I'm loving these remixes so much. This one did not disappoint! I am glad to see a more modern take on this shakespeare title and I think teens who maybe aren't super interested in Shakespeare will still be able to enjoy this one.

Teach the Torches to Burn by Caleb Roehrig is my favorite Romance read so far this year.
Described as a Romeo and Juliet retelling this book starts off with a young Romeo sneaking back in to his room and rolls right in to dialogue and banter that has a definite Shakespearean feel. Not only did this story have me so immersed that i walking right along Romeo and his friends it also had moments that I could picture playing out on stage.

Between Ben & Mercutio’s posturing, Juliet’s antipathy over her situation and Romeo’s introspection there was not a moment in this book that did not have me fully engaged. And the LOVE STORY in this book, the desperate need to be accepted, the reaction to the love between the two characters, my heart ached and rejoiced for them.

I thought about this book at work, I read it on my lunch break and with my kindle showing 25 mins remaining, I rushed home to finish. And then I had to pause and set it down with 10mins left because although I was eager to finish, Romeo & Juliet is a tragedy and I was not ready for the end. It is a beautiful book and was very well done. I finished this book days ago and I am still thinking about it.

I am in love with this book.

This is the perfect remix: just enough of the original, beautiful writing, and its gay. What more could you ask for?

Thank you to NetGalley and to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends for an ARC of this book.

I didn't realize that this was a series (they are all stand alone, remixed classic books) but I love all things Romeo and Juliet. When I saw this book I knew I had to request it.

I was certainly not disappointed. This was my favorite book that I have read in a long time. I have already started to recommend it to people.

The twist on this book is that Romeo falls in love..not with Juliet but with Valentine who is the brother of Marcuccio. Juliet is also here with Romeo helping him along the way.

The language in this book has the old Shakespeare feel to it which I also loved.

All around this was a win for me... I loved it!

Teach the Torches to Burn is the seventh book in the Remixed Classics series which takes the classic tales we grew up with and adds exciting new ideas and diverse casts of characters. While I haven’t read every book in this series yet, I’ve immensely enjoyed all the ones I have read, and Teach the Torches to Burn was no different. This book was inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and did a great job of including original source material while allowing it to completely stand on its own if it wanted to.

My absolute favorite part of this story was the writing style. I’ve read several historical reads or retellings that try to embody the style and voice of classic works while still keeping the language what we have today, but most of the time, it comes across as overly flowery. Not here, though! The way that Roehrig so expertly captured the feeling of fourteenth century Italy, while making the words modern and understandable, is a skill I have to applaud. It would have been easy to overdo the elaborate sentence structure he utilized, which would have fallen into purple prose category (which is not my favorite), but Roehrig managed to convey the perfect balance. This really heightened my enjoyment of the story! I felt so immersed in the setting, which allowed me to connect with the characters and plot even more than I think I would have had the writing style been more simple.

I also love that as a queer retelling of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s love interest is Valentine, Mercutio’s younger brother. This meant that Juliet herself still got to appear in the story as she normally would have, just not as Romeo’s love interest. I’m obsessed with the fact that Juliet was portrayed as such a strong woman who’s also aroace. The representation was everything! The way she described her feelings for others and how she thinks she feels differently than most people do was just excellent. It would have been easy to just change Juliet’s gender and have her be the love interest still, but with the addition of Valentine, we were able to get some extra plot points and relationships that rounded out the story that much more.

Speaking of Valentine and Romeo…those two were everything. Their love for each other was soft and gentle, and all-consuming. Their chemistry was evident the moment they laid eyes on each other, and with everything going against them, it was impossible not to root for their happiness. I don’t usually like insta-love, but considering the original Romeo and Juliet story is just as guilty of this, it made sense to happen here. Also, they really were just too sweet, so I couldn’t be anything but attached to their relationship.

While the first half of the story is more of a slower build up to all that’s coming in the second half, the sense of foreboding hanging over the characters made the tension perfect. And once all of the action did pick up, I could no longer put the book down. I had to finish it because I needed to know how it was going to end. Knowing the outcome of the original story had me stressed! There was so much anxiety and uncertainty for the characters in the final part of the book, which kept me on the edge of my seat.

I was a little worried to reach the end, because regardless of whether it would be happy or sad, I wanted to be satisfied with it, and thankfully, I was! Roehrig wrapped it up almost perfectly, and I closed the book feeling like I’d just finished a great adventure.

If you haven’t read any of the Remixed Classics yet, you definitely need to! Teach the Torches to Burn is a good place to start, I feel, since Romeo and Juliet is such a well-known and beloved story.

I find Caleb Roehrig to be such a fun author, telling stories that I don’t think I would have thought of myself and approaching them from such a unique angle. Like this one. When I heard it was a Romeo and Julie remix, I assumed this it was going to be something like Romeo and… Julian.

But no! Roehrig remixes what you think the remix is going to be. Romeo falls for Valentine, the younger brother of one os his best friends. Don’t worry. Juliet is in there, too.

I loved this with my whole heart and soul. I think I finished it in about a day and a half because I was so invested. Romeo has always been that lovesick teen who jumps from crush to crush without abandon. Having him navigate his sexuality with all of the drama you’d expect from feuding families wasn’t too much.

What a wonderful retelling of this classic story.

I knew I would enjoy this but I didn't realize how in love I'd be with these characters! It's a story full of so much raw emotion and longing, and I would love to read a story with Juliet as the protagonist. She was so cool!

4 stars. Great remix of the "Romeo and Juliet" story. Recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Bought for our library.

Super cliched and felt really weird for a Romeo and Juliet remix/retelling? I had no interest to keep reading and all the characters were just so, so boring. I would not recommend this to anyone who believes it to be a gay version of Romeo and Juliet because there are so many better options out there.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

An excellent retelling of Romeo and Juliet that went a route I was not expecting. It was great to see a love story with not just a gender-swapped Juliet, so this was a nice surprise!

This is exactly what I’d want from a Romeo and Juliet remix! I love that this isn’t just a retelling but a whole remixing. I adored the romance and the hopeful ending. The characters were easy to connect with and the atmosphere was perfect!!

Okay I loved this :')

I thought it was a really unique retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and so well-written. It was tender and so funny and engaging throughout the entire story! I also thought it touched on some really thoughtful, sincere topics that felt relevant even to a thirty-something not living in ancient Verona. It was hopeful and weaved a truly adventurous and enjoyable journey in a message about claiming happiness for ourselves courageously.

I'm kicking myself for not having read this sooner, and I'm so glad this book was written!

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for the e-book in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN is out now!

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for the e-book in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

I loved the nods to the original Romeo and Juliet story in this remix, but the fresh new take from a queer lens was everything the story always needed!

This installment in the series is absolutely PHENOMENAL! As someone who always criticized the original R&J for NOT being a true lovestory, I LOVED what they did with THIS. Amazing.

Dnf at 30%. Had to give up on it. I really tried but I couldn't make myself interested, which is disappointing bc I usually really like LGBTQ+ romance.

The Remixed Classics series is the much needed facelift for a lot of classics. For too long the "classics" have been presented as a comprehensive representation of ALL lives. This is not the case. Which is why having the old stories given a new life, and lots of diversity, is an amazing addition to bookstores and libraries. This book included. The only thing that was missing from Shakespeare was two raging gays, and finally, this book delivers just that. If Shakespeare were here today, he would be proud of this work,

Thanks to NetGalley & Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another fantastic addition to the reimagining of classics! I really enjoyed the writing and characters in this one. I don't want to say too much because it gets into spoiler territory but I liked the decisions made by the author in this one. I hope it gets more teens into Shakespeare's works!

Sweet and romantic! I really do love Romeo and Juliet retellings so much and this one didn't disappoint. I think I just love the overall tone of the whole book. Once again, I love the remix retellings and I will love and read every single one that gets put out!

This is a clever retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story with the twist that Romeo is gay and falls in love with Mercutio's brother, Valentine. Juliet still plays a part, as a woman looking for a way out of an arranged marriage. I thoroughly enjoyed how this impossible love found a way!