3-3,5*
It seems most of the reviews here say it was a cute read and they are not wrong.
It's fast paced, funny, and you could read it in a day, if you'd like to.
The main hero is Alison, who tries to be best in her school activities and that's how she ends up producing a school play. I think those were my favourite moments from the book - when the who group of unlikely friends were rehersing the play and preparing the decorations etc.
Also to me The Red Binder was a character of its own :D.
My issues - how could one young person be left in charge of producing the whole play, finding actors, helpers, getting funds etc. A few teachers help her but it's not much and honestly I don't know why Alison just did not say something (also she made soo many bad decisions but in her age, who didn't). Some parts were drafted but not mentioned again - like what about the Drama mafia?
Some of the characters very quite stereotypical - the "art girl" is a "strange" goth who does not speak much. The costume designer is a extroverted gay. I'm not saying this could not happen, just that is somewhat a "typical" choice.
But I enjoyed reading, the romantic line is very sweet, and some parts were very funny (while others were very embarrassing to read - the kind when you know the main characters is making a biiig mistake, but there is nothing you can do).

Fabulous and should be read by all those in high school.Highly inspirational. Keep up the good work!

In The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life, author Dani Johnson got some things really right and some really wrong. Alison Green, self-proclaimed nerd, begins senior year wanting to be valedictorian more than anything. She gets roped into producing the student play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with the thought that it will help her chances. Of course, her sister, her best friend, a love interest, and a few other characters make the play become the center of her life; drama, romance, and some hilarity ensue. I think Johnson got the interior life of high schoolers dead on--the angst, the obsession about ridiculous things, and the awkwardness that Alison displays. I also loved that Alison’s gayness was not the center issue but just a fact of life. But, some of the exterior school things felt so wrong--the timing of her college essay, the relationships with some of the teachers, the way the school play works, and the whole valedictorian thing; you’re either valedictorian or you’re not. If readers can get past some of these odd plot points, The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life is a cute, funny, and mostly accurate depiction of the private lives of high school students that fans of Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera will definitely enjoy.

Striving to be valedictorian Alison Greene agrees to co-produce the school’s annual play, not realizing she has been tricked and will be the sole producer of “Ye Olde Shakespearean Disaster.” Alison must navigate producing a play, a budding romance, and the intricacies of friendship, all while striving to remain in the running for valedictorian.

I am extremely happy and excited to have read a book featuring female romantic leads for main characters. I have personally felt the representation in queer YA and contemporary novels have disproportionately featured m/m pairings; while I appreciate all representation, it’s tiring.

I really loved the cast of the supporting friends and family who always had Alison’s back. They were an eclectic mix of people and Annie (her sister) and Becca (her best friend) were well-fleshed out and had very distinctive “voices” and personalities.

The humor of the book was well-done and I found Alison to be a very charming character.

The students in the book are mostly seniors, however, I do not think this book is really in the category of young adult and rather reads very “middle-grade.” I do not think the inclusion of queer characters automatically makes a book young “adult” because as everyone should know, sexuality does not equal sex.

I do wish the relationship between Charlotte and Alison could have been more developed. In the grand total of the book we only go to see them on one date and this led to the reader being less invested. I think a lot of the scenes that were spent on her having conflict Becca, Annie, Jenny, etc. could have been used instead to dig deeper into Alison’s relationship with Charlotte, as this is meant to be a love story.

Overall, this was a quick (less than 24 hours) read and very light-hearted, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank You to NetGalley and Second Story Press for this ARC!!

Alison Green, a desperate Valedictorian-wannabe, is tricked into agreeing to produce her school’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Alison must cope with the misadventures that befall the play if she’s going to survive the year. She’ll also have to grapple with what it means to be "out" and what she might be willing to give up for love.

It was a lighthearted, fun and fast read. The book wasn't all about Shakespeare's play but about the new experiences in Alison's life, how she deals with the ups and downs and the lessons learnt along the way.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy in exchange of a honest review..

This book was a cute and sweet read. It flew right by as I was reading. It’s is full of charm, I can see a teen reading this and thinking this is my life.

It’s a sweet coming of age story

I found this to be a pretty cute read but I did fine the main character Alison to be a bit annoying and it was pretty fun to have midsummer nights dream be in this book I just wish that there was some more in the book. I also wish there was more show don’t tell because Alison would continually tell us how busy she is but we did really get to see much of what she was talking about.

*My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review*

⭐⭐⭐ ! Very cute!

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life is a YA contemporary about a girl named Alison who so desperately wishes to end her high school career as Valedictorian. When she's roped into (co)producing A Midsummer Night's Dream, she has to learn to balance the show, her school work, her friends, and the love life she's not sure if she's ready to fully explore yet.

This was a sweet, relatable coming of age story. Alison was full of teenage dreams and not lacking in the sarcasm department. She was an enjoyable character to follow. and very much about her journey is something I think many of us can recognize trying to get through during our school years. Her interactions with her friends Becca and Annie were some of my favorites. There's always a need for solid female friendships in YA, and really, the world.

The "romance" aspect fell pretty flat for me. Charlotte seemed a bit of a cut-out character and I just could not connect to her or the development between her and Alison. I was happy *for* Alison when she finally kissed her crush, and later when she started to feel more secure about herself, but I did not have that same happy, bubbly connection that comes with a new ship. Aspects of the writing felt almost middle-grade to me, and I am not sure if that is because YA has been leaning towards the upper end and I simply am not used to it anymore or if it simply allowed the naivety and youth of the characters come through in a very obvious way. It could be a bit of both.

This flew right by. It was quick and sweet and full of charm. Definitely something young teens might see themselves in, with a youthfulness that's been slowly seeping away in YA. All around, it was a refreshing read.

Alison Green was partly tricked into producing a Shakespeare school play. Desperate to be valedictorian, she wanted everything to be in her control. But alas, mistakes happen and soon she found herself in the midst of a failing play, ruined friendships, strained romance, and much more.

I am glad I have read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" before reading this book. Otherwise, it would have been incredibly confusing.

Perhaps, I had my hopes too high. When I heard it was a queer story with a Shakespeare play going on, I had to read it. Though slightly disappointed by the fact that a lot of things happened yet it felt like nothing had, "The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life" was fun to read. It was certainly an entertaining book on the chaotic, awkward, and messy high school years we all worked so hard to forget about. And I am really happy with the inclusion of an androgynous-presenting pansexual girl.

Our protagonist Alison Green had made a lot of questionable decisions and ended up lying to many people. She had to mend her friendships with Jack and Becca, make up with her sister Annie, reconcile with Charlotte, etc. Through the process, I think she understood that pretending nothing was wrong by making up lies was never be okay.

"The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life" was about coming out of a mess stronger than before. Shakespeare probably ruined Alison's life for the better.

A pretty standard YA romance. But in a nice way. The characters are fun, a good mix of lgbtq and hetero couples. And a fun premise set around a school production of A Midsummer's Night Dream.

A perfect quick read for a lazy summer Saturday.

This was a very cute read!

Thanks to the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

First of all I want to start with the writing style! I loved it so much. You literally fly through a book. I think this might be one of my quickest reads when it comes to time spent on the book. It was so easy to read through and it was as if you already knew what was coming, but in a good way of course !

I loved the characters. I do have to say that I didn't really connect with them at first but eventually I learned to love them! They were fun and of course the main character didn't annoy me so that's always a huge plus.
I picked up this book also because of the name. When I read the title I just got so confused as to how this situation comes to be so to say.

The plot of the story is very well written. The pace is just right when it comes to events and I think many books could learn from this. I was never bored and thought many of the events were just long enough so I didn't get bored during an event that was supposed to be exciting.

Simply amazing !

3.5/5
This was a cute novel!
Alison was a very relatable character to me, as I remember myself being that over-achiever during my high school career.
However, it was a very predictable plot. It was a quick, light-hearted read and something I would definitely recommend to my students who like these types of reads.
The characters were relatable and were dealing with many typical high school complications, which made you want to keep reading and rooting for the characters.

I was provided an ARC by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is an honest review in exchange for the e-ARC from NetGalley. Thankyou to Second Story Press too.
If you're looking for a book about awkward highschoolers with highschool problems trying to tackle Shakespeare in hilariously misled and heartwarming ways, this is the book for you. While part of me was frustrated with the characters for behaving like, well, teenagers, I cannot hold that against them. What I wouldn't give to go back to simpler times of dealing with tests and first love and popularity and family. The author has done a good job of tackling "coming out" in 2020 and the representation of queer characters does not feel like a diversity check. It feels natural and the moments between our lead character and her love interest felt genuine and swoon-worthy. I just wish the book had more Shakespeare!
A review will also be posted on instagram.com/boookishfeelings and shared on instagram.com/purabi,ch on 16th May, 2020.

This was a fun and quick read that I enjoyed. I found the main character very relatable, but I did wish I could talk some sense into her at times. I loved that the main character's sexuality was treated as just one of her defining features instead of the sole defining feature. I liked the other characters, as well, and the different relationships between them.

The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life is cute, fun, fluffy, and queer as heck! That said, it didn't move me in any particular way. It is a solidly 3-star novel if ever I've read one.

Things the author nails: the queerness, the pacing, the teenage anxiety, the sisterhood!!! (Okay, I especially loved this aspect because how many books feature teenage sisters (who aren't twins) that are friends too? None!)

What I didn't like so much: the main character makes so many non-issues into big deals for the sake of plot substance, minor characters changed their ways without showing any real growth, the entire climax was underwhelming...

I enjoyed the story (for the most part) while I read it, but now that it's over I feel, again, underwhelmed. In the wide world of books, The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life feels a little like filler, ultimately forgettable.

Rating: 3,5 stars

“If you’re going to do a Shakespeare play, it may as well be A Midsummer Night’s Dream, right? I mean, all those crazy love triangles have got to keep the audience interested. She loves him, but he loves her, and they all end up in the woods together with some fairies! The story may be weird, but it’s not boring.”

I’m a sucker for Shakespeare, and Midsummer is my favorite play! The main character is producing the school play to get extra credited to maybe be a Valedictorian at graduation. She decides to take on Midsummer. As the story goes, Alison has to balance her work with her friendships, her love life, and her family. Things get a little chaotic, very much like the play she’s working on.

This was definitely a 4-star book for me, but there was something I didn’t appreciate, so I decided to take off half a star from my general rating.

Still, this one is definitely a book I’ll recommend to my friends once it’s out. The story is very light and it served me as a nice, fun company for the few days it took me to get through it. I can’t wait to read more things by Dani Jansen.

Thanks to the publisher for granting me an early digital copy on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really cute story revolved around Alison, a high school student producing the school play while trying to become valedictorian, and crushing on the coolest girl in school. I love books working toward some sort of big event at the end.

I thought Alison was a believable and likable, yet flawed, character who you could root for while still being annoyed with for being a shitty friend at times. For me, the side characters are what really makes a story like this shine and some of them were hit or miss. I loved Jack and was pretty bummed that he disappears for half the book. I enjoyed the B-plot with Ben Weber and how that ended. Similar to a middle-grade book, most of the adults were pretty useless except one doling out sound advice.

The book is well-written, funny, and has minimal foul language (2 f-bombs, a couple shits and asses) for those who are bothered by that sort of thing.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and read most of it in a day. I'm not really a book re-reader but I would definitely pick up a sequel about the same characters. There were some unanswered questions...

Cute book, but the problems that the main character faced did not last long and were solved relatively quickly. Allison's problems were more internal (putting pressure on herself) but the book's description portrays the problems as more external (saying yes to a date with her friend).

This was such a fun, cute read!

So confession: I secretly like Shakespeare (don't tell anyone it'll ruin my incredible cool reputation). A book about shakespeare, messy school productions, over acheivers, and figuring out what it means to be gay? The dream. Allison is my favourite kind of light-hearted protagonist because character that actually learn and grow from their mistakes instead of having someone else big-romantic-gesture and forgive them are incredible. So much less infuriating than 90% of light-hearted contemporary YA women.

This isn't a deep thought provoking read by any means but it isn't supposed to be and I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to read it.

This is a cute little bagatelle that doesn't really say or do anything: I'd say it's like the cover, quite bright. There are representations of different sexualities that breaks stereotypes about said sexualities, which felt nice in a book aimed towards a younger audience. As an old drama kid myself the exercises the drama teacher puts the cast and crew through (the mirror, the knot etc) feels like going home, so that's a nice touch.

Our main character, Alison, is co-producing her high school's play (Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream), something she loves to do, I think she has a whole binder with ideas. She, her sister, and someone else (I think) ropes in the resident, artistic goth girl to help with the set design. On the way Allison also get together with her girlfriend - sweet. That's about all I remember from Jansen's book. It's fast-paced, sweet, and feels normal. I guess normal is nice in times of un-normalness like we're all experiencing at the moment, but at the same time there's nothing really that sticks out to me, and I can't see myself re-reading this in the future.

All in all, it's a cute story, but not for me.