"Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing."

'The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life' was a cute read. I liked that it was focused on theater, which I don't think happens very often in YA. I wasn't in a theater group in high school, but because of this book, I wish I was. It seems like so much fun!
Her friend Becca was probably my favorite character. She's very supportive and seemed to care a lot about Alison.
I'm also happy that this is a f/f romance. I don't read enough of those.

"I wanted people to think I had everything under control."
The phrase above really spoke to me. In this day and age it sometimes feels like you HAVE to be okay and to be outstanding. When you feel like you're not doing okay, you pretend to be.
It was very nice to see someone else say it.

"You can't order someone to have fun, can you?"

Sadly it took me a while to get into the story and to like the main character. Alison has a habit of minding everyone's business, when she had a lot of things to do herself.
For example during the scene where Alison invited a third person on a date. This part annoyed me so much! It really made me dislike the character.

The relationship felt very flat. Maybe it should've happened sooner, so that the author could really develop the relationship more. I also didn't really like that the MC needed to be "more out". I don't think that you can expect that from someone. Let them be as out as they want to be.

Omg, this is such a fun book. Cute and adorable. You keep rooting for Alison's (our main character's) problems to solve till the end!

Just read and smile and have a good time!

Meh, I expected more. I was a theatre kid in high school (still am) and I'm a Shakespeare nerd so I was hoping I'd love this. Not so much.

Who puts a high school kid in charge of producing a show? I know she was "tricked" into doing more work, but this was a little far fetched for a contemporary book. Also, are there schools in which teachers decide who should be valedictorian? Is it not based on grades everywhere? I'm so confused.

The characters were kind of flat and the conflicts were a little rushed for me. They were over as soon as they began and they really weren't that important. I guess that's a bit more representative of the high school age but it still didn't pull me in.

As for what I did like, I liked that kids were discussing their sexualities and they were accepting of each other. I think that's something that needs to be normalized so kids feel comfortable talking about it.

Overall, not a win for me.

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life was such a fun book! I loved all the plot, the characters, just EVERYTHING!

I think the length of the book was great and the plot moved along at a good pace. We got to know the characters and their relationship with each other really well and the character development - especially for the main character - was perfect.

I loved that the 'drama' in the book wasn't so outrageous and happened to be ordinary things that happen to teenagers and was fixed in a normal and healthy way. There was no romanticism of unhealthy romantic relationships which is a great and honestly refreshing thing to see in YA novels.

The representation in the book was incredible. The fact that it was written by an LGBT+ author meant that it was accurate and relatable.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to everyone!

This is a cute story about an overachiever and her search for balance. I found the characters mostly likeable, though as always, adult me cringed a number of times at the teen choices.

Things I liked: relatable characters, good depiction of real life

Things I didn't like: some characters felt inauthentic, the drama teacher

Overall it was a story that kids might like, so I am considering adding it to my classroom.

*advance copy via Netgalley*

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
2.5 Stars

My Goodreads review is linked down below.

The Year Shakespeare Ruined my Life is a story about Alison, a young girl desperately vying for her high school's valedictorian position. She manages to get roped into producing the school's play during her senior year. Alison struggles with balancing the school play, romance, and her school work in this coming-of-age YA novel.

I did enjoy this book for it's light-hearted and wholesome feel to it. The LGBTQ representation and the various different character's ethnicities was a great addition as well. These two reasons together were what made me fly through the book. However, reading this book, I did get a lot of secondhand embarassment with the choices the main character chose throughout. There were times where I had to put the book down in frustration because some of the things Alison did were so easily fixed by just being honest with the people around her. I found myself constantly wishing she would just open her eyes a little and just pay attention to the people in her life.

Most of the characters were a little one-note as well. The only characters that I felt really had any personality besides just their stereotyped behavior was the younger sister and the love interest. At times, I wished the story was told through the love interest's point of view, because she seemed more interesting than Alison was. I think this was due to the language in this book being very simplistic, which didn't allow for any of the characters to get any real time for their personalities to shine through.

The way Alison's queerness was explored was nice, it did feel very realistic to a young lesbian's experience in high school and the romance within the book felt appropriate and sweet. However, I did wish their relationship was explored a little further. One thing that did bother me was that Alison did not call herself a lesbian, instead using "gay". A small tidbit that could have made a lot of difference for a young lesbian reader who may read this.

Overall, this story was a fun read but I found the characters to be a little one-note and the plot was thin. I really enjoyed the idea behind this book, I just wish it was executed a little better.

For as long as she's known the meaning of the word Alison has been determined to become class valedictorian and she will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. So when a teacher asks her to co-produce the school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream she jumps at the chance to gain brownie points with the faculty and pad the extracurricular section of her college applications. This proves to be the first mistake in a string of many as she comes to realize that not only does she not know anything about the theater, but the teacher has tricked her & she is on her own as producer.

I requested this one from Netgalley strictly due to the fact that I abhor Shakespeare and expected to be able to commiserate with our MC. However Shakespeare wasn't really the problem in this story,, youth, inexperience and ego were the real villians here. Alison just couldn't seem to get out of her own way for most of the book which resulted in a comedy of errors. This is a cute lgbtq+ YA story about the perils of perfectionism that I think is best suited to the younger YA crowd, maybe 13-16 year olds.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

This review in its entirety can be found on my Goodreads by using the link below

[3.5]
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review. The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life follows our main character Alison as she is roped into producing the school play her senior year. This year it's A Midsummer Nights Dream, and Alison, aiming at being valedictorian, is desperate to make it the best show ever.

What really spoke to me about this one was that it felt like a coming of age story. Throughout the book there was a lighthearted tone immersed in everything that made me fly through the story. It really echoed something that could be seen on screen. Of course there were moments that the main character made questionable choices that impacted the people around her, which was hard to read at times. I wouldn't say that I disliked Alison. In fact, there were points in the story where I could see myself in her, but that just made it all the more worse when she threw a wrecking ball into her life. The side characters too, were amazing, but they needed more time on the page for me to care about them more. Therein lies my main problem I had with this book, that everything felt too superficial and not rooted in anything steadfast. Certain problems would arise and then just as quickly be glazed over or fixed immediately, and the characters didn't feel important enough. There didn't seem to be enough evidence of how Shakespeare was ruining her life. Maybe the whole point was that the experience changed her for the better as shown in the epilogue, however, there was both not enough and too much focus on the play without giving enough to everything else. It would have been nice to see more scenes of being in class and interacting with her friends and family. I definitely enjoyed this one despite the few issues I had with it. If you're looking for a engaging read that doesn't leave you feeling overly affected by it, then give this one a try. It's entertaining and won't ask too much in exchange.

For this #yanovel I decided to read other reviews before making mine to make sure I wasn’t alone in my ⭐️⭐️⭐️ review. The plot is cute and when compared to the 90s teen romcom movies I love, it’s not far fetched. Yet something is lacking and the reader doesn’t connect with the main character and there’s no opportunity to connect with other characters. Most of the teachers introduced lack authority and the school doesn’t seem to respect extracurricular activities. I tried to imagine reading it as a high school student and I think I would have enjoyed it, but it would not have me reaching for the author’s next book. 📚📚📚 #netgalley #netgalleyreview #bookreview #shakespeare #lgbtqteens #teenromance

First things first, I'm so glad that more books are showcasing LGBTQ+ characters as the lead and the romantic interest. This has been a trend I've seen in the past year and I'm loving the representation!

Honestly, I was just a little bored. I liked the story concept and I liked most of the plot points, but the execution seemed too simplistic for me. The language was very simple, even for a YA book ("I did this... then I did this..."), and while there was drama in the book, it was very muted.

I think the biggest thing that got me though was that even though there was a lot of positive talk about coming out, it seemed like people just came out and that was that. I know not everyone has a negative experience, but I do think it's important to touch on the negative experiences that people can have, especially in books meant for young adults who are in a time in their life where either they may be questioning their identify or a friend may be. Books can be great resources to learn how to support someone who is going through the process of discovering their identity and they can also be great resources to learn how to support someone who's true identity may not be welcome in their home or school.

All in all, it was an easy and quick read, but I didn't gain much from the content.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book!

Cute is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about this book. The story is so adorable and heartwarming and I loved the representation of LGBTQ+ characters and different ethnicities.

I liked the main character, I found her relatable and down to heart. I enjoyed reading about her, through all of her worries and mistakes, and seeing her growth through the pages.
I really liked the side characters as well, though they weren’t much developed; however the interactions between them and Alison were really cute.

The romance aspect felt exactly like a cute first-time-falling-in-love relationship between teenagers, with the plus point that it was LGBTQ+ representation, and as someone who doesn’t encounter such themes often, I appreciated the freshness and the bubbly happy feelings it brought to me.

I felt that the story was a bit rushed at times, there were some plot points that were first brought up and then let go without going deeper. Besides that, it was an easy read, the plot flows well and I basically devoured it in two days. I am really happy that I got the chance to read it, and I would like to recommend it to anyone searching for a cute and fluffy coming-of-age kind of story.

Great concept. Lots of flaws.

I had a lot of issues with this book like forced coming-outs, awkward pacing, and unrealistic scenarios. (Although for the latter, the author did say: "If there's anything in the book that doesn't seem believable, the fault is mine" so I'm not too worked up about that) Despite the many things I disliked or that stressed me out, I loved the literature references and the different kinds of representation! My favourite character is the love interest, I've been in love with her myself from chapter 1 and I wish the book could have been told through her POV!

For a debut, this was okay. I'm expecting great things in the future from this author so I hope she improves some things in a possible second book!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of “The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life” by Dani Jansen. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

This title is misleading. Shakespeare isn’t to blame here, Alison does a fine job of “ruining” her life all by herself. All the hardships that come Alison’s way are a result of her lack of backbone, her lies, and her complete avoidance of any conflict. I kept waiting for the big blow up when Alison would finally have to face the consequences of her actions but I was let down.

All we know about Alison is that she wants to be valedictorian, but we’re given no reason to root for her success. Alison was not a character I was pulling for in any aspect of the story. I didn’t get to know any of the characters as they had no depth. Everyone was a cardboard cutout stereotype that could be identified with minimal traits. There weren’t the usual stereotypical high school cliches so there was some diversity but the author somehow managed to make these diverse characters fall flat. There is also a creepy male character who is basically the “bully who is secretly gay” trope which doesn’t make all his objectifying the female characters suddenly redeemed just because he’s gay.

The teachers were all terrible role models. The one who is meant to be overseeing the play dumps all responsibility on Alison and bounces. She’s never heard from again and receives no consequences for this. The other teachers know this has happened, but don’t try to step in. As part of running the play, Alison will also be handling money but she’s never supervised or checked up on by the principal or anyone. Then there’s the theater teacher directing the play (at least until he joins to cast when one of the actors drops out and then makes Alison shoulder his previous responsibilities as well). During a painfully racist moment (played off as him being just so clueless) Alison doesn’t use her white privilege to correct the teacher and instead assumes her non-white friend should be the one to step in and set the man straight. We have Alison’s thoughts so we know she knows the man is in the wrong, but she refuses to say anything and tries to nudge her non-white friend into confronting their teacher.

Alison is also a terrible friend. She messes up over and over hurting her friends and family. They get mad at her for a few pages but then they just get over it even when they see her do the same thing to everyone around her. Alison has no power of self-reflection and is such a spineless, conflict-avoidant, people-pleaser that she is constantly letting everyone down rather than standing up for herself and the people she supposedly cares about.

There’s a f/f romance but since we know nothing about the characters, there’s no reason to pull for them. Alison is obsessed with Charlotte and then blames her when Alison’s obsession distracts her from things like schoolwork and disappointing her family when she blanks on important events and schedules a date for the same night. Alison also belittles things Charlotte cares about, constantly making fun of Charlotte’s pet corgi. Who hates corgis?!

The ending was rushed and I was annoyed and let down that Alison still didn’t have any self-reflection. There wasn’t the big blow up I was expecting where Alison would have to finally face all the hurt she caused. Going back to the title I now see it sets the tone for the whole book. I think we were meant to see Alison as the victim, but the only person she had to blame for her hardships was herself.

1/5 stars

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.