📚 Read if you like: YA romance, Shakespeare retellings, fantasy RPG, rivals to lovers (no spice)

I really enjoy a Shakespeare retelling and this take on Twelfth Night did not disappoint! If you enjoyed the 2006 classic She’s The Man, this book is for you! It was a surprisingly emotional, funny, nerdy, adorable read. In the acknowledgement, she says “this story is really about anger and who is allowed to feel it” and it honestly helps to sum it up so well.

Viola and Duke were so deeply flawed and honestly annoying at the beginning (but most teenagers are, I know I absolutely was lmao). But there’s a LOT of character growth and you find yourself rooting for these teenagers. I was also a huge nerd in high school and played MMORPG games so I loved all the nerdy references to fantasy worlds, Game of Thrones, Dungeons and Dragons, and World of Warcraft.

I recommend this to everyone! I think it has universal themes that everyone can enjoy and I think it has a really nice spin on the original Shakespeare work.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

A really fun (if a touch long), dual POV, YA enemies to lovers, opposites attract, mistaken identity romance between two BIPOC teens who become friends while playing an online RPG game and find themselves getting close in real life as they spend more and more time together in person and virtually. Great female gaming and queer identity rep and perfect for fans of books like The no girlfriend rule by Christen Randall. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was everything I wanted in a YA romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth (aka Olivie Blake): deep and also cute. Because it’s a YA romance, it’s pretty different from the books she publishes under Olivie Blake, but it still included a lot of female rage and political and philisophical themes. Overall, I don't typically have a strong desire to read books about high schoolers, but I will read teenagers written by Olivie Blake any day. Highly recommend!

4.5 ⭐ - Thank you Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Twelfth Knight is a YA modern Shakespearean retelling that delightfully twists the original tale into one filled with fantasy role-play games, football, and cosplay. I adore Shakespearean retellings and this is one of the cutest ones I’ve ever read!
Note: I know nothing about MMORPGs or football, so please excuse me if I get anything wrong 😭

10/10 would recommend this book for fans of MMORPGs, DND, fantasy movies and cosplay conventions!

Jack "Duke" Orsino is the football star of his high school (think football Troy Bolton) who unfortunately tears his ACL months away from state championships. Viola “Vi” Reyes is a geek obsessed with MMORPGs and whom others call mean, but really, she’s just honest (she's just a fangirl) (who isn't tbh)

While recovering from his injury, Jack gets into a MMORPG called "Twelfth Knight", where he meets and forms an alliance with another player, “Cesario”, who says he is Bash Reyes, Vi's twin. The thing is, Cesario is actually a girl - Vi herself - who doesn’t want anyone to know because of the prejudice against girls playing MMORPGs. While a friendship between Cesario and Duke Orsino blossoms online, an unlikely connection forms between sworn rivals Vi and Jack in real life too - and Vi is worried that if Jack finds out she's actually Cesario, he’ll leave her too.

Initially, I wasn’t too interested in the plot - it started slow, with many descriptions of the various MMORPGs, games and fandoms Vi was in. Vi herself was unnecessarily mean, like yes I understand being mad when you have to play with THOSE guys (I hated her ConQuest group) but she girlbossed a little too hard and ended up just bossing instead 😭😭. But I realised this is heavily character-driven, and they are written SO WELL.

They made me squeal, giggle, tear up and it was a whole adventure of its own.

Once Jack and Vi began interacting more, the pacing quickened and they were given more depth. I love how the author managed to bring out the different layers of each character and let them and their motivations grow through their relationships. Bash and Vi have one of my favourite sibling dynamics (honestly, Bash is my favourite character: he’s dramatic, he loves Shakespeare AND he’s a great brother?? How can you not love him)

Ravi lovers will LOVE Jack because he's the sweetest. He communicates with Vi to learn why she acts the way she does, and still, he stays. He also continues to help coach his team and I love that instead of lashing out at everyone (I would've been so mad if I tore my ACL and nearly ruined my chances of a football career) he was patient and took the proper steps to heal.

But Vi’s arc was the most interesting to me. She went from having her guard up and hating everyone else (she was faced with a lot of sexism for her interest in male dominated “geek” stuff) to learning to open up with those she loves. A lot of that was Jack: they had amazing banter and continued to do so even while being vulnerable with each other. Jack just gets her and they’re so perfect for each other 🥺

But anyway, the moral of the story is: everyone is a geek at heart. Even jocks. And I love that.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Tor Teen for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

4.25 stars -- Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth is such a satisfying follow up to her other YA book, My Mechanical Romance. They are not connected by characters or plot or setting, but thematically they go together and make for two excellent reads.

Viola Reyes is just trying to make it through high school and her busy life by playing her favorite video game at night. She's excellent at it but keeps that part of her life to herself. After Jack has a major ACL injury, he also starts to get interested in the game and finds friendship with an online gamer named Cesario. Viola knows it's Jack playing, but Jack doesn't know it's Viola playing as Cesario due to harassment from being a female gamer.

I loved how much discussion there was about real-life concerns for teenagers, delivered to the reader on the platter of video games and other TTRPG. Jack's future is incredibly uncertain and he turns to the escapism of the game to spend his time while he heals. Viola loves the games and aspects of character and world-building that goes into the RPGs, but has been left out precisely because of her gender.

Naturally, she has become very prickly and many other characters classify and call her "a bitch" even though it's a defense mechanism. Viola embraces this as it morphs into discussions of why she is protective of herself and how opening up to others can be a good thing. I honestly loved the frankness of the characters and how this book has very relatable plot lines. The slow development of friendships with other characters and even with the love interest Jack didn't feel rushed.

Overall, it had everything I've come to expect from this author! I know a lot of teens will adore this book when it comes out on May 28th!

3.75/5 stars

I'd like to thank Tor/Forge, NetGalley, and Alexene Farol Follmuth for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've been excited for this book for months, so I was delighted to receive an eARC of this book. And it did not disappoint. The whole concept of the Twelfth Knight game was incredibly well thought-out and developed, it really made the story special. But the other essential part of the story, the characters, also stood out in their own right. I enjoyed the dual POV from both Jack and Vi, and thought it really added dimension to the story. Jack was a relatable character for me, so obsessed with football that he doesn't really have much else, until he gets horribly injured and has to consider futures other than football. It's difficult for him, but it was amazing to see him grow his possibilities while also accepting parts of his identity that don't align with the football jock he's always been. And I had a soft spot for Viola, it was so clear that she was desperate to connect with people, but was so defensive. I loved that she had strong opinions about the things she loved, her passion made her a better character. I also loved how unapologetic she was, both to shitty people and about Twelfth Knight, WOT, and other 'nerdier' passions. As much as this was a romance, it was also a story about self-discovery, self-acceptance, and coming of age, and I throughly enjoyed it.

I loved this fresh spin on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Knight! Alexene breaks gender roles by making Olivia a gamer girl. The chat room banter between Olivia and Duke was adorable. The high school setting fit the book and I devoured each page. I’m knocking a star down because I felt the tension between Olivia and her best friend dragged the book down; it didn’t feel authentic and I could have done without it!

a HUGE thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc!

i absolutely loved this book.

i went through every single emotion while reading this and i felt so seen by vi. we shared so many of the same experiences and thoughts that i actually teared up a few times throughout the book.

and jack??? what a sweetheart. i actually adore him. his respect for boundaries was so refreshing and i loved how patient he was with viola.

both of them together?? CUTIES
i almost cried because of how adorable their interactions were.

the discussions they had in this book were so important and i loved that we got to see multiple relationships from viola’s perspective instead of solely focusing on her romantic relationship.

this book was everything to me and i’m about to become incredibly insufferable.

The more I think about this book, the more I like it! If you've read Alexene Farol Follmuth's other YA, Vi reminded me a lot of Neelam: unapologetic in her convictions, doesn't need anyone to like her (and therefore doesn't try to be liked), hardened by the realities of being a girl in a male-centric universe (i.e., online gaming and RPG). She knows she's "unlikeable" and embraces the "bitch" label (though it still hurts when she's called one). She's opinionated and vibrant but gets shut down at every turn, preventing her from connecting with others. She's somewhat allergic to compromise; she rarely gives in when she knows she's right, and she refuses to change herself to make others more comfortable. She outwardly appears confident in her own skin, though deep down she just wants someone to stick around and love and accept her for who she is (because don't we all) (though she'd never admit it). Vi shows TREMENDOUS growth from beginning to end, learning that expressing feelings (and feeling feelings!) is okay, and just because she makes a mistake, doesn't mean people will automatically leave her (oof, I felt this one).

This is why Jack, her nemesis/rival, is her perfect match. He is a people pleaser. He tries so hard to be likeable (and part of this is because of the color of his skin, which he talks about frequently). He's a football player in a family of football legends. This makes him so single-minded, believing football is all he is. When he's sidelined because of a major ACL injury, he has an identity crisis and has to rediscover who he is beyond football.

This book reminded me of Didn't See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto because of its discussion of sexism and misogyny in online gaming spaces. Like Kiki (the MC of DSTC), Vi adopts a male persona (Cesario) while gaming. She just wants to game without being catcalled or told she's "good... for a girl" you know? All is fine and dandy until she interacts with Jack of all people in the game (she knows it's him because he used his nickname "Duke" and his last name in his username, LOL). In a moment of panic, she tells him she's her twin brother, Bash. Over time, Jack tells her some personal things as Cesario that he probably wouldn't have told Vi. She lets this go on for way too long, but I probably would have done the same as a teenager (and DEFINITELY did equally stupid things, because at some point it's like "welp, it's too late to get out of this now, gotta commit to the bit" haha). This is all happening as Jack and Vi start getting closer IRL. Talk about an ethical dilemma.

I loved Jack and Vi together. They balanced each other out and pushed each other. I also loved and appreciated the tender moments between Vi and Bash, Vi and her mother, Vi and Jack. I teared up during several scenes!

TL;DR: Please read this book!!!

A Big Thanks to Tor Publishing for the advanced copy of this book!

thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc!

HAPPY RELEASE DAY IN THREE DAYS!!!!! <3333 i’ve been putting off writing a review for this book because i feel like no amount of paragraphs from me can pay it justice but well. here we are!

i love love love this book so much (if you can’t tell already from the rating). i had such a ball reading this, like this book was written for me!!!!!!!!!! i was scrolling through my previous ‘annotations’ from my first read to prepare myself for writing this review, and every charm, every banter, all the good things about this book just came back to me.

you can tell that the author of this book (alexene farol follmuth, i love you please do keep writing romcoms) actually had gone through the HELL that is often referred to as a ‘fanbase’ (a too innocent name for something so self-destroying honestly) with the amount of fandom references and terms sprinkled throughout the every-day-life, and how these obsessive, sleep deprived, chronically online (affectionate) average-internet-user-fan behaviors were ingrained deep into her main characters (most specifically VI (my love!!).

i have soo much to say just about this aspect of the book alone. vi ranting about toxic people in the fandom, vi immediately looking into a fix-it fic after a disappointing piece of media, vi (as cesario) telling jack about tumblr and its edits (my favorite one btw, if you even care), vi rushing to make a thread on how horrible the season was, LIKE DO YOU GET IT. ITS SO FUN.

having VIOLA REYES as a main character in a romcom novel was probably one of the most FUN i’ve ever had reading-wise this year. she’s so opinionated (which is probably my most favorite thing about her), whether it’s to us (the readers) or to the people around her. she’s confident, and independent but still with tons of flaws and self-destructive tendencies (avoidant attachment issues, isolation, etc) that she would have to explore and grow out of throughout the book. she’s angry all the time (mostly about how everything in the world always work in favor of the western world and men) and she’s RIGHT every time of course. her sarcasm and witty remarks are one for the books, and i could listen to her talking about how wrong everything is with the world for HOURS. she’s obsessive and a fanatic and a maniac when it comes to her favorite media (just like me fr), and how she often uses it and its fandom as escapism, and she’s sooo happy and giddy when she’s around the kind and excited people that share this same interest of her (also just like me). it’s allll sooooo endearing to watch. I LOVE HERR (can jack fight).

JACK ORSINO is also not to be forgotten, of course! he’s kinda giving patrick verona (add the likeable-to-the-mass par though) to vi’s kat startford, and i loved every second of it. jack is your average popular, attractive, glorified, but still very likeable and loved by all, football player in a high school setting from the outside, but he’s sooo much more than that in the inside. first of all, he’s also a DORK. his interactions with cesario (vi) only proved that as much (also the way he so easily grasped the chronically online language after a short period of time was really impressive, he could easily be one of my tumblr mutuals and i would not bat an eye). not to mention, he’s also a deep pathological people pleaser that i, for one, had no choice but to relate. we got to explore him having an existential crisis after the whole football thing went south, and see him tentatively and timidly explore more of his options in the world even when everything still felt unreal to him. it’s great!

*hey siri please look up viola reyes/jack orsino modern au angst fluff T on fanfiction.com*

do i even have to say anything more about them???? i love them. and i fear that’s all i have to say. like jane austen was very right when she said “if i loved you less, i might be able to talk about it more” because yes!!! if i loved them less then i might be able to talk about them more!!

few things i’d say about them though : i love their interactions and the build up to everything. whether it’s offline or online, everything was just! perfect! in real life, their banter and silly goofy behaviors despite it all captivated me. whereas online, their unhealthy tendencies to stay up late until like two to play games and fangirl while also criticizing obsessively about this show they’re currently watching ALSO captivated me. there’s just nothing to lose with them.

i love the fact that, while romance is the main focus of this story, it doesn’t make our two main characters explicitly only grows within that narrative.

vi and jack are both well-written and well fleshed out and both respectively have strong personalities in their own way, and that just makes it all the more interesting. how their roles in the romance aren’t what dictate their characters, but exactly the opposite. vi and jack’s relationship is the main thing to be fixated on in this story, but we also get to see how each of their relationships with other people broke and healed.

especially with vi, who often has trouble with letting people in, even those who are already close to her, and how sometimes it feels like it’s easier to just immediately take the gasoline and burn the bridge. her friendship with antonia (which is also part of the reason why i hope you stayed until the very end because their resolution!!), her growing friendship with olivia in the midst of it all, her relationship with her family (bash and her mom, which also has incredibly well writtej moments), and everything else. we also get to see glimpses of the dynamics and the bumps within the orsino family (although not as thorough as vi’s) and how everything comes together in the end. and of course, his falling out with his girlfriend, olivia and how it all ended up intertwining in this story.

(okay woah that’s definitely not just a thing or two. anyways. moving on)

the side characters are also soooooooo! i love all of them. the dynamics between vi’s family (bash and their mom) was so comical and sitcom-esque, it’s like a cherry on top. i actually did laugh (like real real laugh) reading so many of their interactions. olivia is so sweet and i love her. vi’s friendship with antonia is a bit rocky in the story, but you’ll see!!! and i don’t know. everything, everything else.

another thing i love and appreciate about this book is the representations and the constant conversations about gender and racial discriminations . again, why i love ya contemporaries so much is how they bring up hard topics like these and talk about them, but not like it’s revolutionary to do so (like how often hollywood does ekhem), but casually while also still bearing much weight because for most people, it’s a struggle well-acknowledged and felt everyday.

the main characters are diverse and each of them, at some point of the story, whether said explicitly or not, has opened up to their struggles as someone who’s not a privileged white man living in the free world of america.

this is a ya romance novel, but also deeply entwined with tonssss of social and political commentaries (mostly by vi of course) served as passing remarks that just makes it all more realistic and thought-provoking to read.

so. uhhh bottom line—woah this is a really long review isn’t it 😭—I LOVE THIS BOOK.

actually, it’s not a 4.75 stars (sorry i was just in denial) this is, to me, a full on 5 STARS. i love love love this book so much (oh really, we can’t tell) and i can’t wait to read more of her books to come!!!! <3 soo going to buy the physical copy of this once it’s available here! (ok i really need to stop now my phone is heating up but AJSKSKSGDL READ IT 🫶🏽🫶🏽)

“The game isn’t the dice. It’s who’s with you at the table.”

YA contemporary romance isn’t always my vibe, but I absolutely love Olivie Blake’s writing, so when I realized this was written by her under a pseudonym I knew I had to give it a try anyway, and I was so so psyched to be approved for the ARC for it!

As always, her writing is fantastic on both a technical and an emotional level. It definitely felt more simplistic here compared to her adult novels but not in a bad way– her adult novels are so genius that they often hurt my brain (again, not in a bad way) but this was easy to read. Despite that, though, it still held the same qualities her writing always does. It was a beautiful story, filled with complex, well written, and intensely real characters. Viola and Jack were both so relatable in different ways, at times it ached to read because you just felt so deeply what they experienced.

I was hesitant about the characters at first because they both seemed a little insufferable at the beginning, but as you get deeper into the book and come to understand them better, it’s almost like you get to know them alongside them getting to know each other. You start to understand how they go deeper than they seem at the beginning, and they’re not really so insufferable. They’re just people, teenagers at that, trying their best to get through a messy, complicated life. And aren’t we all? They were so relatable.

Vi, in particular, really hit as a girl that’s heavily involved in nerd/geek culture. I play dnd, I go to comic con, hell, I used to be a ren faire performer. Her interests were my interests and I understood so deeply her experiences. I will say that my personal experience as a woman in those spaces, while often unpleasant, hasn’t been quite as bad as hers was, but I also know that awful experiences like the ones she went through do exist in them. Maybe they wouldn’t all happen in such rapid succession to the same person, but the book was trying to get a point across, so I’m not really mad about that. The point is that being a woman in fandom/nerd/geek spaces puts you at an immediate disadvantage because many people either disrespect you or want to sleep with you or both, and that is true. Every woman in those spaces, myself included, has experienced it. Seeing light shed on that in the book was oddly comforting, and seeing Vi slowly come to find her space and her people and to find a place for herself where she didn’t have to feel that way was so incredibly special.

Also, while I haven’t read Twelfth Night, the Shakespeare play, I have tried to familiarize myself a little with it while reading this, and the references were ON POINT. Olivie Blake always kills it with the Shakespeare retellings, but we been knew.

Anyway, this was an amazing read and I’m so grateful I had the chance to read it. A HUGE thank you to NetGalley and to TOR Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Super cute ya with dnd and gaming and accepting love and not putting so much pressure on the future

Really enjoyed the friendships that Vi built
throughout the story! The slow burn was so
well done like like the pacing of the dislike to friends to lovers was SO good

Really enjoyed the queer acceptance subplot and how well that was handled by all the characters

Honestly no major complaints! Just didn’t hit five stars but a really bingeable and enjoyable read. I am such a fan of Follmuth’s YA books!

I absolutely loved this book. This YA has character growth and friendship. I love the dislike to like relationship between Jack and Vi! I will definitely recommend this YA!

Twelfth Knight follows Vi, a computer and tabletop gamer, and Jack, a star football player as they navigate their senior year of high school. I loved the online role-playing game and the text conversations between Vi and Jack as they got to know each other virtually, and their in-person banter was top notch. I haven't read or seen Twelfth Night, but I have seen She's the Man and this felt like all the best parts of that retelling, plus some delightful nerdy twists.

I genuinely got emotional reading about Vi and Jack's emotional revelations throughout the book and their relationship was the perfect academic rivals to lovers arc. The side characters were also exceptionally well-written, particularly Bash and Olivia. I was so invested in their story lines and would love to see a spinoff for one or both of them.

I'd recommend this to anyone who has felt like an outsider, who has had to rethink their life plan, or who loves to nerd out over conventions or gaming or television. It was a perfect coming of age story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

This book was absolutely adorable!! I felt so connected to this FMC as a fellow nerdy feminist myself. Vi's struggle to find herself and navigate her relationships while also feeling duty bound to being wholly true to herself, is exactly how I feel almost every day. I want to fit in but at the same time, don't want to compromise who I am. I absolutely understand that struggle and it was gratifying to know that others struggle with this as well.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy a sweet romance! This was an adorable modern day retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. I was a little worried because I loved the movie She's the Man growing up and didn't want to be disappointed, but this book was wholly unique. I loved it!

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!!

Based on the blurb I really wanted to like this book but it unfortunately was not for me. I normally love YA books and even retellings but I could not get past the FMC. One reason I could not get past the FMC was because it felt like she always had to be right and everyone should fall in line, it honestly felt so off to me, I did not like it at all especially for a high schooler. It was really hard to get into and ended up dnf at 37%.

It wasn’t a terrible book but it just was not right for me. I think others could enjoy it.


Thank you so much to Alexene Farol Follmuth, Tor Publishing Group and Netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review!

Twelfth Knight is an adorable and amusing story of losing and finding yourself, and what it means to open yourself up to love.

Viola Reyes is not the most liked girl in her school - the opposite in fact. But she knows what she wants and what she doesn't, and insists on speaking her mind. When her ConQuest group refuses to follow her new quest, she retreats into the online world of Twelfth Knight, an MMORPG where she plays as a male character - where no one questions her abilities because of her gender, and she can excel on her own terms. Jack Orsino has it all - the football career taking off, the hot girlfriend, and the adoration of the school - until he suddenly doesn't after tearing his ACL and being forced to the sidelines. Out of sheer boredom, he takes up the game Twelfth Knight, befriending a player that he believes is the twin brother to his arch nemesis, Viola. When a series of events brings Jack and Vi closer together, they start to develop feelings for one another they can't explain. But can Vi find the courage to come clean about hiding her online identity, before Jack finds out on his own?

I loved this book. First off, I love how Alexene Farol Follmuth can so easily switch genres - writing under Olivie Blake she tackles dark academia, love and loss, and mental health issues - and now this charming YA retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, I don't know how she does it, but her writing is fabulous no matter what. I really enjoyed this story so much, It is so full of feminine rage, and all the feelings I had growing up as a capable, smart, and accomplished female who struggled to be taken seriously. Viola is prickly, and with good reason - there's only so many times you can be told to smile more before you lash out, and Vi has had it. But she softens a bit with Jack, and realizes that she doesn't have to keep up that hard exterior all the time. Jack is also a complex character who needs to figure out who is is without football being a huge part of his life. And opening himself up to that, and learning to be who he is outside of everyone's expectations of him is a tough lesson. I thought the romance developed nicely, given that is a YA book set in a high school, and was age appropriate. There were many touching moments in this coming-of-age novel, and plenty of laugh out loud moments as well. Overall, I enjoyed this sweet story and I look forward to more YA books by this incredible author.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was just ok for me. I loved the plot but never really felt any chemistry between the characters. I just didn't buy the romance at all. I also hoped for more from the banter and messaging back and forth. Those aspects were so strong in this author's other YA book, My Mechanical Romance, which I loved. I definitely liked elements of this, and think it's well worth having in a high school library, but it didn't wow me.

4.5 stars rounded up

I really enjoyed this book. I'm not a gamer, at all, but this book was so interesting and the way that Alexene explains the games doesn't feel like you're reading a textbook, but instead like one of your good friends is explaining one of their hobbies to you. I loved the banter between Vi and Jack, and I love that neither of them shrank themselves down for the other, but instead, together, realized that they didn't always have to be perfect or anything but themselves. I really loved this book. I think anyone who's looking for a cute YA rivals to lovers book, this is definitely for you.

Okay I requested this earc kind of on a whim and it ended up being so good!! It's a YA romance but honestly I'd still recommend it to adult readers. If you like the like 00s rom coms like 10 Things I Hate About You or She's the Man you'll like this one. I think she nailed the vibes of those kinds of movie rom coms and it really hits the same spot for me as those movies. I also thought she blended jock and nerd culture and characters really well in this one without talking down about either side. I really liked the main couple together and the progression of the relationship both the virtual one and the in person one was done so well.