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!

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life is about Allison Green, who gets roped into producing the school play during her senior year of high school. The show turns out to be Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, one of its stars turns out to be a girl Allison very much has a crush on, and things just sort of snowball from there. Allison has always been obsessed with being valedictorian, but will Ye Olde Shakespeare Disaster and her fully realized crush derail her plans of academic grandeur? And if they do, would she actually be okay with that?

I really enjoyed this little book about high school and first relationships and changing your mind about someone. While Allison is the first-person narrator and the only one who seems really fleshed-out, this kind of works in the story because it keeps the reader fully entrenched in her point of view.

Side note: one of the previous reviews mentioned being unhappy that the book didn't seem to make a point of using the word "lesbian," instead opting to have Allison refer to herself as gay a lot. Gay has become a sort of shorthand for both mlm and wlw, and I don't really have a problem with the lack of use. In fact, I think it allows readers to see the connections between Allison and one of her production team members, Zach, even though they are different "types" of gay. I did very much appreciate seeing the word bisexual written out, because that's not something that happens very often, even in queer lit.

I was honestly really looking forward to reading this because of the fun cover but it was a little of a let down. I thought it was going to be a quirky little book full of humor and it honestly was not bad I just feel like it wasn’t for me. Nothing against the author or the story. I just couldn’t get into it.

I was expecting it to be a bit better than it was, specially because the cover looks so pretty and fun. I felt like the story was very rushed, specially towards the end which was the play and the actual focal point of the story. The characters were very unlikable and were always causing unnecessary drama every two seconds. I felt like the author had a lot of different ideas and wanted to put them all in this book, but it just didn't work. I did really like the romance aspect of the story and the fact that it was a f/f relationship, but there wasn't enough of it and it didn't save the overall messiness of the story.

This book caught my attention with its strikingly fun illustrated cover. I was searching for a book in the Pride section, I was delighted to find this fun teen novel that reminded me of a good old 90's movie plot. In short, this is a story of a hard working teen who is working towards becoming the valedictorian of her school. Her life gets a bit crazy after agreeing to help produce the school play. It is funny, cute and fresh.

I really enjoyed that this book has contributed to 'normalizing' diverse reads and making these stories more accessible to people , this book especially for a younger audience. It makes me happy to know that a teen that might be finding it difficult to find any kind of story that they can relate to, besides the heavier books created for adult readers, that this book will be there as a fun, cute romantic teen comedy. This to me, is the ideally how any teen's life should be, their biggest worries in high school should be getting goods grades and balancing their social lives, it should not be hiding and shrinking themselves in fear of bullies and prejudice from peers and family members.

There were some things that I did not particularly enjoy. The author clearly does not want to present stereotypes in the story, As the main character does mention that she hates stupid stereotypes. But I found that many of the characters were stereotyped. In saying this, as it is a teen novel, this might represent how these teens feel that they need to be to show who they are. I remind myself that I cannot compare how adults would think and act to how teens think and act.

I would strongly recommend this novel to a teen audience, I think they would absolutely love this story.

Review posted on Goodreads
Review Linked

3/5 Stars

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Second Story Press for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review!

I was super excited about this book because from the synopsis, it sounded like a book that I would love. In the end, the story really fell flat to me and I didn't end up loving this book. I think my issue is that I never really ended up connecting with the main character on a deep level and, due to that, never really connected to the romance. I found myself more interested in some of the side characters and their stories. I think the disconnection came from the writing and the pacing of the story. The writing was not my favorite, and the story's pacing was really slow. I found myself having to put this book down and pick it back up a few times while reading it. In the end, I thought the book was okay, but it didn't meet the high expectations that I had for it.

Thanks for reading!
Caden

This was really cute!!! Ahh!!
Honestly tho, there were quite a few points that I didn't like. For instance, I didn't like the MC and thought she was really very pretentious. But at the same time, I did like her humor and human nature. She felt real at some points so it was good. She did make a hell lot of mistakes tho, not gonna lie, and some of the misunderstandings / mistakes just seemed too childish and petty.

Nevertheless, I liked it. So Alison gets to produce the school play, which is ofc, Shakespeare's midsummer night's dream. And at the same time, she's also trying to be more open of her sexuality. The story basically revolves her trying to manage the play, fall in love, mess up her friendships and just well - mess up and then mend lol.

I but wished there were more scenes of the rehearsals. I really enjoyed whatever few were of them.

There were, to begin with, a lot of stereotypes in the story, which the author tried to tackle too. Like, the Goth girl who's an artist, the fact that a girl is a lesbian because she has a certain type of hair etc etc. Things like these crept up a lot in the book, and the author did try to counter them.

Honestly, the humor was good. I loved it, I loved how awkward and clumsy Alison was and her monologue was humorous haha. She was too much of a perfectionist at times and got into messes, but still her character added fun to the story.

It is a very fast paced book and the story literally starts from the first chapter, with Alison getting to produce the play. It is neat with excellent writing style and is cute and adorable.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an e-arc.

I’m so surprised as to how much I liked this book and how happy it made me.

But before we get into all of that, let me tell you what the book was about. The book follows Al or Alison who is in school and her dream is to be the valedictorian. She’s been vying for it all her life and thus, when a teacher asks her to produce this year’s school play, she says yes in the hopes that it would improve her chances to be valedictorian. Also, she finds it hard to say no to people. RELATABLE. The cast of characters come together to then put this play together and while all of this is happening, one of her best friends, Jack thinks he likes her and in the meanwhile she thinks she definitely likes this other girl called Charlotte.

This book was just SO CUTE. And fast paced. I flew through it because I’ve lived their lives. I too was an overly ambitious child in school and I too put up Shakespearan plays in my hay day. The characters and their relationships felt real, well rounded and relatable. I liked the points of discussion as well as the representation (lesbian, gay, pan). I would definitely like to see more of these characters in hopefully upcoming books by the authors.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and would give it a 4-4.5 star. :) Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

This book is outstanding! As someone who was a gay theater kid, this book was written by someone who has seen it all. The main character is Alison, who gets voluntold that she is producing the school's production of Midsummer Night's Dream. She accepts because she is in the running for valedictorian and she thinks it will look good on her college applications. She has no theater experience and no clue what kind of wild ride she agreed to. Meanwhile, since most people don't know she is a lesbian, she gets asked out by a guy friend that her best friend has a crush on, she's trying to be less awkward with the girl she has a crush on, and she's got to deal with her little sister. To complicate her life, all of these people are involved in the production. Add in attempting to bring together dramatically different and difficult artists for the set and costumes, an actor quitting last minute, and a closeted actor having a dramatic breakup with the costumer and Alison's introduction to theater is hilarious and real and I couldn't put it down! As a former theater kid, this book could have easily been a memoir instead of a work of fiction.

I adored this book, YA fiction is delightful and this work is fantastic. I read this book in one sitting and as soon as I finished I sent a test to a group chat of old high school theater friends telling them that it was one they should preorder because this author has been in the trenches- excuse me, been in the wings- and knows what she is writing about. The writing style was wonderful, it was a delight to read to the point where I almost forgot I was reading. The characters were well done and very relatable. The plot was spot on, and the book had me laughing so hard.

This is a very funny book for YA readers, and especially those who are (or are not) familiar with Shakespeare. It's quintessential YA and it's very funny witty writing.

“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆; 𝒋𝒐𝒚’𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈.”
- 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen is the debut YA contemporary novel, which talks about the main protagonist Alison Green, and her entire one year of school life. It is about being a queer at school, accidental date with the best friend, friendship, etc.

Alison is smart, witty, perfectionist and desperately wants to be the valedictorian (student who delivers valedictory at the graduation ceremony), she agrees to produce her school's play which is based on the Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. And the things thathappens because of her mind completely occupied in order to perfect her school's play.

So alot of things happen in this 300 pages book, but what I don't like is being called as "Gay" and not "lesbian". Atleast in fiction I expect the proper use of words so that people who might read this should feel comfortable with their own identity. But at the same time one time mention of the word, "Pansexual" really made me happy to see it.

I personally think the queer of this book should have been handled better. Overall, I personally think this is a one time book but I did not see the development of the main character across the story. I felt the story went round and round with her each day of school and play, and ends at once. There was no direction to this book.

I would have really loved the book if I would have got more of F/F love between Alison and Charlotte, which was really lost in the entire book. Overall, a great coming out book. The teacher whom Alison was helping producing the play was a very funny character.

Now after ranting what I didn't like let's focus on what I really liked about this book, is the funny aspects the characters had to say while they were practicing their play. The story female friendship the story has potrayed between Alison and Becca. The hate - love dynamic between the sister's - Alison and Annie.

Thank You to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life
Author: Dani Jenson
Genre: YA LGBTQ+
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ / 5
Reviewed: Maya

Alison Green is desperate to be the valedictorian. Agreeing to (co)produce the school play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is her first big mistake as she must learn to navigate academics, the play, friendships and her love life. Nothing really ‘wowed’ me with this book. Alison was likeable, but not your favourite character. There was a lot of character development written, but I didn’t feel that her character massively grew. The romance felt really flat and it felt like it had been written numerous times before (i.e. unoriginal). A lot of the book felt predictable and I didn’t have a strong drive to keep reading so that I could find out what happened next. The LGBTQ+ aspect of this book wasn’t as emphasised as many of my other Pride reads, and I found this to be disappointing. The read was very quick and light, although at times it did feel more like it was written for middle-grades, not YA. I didn’t love this book and I would have liked to have seen more relatable characters and storylines. I recommend reading this if you want a light and easy read.

I feel like this story could have been better. The premise sounded interesting, but the characters were very flat. It felt like they were written very stereotypically, and the events were cliches. The plot was very predictable, which probably would have been ok if I cared more about the characters. I felt like telling Allison multiple times to stand up for herself, and who cares about the valedictorian thing! The adults in the story were a joke, none of them seemed to actually care about her. Overall, I could see some of my middle grade students reading this book, but most of my avid readers wouldn't get through it.

Cute, quick read.

Alison is smart and motivated, but she lacks some social skills, including how to talk to the girl she has a crush on. Seeing her get into sticky situations because she has a hard time telling people how she feels was a bit funny, but also relatable. Luckily she has a great best friend and sister to rely on.

My favorite part were the friendships, especially Alison and her bff Becca. They had fights, but were there for each other and supported the other with their crushes and hobbies. I'm also jealous of Alison and her sister, they get along so well and it was nice to see a strong sibling bond.

This could have been a bit deeper and explored the romance and LGBTQ parts more, but it was a fun read.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review