My rating: 5/5

This was a really cute book and I was invested in finding out if she ended up with Charlotte through the whole book. Really fun to read as someone who did tech theatre in high school and university (and still today haha). There were a few Harry Potter mentions which I wish weren't there since JKR is a terf. Otherwise good book!

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I was not the target audience for this book. It’s more middle school than young adult.

I postponed reading The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life for months, but as the publication date approached, I had no choice but to read the book. It took me around a week to get through, but if it weren't for school work, I would have finished it in a matter of hours!

The best thing about this book was by far, the plot and the course of actions. This book was one of the lightest novels I have ever read this year, and I enjoyed that. The actions few by, but at the same time, I have never found myself wondering how I got to a certain point into the book. Every chapter had a well-defined starting point and a well-defined endpoint. Each of the chapters ended up where they were supposed to end. The reason why I put so much accent on this thing is that I've read an enormous number of novels lately, and even the most well-known ones had problems with this. All I have to say is that this lady knows how to write a grabbing novel!

All of the characters had something to do with the plot, and in the end, all of them helped Alison learn a valuable lesson. There were some I liked more than others, but that isn't something out of the ordinary. Alison was the main character, and what I liked the most about her, was the fact that she was an LGBTQAI representant herself. Many novels that I've read before do not have queer characters as protagonists, and this book was a pleasant change. We get to see the story through her eyes, and I think this gave the book a more playful tone. Becca and Jack are Alison's best friends. They will be a major plot point around the first part of the book, and that is all I have to say. Charlotte was the love interest of Alison, and what I liked the most about her character is that she was the complete opposite of Alison. While she was quite open about her sexuality and very laid back, Alison was always thinking about school, how to become a valedictorian and a bit shy. Annie was Alison's sister, and I have to say, their dynamic is exactly like the relationship I have with my sister.

I have been amazed by how diverse this book has been. I mentioned before that the protagonist was a lesbian, but the author also brought to light a pansexual somebody and a gay relationship. Also, the author talked about cultural appropriation and gender as a social construct. I wish she put a lot more accent on these things, as they are huge problems in today's society, but it is still good that she mentioned them. I'm thinking of writing some articles around these subjects, so if you want to see them, comment below.

There is only one problem I had with this book. I wish it had been longer. I think that if the novel had around 400 pages instead of 300, the author would have had more time to develop Alison as a character. She was great, but at the same time, by the end of the novel, you wish you had more of her. The book had the sweetest ending, but you wish there was more. Also, I feel like the ending was a bit rushed, and I do wish there was a lot more description regarding the opening night.

Overall, the book was exactly what I needed! It was a light, high school romance, all wrapped up in a diverse read which dealt on a smaller scale with interesting subjects as gender and cultural appropriation. I would highly recommend it for high schoolers and people aged 13 and up. Also, this novel is good for adults who are quite nostalgic about their teenage years.

A fun fall read great for fans of theatrical and Shakespearean themes, "The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life" is a quirky romance and YA contemporary with LGBT rep, fun friendship dynamics, and plenty of high school high jinks. 

When Alison decides to produce “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in an attempt to get valedictorian, she never thought it would be so hard. But as she crushes on the lead actress, butts heads with her lifelong nemesis, tries to play matchmaker to her best friends, and finds herself having more trouble than she expected getting together a good crew, the show begins to seem like one Ye Olde disaster after another.

With a heavy dose of humor and sarcasm, a flawed but relatable over-achiever main character, and lots of high school drama that doesn't take itself too seriously, "The Year Shakespeare Ruined my Life" is a great pick for rom-com lovers. A quick read with short and compelling chapters, the story has plenty of drama to keep things moving forward, and is interesting  and fast-paced enough that it can be hard to put down.  

But with an exposition-heavy beginning and the rest of the book feels rushed, the pacing of the book is overall off and the romantic tension is lost in the many other events which spring up too close together, as if the author is afraid of readers getting bored or running out of time to fit all the ideas in.

Although cute and fun, and somewhat relatable to anyone who has lived through the horrors of hell week of a high school production, the overall story doesn’t add much to the genre that other books haven’t done before and isn’t particularly original in terms of characters or plot, sometimes even sliding into stereotype territory. And, you’ll have to suspend your belief in some areas in order to stomach all the absurdities of Alison’s life, which get slightly more and more far-fetched as the story goes on.

Still, an enjoyable read for those looking for a story about friendship and high school drama with a little bit of female-female romance. I rated "The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life" 3.5 out of 5.

Thank you to Netgalley and Second Story Press for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

**** Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review!! The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life is out today!****

** Warning this review may contain spoilers!!**

Alison Green is a senior who is focused on one thing: becoming valedictorian. Being neck and neck with fellow student (and all around jerk) Ben for valedictorian, Alison is recruited to co-produce the school's production of A Midsummer's Night Dream (nicknamed Ye Olde Shakespearean Disaster.) Once the teacher who is supposed to co-produce the play leaves Alison to produce the show herself, she luckily gets help from drama teacher Mr. Evans, Alison has to put together a whole production team to get the show on the right track. While managing` the play, her grades, and her friendships, Alison meets Charlotte Russell who is auditions for the play. Charlotte is cool and would not seem to be interested in Alison, but seems to be showing her hints, even though Alison is not sure of Charlotte's sexuality.

What I really liked about The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life is the amount of sexual representation. Our main character Alison is gay, along with one of the side characters who on the production team who is in charge of the costumes. One of the characters comes out before the end of the novel, in order to save his relationship that has been closeted. Charlotte is pansexual, which I thought was very interesting to have that addition. Alison's relationship with her sister and her best friend was very enjoyable too. I thought that Mr. Evans was a great character and it is always nice to see a teacher passionate about their work, even though his plans for the play weren't feasible. The pacing was good and the events of the book were well set up.

What I wished there was more of was the play itself. We are at the practices, but we don't hear much dialogue, just Alison taking notes and occasionally leading exercises. I thought that the book would be more centered around the play, but it was more focusing on Alison and Charlotte and Alison, Alison's sister, Annie, and Alison's best friend, Becca. It also focused a lot on Alison trying to set up Becca with her crush. It focused more on the high school life and relationships than the play itself.

Altogether I really enjoyed my time reading this fun and fluffy contemporary. If you are interested in an LGBT YA contemporary with a high school play involved, I think you will enjoy this book. The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life comes out today, September 22nd, so be sure to pick up your copy!

This was a cute YA novel following high school senior Alison on her goal to set her up as the front-runner for Valedictorian by pulling off "co-producing" her school theater's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I went into this giving the book a much higher rating, but as the story unfolded, it felt like poor execution of character stakes and story beats. One of the subplots of the book is Alison's emerging sexuality and her interest in the "coolest" girl at school, but this storyline doesn't really go anywhere and had it been completely removed, the story still would have been exactly the same. It's a shame because the two characters have some semblance of chemistry, but then it's stated that one claims the other isn't "out enough" (for the life of me I have no idea where that conclusion came from; it was in none of their, albeit short, conversations) which is used to generate tension but it never feels genuine. Also out of left field is the rationale behind an argument that happens a bit later--but all of this feels so out of touch with the main story of the play. There were so many opportunities to mirror Alison's "real life" with the story of the play, and based on the love triangle date at the beginning of the book, that's where I thought the author was leading this. Instead, the story became a summary of Alison's days leading up to the play with a couple of confusing interactions along the way and moments that puzzle me as to how she was a self-described great student and nerd without every really showing signs of either.
It was a quick read and cute, but not much more than that.

This was a light hearted YA read with LGBTQ+ representation. I really enjoyed this fun and at times quirky romance, which was a quick and easy read. I don't usually read romance but this stood out for me and I enjoyed the LGBTQ+ representation.

I related to Alison's pursuits of perfection, being a perfectionist myself, and it was really interesting to see how the author tackled this issue. Alison was an honest character and that adds to her sense of character. But I would have enjoyed it even more if there was a bigger sense of character development and maybe a little bit more to the characters, who were a little flat at times.

I loved that this was centred around a high school play, it really sets the tone for the high school drama. It was an enjoyable, fluffy romance and I would recommend it if that is the kind of book you go for! The cover is also really nice!

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating - 4 stars.

Shakespeare Ruined My Life follows Alison, a high schooler trying to become her classes valedictorian. On her quest to achieve valedictorian, Alison ends up agreeing to produce the school’s play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. As readers, we follow her trying to deal with the pressure of pulling off the play, dealing with relationships, and trying to be comfortable with her sexuality and others knowing about it.

I like that this book showed genuine teenaged feelings. While I felt that Alison was a bit annoying at times, she also just sounded like a regular teenager. Throughout the book Alison is always dealing with trying to be her best academically while still trying to have a normal teenage social life. I have to admit that I did have a few issues with this book. Those being that many things seemed to be overly exaggerated thus making them unrealistic. My one other issue with this book was the romance. I felt like there could've been such great potential between the two characters, but it fell a little short and was a bit awkward at times. Overall these downsides didn't impact my reading experience too much and I still found this book to be such a joy to read. I thought that this was such a fun and easy read that had lots of great representation within its characters. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a quick fluffy book!

I read this for a blog tour.

I am a recovering theatre kid so this book spoke to me on so many levels. I have been involved in shows where things can go wrong, as an extra I once stood on an actor's stomach and thought I'd injured her badly (Romeo & Juliet 70s punk style, she was on the floor and I had to jump off a box and she wasn't supposed to be there, then I fell off the stage and almost landed on the mayor!), then there was the year our leading man got stoned on opening night and couldn't remember his lines in front of the headmaster, mayor and other local notables - as stage manager I had to stop our director/drama teacher from killing him during the interval. Basically I've seen a lot of drama on stage and off.

So I empathised massively with Alison, producing her school's Midsummer Night's Dream, when an actor quits, her costume designer has a relationship malfunction and she gets threatened by the theatre mafia!

This book was a total hoot, I was laughing out loud at times (cue some strange looks from my very own Mr Shakespeare, my husband (yes that is our last name)) and cheering Alison on as she went on a date with the hot girl of her dreams (and corgi lover), Charlotte.

I highly recommend this book to any theatre kids out there, or anyone who loves funny, entertaining books with heart.

This book was honestly not the right thing for me because I don’t think I am the target audience. This book is said to be for young adult readers but honestly I would says it’s better for older side of middle school. Because this book really dramatizes what high school is like and how teens act. And with this being so dramatized it made most characters annoying and stereotyped. With how dramatic and very descriptive it made everything feel so cringey. I felt that none of the characters were fully developed and this book did not show much, but it tells you everything. The ending felt very weird and rushed, and I’m not sure it felt right. And the main relationship in this book I did not really see it, it kind of progressed out of nowhere to me. I saw more of a connection of Allison, main character, with anybody else. The only relationship I liked was Ben and Zach, and you only hear about it. But I honestly did kind of like Mr. Evans because he was funny and I think him being dramatic was well for him. And I did like that this was an lgbtq+ representation but in comparison to other books this felt off to me. Overall, this wasn’t the right book for me but it is a cute read that I could see my cousin reading.

***ARC Review***

When I started this book, I wanted to DNF it almost immediately. Now I’m sad that it’s over. The Year Shakespeare Ruined my Life is a fun, witty, and relatable story of a teenage girl’s struggle with life, love, and everything else. The book reads a bit like a younger teen’s diary in a way that I think appeals to younger YA readers, myself included, but that might not be appreciated by the many adult readers of the YA genre. The characters are diverse and extremely relatable, sometimes to the point of it being almost uncomfortable. I was absolutely emotionally attached to all of the characters by the end of the book, which is always a good thing. The book was entertaining and filled with both laugh-out-loud moments and extremely cringy, awkward lines, though the latter decreased in frequency over the course of the book. The plot was mainly fun and lighthearted, though it has its fair share of heavy moments. The story also conveys multiple important messages and some things I personally needed to hear. The plot started out a bit slow, but like everything else in this book, got increasingly better and more intriguing and was overall a sweet and fast read. I have a tendency to write a review in my head as I read a book so I do have a few things to note from the beginning that really stood out to me as problematic and worthy of note. The first is the use of the phrase, “gay or at LEAST bisexual.” This just makes it sound like bisexuality is somehow inferior? Um, no. And the second is the blatant avoidance of the word “lesbian” in the first 75% of the book. What is up with that? Overall though, most of the issues that present themselves towards the beginning of the book get resolved as the story progresses and gives way to a legitimately good book.
When all is said and done, The Year Shakespeare Ruined my Life is a good book so what I’ll say to any potential readers who may be scrolling through reviews here is to KEEP READING, you may be pleasantly surprised.

I found this book enjoyable. I was drawn to this story because I love the theatrical arts.
The thing I found that most hindered my rating of this story is that I wanted more.
I found the story charming, however I was hoping for more of the play to be focused on in the end.
I enjoyed the character of Alison, mostly because she was a character I could see so much of myself in when I was in high school - the high achiever, perfectionist.
And the relationship between Alison and Charlotte is another thing I just wanted more of.
If this book had gone into more depth and been a bit longer I could have seen it being a 5 star read for me.
I will be picking up books from this author in the future!
Thank you for the review copy.

3.75 stars

Such a great coming of age story!!!
The things our main characters had to go through, the ups and downs. The heartbreak and happy moments. Everything was so wonderful.
I loved her family dynamic, her sister was such an adorable character, also her parents were amazing and so supportive! It was a lovely story to read.
The only thing I didn't like was the drama teacher... what a crappy teacher!!!! Everything else was super enjoyable.

This is a truly wonderful book. The characters had a wonderful backstory and a few had quite surprising secrets.

Alison Green, a wannabe school valedictorian takes on the role of "Co-Producing" the schools play 'A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM' only when the teacher she is supposed to be co producing the performance pulls out. Alison is left to pick up the pieces of crew fallouts, keeping the set artist happy, dealing with her crush on Charlotte (one of coolest people in her year) and helping Ben who reveals a surprising secret to everyone. As well as trying to produce the show on meer peanuts, due to an issue with the director/fill - in actor., and accidentally saying yes to a date with her best friend Jack, when one of Alison's other friends actually really likes him, just to complicate everything by 1000x.

Overall a truly wonderful read and one of the most fun and light hearted books I have read in a while. High praise to Dani Jansen.

This is a cute and relatable book about an anxious over-achiever who gets roped into producing a school play, and the antics (including a cute f/f romance) that ensue. She learns to stretch herself and accept imperfection in herself and others, and it’s really sweet along the way.

The MC’s anxiety and stress is v well-done. The depiction of the time spent by an anxious person during the time between technically coming about and feeling ok actually really dating/being emotionally vulnerable was, whew. Very relatable to me.

Unfortunately, it is also very stressful. It’s very in the spirit of Shakespearean comedies — it’s basically a comedy of errors, but I was STRESSED every time the MC made a plan to do two things at once or did a ridiculous and cringey set-up. Luckily that kind of stuff peaked around the middle, and the last 25% or so it was very sweet and cute, and the stakes weren’t actually THAT high, so I’d still ultimately recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

As a theatre kind turned theatre teacher and professional, right when I saw this title I knew I had to read it. The cover is also really cute as well!

Overall I thought that this was an easy and fun read, if not a bit predictable. I personally really enjoyed the friendship dynamic between Alison, Annie, and Becca as well as the fact that Alison and Annie, even though a few years apart, were very close sisters and clearly cared a lot about each other. I always enjoy books where there are good and realistic portrayals of family bonds and I feel like the bond between Alison and Annie was just that. I think that the strength of the book lies in their relationship as well as their relationship with Becca.

I thought that the friendship between Alison and Jack was nice, but could've been developed more. They're supposed to have known each other for years and be very close friends and yet they hardly interacted outside of rehearsals. I also felt like Charlotte was completely undeveloped, we really did not know anything about her. We knew that she had a sister, that she was out to her parents though her dad didn't seem to be super supportive, and that she liked to perform and that was it. With Charlotte being an underdeveloped character, her relationship with Alison was also underdeveloped. They had some really cute moments, I loved the back and forth about corgi's (totally on Charlotte's side on this one, corgi's are absolutely adorable) but I felt like the majority of their relationship was just Alison being unsure as to why Charlotte liked her but enjoying their time together and dropping pretty much everything because she was so focused on her.

The entire book Alison talks about how her entire life she's been so focused on becoming valedictorian and how hard-working she is but I truthfully felt the exact opposite. While she obviously spent a lot of time working on the play, a lot of that time was actually her not knowing what to do and not actually bothering to figure out what it is that she should be doing. For someone who was supposed to be so into school and research, I felt like she didn't do her research on how to produce/stage manage a show (those are also two completely different jobs which is not gone into in the book and they should not be done by the same person). While I know that Alison really was just doing this to have another thing to put on an application and give her a leg up on getting valedictorian, her constantly putting down pretty much everything they were doing got really tiring. I fully understand that theatre kids are totally weird, we really really are, but the way that she just dismissed everything they were doing in warmups and in rehearsals as silly or weird was just annoying after the like 3rd chapter of them in rehearsals. She also hardcore judged everyone who went along with any of the warmups and exercises except for Jack and Charlotte as if because one of them is her friend and the other she had a crush on and then became her girlfriend, they were immune to what she thought was weird about the rehearsal process. Additionally, I got tired of her referring to them as "lovable weirdos" every time the actors were clearly enjoying what they're doing. I know that it's meant to come off as adorable and her realizing how much she enjoys working on the show, but it honestly came off as very condescending and I found myself rolling my eyes every time it was mentioned.

I also could not get over the lack of competence in all of the adults at that school. The teacher who talked her into "co-producing" and then is literally never to be seen again? Mr. Evans, the completely unreliable drama teacher/director? Honestly, what director doesn't go to their own auditions? The VP who made a few appearances and was unhelpful every single time? The way that no one who worked in the school seemed to help at all and just let the drama teacher and a high school senior do everything? It honestly was baffling to me.

In general, it was a fun read, but I definitely think that there were improvements that could've been made.

It was an overall enjoyable read, though I expected a bit more. I really liked the portrayal of the high school experience, and I really liked Mr. Evans and the humor as well. I also loved the short chapters in it because I found it much easier to get invested in a book with short chapters.

I found the ending a bit anti-climactic and rushed, but it wasn't too bad in my opinion. I liked the amount of representation, but it's still a bit frustrating to see the amount of YA books that refuse to use the word 'lesbian' to describe their lesbian characters. It was used a little in this book, but it was barely used by the main character herself. Of course, it's up to individual people to use labels however they like, but the lack of use of lesbian in fiction is a bit extreme. It's almost completely absent. There were a lot of opportunities to use it in this book, but the book didn't take those opportunities.

Another thing that didn't sit right with me was how the book kind of pushed the idea that you can't be with someone if you're not out and that it's not enough if you're only out to one person. There are also straight people in this book insisting that she comes out to her parents like it's anyone's choice when you have to come out.

I liked the main romance in this book, but it didn't really stand out to me.

It's a solid book and I did like it, but I have too many problems with it to give it a higher rating. It wasn't really memorable to me, but the best thing about it was the amount of representation.

i'm not the biggest fan of high school centered stories, since those days are long gone for me and i usually find the characters either too immature and annoying, or unrealistic. but i did enjoyed this quite a bit. it was a fun -and funny- quick read that i think a variety of readers would enjoy. some humor, some seriousness, some representation and sweet moments. great combination.

When Alison gets tricked into directing the schools show this year, she bites off more than she can chew. She bribes and cajoles friends and acquaintances to make up her cast and crew, and tries to do it all whilst not messing up under the gaze of her newest crush, Charlotte.

What I loved most about this story was how realistically the protagonist Alison was written. Whilst I was in her corner, she wasn’t perfect and she made some HUGE mistakes over the course of the story - she was flawed in a way that was believable, but not unlikeable.

Another strength of the book is the great cast of supporting characters. Each one is given a defined personality contributes to immersing the reader in Alison’s life. The description is great and doesn’t veer into being overtly wordy.

On the whole this book was a light, charming, easy read and I was left eager to pick it up whenever I had some spare time.

"The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life" is a cute, contemporary YA set during high school. Allison struggled to juggle so many things - producing the school play, which she 'volunteered' for, keeping up her grades because her goal was to be valedictorian, writing scholarship essays, being present for her friends and family, and trying not to embarrass herself in front of her crush. Allison and her friends felt real and their interactions authentic. I disagreed with several of her decisions, but I realize they were necessary in order to show her growth over the novel. She learned a lot, and I appreciated the lessons she learned. They were things I wish I'd known in high school. The only thing that bothered me was one character's ridicule of a performance of Little Women, which featured men playing a few of the sisters. The theater has a long history, including Shakespeare's time, of featuring male actors playing the female roles because women were not allowed to act, yet no one brought that up. Overall, this was a quick read, had diverse rep, and I enjoyed it. Also, many mentions of corgis, which I loved.