Thus With a Kiss I Die

 

Thus With A Kiss I Die- Christina Dodd

 A John Scognamiglio Book

Release Date: June 24, 2025

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: I’m 20-years-old and by my own design, never been wed, free as no married woman ever is. I’m beautiful, but without conceit, for Juliet, my legendary Mamma is the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the earth. Just ask Romeo, my legendary Papà. (Rumors of their deaths were premature.) I was heartwhole until I fell (literally) in love with Lysander of the House of Beautiful. But our love was not to be, for I was thwarted by Escalus, the Prince of Verona . . . who had designs on me. 

I’m trapped. 

Then! I’m presented with a solution. Escalus’s father, Prince Escalus the Elder, appears to me. He tasks that I find his killer. Did I mention Elder is a ghost?

Given that I only recently dispatched Verona’s first serial killer, I’m less than pleased. Yet Elder promises to unite me with my One True Love, so I gather clues. Meanwhile, revolution threatens, for beneath Verona society’s glittering surface lurk dark shadows—and an enemy eager to make me a tragic heroine in my own right . . .

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After the events of A Daughter of Fair Verona Rosie (Rosalind Montague) was hoping for some quite time to figure out how to deal with her unwanted surprise betrothal to Prince Escalus- or even better, figure out how to get out of the betrothal. Then Escalus's father gives her the perfect solution: figure out who murdered him (yes, he's a ghost) and he'll help her out. That promise along with the fact that she can't back down from a challenge and Rosie's in. After all, how dangerous can investigating a 20 year old murder be?

Christina Dodd takes us back to Verona, where Romeo and Juliet didn't die but had a large family instead. Rosie claims to be the sensible one, but she's also headstrong and enjoys a challenge to prove she's as capable as any man. When murderers are about, some caution might be a good idea. In this book she shows some signs of growth into the role she'll inhabit as princess of Verone, and it will definitely be fun continuing to watch her drag the prince's household into her way of thinking. The signs are already clear in a few fun scenes (like when Rosie finally takes over the prince's kitchens) and she meets Escalus's grandmother, who looks like she'll be an enthusiastic participant. 

The scenes with Rosie and Escalus are a lot of fun, the two have good chemistry even if Rosie doesn't quite recognize that's what it is, and when Cal (as she starts calling him) gets off his dignity the two work really well together. Elder's ghost didn't contribute much to help solve the mystery but he is good comic relief.

The writing is mostly modern with some very comic one-liners: you should find yourself having some laugh out loud moments!

An excellent sequel to A Daughter of Fair Verona, I think I enjoyed it even more. A fun and fast summer read that will keep you entertained!