Julie and Romeo

Jeanne Ray has a cure for what ails you. It is her delightful novel, "Julie and Romeo," and it is both hilarious and poignant. Romeo Cacciamani and Julie Roseman are rival florists in Boston. Their families have despised one another for years, although no one knows exactly how the feud started. Years ago, Sandy, daughter of Julie, and Tony, son of Romeo, fell in love. The feuding families forcibly separated the young lovers, who went their separate ways. The feud seemed to be on hold until one day, the divorced Julie and the widowed Romeo, now both grandparents around sixty years of age, meet at a small business seminar. Romeo and Julie are instantly attracted to one another, and their friendship blossoms (pun intended).In one hilarious vignette after another, Julie and Romeo clandestinely try to carry on their affair without their families' interference. However, if you have read the Shakespearean play with a similar name, you know how hard that can be.Jeanne Ray gives credence to the idea that people in their sixties can still experience desire for the opposite sex (what a radical notion!) and she shows how mindless prejudice can poison relationships. Her scenes of family mayhem are priceless. With Julie's overprotective daughters on one side and Romeo's thuggish sons and formidable mother on the other, can these star-crossed lovers ever find happiness? At a time when cleverly written light romances are few and far between, "Julie and Romeo" stands out as a small gem.

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"?

I started reading this book on a flight from Newark to Las Vegas and did not want the plane to land before I finished. (For once I was grateful for the long taxiing to the gate.) When I arrived at my final destination in California, I read it again. What a delightful novel! I liked Jeanne Ray's writing style and her art of minimally describing the sex scenes, and leaving much to our imagination. I'm buying this book for my widowed aunt's 60th birthday. Hope Ms. Ray is working on another novel! For those of you who loved this book, please read E. L. Swann's "Night Gardening."

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.

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.