Let's start this review getting something out of the way - the book is not the cover, which by the way is really well illustrated and eye catching, so kudos to that department.

This novel is written about a character finding her first relationship while also juggling the many responsibilities of young adulthood. I had some default rejection of the book in the beginning because of the way her status was being written, as there frustration about committing to using the word lesbian and how I felt around reading her, I wasn't sold on how it was being portrayed, and it plays a large part of the story. I wouldn't say I left the story feeling any better about it either. There is something missing in this novel, but it's hard for me to say exactly what would make it feel whole. I finished this novel more for the fact that I should give an honest review after reading the entire book vs just the first 10%.

There were parts that were fun and campy, as they are doing a high school play. But it wasn't any different than watching an episode of Mr. Iglesias season 2 Carlos' drama club, other than the Shakespeare play selected. This seems repeated theme of high school life with the same characters. It felt too safe. Even when talking about teen relationships of all options, this book was safe. There were places they could have gone with the budding relationships but all of them just seemed superficial. There is not real timeline in the book, is it a month, a whole school year, hard to say. There were lots of underplaying stories which just took the reader down rabbit holes with no pay off. I wanted to really enjoy this book because it was a ARC from NetGalley and Second Story Pres, but I just can't say this is one that I would be sharing with all my teen readers. I don't even know that it's one that I would tell teachers to order to makes sure there was diversity on their shelves.

I've been trying to finish this book for about a month now and I am sadly doing to have to put it down. I'm not sure why but I just didn't find myself reaching for this book - maybe as it was a YA book? I just found it was too young for me and perhaps a younger reader would enjoy this more?

For something that was aimed at YA and should've been a quick and easy read for me, I found it quite slow paced at the beginning and couldn't get into it enough to finish reading it.

I loved the premise of the book - especially the diversity of the main character and the use of Shakespeare, which I love reading!

I do think the cover is cute and maybe I'll come back to this at some point when I am wanting a light and easy read.

I didn’t love this book, but I did enjoy it. I found the details to be a bit overwhelming and superfluous, which took a lot away from the plot. There were a lot of scenes that could have been cut (the stuff with Alison dealing with Jenny and the set, the mystery of the town theater company not letting them get sponsors, etc) because it felt like there was a lot going on. I was also confused as to why the blurb talks about Alison’s date with Jack, as it makes it sound like a big plot point, but it only is about one chapter and is resolved quickly.

I did not expect to finish "The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life" in one sitting. It is however the kind of book that you really don't mind reading until 3am in the morning, with your eyes already burning from staring at your copy so long.
This book is insanely cute. If it was a fanfiction it would surely be described as "tooth-rotting fluff", a story so adorable and sweet that you can feel yourself squealing with excitement anytime something cute happens.
"The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life" combines some of my favourite elements of contemporary YA: gay romances, a relatable and funny narration, good friend and family dynamics, characters who mess up and are imperfect but grow and school plays.
Even though she messes up plenty of times you are always rooting for the protagonist, because you know she has her heart in the right place and will learn from her mistakes. You are also rooting for the central romance (and background romances) because the chemistry is undeniable.
There is also some really sweet casual diversity and brief mention of important topics. This isn't the kind of YA book to be just about one important theme, but instead weaves some messages and diversity into the plot naturally.

Overall, a very cute, very fun, high school rom-com, just with a LGBTQ+ main couple. I really liked the characters, even though Alison was way more naive and dense than I think is realistic. She never caught on to things on her own, she had to be told or it had to be pointed out to her every time, and some of them were just so obvious. She basically seemed to never learn from her mistakes. She'd make one, it'd have consequences, but she'd the do the same thing again, and it would work out for her, so she never learned. I wish she went through more character development than just realizing valedictorian wasn't the end all be all. She did some crappy things, but never really got punished for it. But, I do recommend this book. It is so necessary to have LGBTQ+ books, even if it follows a formula put forth in a lot of heterosexual romances before. Because of this, it doesn't have the dated feel I sometimes get from run of the mill highschool romcom books. The writing was good, and I think the characters, besides Alison, are really realistic.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a really quick and cute read. The author writes characters really well and it was easy to connect with the main voice of the story.

I had two major problems with this book. The first was cosmetic - the writing style was choppy and juvenile, with the sort of dialogue only well-intentioned adults who are not only not teenagers but also only rarely interact with them. I felt no attachment to the characters, nor to their relationships with one another, and I was only tangentially interested in the elements of the plot that intersected with Shakespeare. (The theater mafia subplot gets an honorable mention for sheer absurdity.)

The second problem is much more serious: this is a casually homophobic book. A character pressures their love interest to be "more out" and is shamed into coming out for the sake of their relationship. A gay side character is misogynistic in order to distract others from his sexuality (he's closeted.) His boyfriend breaks up with him because of this - not the loathing and misogyny but the closeting. The plot is resolved when said closeted character comes out in a big and public way, which is not only unrealistic but a dangerous message to send to young queer teenagers whose significant others pressure them into coming out.

In short: this is a bad book. This book feels like a relic from an earlier, worse era of YA. If you're looking for a fun, frothy contemporary, look for literally anything else.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Allison wants to be a valedictorian and to impress her teachers, she agrees to produce the school's play of A Midsummer Night's dream. Not realizing right away how difficult and complex would it be doing that. But her love life is also complicated. She's out to her family and best friend, she's crushing on Charlotte and unable to act like a normal person around her and she accidentally said yes to her best friend Jack to a date, not realizing it was a date. So Allison has to cope with misunderstandings, friendships, crushes and misadventures in the play, while understanding what means to be "out".

I was attracted by the cute cover and the plot, but, unfortunately, the story didn't work for me. I couldn't relate to the characters, I wish they would have been more developed and I found Allison too obsessive. The story seems to go nowhere, focusing, maybe too much, on relationships and not characterization or messages. I was annoyed by some stereotypes, like the haircut that "suggested" Charlotte was lesbian or bi or the cultural appropriation from the teacher, both called out, but still...annoying.
I think it wasn't for me, but it could attract a younger audience.

In 'The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life', a lesbian teen ends up in charge of the school play while also trying to navigate exploring love for the first time.

Queer stories, especially those for young people, are really important but this just wasn't it for me.

This book read very young and characters often seemed much younger than they were.
We never learnt very much about characters outside of stereotypes and that they were all involved in this play which left them feeling very flat and uninteresting.
I was often frustrated by easily avoided conflicts.

Some readers, especially young ones, may not notice or be bothered by some of these elements and maybe they could enjoy it for a simple queer contemporary, but I struggled to get through it.

I've been trying to read this book, off and on, for over a month and finally ended up skimming the second half just to finish it. It was... ok. I liked the premise involving a high school Shakespeare play, I liked some of the diverse characters, but it just felt formulaic and stereotypical. I hate not giving a book my all, but I think I've just read too many similar books.

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life
By: Dani Jansen
3.8 / 5.0

This novel is a good young adult read. It has the drama of high school, but it is very inclusive. I love seeing more books include the LGBTQ+ community. It will help the next generation not see it as weird or unnatural; it will be normal.
Even though I didn’t love it(I find myself not reaching for the high school drama filled young adult books anymore), I still enjoyed it. I didn’t have to force myself to read it. The writing flowed very well. Jansen is a great writer and can definitely keep a reader entertained. I’d love to see her write new adult romance or even an adult LGBTQ+ romance novel.
Normally, there is a character I don’t like, but there wasn’t in this novel. All the characters made mistakes sure, but they all grew as the story progressed. I’m sure anyone can see themselves in one of the characters, which is rare. Almost every personality and love is represented in this novel. I will definitely recommend this novel to any teen looking for a fun summer read.


Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Year-Shakespeare-Ruined-My-Life/dp/1772601217/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GUOVU80IWXEQ&dchild=1&keywords=the+year+shakespeare+ruined+my+life&qid=1591498369&sprefix=The+year+shakespear%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-1


Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-year-shakespeare-ruined-my-life-dani-jansen/1136451264?ean=9781772601213

This review will appear on my blog on September 22, 2020.

Cute and fun coming of age story, including a cast of diverse characters!

This was a sweet rom-com that follows our lesbian MC Alison. She's an over achiever with the goal of being Valedictorian. As if she didn't have enough on her play, she decides that taking on the position of producer in her high school's rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream, would look great on college application. But has she bitten off more than she can chew?

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life drew me in with the gorgeous cover and the interesting description. I like a lot of what this book has to say, but not necessarily how the book says it. First, it skewed much younger than I anticipated, reading more like a junior novel than YA. That's fine once I was used to it, but it took me by surprise from the description and age of the characters. The take on Shakespeare's work was fun to read, but the author relied so heavily on stereotypes for the writing of the characters that it was hard for me to believe in them long enough to enjoy the story. The concept and the presentation was there, but the storytelling left me behind.

A completely average read. Neither bad nor great. I wish I was more invested in the characters, but it didn't click for me at all.

I received an advanced copy thanks to NetGalley !!!
I had very high expectations of this book but in the end I ended up being disappointed, a very flat plot book was made for me and I felt that nothing interesting happened in the story, it stayed the same.
This book is about a girl named Alison Green who, in order to be a Valecdoctorian, participates in the production of a Shakespeare school play and as it develops we can see that problems are arising that will make Alison's life very difficult.
Topics such as homosexuality, pansexuality, etc ... and how difficult it can be for some boys at school.
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Spoilers
I did not like that the plot only remained stagnant, the book is all about the process of making the work and nothing interesting happens.
I liked 50% the main character Alison Green since she had her good points always supporting her friends and being understanding with others and she saw such a real character.
The bad thing is that it seemed that for his problems he did everything slowly as if it could solve itself and that I did not like.
That the author dared to touch on subjects such as homosexuality and pansexuality seemed magnificent to me is a subject that is touched on today but still looks bad.
If you want to give this book a chance I would love to know your opinion :)

I really appreciated the discussion of what being "out" means, and why it is or isn't necessary to become so. I think this novel will surprise people in some ways - and make you especially disappointed in one lazy teacher!

The title and cover for this one really caught my eye, and the book itself was even better. Queer takes on Shakespeare are always fun, and I loved reading about Alison's journey coming out while producing A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Alison is a perfectionist whose goal has always been to be the valedictorian of her graduating class. The easiest way she believes she'll accomplish this (on top of already having amazing grades and extracurriculars) is to assist in directing the school's play, Shakespeare. Alison quickly realizes that the teacher involved, really isn't involved, and everything is up to her. With her best friends and her sister by her side, Alison begins the adventure of the play, all while keeping an eye on her crush Charlotte, throughout.

This book has the absolute cutest cover, ever. Unfortunately, the cover is the best part of the book. I'd rate this a 2. I did finish it, but mostly skimmed, it's an extremely easy read. However, it's very young, all of the "problems" solely revolve around relationships. I appreciate the representation of the gay community, however, it seemed weirdly peppered throughout, rather than a main storyline, even though it seemed as though this book was written for that to be a main storyline. The teachers in this book are absolutely horrible and extremely ignorant, except for one. Alison herself is ok, she's kind of a doormat, she lets everyone walk all over her and be mad at her for these very minor things. She's not flushed out enough, we don't really know enough about her for her to be a deep character in this story, she's also hypocritical and has some odd opinions on some things (re: wearing a skirt with tights underneath in front of her parents). Alison's friends aren't the best either, they're annoying and immature. The entire book is very rushed and superficial. Nothing really good every seems to happen or is described enough, it almost seemed like half a book. I think this book could've had a lot of potential but was just unlikeable in so many ways.

I really wanted to love this so dang much, sadly there was just so many things that took me out of the story to really enjoy it. First off, there were some good things about it, mainly seen in the vast LGBTQ+ rep involved. We get lesbian, pan-sexual, and gay rep, and thus my heart got really excited.

But as I went on there were too many stereotypes that just took me from the story. Between the one gay character being the bully so he can stay 'macho', the small joke of a moment between students and a teacher about appropriation (which doesn't really teach the teacher about what's exactly wrong about using Bollywood themes and kimonos.) There's one moment where the main character even sets up two of her friends, knowing full well the male is interested in her. Other examples include situations of a certain haircut meaning a girl should be a lesbian, a goth girl totally being the complete stereotype of hating things and always glaring (Don't get me started on the comment the MC had about said goth girl maybe ruining the play.

Throughout the whole story it was like watching dominoes fall when it came to the main character's decisions. She gets in arguments easy, is -extremely- judgmental, and the whole time I couldn't exactly find any way to actually like reading her journey.

Overall I just felt like it tried really hard to be the cliche YA high school book. But when too many problems are thrown in it just became a convoluted mess.

Okay so I love Shakespeare and I love stories set in high school drama departments so that alone should have done it for me but I just really didn't vibe with this book! I didn't enjoy any of the characters (especially the main character) and as a character driven reader that's such an impportant thing for me! I can forgive a lacklustre plot if the characters are good and enjoyable! There were parts that I enjoyed and I generally didn't hate it but I did find myself just reading it solely so that I could get it finished rather than enjoying the experience. It had a lot of potential and I'm sure a lot of people will like it but it just didn't do it for me, unfortunately!