Violent Delights = Violent Ends

f o r e w o r d

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to check out this story! 

I know this isn't the most original concept. There have been thousands of modern adaptations of this story in film, and a thousand more on this website alone lol. If this sounds too similar to someone else's modern R&J book, please feel free to let me know! But I don't think it will, tbh. I wanted to focus more on why two seemingly well-adjusted teens would just up and kill themselves. In my interpretation of the play, Romeo and Juliet aren't just "stupid horny teenagers" but two kids who are in situations completely out of their control, and see each other as the only escape from their trash lives. Their romance plays a big part in this story still, and the first half of this book will be (for the most part) really cute and happy ✨. 

This will also be a little different because I stuck closer to the canon ages of the characters. Has anyone else noticed how in every movie adaptation, Romeo and Juliet are at the least 16? And being played by like 21 year old actors??? I understand why, it's a heavy play and every adaptation includes the sex scene, and no one wants to watch two 13/15 year olds going at it. But still, I wanted to highlight just how young and vulnerable these two are. And, because of that, there is no sex scene lol. If you wanna fight me on that well 👀👀...I'm calling the police lmaooo. But, just because they're slightly younger, doesn't mean there still won't be mature themes. I'm not bolderizing anything, and there will be cursing. If anyone would like me to censor the cursing, just leave a comment or pm me :).

Finally, if you couldn't tell from the cast/character's names, the characters are not white (except for Juliet's mom). Still Star-Crossed inspired me lol.  On that note, you do NOT have to abide by my casting at all! Obviously keep the races in tact but, use your imagination if you're not fond on casts. I do use pictures in the next section, but you can ignore those and just look at the characters names. I changed/updated all of them except for the title characters, so to tell who's who you might wanna check that part out!

This will NOT be a strict line by line retelling, I swear! That would be boring asf. I'm gonna move some events around and give side characters more depth. Think of this as a reimagining of the main core events and then some. It's a very broad adaptation.

Since everyone for the most part know what happens in Romeo and Juliet, I'm sure y'all are aware of the big double suicide at the end. I'll add a trigger warning to that chapter, as well as other chapters that deal with death. Descriptions won't be graphic (I don't want a mature rating 😅) but still, I know the mention of stuff like blood can still be potentially triggering. If there's anything else you want warned, just let me know!

Lastly, this book will deal with some racial issues. I am black and plenty of my friends are Asian, but none of them are Chinese, so if there is something that's inaccurate, please let me know! None of the views presented in this are my own, and I won't be using any slurs or anything like that! These are two families that hate each other, who happen to be of different races, so if one of the black characters says something anti-Asian, or if one of the Chinese characters say something anti-black, it's just a part of the story and not something I agree with at all. Hopefully this will properly address the antiblackness/anti-Asian sentiment in both communities idk. 

Comments are highly appreciated!!! Like even more appreciated than votes lol. But do still vote if you like it :). I'm finishing this either way but comments motivate me a lot. Updates will be...idk how often but no longer than a month apart! 

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the story :)

PS If you love Shakespeare or at least love Romeo and Juliet, watch Still Star-Crossed on ABC!!!! It A) gave us our first black Romeo (and he was so fine I'm still in shock) and B) is diverse as hell. Rosaline and Isabella are in love idc what anyone says!!