Review: OMG Shakespeare! srsly Hamlet by Courtney Carbone and YOLO Juliet by Brett Wright

Synopsis: 

Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, two of the greatest love stories ever told . . . in texts?!

Imagine: What if those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet had smartphones? Or Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, and the tragic Ophelia. Classics is reborn in this fun and funny adaptation of two of Shakespeare’s most famous plays!

 
 Two families at war.
A boy and a girl in love.
A secret marriage gone oh-so-wrong.




 



A kingdom on the brink of war.
A stolen throne.
A boy seeking revenge.













Loved Srsly Hamlet and YOLO Juliet.
I’m a Shakespeare fan myself, having gotten acquainted with his work early in life when I took some English Literature classes while in high school.
I was immediately intrigued when I was approached about reviewing these two titles. It looked like fun the second I read the format in which they are told.

Once they arrived in the mail I had to show everyone I could because they not only look great but they are hilarious.





Even if you are not familiar with The Bard’s work, there is no way you would get lost in these convos, well unless you don’t own a smart phone or have been living under a rock.
The books are divided in scenes, and they provide you with an emoji key to each character as well as an abbreviation and emoji glossary in the back, in case things like “tl;dr” don’t immediately make sense to you.

I consider myself well versed in acronyms and emoji texting but I got to confess I was stomped by some of them and I had no choice but to refer to the glossary or ask my 16 year old for that meaning.
Not only do the characters text each other in means of telling the story, but they write their thoughts down on their phone notepad, and check into places. I think the changes in relationship status were my favorite. 


One of the times I asked my son, it sparked his curiosity and asked me to borrow both books, as he was laughing with me just by reading a text here and there whenever I needed clarification.
 These books are a super clever idea, if you are not a Shakespeare fan these books may just peek your curiosity and have you read that first Shakespeare book. If you are already a fan I have no doubt it will have you LoLing throughout.
Or even if you want to introduce your children to the world of Shakespeare this is a fun way to start, further down the road when they pick up the real deal I think they will remember the funny quotes from these two.

Overall I very much enjoyed them and I would highly recommend!

Thanks to Random House for the review copies! 
You can order srlsy Hamlet here and YOLO Juliet here.
Keep an eye out for the next two titles coming Winter 2016


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