Alison aims high always, she wanted to be the best, she wanted to give her best. Everyone around her acted like high school was easy even her girlfriend thought she was over reacting but maybe it was easy for them but definitely not for her. But one thing that she was fortunate to have was a loving family who supported her when she told them she was gay and a best friend who always was there for her. Now, she is presented with an opportunity to produce the school play, the play her sister called ‘Ye Olde Shakespearean Disaster’. But she can’t let that happen. With the help of a Red Binder and her friends and the cast she tries to give her best yet again.
I liked the story very much for its about Shakespeare and how he ruined Alison’s life which basically is me. I still can’t recite one line from his work. It’s always hard for me to get the Shakespeare kind of English. Also its Pride Month and this book qualifies for that also🌈. Her struggle to get things done are so real. I wasn’t quite satisfied with the threat call Alison got cause nothing of it was said after that. As if it never happened. But on the whole it was a simple, light read and a funny high school play.

I did not finish the book. I only got to around 20 percent, and that was because I wanted to give as fair as possible a review. The writing here is just so flat. It’s boring. I wasn’t interested in anything going on, because the writing style completely lacked engagement. Also, the title led me to believe there would be a lot more Shakespeare than there was. As an English teacher, I was looking for a comedic ya book that could play well with my course content, but be enjoyable and engaging. I wanted to be able to suggest this book to my students. Not happening.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Alison is your awkward, average-looking nerd who wants more than anything to become valedictorian. In order to help her chances, she agrees to produce her school play and that's when her life starts getting more complicated. For starters, she has to deal with her best friend Becca, who is in love with her oldest friend Jack, but won't ever consider speaking to him and her crush Charlotte, who is way too cool for her. On top of that, she still has to study hard to achieve her dreams. This sounds like a recipe for disaster, but maybe things have to get really messy before they get really good.

This book was so cute!! The characters were well-rounded and relatable and screaming at Alison to stop creating messes bigger than herself was so fun. It was a light read with a happy ending and that was definitely what I needed.

One thing I disliked was the conflict between Alison and Charlotte, it wasn't built up appropriately, so I felt like it was coming out of the blue. Nevertheless, I loved their romance and I was cheering them on the whole time!

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cute lesbian romance!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC

The Year Shakespeare Ruined my Life is about a girl named Alison who wants to end her high school years as a valedictorian, because of that she accepts to produce her school's production ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’, but that's not her only problem, she accepts to go on a date with her bestfriend Jack although she has a little crush on Charlotte.
Keeping good grades to become her high school’s valedictorian, (co) produce a play, plus her love life: a complete disaster.
I liked this book, it was easy to read, cute and funny. I liked Alison so much, she is a perfectionist and a positive person, you can feel how much effort she puts on everything she does and how important it is for her, and I loved so much how she learns to calm down a little bit and talks with all the people she loves. Another point of this book that I liked too, was her relationship with her sister, bestfriend and family; I liked the interaction between them, how much they love each other and that they are her inner circle who will always help her.
I liked that the author talked about being who you are, and even Alison mentioned how being who you are is your own business. She seemed very sure about it, but at some points it actually became a problem for her and I ended a little bit confused about Alison’s mixed feelings.

The romantic history was a little flat for me, I didn't feel a connection between Alison and her crush. Another point I didn’t like was that some characters were there to interact with Alison but then they disappear, they were there to cause problems or help her to solve them and then we don’t see them anymore.

I think this book is perfect for teens because they would see themselves through the characters, their problems and also the good times. It was so good to read something so refreshing, it was really sweet and cute.

Alison Green can't seem to stop putting her foot in her mouth. This book was fun, and made me laugh at times. The quirkiness of the different characters allowed them to be well rounded. And the teens acted like teens, which I think a lot of YA books miss.

I do have some grievances, though. Alison Green does not seem to really learn from her mistakes. The romance with Charlotte was sweet, and made Alison a bit more likeable. The drama with Zack, and his in the closet boyfriend, was also a fun part of this book. I just wish the main character had more character development in all of this.

All in all though, this book made me laugh. I enjoyed the weird dramas that happened to Alison and her friends. It was a funny read.

Thanks to the publisher and author for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review! There might be mild spoilers in this review!

This was so cute! I flew through this book (it reads so fast!!! :)) and I really enjoyed it. I LOVED the Shakespeare aspect. I've read quite some books with something along the lines of a Shakespeare play or something in it and it's making me really curious about his works (I've never read them, not one, pls don't judge me). I'll be sure to check them out sometime! The story itself was a bit predictable, but I didn't mind.

I saw myself in Alison, I felt really connected to her. She's always saying yes and so am I. It's quite frustrating at some times, because you don't want to let people down. As a result you say yes to everything and before you know it you have too much on your plate. Also, overthinking. I do that a lot too. ALSO, can we talk about her attitude towards her being gay? She's like: I'm out, but I don't shove it down everyone's throats. I liked that, but it did cause some irritation, because, helloooooo Jack doesn't know you're gay so he's thinking he stands a chance. But tbh, it was funny to read about that.

I loved this book, the representation is quite good and I recommend reading it if you ever get a chance to!

DNF at 15%. Flat characters and dull writing which read more at middle grade level than YA. High school Shakespeare productions were a beloved part of my childhood, so I was hoping to love this book, but it didn't hold my interest.

A story that meets various adolescent themes, but above all how much a simple acting by Shakespeare can change your life. A small summary of the author taken from the book: Dani Jansen is a high school teacher. She should probably be embarrassed to admit that she has run as part of his school's Glee Club for eight years. She should also probably be ashamed to tell people he called his cats after punctuation marks ... Ampersand and Em-Dash, in case you are curious. She lives with her family in Montreal. The story is about Alison, a well-organized and studious high school girl who, to have more credits that will help her fulfill her dream of being a Valedictorian, agrees to direct the performance of the school. This decision, however, will give an opportunity for growth both to her and to her friends who will accompany her in this venture. The main characters, in this book from the genre "YA romance" placed in first person, are: Alison, the protagonist; Becca, her best friend responsible and in good control of her emotions;  Annie, the younger but rebellious sister and all the others who participate in the play. Each of them has its own story that will somehow affect Alison's life. The characters are not very developed, few descriptions and many dialogues, which in fact have not managed to arouse me much. Most of them were also a bit of a cliche, in fact there are a lot of stereotypes, like "gothic" or various phrases about gay, lesbian, korean and japanese, all things that I didn't like very much, but rather they bothered me a little. On the other hand, I have not noticed any narrative expedient, which perhaps has let the story flow too quickly. The themes encountered vary from love, especially LGBTQ, to friendship and adolescence that encompasses a little bit of both. The story is not very original, rather a bit obvious. Thanks to some features of the protagonist, which are similar to mine as her mood of being very organized and always wanting to be perfect, I was able to reflect myself in different dialogues. The part that I liked most is the date, which she had with her crush, it was really fun, like the rest of the book at the end. The conclusion was very predictable, but satisfactory in its simplicity. If I could change something, I would go deeper into the setting and the characters, creating more suspense and twists that, together with the fun, can glue the reader to the book. Honestly, I don't know if I would read another book by the same author because her way of writing does not completely satisfy me.
Do I recommend it?
I would recommend this book only for those who want to read something not too complicated, thanks to her colloquial way of writing, fresh and fun!

First, I would like to thank NetGalley for the Arc and letting me read and review this before the publication date.

The story is simple: Almost-certain-valedictorian girl decides to accept the opportunity to produce her schools Midsummers Nights Dream, and things go array.

GR Review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3323961350?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

The good: Shakespeare references, lgbt representation and romance, and collection of quirky characters.
The less-good: The writing and pacing felt weird a few times. The first two chapters were hard to read and slow for lack of any important action. It got a little in my nerves because every paragraph was filled with "I this and I that" it got a little annoying after 11 Is in one paragraph.

But then things started picking up, as more the MC became more active and started her journey trying to convince people to participate in the play, and that was a lot more entertaining, especially with the new comic characters started popping through the page. And while the conflict of characters making the MCs life harder felt a little .. forced. But I cant really blame theater kids for seeming overdramatic, can i?

Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable read, it made me giggle and made me smile several times. Overall solid and funny enough to get 4 stars, but not memorable enough to get 5 stars. If you like contemporary romances, coming of age stories, and shakespeare, this will certainly work for you.

Bit of a disappointment. There could have been a very endearing story here but it ot swamped by the stilted writing style, the lack of much actual Shakespeare (ok I am trash for the Bard but still with that title I was led to expect more) and worst of all the pushiness of Alison's friends and potential girlfriend to be publicly 'out'. The forcing a person t come out trope is old and we should be past it. It made the book uncomfortable reading. I am saddened that I could not like this more when it had such a promising premise.

I think the story was really cute, but the writing wasn't engaging to me.; it was dry, and didn't give me a good sense of the characters or setting. It also felt short - maybe with a longer book, the characters would be more fleshed out. Thank you for the review copy.

I really wanted to love this book - I'm a queer theater nerd, so a queer book involving high schoolers doing theater seemed right up my alley. I also especially loved the cover.

Unfortunately, I am DNFing this book about a third of the way through. I wasn't a big fan of the writing, and this book seemed much more middle grade than YA. I think younger readers would enjoy it more than I would, however.

I also didn't really connect to any of the characters, and many of them were very stereotypical. At one point, AP English is mentioned, but there is no such thing as such AP English - there is AP English Language and AP English Literature. I also didn't really like when the main character said coming out to her family wasn't brave because she knew they'd be supportive. Coming out is always scary and brave and even if you think people will be supportive it's still scary because you never really know.

<i> arc provided by the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

DNF.

I really really wanted to love this but sadly, I really just didn’t. I could’t connect with the writing or the characters and I was just bored whenever I did pick this up.

I think my age definitely factors into me not enjoying this so I think if you’re a younger reader, you’ll have a blast with this book!

Even apart from a writing style that seemed clunky and the main character being pretentious & insufferable, this book had no chance of becoming a favourite of mine. And that's because it does some things which I find hurtful, especially in literature for the younger audience.

What i mean is, the book is very clear about the rhetoric that not coming out is the same as being a coward. It makes characters force their significant others to come out, it makes characters break up with people because they're not ready to come out. It's 2020. We really should be over this discussion. Coming out is a very personal thing and no one, not your parents, not your friends, not your significant other, NO ONE, should ever have a power to force you to come out or to shame you for not coming out.

So no, I didn't enjoy The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life and no, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

There was a cute story at the heart of the book, unfortunately, it just took a while to get there and often strayed a bit too far from it. I was really confused by the mafia subplot, I definitely felt like it either should have been a lot bigger or should not have been included at all, I kept wondering if they were going to go somewhere with it but they never did. The romance started off cute and strong but quickly deteriorated. With the main character who we are repeatedly told wants to be valedictorian and is obsessed with her grades, she seems to forget about them a lot unless it matters directly to the subplot at that particular time.
One of my biggest issues with this story was the teachers. The novel seemed to flip from them being wildly supportive to them not caring at all about this student who they choose to exploit. I felt like the novel would have benefited from a Ms. Darbus type character who cared about the musical and dragged the student along with her.
Overall inconsistent plot, writing, and characters make this a 2/5 read.

DNF 34% - I have been trying to keep reading this book for almost a week, but it is just not clicking on me. I believe if I had read it like 3 years ago I would probably have loved it, but right now I find it a bit childish and boring... Also, due to the current circumstances, I am having a hard time to find a book that actually keeps me holding on to the pages, and this one is not helping. The writing style is good and the characters pretty well depicted, but the storyline and plot are just not my cup of tea at the moment. I am actually sad because I though I was gonna love it. Maybe I will give it a second chance in a few months.

Unfortunately, I could not finish this book. The writing wasn't really for me, and I could easily see me getting frustrated very quickly with this book (if I wasn't already).

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a preview of the book The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life!
I enjoyed this book's cute and often relatable characters. Particularly I liked Alison, her growth, and the friendships that were portrayed between her and Becca and Annie. However, while I did enjoy this book's main character, the side characters and relationships felt bit weak to me. It felt at though this book could have added on another 50 pages or so to fully give the background characters and the plot line the time it needed to be fully fleshed out. Additionally, the writing felt a bit clunky at times, particularly with the dialogue. Overall, despite these factors, I found it to be an enjoyable read!

Thank you Netgalley and Second Story Press for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Alison Green has a lot on her plate, she's desperate to be valedictorian, she has a crush on the coolest girl in school and she's somehow been tricked into producing the school play affectionately named "Ye Olde Shakespearean Disaster."

I've never read a book centred around a play before and while I felt like there was slightly too much rehearsal for my personal taste, I really enjoyed this story overall. It was cute, funny and entertaining and I loved the casual diversity and representation. Alison struggles in a very relatable way to balance school life, friendships and a budding relationship, making mistakes along the way but working hard at making up for them. There was a few things I'd have liked more time spent on such as the final performance and the side characters stories, but overall I really liked it!

This was such a sweet book. I loved the plot. I will be writing a longer review in the publishing date. Thanks for the opportunity ❤️