Bookfever: Arc Review: Anyone But You by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes

Title: Anyone But You: A Modern-Day Spin on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Authors: Kim Askew & Amy Helmes
Series: Twisted Lit #3
Publication: January 18th 2014 by Merit Press
Genre: Young Adult ~ Retelling
Format: e-Arc from NetGalley
Cover Rating: 3/5
Overall Rating: 4/5

Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

These violent delights have violent ends...

Gigi Caputo is fed up. A vicious act of vandalism has dealt another blow to her family's proud pizza heritage, and the Montes--owners of a rival Italian restaurant--are clearly to blame. The hostility goes far beyond bragging rights for best pizza in Chicago. The Montes have been bent on destroying Cap's for four generations. Even if it means putting herself in harm's way, Gigi's determined to get to the bottom of the feud. Instead, in a secret encounter with Roman Monte, the very boy whose relatives have brought her family such grief, she finds both danger and love at first sight. If the daughter and son of these two warring families fall for each other, can it be anything but a recipe for disaster? Slowly, Gigi and Roman learn that their story is fatefully linked to the summer of 1933, when two twelve-year-olds, Benny and Nick, hop the turnstile at the Chicago World's Fair. The most stunning wonder of the fair is Stella, who innocently causes a lasting rift between the two boyhood. Wending its way through past and present day, this modern take on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is bittersweet, funny, and intensely exciting. It's classic romance--a tale of hate and the only force that can ever defeat it: love.

~My Thoughts:

Ever since I discovered this series on Goodreads I've been intrigued by them. I love Shakespeare's stories although I haven't read Romeo and Juliet yet. I've wanted to start the Twisted Lit series but I never really got my hands on any of the books until I got contacted with a review request for the latest book in the series, Anyone But You. And because you don't have to read the other books in the series and because I adore retellings of any kind, of course, I jumped on the chance to do so.

Starting this book and meeting the main character and modern day Juliet, Gigi, I had a good feeling about Anyone But You right away. I liked Gigi a lot. She was very likable instantly and liked how, although she didn't want to tell her father that she really doesn't want to take over the restaurant, she has a pride about her family. Her encounter with Roman was short but I liked how their connection was like fireworks. They just clicked. One could say this is insta-love and I sure as hell don't want to scare people away by saying it the word but I personally liked it.

Beside the story about Gigi, Roman and the restaurants there were also chapters that involved flashbacks to the past where we find out how the feud got started into the first place. I loved, loved, loved those! But I must admit when that first 'flashback' chapter started I had no idea what was going on. It was a little confusing because when it's chapters in someone else's point of view I prefer there be some kind of warning at the beginning of the chapter that either says what year it is or who's chapter it is. But after the first two of those I was finally catching on and started to looking forward to finding out more because I was also interested just like Gigi as to why there was such a huge feud between the Caputos and Montes.

I also should mention that when it came to the feud I knew where things would be going. It was pretty obvious but it's not like that was something negative for me. It stil devoured this book like let's say... pizza. *chuckles*
But seriously, I really liked this book and there were also some parts where I was shocked with some things that happened. So it's not such an obvious book after all...

Overall, Anyone But You, the third in the Twisted List Series was a quick but entertaining story that I'm glad I got to chance to read. If you like Shakespeare, retellings or just a great book, you won't be disappointed with this one.

About The Authors:

Los Angeles-based writers Kim Askew and Amy Helmes have been writing and blogging together since 2007. Askew, whose work has appeared in Elle and other magazines as well as the anthology The May Queen, is a content manager for the Webby-award winning teen site www.FashionClub.com and the FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Helmes is a West Coast editor for Soaps In Depth magazine and a contributor to The Rundown, a daily e-mail service that keeps subscribers informed on what’s new and cool in L.A.