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FAQ
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- What is the Daughter of Montague series about?
- How did you conceive of the idea of giving Romeo and Juliet a smart and savvy daughter and telling this story from her perspective instead of making an older Romeo and Juliet the focus?
- Who would like to read the Daughter of Montague series?
- How will the Daughter of Montague series be published?
- When does A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA take place?
- It’s often said that young love rarely lasts, but in A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA, you show Romeo and Juliet in their 30’s and just as crazy in love as when they were teenagers. What is it about them that allows their teenage infatuation to endure rather than fade?
- How did you do the research for the Daughter of Montague series?
- What’s up next for Rosie and the fond and famous Montague family?
- How can I keep abreast with news about upcoming books in the Daughter of Montague series?
- What if I want information on all your books?
- Will you still write contemporary suspense?
- How do I switch between the Daughter of Montague site and the Christina Dodd site?
- Should I join the Daughter of Montague newsletter list?
Q: What is the Daughter of Montague series about?
A: The series, which now includes (in order) A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, THUS WITH A KISS I DIE, and MUCH ADO ABOUT MISTLETOE, asks the question “What if instead of dying, Romeo & Juliet flubbed their suicide attempts, stayed married, and had kids? Would they still be in love? (Answer: Yes, loudly, passionately and poetically.) What would the family be like? Who would their oldest daughter be?”
My publisher, Kensington Books, calls the Daughter of Montague series “alternative history.” Author and friend Amanda Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz) says, “It’s not alternative history, because Romeo and Juliet aren’t historical…it’s the ultimate fan fiction.”
Q: How did you conceive of the idea of giving Romeo and Juliet a smart and savvy daughter and telling this story from her perspective instead of making an older Romeo and Juliet the focus?
A: The Daughter of Montague series is at its heart a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, with their daughter, Lady Rosaline Montague, dealing with the rush of first love, albeit at a much advanced age (almost twenty!) While the exalted feminine ideal (according to the men who wrote history) was chastity, obedience, piety and silence in the face of male superiority, when you dig deeper into Medieval and early Renaissance history, you find amazing women and you know that inevitably women managed to get around that ideal to be scholars, managers of businesses and households, and occasionally, they learned the basics of self-defense. In Rosie’s case, she learned from her father, Romeo, who is a famed and accomplished swordman and the father of six daughters who he cherishes and wishes to keep from harm.
As you discover in the first pages, Rosie is sarcastic about the romantic legend surrounding Romeo and Juliet, and at the same time she sees the genuine love between them and acknowledges it. Through her own clever manipulations, she’s managed to remain single, and her goal is to remain at home, managing the household, forever. As with Shakespeare, Fate has other plans and inherent amusement of listening to an intelligent, determined, self-aware female meet and face unexpected obstacles and murder and irresistible passion made her a joy to write. As one fan told me, “I do appreciate the characters who make good use of sarcasm. I love good snark.”
Q: Who would like to read the Daughter of Montague series?
A: The Daughter of Montague series blends irresistible mystery, a wicked sense of comedy, Christina Dodd’s trademark plot twists, a swoony romance subplot, and an incorrigibly determined heroine into a delightful confection that will draw in readers of historical fiction, feminist women’s fiction, mysteries, historical romance, and young adult.
If any of those check your boxes, the Daughter of Montague series is for you!
Q: How will the Daughter of Montague series be published?
A: Each full-length book will be published by Kensington Books, and come out in hardcover, eBook and audiobook, and the following year each will be out in trade paperback. The novellas will come out in eBook.
Q: When does the Daughter of Montague series take place?
A: About twenty years after Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet takes place, which according to Google is sometime in the 14th or 15th century. That’s two hundred years, considered late Medieval or early Renaissance, and that makes it very easy to create a fictional world to rival Shakespeare’s. Rest assured, it is fictional.
The one area I insisted on absolute accuracy is the food. Because the Daughter of Montague series takes place before the discovery of the New World, foods like potatoes, tomatoes, beans, corn and squash weren’t available, and when you think about Italian cooking today, the pasta, the sauces, the soups, the polenta, you know what a loss that is. Of course, the Italian peninsula is rich in plants, trees and animals, and because of the well-established trade connections to the Far East (Marco Polo returned from his 24 year travels in 1295) spices and luxury foods from the Middle East and Asia had arrived to enrich the cuisine. For Mamma Juliet’s recipes, you’ll find I play by the rules and serve only period-correct food. Try the charcuterie platter!
Q: It’s often said that young love rarely lasts, but in the Daughter of Montague series, you show Romeo and Juliet in their 30’s and as crazy in love as when they were teenagers. What is it about them that allows their teenage infatuation to endure rather than fade?
A: The Husband and I will celebrate our 53th wedding anniversary. (What’s that you say? We look too young for that? Yes, thank you, that’s the right response. 😊 ) We married stupid young, and whenever I’m asked about our long marriage, I quip that it’s been 45 happy years, and that’s about right.
It’s an odd thing to have gone from dumb kids in love (“It’ll never last,”) to the wise couple who’s struggled and fought and worked to stay together and stay in love. That’s what I’ve tried to portray with Romeo and Juliet. From the beginning of their relationship, they put everything on the line to be together, ending their lives (almost in my version) rather than be separated, and what started as passion they have made into a love worth fighting for.
Q: How did you do the research for Daughter of Montague?
A: I traveled to Italy and spent 5 days in Verona, staying in the old city, visiting the church where legend claims Romeo and Juliet were married, touring museums and wineries. Why wineries, you ask? In my mythology, the Montagues are vintners. Touring those wineries was a tough job, but I sacrificed for my art. 😁 You can read about it and see the photos and videos here.
Q: What’s up next for Rosie and the Montagues?
A: 1. A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA has been published in hardcover, eBook, audiobook and trade paperback. The reviews are off the charts! A favorite, “An Elizabethan romp of a murder mystery, with sass, suspense and even some swooning.”—Tegan Tigani, Queen Anne Book Co.
2. WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, is a novella, a bridge between book 1 and 2, and is out in eBook.
3. THUS WITH A KISS I DIE is now out in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook, and I went on a six city book tour to promote it. THUS WITH A KISS I DIE will be out in trade paperback on May 26, 2026.
4. A Montague Family Christmas novella, MUCH ADO ABOUT MISTLETOE, is out now in ebook.
5. On June 30, the third full-length book, TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN., will be out in hardcover, audiobook and ebook. Enjoy the excerpt! Vote on which cover is your favorite!
6. I’m currently writing the third novella to be released in the latter months of 2026.
Q: How can I keep abreast with news about upcoming books in the Daughter of Montague series?
A: Please join my mailing list targeted at the Daughter of Montague series.
Q: What if I want information on all your books?
A: My ChristinaDodd.com site is comprehensive and built on the same easy-to-navigate model as the Daughter of Montague site, and you can join that mailing list here.
Q: Will you still write contemporary suspense?
A: I’m not currently under contract for more contemporary suspense, but I’m proud to say I’ve written of 30 full-length suspenses and novellas. That’s a body of work! View the books sorted by series and with covers and links. GIRL ANONYMOUS is my latest suspense, available in hardcover, audiobook and eBook. WELCOME TO GOTHIC, a novella set in Gothic California, has at last been released in eBook.
Q: How do I navigate between the Daughter of Montague site and the Christina Dodd site?
A: Click the link in the menu bar!
Q: Should you join the Daughter of Montague newsletter list?
A. That depends on you. If you’re on the Christina Dodd newsletter list, thank you for that. Because the Daughter of Montague series is so different from my past writings, we started this separate website for the readers. You can certainly be on both lists; you’ll receive only one newsletter and while I’ll share anything I think is of interest to all my readers, some parts of the newsletter will be targeted to one group or the other.
FYI, for the A DAUGHTER OF FAIR VERONA Reviewers’ Club, we’ll choose from the Daughter of Montague newsletter list.
