-life family feud involving the Danvers and the Longs, who were his friends and neighbors. The families had been at odds for years, but things reached a tipping point after several court battles ended in a public brawl during which two sons of the Danvers family killed their enemies’ son, Henry Long. Despite issues for their arrest, the Earl of Southampton helped the brothers escape to France.

Shakespeare undoubtedly knew of these events when he wrote Romeo and Juliet shortly thereafter. Although his plot is based on other writers’ prior works, including English poet Arthur Brooke (see — even Shakespeare was a fan of retellings!) — many critics suspect that it was the Danvers/Long controversy that first gave him the idea to write about two families with an “ancient grudge.”
 

We hope you’ll check out Anyone But You to discover our own interpretation of this timeless tale.

P.S. This past April marked the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare!  Just simply amazing how his works have remained relevant to each new generation that discovers them!

Fictionally Yours Siempre,

Kim & Amy

(Guest Authors)

 

Synopsis from Merit Press:

After her family’s struggling Italian eatery (Cap's ) falls prey to another of the Monte clan’s vicious and destructive pranks, sixteen-year-old Gigi Caputo finds herself courting danger during a clandestine encounter with Roman Monte, the very boy whose relatives have brought her family such grief. When the daughter and son of these two warring factions fall for each other, their quest to mend this bitter family feud turns out to be a recipe for disaster.

Their story is irrevocably linked to the summer of 1933, when two twelve-year-olds, Benny and Nick, hop the turnstile at the Chicago World’s Fair. While enjoying some of the fair’s legendary amusements, Nick has a “love at first sight” encounter with Stella, a young girl who unintentionally causes a lasting rift between the two boyhood pals.

Deftly winding its way through past and present day, this modern take on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet has much to do with hate — but more with love.
 

Another Twisted Lit Book You Must Check Out! 

 

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