This just wasn't really for me, and I'm sad because the cover and premise sounded so intriguing! But I will definitely share with readers who might like it.

📚Genre⁠
Historical Young Adult Romance Retelling⁠
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📚Excerpt⁠
“Of course.” Mother’s voice is flat. “You went into the lake to get glowworms.” ⁠
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“Yes.” I nod encouragingly. “Lovely, magical glowworms.” ⁠
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I hope that some of my enthusiasm might prove contagious, although if history is anything to go by it is unlikely that the woman in front of me is about to suddenly develop a keen scientific interest in the natural world. Far more likely that I’m about to receive a lecture. These can last quite a long time and require minimal input from me, and so I keep a wary eye on her but turn my mind to the question of what I should feed the larvae while they remain in my care. ⁠
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Mother lifts her hands weakly to her head, rubbing her temples: a weary gesture that I am all too familiar with. ⁠
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📚My description⁠
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In this retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, outspoken Bea is sent to her bohemian uncle in Italy for the summer after embarrassing her family. Bea spends a glorious summer with her cousin Hero and her not-quite-aunt Filomena. She meets the artists that surround Filomena, and falls in love with dreamy painter Ben while realizing that she doesn’t want to the life that is waiting for her at home.⁠
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📚How it made you feel⁠
Like I watching a movie that is a cross between Branaugh’s Much Ado About Nothing and a Merchant-Ivory film. (Someone please make this movie!)⁠
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📚Favorite part⁠
Filomena. She was just what Bea and Hero needed, but also a woman of the time who still manages to make her own way.⁠
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📚One-word description⁠
Light-drenched⁠
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📚Would you recommend?⁠
Bea is such an interesting character, and as soon as she gets to Italy you get swept up along with her. How could she not fall for Ben in this luscious setting? New clothes, new friends, new ideas, new freedoms with a hint of what is to come (talks of fascism and Mussolini). Even if you haven’t seen Much Ado About Nothing, I think you would enjoy this but if you have, then I think you really need to read this.

Received this book late and then the ePub version was hard to access but I finally got to read it.
Retelling or maybe prequel of Much Ado about Nothing by Shakespeare with Beatrice and Benedick. Cheeky and full of Shakespearean wit - this 1930’s tale set in Italy for the summer is light and easy to read.

An aspiring scientist and a womanizing artist enter into an agreement to become temporary lovers (for the sake of scientific advancement) in a prequel to MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING set in 1930s Italy.

Although this novel is marketed as "an adaptation of" MAAN, it is more accurately a prequel, a depiction of the "merry war" between Benedick and Beatrice that Leonato references in Act I, before the action of the play begins. While you won't find a point for point pairing with MAAN in the plot, the novel is true to the spirit of the characters and the tone of the play--both raucously funny with serious, heart-wrenching undercurrents (in this case, the insidious rise of fascism in Italy). For this reason, it would work well in a classroom, with the caveat that Ben and Bea do have sex (off-stage) which I know would be an automatic disqualifying factor in some school environments.

Shakespeare parallels aside, there is a lot to love in this book simply as a YA historical fiction. Beatrice is a nuanced, feminist character; Ben has emotional depth; the romance builds authentically; and the historical backdrop has the right balance of lush world-building and thought-provoking social and political commentary. I would highly recommend purchasing this book for your YA collection.

I really enjoyed this book and how the author told the story. The plotline was very interesting and I could really relate to the main characters. The story was super interesting and kept my attention the whole time.