ARC Review: Anyone But You by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes!

Title: Anyone But You (Twisted Lit #3)
Author(s): Kim Askew, Amy Helmes
Publication:January 18th 2014 by Merit Press
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Provided by the kind publisher...

The Montes love Italian food. And they hate the Caputos, That's how it is. It's been that way for sixty years. Every time the Caputos start to get a reputation for great pizza (and who knows? It could be better than the Montes!) there's "an accident" and Cap's is knocked back on its knees. What nobody knows is that the family teenagers are sick of their parents acting like schoolyard bullies, when nobody even remembers why the fight started! Gigi Caputo and Roman Monte, the son and daughter, are secretly in love. Determined to put a stop to their parents' vicious feud, they risk their parents' livelihood and their own lives. In this nod to Romeo and Juliet, will love win? Or vendetta?

-- My Rating --

4/5 Oscars: Really liked it

-- My Thoughts --

My reviews of the Twisted Lit series!
     I read the first and second books in this series, which were based on The Tempest and Macbeth, so I was super excited to be able to read the third book by these amazing authors! They always make the Shakespearean plays much more fun!
     Caputos hate the Montes. Nobody really knows where this hate started but they know that it will continue, anyway. Gigi is a Caputo. Roman is a Monte. They should be doing anything but falling in love with each other. Will these two be able to stop a decades old feud between the families, for the sake of their love?
     I love Romeo and Juliet. I love their young, innocent love, and their insistence to stay in love even when they know that their families will never approve of each other. This element was present in this book, too, and i LOVED it. But what I really appreciated about this book, was the style of the retelling. Although most of the book is Gigi and Roman's story, it's also Nick Monte and Benny Caputo's story, the two ancestors who started this. It started from the very first and told us exactly why this all started and i KNOW that if this was told in another kind of way, it wouldn't have been so effective. These two authors definitely know how to present their back-stories and they did it perfectly.
     The characters in this story are colorful, three-dimensional and altogether lovely! I loved Gigi and her bravery. And Roman was the typical, swoon-worthy guy in YA. But what bothered me was the insta-romance. I know that it's a factor from the original Romeo and Juliet, but I wished there was more development to the romance. Not just an "Hello. I just met you. But I love you". I hate that, but because this book was so good, it didn't bother me as much as it should have done.

     I am definitely waiting for more from these authors. Kim and Amy have a witty, intriguing and daring writing style. And there take on the Shakespeare plays is one to behold! If you're a fan of a much more fun retelling of the tragic Romeo and Juliet, then this book is for you!