The Romeo & Juliet Society (Vol. 1): Curse of the Roses

Content

Even today, there is a curse on the members of the Capulet and Montague families. Every seventeen years, a pair of young lovers must die like Romeo and Juliet did or they will all be doomed. Sixteen-year-old Joy is travelling the world with her father, a theatre actor, and knows nothing about her heritage. However, when her father puts her on a plane to Verona with two perfect strangers, two boys with the odd names Rhyme and Cut, she learns that the old story of Romeo and Juliet is based on actual events – and that she herself is a Capulet and bound by a curse. For centuries, all descendants of the warring families have attended an academy whose only goal seems to be to produce a new pair of lovers from the two houses every seventeen years. However, whoever falls in love with the enemy is risking their life. Every month, a dazzling masked ball is held to ferret out potential lovers from the opposing houses who will then have to duel each other. Should they be unable to injure each other during the duel, they are considered true lovers and must ward off the curse for the next seventeen years by committing suicide together.
Joy is completely unprepared for life at the academy, in particular as she only seems to possess a smidgen of the Capulets’ supernatural abilities. Luckily, Rhyme immediately takes her under his wings and tries to prepare her for the upcoming duels as best he can. The good thing is: because they are from the same house, there is no reason why the two of them shouldn’t grow slowly closer. However, when Cut Montague starts to court Joy more and more openly as well, she draws increasing attention from the academy until she is finally selected for one of the duels. While she manages to get a victory over a Montague, her delight is short-lived. During the duel, Joy didn’t use the Capulets’, but the Montagues’ supernatural abilities. Has she been living in the wrong house all this time? Soon after, she learns that her mother was indeed not a Capulet, but a Montague – meaning that Joy’s and Rhyme’s love has suddenly become life-threatening.