I wanted to love this book because of the LGBTQ+ rep in it, but unfortunately it was not enough to make me love it.

This story features a queer romance - and more than one. As I listened to this well narrated story, I realized that the question that comes to mind is what it means to be 'out of the closet' - a question that the main character of the story needs to explore. This is a great coming-of-age story that indicate that relationships are important for a good work-life balance. It is written in a way that drew me in. I enjoyed this audiobook very much.

This book's main character was quirky in a very good way. She dealt with common problems a high schooler juggles including relationships, school work, and applying for colleges. I like how this story told the ins and outs of drama productions and highlighted a group of students sometimes not represented in YA literature.

If you are a fan of Jenny Han, the Kissing Booth books, then you will love this book. Alison Greene has always dreamed of being valedictorian of her school. She is so close, but it is a tight race. She will do anything for extra brownie points or consideration. Even produce the schools annual play. This year is Shakespeare, and it may just kill her. The book is all about Alison growing into a person and learning that there is more to school experiences than good grades. There is a Sapphic romance between Allison and an actor, but it is not the main point. I love how this book shows off how confused someone can be. Allison has never made a big deal about being gay. To her, she is out, but only family and her best friend know, so is she really out? And why does she have to be out? She doesn’t need the big scene, or so she thinks. This book is charming. Allison may be the main character and most things revolve around her, but it has a great secondary cast that will keep a smile on the reader's face and maybe even laugh out loud. This book is Netflix ready and is awaiting it’s curtain call.

I enjoyed this YA novel. People don't always get want they want, don't always realize what they need, but in the end, what is left is exactly as it should be. I found this humorous and not too full of teen angst. One of the subplots involves working on a school play. I got the idea that this was not something the author had any real experience with. There were all kinds of opportunities that 'theater kid' jokes/ experiences could have been used to enhance the book. I also felt Alison was determined to be in denial about a lot of things that make her unique. I wished there had been much more than accidental self-discovery. Still, it was fun to read.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

🌙 Unfortunately this book didn’t do it for me. I really liked the premise of this book because I love A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but this book just didn’t represent it the way it should’ve been done.

🌙This was a fun and cute read for YA readers but I just didn’t relate with it. YA can be a hit or miss for me. I really like connecting with the characters but I found this story was meant for a different audience.

🌙I did enjoy the humor and sarcasm at times, but there were other times when this book just did too much.

🌙I also think this story didn’t really represent LGBTQ+ the way it should have. I understand the author wanted it to be more of a younger view, but I think it was a bit too much.

🌙Overall, this book just wasn’t for me. I didn’t relate to it as much and didn’t feel connected to the characters. I really appreciated the route this story was going. I’m honestly not sure who to recommend this one to.

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I got to about the halfway point and unfortunately could not get into the story. I had a difficult time with the characters.

I’m 65% of the way through this book and I having a really hard time finishing it.
The characters seem more like caricatures than fully flushed out people and it’s full of a lot of stereo types and clichés.
I find the main character frustrating and annoying.
I don’t think I’m going to finish this book. I don’t plan on writing a review on my page because I don’t like to leave negative reviews on books others may love.
I can see this book being a fun read for a high schooler in the drama department.
But I just couldn’t get through it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early audiobook of this book in exchange for an honest review!

To start, the premise of the book appealed to me because I, too, was a theater kid in high school and I was really looking forward to a fun trip down memory lane. However this story fell flat for me in a lot of different ways, almost to the point that I would have DNF'd this book if it hadn't been in an audiobook format. (Re: the audiobook format: the quality was very poor because the it had a robotic echo throughout)

The beginning of the story had a lot of promise with the usual antics of a high school student and their social circle; but as the book went on, I found the voice and writing style to be increasingly bland and repetitive. The constant reiteration and over-explaining of topics/situations throughout the book was incredibly fatiguing and frustrating. Understandably, the book's narrative is coming from a high schooler so the immature and juvenile tone was warranted. But even so, one of the main character's driving forces throughout the book was that she was vying to be the class Valedictorian and the tone of the book just didn't reflect that.

Now to the element that really bothered me the most about this book: the delivery of LGBTQIA+ rep in this book was not handled properly with care and since young readers are the target audience of this book, it has the potential of being very harmful. The concept of "coming out" in this book was very harsh, implying that coming out to a certain number of people must be met in order for you to be considered valid in your sexuality. That is a very harmful mentality and not a mindset that should be condoned. And there were instances where not just one, but three, characters were trying to pressure others to "come out" or determine when they should "come out" which is absolutely not okay. The overall delivery was just a huge red flag and it's very apparent the lack of sensitivity readers this book was sent to prior to being published.

Overall this was not the book for me & due to how certain topics were handled I would not recommend this especially to young readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

This book was just fine. It was a very basic YA contemporary in my opinion. I do enjoy seeing all of the LGBTQIA+ rep and POC characters but it was just one of those stories that I think is just not meant for me. I am not the target audience for this book and that is okay. I think it was cute but nothing special.

This wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I did enjoy it. For me, it read more to the younger side of YA. I liked that Alison was a flawed character and she grew from that. Also, that her parents were so supportive of her. I know that is not always the reality, but it is refreshing reading a healthy relationship between teens and parents.

The relationship between Alison and Charolette was very cute and fitting for a first love/relationship.

3.5 stars
The narrator has an excellent voice and really kept my attention and held my interest in the somewhat repetitive situations that happened in the book.

I found this book left me torn.
The Year Shakespeare Ruined my Life had some charming and quirky moments that I really enjoyed, some boring moments and some just plan fanfiction cringe moments (we all know I am talking about the date/hangout scene). The lack of communication is sometimes understandable but mostly annoying!

I have seen a few comments mention that they found the main character's lack of coming out to her guy friend strange. However, I see it as sometimes people don't want to or think about coming out to people in their lives, and you really don't OWE someone telling them your sexuality.

I wish I had enjoyed this book but I didn't. It had a lot of potential to be great. LGBTQIA+ leads, diverse cast, school pressure, and societal pressure. Unfortunately it missed the mark. Alison is a toxic and highly unpleasant protagonist. It seems like she was supposed to be quirky but that didn't come across. I honestly hated Alison. She is judgemental, pretentious, and a horrible friend and she doesn't really grow in the story. (Not until she tells us she did in the epilogue).

With the exception of Becca and Jenny none of the additional characters have any character. They seem just thrown in. We have the gay costume director and his closeted boyfriend who moonlights as a sexist p.o.s to hide his gayness. There is an Asian character, Jack, who is used as a plot device and not much else. The angry goth girl who only responds in snide comments. The love story is also seriously lacking and forced. The teachers were all abhorrent human beings. It was also very repetitive.

I read a lot of young adult. It's one of my favorite genres but I will disclose that I am not a teenager and therefore not the target demographic.

Thank you to #netgalley for this advanced listeners copy of #theyearshakespeareruinedmylife. The audio was well produced and most of the character voices were unique and well done.

This title made me laugh. Even better, it made my daughters and some of my students laugh when I mentioned I was reading it since they found it relatable. While the title didn't quite prove true, it was still hilarious and a fun read. The novel starts with Alison Green drooling over the valedictorian trophy that's she's spent her high school years doing everything within her power to obtain. She even called the trophy store to find out the font that was used on it. So when she has competition, she has to amp up her game: she takes the role of producer of the school play despite having no background in theater and not being the biggest fan of Shakespeare. The novel winds up mirroring A Midsummer Night's Dream with all the antics and shenanigans that abound with mistaken identities and mistaken romances and date set ups. It works out in the end, but there is so much drama... both on and off the stage.
The social commentary on the education system and the literary canon sparked debate within the novel and hopefully with readers as well.
If you're in need of a Shakespeare fix that'll make you laugh - pick this one up!
The narrator was wonderful and the perfect voice for a high school senior.

3.5
okay so first off, this is a quirky adorable YA with a lesbian MC. It's fun and fairly light hearted and the audio was great. It follows a girl who will do anything to be valedictorian, including getting roped into co-producing the school play. Turns out the school play is a disaster. Almost no one can act, there's no budget, a lot of drama but not the kind theater needs, and some cast romances.

As a whole, I enjoyed this book but will recommend it with a grain of salt. That note comes with the fact that there is a lot of pressure to come out and "act" out in this book. The MC is out to those that matter, she is comfortable but apparently she isn't outwardly queer enough and no one really knows she's gay. At one point, her love interest makes a statement about having to publicly come out in order to be together or act more queer in because being in the closet is shameful. That isn't a direct quote, but a summation of what I recall since I listened to the audio. There is another secondary relationship between an out gay guy and a closeted gay guy and the out one makes a statement about how he just can't date someone in the closet because it's basically like being forced back into the closet. Yall we can't keep having this conversation. Coming out is personal choice and not always a safe one. Stop pressuring people to come out. Yall are valid whether or not your are out. You are loved and welcome and queer even if you never come out.

Beyond the conversation themes about coming out, this was an enjoyable cutesy queer YA.

Blurb: “Alison Green, desperate Valedictorian-wannabe, agrees to produce her school’s disaster-prone production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Her second big mistake is accidentally saying yes to a date with her oldest friend, Jack, even though she’s crushing on Charlotte, the star of the play.”

Meh. This was fine, but I’m not sure I’d recommend the audiobook. I wasn’t a fan of the narrator, and that can easily ruin a book for me. I hate to say I didn’t like the book because I might have had a different experience if I read it.

Thanks to @NetGalley and Second Story Press + ECW Press Audio for my ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, ECW Press Audio, Dani Jansen, and Rebecca Auerbach (narrator) for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook of The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to this audiobook using the NetGalley Shelf app. The voice actor, Rebecca Auerbach, did an amazing job portraying the quirky, sometimes sarcastic, all-around-dramatic main character, Alison. The narration was a delight to listen to!

Aliso is running for class valedictorian, but she needs something to really put her on top, something she can add in to her college applications. Accepting to run the school production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream seems like the perfect idea for Alison to get what she wants, until it becomes a disaster right from the start. Casting, costuming, and staging are all their own nightmare, and the cast don't exactly all get along.

On top of this responsibility, Alison is juggling finishing her last year of high school, trying to stay on top of her grades. This proves to be its own challenge, as her grades slowly begin to dip to not-quite-valedictorian status. And there's also the fact that she likes another girl casted in the play: Charlotte. While Alison is out to her family and had a good reception, Charlotte had more of a struggle coming out as pansexual. Charlotte loves theater and Alison cares about school, so finding balance between what is important can be quite hard when trying to develop a relationship. Alison needs to make sure she doesn't neglect her family in all this turmoil either...

I absolutely adored this book. It had some quirky Shakespeare puns, a complex main character, great LGBTQ representation, on top of the usual high school drama (pun intended, as Alison is running a drama production...haha..). I listened to this book in a matter of days. While this is great for a teen audience, I think there are some middle grade readers out there who would find enjoyment in this book, as well as plenty of adults that would find this book to be an enjoyable, light-hearted read.

This story, plot wise, seemed super cute and I really wanted to love it. However, the plot seemed to be unfocused and stray away from the main storyline often. For example, the main character who we are repeatedly told wants to be valedictorian and is obsessed with her grades, seems to forget about them a lot unless it matters directly to the subplot at that particular time. Similarly, the conflicts were a little rushed for me. They were over as soon as they began and they really weren't that important. Overall, it was an okay quick read.

I will start by saying the representation in this book is great (lesbian, gay, Korean-American, Moroccan-American, pan characters).

Everything else…not so great. I love YA books, but this book was bordering on MG, which is NOT for me. Despite Allison, the main character, being a senior, she felt like a freshman to me. Everything was so dramatic and whiny. I found her to be incredibly unlikable— all of her problems were completely her own fault, she treated her friends badly, and I felt she never truly accepted herself.

Much of the story was also focused on how “out” the several gay characters should be. I felt many of them were pressuring others to come out when they were not ready to and were punished for not doing so. This was a huge red flag for me — people should never come out if they are not safe or ready to do so, which is incredibly common in high school where you are still living under your parents’ roof and are surrounded by classmates who may not accept you.

This is not a book I would personally recommend for young readers, unfortunately.

⭐⭐

"Alison Green, desperate valedictorian-wannabe, agrees to produce her school's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. That's her first big mistake. The second is accidentally saying Yes to a date with her oldest friend, Jack, even though she's crushing on Charlotte. Alison manages to stay positive, even when her best friend starts referring to the play as "Ye Olde Shakespearean Disaster." 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." -Goodreads 🎭🤦🏼‍♀️🌈

I was excited for this one with such a fun cover. I didn't love it though... I truly hated Alison. I am sure she was written to be fun and quirky, but most of the drama in this book could have been avoided with some common sense. I know this is a YA book, but I'm typically a fan of YA and this just did not work for me. There was lots of lgbtq representation, but I feel like it was extremely stereotyped and just not done well overall. ⭐⭐

Thank you @netgalley and @_secondstory for the free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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