Mercutio by J.I. Davenport _ Book Review

Release date: November 25, 2019

Genre: Historical, Queer/LGBTQ+ Literary Fiction

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081RHP1DJ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48890738-mercutio

Synopsis:
Return to the sensuous world of Romeo and Juliet to discover the story of Mercutio, Verona’s most flamboyant citizen! Prancing on the sidelines of the bitter feud between the House of Montecchi and Capuleti, Mercutio harbours his own secret conflict: he is hopelessly in love with his best friend, Romeo Montecchi. When he spies true love blossoming between Romeo and a young Capuleti girl one fateful summer’s eve, Mercutio fears he has finally lost the man he loves, forever. Turning to drink, drugs and ever wilder escapades in an effort to ease his aching heart, Mercutio starts to come off the rails, hurtling towards his own spectacular fate.

About the Author:J.I. Davenport has a B.A. in English literature and creative writing from the University of Greenwich. He lives in London with his family and a tomcat named after Cesare Borgia, who he is forever trying to persuade not to invade Naples!

Author linksTwitter: http://twitter.com/JIDavenport5 Instagram: http://instagram.com/j.i.davenport Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19749759.J_I_Davenport

[I received a digital arc for an honest review]

Mercutio by J.I Davenport is a queer mm retelling of Romeo and Juliet from the point of view of Mercutio. If you call yourself a reader than you know the story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. I personally am not a huge fan of the original because Romeo and Juliet were not bright but I have very much enjoyed every remake and retelling of the story that I have come across.

One of my favorite characters of Romeo and Juliet was always Mercutio, and I was thrilled to see this retelling from his point of view. His utter devotion and love for Romeo even though it wasn’t returned in exactly the same way is heart breaking. My beloved character has the same fate as the original. However, we get to see him experience some wonderfull highs and saddening lows. A novel that gave a story to a character who had so much more depth than originally portrayed.

“Was that to be his future? Buying intimacy from men who did not care for me? […] Mercutio was beautiful; he’d been made to be adored! Such an existence would be bleak. A fate worse than death. A future not worth living for.”

I wish that this retelling had strayed more from the original. Why not give Mercutio his own match who could love him as fiercely as he seems to do? I wanted a new fresh ending with this retelling and was a little disappointed that it stuck to its origin. Either way if you’re a fan of LGTBQ retellings of classics than I recommend giving Mercutio a chance.