Julie Jacobs finds herself at a loss when the aunt who raised her dies unexpectedly and leaves it all to her twin sister Janet – but then she’s given a bank deposit key left by her deceased mother in Siena Italy she hops the next plane out-of-town. The box contains nothing of value, only some letters that leads Julie on the path to a real mystery, the Romeo and Juliet legends that first began in Siena and the feuding families who bear a curse that is destined to repeat over and over again. The story then switches POV from Julie’s in the present day and that of 14C Siena and the first Romeo and Juliet. Is Julie really Giulietta Tolomei, a descendent of the first Juliet? Is there a Romeo in her future? Together can the two find the golden statues with jeweled eyes and stop the curse forever? Who is that mystery man all in black on the motorcycle and why is he following her?
This book actually started off fairly well, but by the second half things went downhill and quickly devolved into a silly, boring mess. I know they are only 25, but Julie and Janet were annoying as all get out and seriously TSTL on occasion, and the chemistry she had with her *Romeo* was pretty non-existent. As for the big wrap up at the end? Things got so convoluted we needed a large info-dump recital of the whole thing just to get us up to speed on what really happened. Show, don’t tell. Honestly, if you want a nice mystery, heroine in peril and an exotic locale you are better off sticking with Mary Stewart. Give this one a pass, or library only.
My copy courtesy of Amazon Vine.
At Home With A Good Book and the Cat 
