Retelling the Story of the Star-crossed Lovers

The "Romeo and Juliet" references in Warm Bodies are very hard to miss. From the moment I realized that 'R' stood for Romeo and 'Julie' for Juliet (a few pages after learning the girl's name), it was impossible for me to read the novel without constantly drawing parallels, and speculating about the way in which the story would end (given Romeo and Juliet's tragic ending). At the beginning it seemed like a nice touch, using these characters that everyone knows and giving them a tiny twist: Perry as Paris, Nora as the nurse (she is even studying to be a nurse), and M as Mercutio. But by the time I got to the balcony scene, I thought that it was too much. With the whimsy excuse that she was recording an audio journal, Marion has Julie speaking out loud out of a balcony, pondering about her Romeo and wondering "what's in a name". 

I think Marion found the need to add these very explicit references because the story of Warm Bodies -two star-crossed lovers from fighting households- was bound to be compared to the epic myth of Romeo and Juliet, so he might as well make that comparison himself. Although they annoyed me a little, the references really do not hinder the overall effect that the book has and how innovative the story is.