I really enjoyed the way this coming of age story was executed, and there were a few moments that touched me and I felt I resonated really deeply with it. however, everything felt very surface level, and while an easy read is always enjoyable, there was just something about this that was too easy.

This was an all-around okay book! I definitely enjoyed my time reading it, but it’s not one I would scream about from the rooftops about how amazing it is. It was an easy reading experience that put a smile on my face, and had the best character of Princess Sunshine.

This book didn't work for me. I found it too juvenile and overly dramatic. I love middle grade books but this is a YA and it felt way younger with how the characters acted. I wasn't invested in the characters' lives and not much in the story either. I read really fast some parts just to know how it was going to end. I really wanted to like this because the concept sounded really cute.

Name of the book : The year Shakespeare ruined my life
Author : Dani Jansen
Publisher : Second Story
Number of pages : 295
Rep : Lesbian, Pansexual

The year Shakespeare ruined my life I s a fun, light young adult contemporary novel about a high school student named Alison, who desperately wants to become a valedictorian at the end of the year. When she is roped into co producing A Midsummer Night's Dream, she has to learn to balance theatre, her school work, her friends, family and a potential romance.

Alison's interactions with her friends and her sister were my favourite parts of the novel. Alison is salty at times, makes terrible mistakes but also learn from them. The novel is full of heartache, laughter and rewarding outcomes.

Though the ending was a bit rushed, I enjoyed reading this coming of age debut of high school crushes, academic life, first dates, awkward teenage moments, angsty teen relations and being fully out to the world in one's own terms and conditions.

Dani Jansen is indeed an author to look out for!

DNF. I just could not get into this book. I gave up after 50 pages. I just didn’t like the story. It didn’t feel like real teenagers in high school. It just didn’t feel realistic.

2.75 stars.
On one hand, this was nice and easy read wich i appriciate and really like in some books but on one hand, i was annoyed with the main character, Alison so so much. She did so much shitty things, pushed so many people away - yes, i get it. Things aren`t always easy to navigate and when one is stressed one can end up lashing out. But, there is a but yes: Very quickly the thing she did was accsepted, forgiven and moved on with very quickly. Jack - he was extremely kind and accsepting and just went with it even though he did ask her out and Alison acted shitty. Alison acted shitty to her sister, Becca and Charlotte too, but there it also was quickly brushed over and that annoyed the hell out of me. Sometimes it felt like Alison did not see what she did wrong... just ugh. Many of the teachers were so nice and interesting, i would have liked to read more about Mr. Evans, his past with the theathre group and just generally his past. Alison had her okay moments, but i did not feel like she had a very big character development in the story... i wish we could have seen more that she actually understood what she did wrong, and yes she sometimes tried to talk to them and wouldn`t leave, but still, it was forgiven, looked over and moved on too quickly.

This book was really good. It exceeded my expectations. I loved the character development we saw and definitely think it deserves more hype

That was just so cute! I genuinely don't know if I have any other words to describe this. It's basically exactly all that it promises to be: a very cute YA read, including some great friendships, a quite enjoyable plot set around a school play, and a non-sexualized, genuinely cute and romantic, wlw romance!! I didn't remember from the synopsis of the book that our main character is a lesbian, so you can only imagine my excitement when I started reading it and, very quickly, realized that I was finally about to get an adorable wlw YA romance, where no one dies, there's no added drama, and the whole story doesn't revolve around a coming out moment. The author is bi herself and, honestly, you can tell. And you can tell because her queer women are depicted with an authenticity, a sensitivity, and genuine nuance that could only come from a person who can personally relate to their experiences, their feelings, and their struggles.

While the romance was a big part of why I enjoyed this book - and yes, I do wish I had a book like that when I was in high school - I was also a big fan of the friendships we got to explore in the course of the book. I seriously liked Becca, and was also a big fan of Jack. I think the only character that left me wanting more was Ben, who I thought would have been a much better character if he was just depicted as Alison's "academic rival" and not... well, that. I just think it would have been a bit more realistic if he wasn't an outright jackass, and was shown to be a more well-rounded character from the beginning.

Apart from Ben and his depiction, I thought the book was actually quite realistic in the way it depicted teenagers and their behaviour. Is Alison a good main character? Yes. Does she make really stupid decisions and mistakes because she is a teenager? Also yes. None of the characters were perfect and, for me, they all behaved like genuine teenagers, making mistakes, assuming things, occasionally even being stupid. But they were a lot of fun to read.

** An ARC was provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **

Reading this book was like getting a cozy, warm hug from a loved one; it lightens your mood and makes you feel good.

All the characters stand out in their own manner. Alison is wonderful in the lead. I loved her strive to be perfect in whatever she did. Similarly, I loved her family too. It was so endearing to read how supportive her parents and Annie are of her. Also, Charlotte is amazing and I loved her relationship with Alison. Moreover, the author develops some of the characters nicely that changed my perspective of them. For instance, I really disliked Ben in the beginning, but as the story progressed, I started to like him too.

At the same time, the author also wrote the story in such a humorous, feel-good, and quirky manner. I loved the overall theme to try your best, but it is OK if you are not perfect and make mistakes along the way. Similarly, there are so many moments that I just adored in the story. Jack and Alison sharing a date with Becca, Alison consoling Ben, the theater mafia, and of course the entire setup of the school play. I also laughed out loud during the warm-up exercises.

However, my only minor gripe is that there is a lot happening, so we don’t go deeper with the characters. For example, I thought Zach and Jenny were interesting, but they came only for a few minutes. Even Becca and Jack are prominent in the beginning but are hardly seen in the second half. The story would have been perfect if the author focused more on the characters.

Overall, I loved reading this book! It made me want to pick up A Midsummer Night’s Dream and read it.

Special thank to Netgalley for providing the eARC if this title. ‘The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life’ by Dani Jansen is an exciting story about a group of high schoolers putting on a play at their school. After unexpectedly being out of charge of the school play her senior year, Alison must figure out how to handle business on and off stage while dealing with friendships, a sassy younger sister, crushes, and understanding Shakespeare. This book was full of loveable characters, relatable high school drama, and theater hijinks.

Boasted to be a LGBTQIA+ book, and it just felts like it was using that to gain popularity in that genre. I know I am not the target audience for this book, but it truly missed the mark.

This is a relatively light-hearted read and for the most part I did enjoy it. Most of the characters felt very realistic to the high school setting and the theatre storyline was really detailed. I'm a theatre kid at heart so I loved the amount of focus that the theatre had in this book and it really helped me connect to the characters.

Unfortunately this was the only connection I could find, while the characters were realistic a lot of the side characters felt quite similar to read and I'm not sure I could totally tell you who was who at the end of it. I also felt that the coming out storyline could have been handled in a better way as it felt a bit unresolved.

I would still recommend this to YA readers but not necessarily to readers who are looking for a diverse read.

Objectively, this book was fairly poor. The writing was meh, the characters were very basic and the plot points were extremely predictable and typical. But I still enjoyed my time reading it.

♡ Allison was a good narrator and I also love that she was a lesbian because I don't think there are enough lesbian protagonists in normal teen romances. I liked her friendship with Becca and also with her sister Annie.

♡ The addition of it being about theatre didn't really appeal to me because I'm not a theatre kid. I don't mind Shakespeare though. But it was a fun way of bringing an unsuspecting cast of characters together to create drama.

♡ The budding romance between Charlotte and Allison was cute but sort of cringey.

O V E R A L L
I think it's just very obvious that this was a debut but there isn't anything wrong with that. I'm glad that the market is now more open to sapphic teen romances rather than just straight romances and this is for sure a step in the right direction.

This was overall a fun, quick read, however some of the content surrounding the love interest declaring that the other needed to come out before they could be together for real did not particularly highlight the story for me in terms of LGBT representation. While our MC does not seem to be too bothered by this, it still came actress as wrongful pressure to come out when no one can know when you are ready for that, and it invalidates the character. This trend followed with the best friends, who is straight, pressuring her to come out again to her parents. Otherwise, the story felt slightly younger and maybe would have been better for a younger audience in my opinion. I did enjoy the books humor and lighthearted moments a lot. I found the ending felt rushed and I would have liked to see the characters more than the abrupt resolution. If you like slightly melodramatic, funny contemporary stories then you will enjoy this!

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A cute and fluffy YA romance. The writing is good and the characters interesting.
At times the MC is very, very intense which made for some awkward reading
Also some of the events were unrealistic.
On the whole, a good book.

Cute YA love story. Was kinda mad at the adults within the story, how did they let things get so out of hand?? I mean, I knew it had to happen for the story to progress I guess but still, it was a bit overboard. Other than that, really enjoy the book.

*Dnf *
I really wanted to like this book because i'm a shakespeare fan but i just couldn't. I think it was not for me.

This was definitely a fun read. It was light and fluffy while still talking about being a teen lesbian and what being out means. My primary issue was that the story itself was built on a lot of clichés and a formula expected for YA books, and it made the story a bit underwhelming.

I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately I could not get into it. I do not think this was the one for me. The premise was super interesting, but towards the end to me it just fell apart.

I really enjoyed this one. It had a lot of great humor and diverse characters. The representation was super fun but I had one major issue that kind of hurt the book for me.

A major theme is the pressure to come out and I'm not here for that. No one should be pressuring anyone to come out, ever. Coming out is already hard and stressful, and the added pressure Allison must have felt when her best friend pressured her would have been awful. Come out when you want to come out.. Come out for you and for nobody else. If that theme hadnt been present I wouldve rated 4 stars.