omg I loved this!! The characters were developed extremely well they felt like real people to me. Also this felt like the perfect teen romcom! It was so fun to read!

This is definitely a cute story! It was not exactly what I was expecting, I was thinking there would be more actually “fantasy” in this book. Not just about teenagers who like to play fantasy video games. The ending was very predictable, but I still enjoyed reading this book. If you have watched the show supernatural and liked the character Charlie you will definitely like Vi. I would definitely recommend this book to others to read.

""There's no such thing as a stupid question," she recites. (Her mom is a teacher.)
"Any questions you could answer within five seconds of deductive thought is a stupid question, but okay," I reply."

"As far as I can tell, most marriages are just a man purchasing his own housekeeper, cook, nanny, and life coach, all for the low, low price of two months' salary towards a diamond ring."

Viola Reyes knows who and what she is, and she isn't afraid of being herself: cosplaying, MMORPGs, table-top games, Renaissance Faires, all AP classes, and what some might consider a bad attitude. Vi is a POC and finds herself in male-dominated spaces and places where she has to defend her every action and word, and she's tired of it. (Aren't we all). Vi loses herself in Twelfth Knight, an online game where she can play as a man and not be harassed.

Jack, also known as Duke because he's practically football royalty, is having a bad time. His girlfriend is avoiding him and oh yeah: he tore his ACL during his senior season and is out of commission for the foreseeable future. The football team was likely headed to State, and he has a college scholarship for football on the line. While Jack is recovering from surgery, his friend introduces him to Twelfth Knight to help him pass the time. Unbeknownst to him, the player he teams up with in the game is actually Vi and not her twin brother Bash.

What a fun retelling of Twelfth Night! This comes close to my love of She's the Man, which is the highest of high compliments. I really enjoyed how steeped in fan culture the book was (War of Thorns was a pretty clear allusion to Game of Thrones, and BOY can I relate to the scene where they tear apart the ending).

People kept underestimating, undermining. and misinterpreting Viola. I was Viola at that age, and to some extent I'm still her: it's hard to move around the world confidently and not be labeled a bitch. The depiction of how women are treated in fan spaces is so on the nose, I honestly got upset. Antonia is NOT a girl's girl, and the fact that she kept undermining Viola was infuriating. However, Jack and Vi's romance was so sweet, and I love how Viola didn't really change who she was at the core.

This story was so fun, funny, and engaging. My library has already purchased this title, and you can be sure that I will recommend it as soon as the street date hits!

So, full disclosure, I read this book 40% of the way through and then skimmed the dialogue of the rest. This book wasn't really my cup of tea, however I still want to give it 3 stars because I think this could DEFINITELY be someone else's cup of tea. I think this book really is geared for it's YA audience which is maybe why it didn't really hit for me. There was a lot of text about the game they were playing that honestly got boring for me. The FMC was a little too.. angry? I know that was the point but it was so much that I didn't even really like her anymore. I also think there was a lot of talk about feminism and inequality that felt very in your face BUT I think that may be good for a teenager. Also, another personal preference thing, the chapters were really long which makes it harder for me to get into a book.

Overall, not my fav, but I think it might be because it was written well for it's intended YA audience.

3.5/5

modern Shakespeare re-telling? with well-rounded female characters who play tabletop RPG games and go to geeky conventions? SIGN ME UP

I loved the cozy culture of the book and seeing everyone explore their love of all things nerdy was so cute but I think I might just be too cynical for this book. Vi is a girl after my own heart in more ways than one which made it hard for me to sympathize with any other character. Every time she was called out for "being a bitch" I thought it was a completely justified reaction and everyone else was being unreasonable. I wanted to defend her so many times because of course she could be nicer about it but she sure as hell doesn't have to be! Although I admire her personal growth and her attempt to connect with her friends and family, I'm glad she got to do it on her terms and not because she was trying to placate someone else's feelings.

I always find it interesting when authors shift between age groups and how many changes they make to their voices. when I first read some of Follmuth's adult content, specifically Alone with You in the Ether, I knew they had a very specific outlook that some may not understand fully it is one of my favourite books. I saw a lot of tonal similarities between the two books, just a bit simplified for the YA audience which was cool to see.

thank you to netgalley and tor publishing group for the e-arc!

This is one of the most difficult ratings I have ever given. I struggle because I binge read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it in one day. However, there were some deep flaws I found within it that I can’t quite ignore. I believe that the purpose of this book was to show different difficulties that high schoolers will need to overcome from college decisions to discovering who you are to major life setbacks, all of which are important and interesting topics. Unfortunately, I felt as though only one of those was accurately resolved.

I will start with the two main characters: Vi and Jack. Vi is a classic nerdy/geeky girl who is part of the ASB group. She spends her days studying and free time playing RPG’s, sewing con outfits and overall participating in anything classified as geeky (no shade in the use of that word, I myself love all of the same things she did!). Jack, on the other hand, is the high school football star who happens upon an injury that sets back his entire life.

From the very start of this book I struggled greatly to relate to Vi. Her character is meant to show you that it is okay to take up space as a woman and that you can speak out for yourself. I loved this concept, but the execution fell a bit flat. The first chapter I remember with Vi, she is snapping at every male who opened his mouth and internally monologuing about how every man is stupid. I think because of this, whenever she did try to take up space it felt more like a vendetta against men than it did standing up for herself. There was one excellent example of a “nice guy” where I thought Vi’s reaction made sense, but the rest of the time it felt as thought we readers were missing some of the backstory. Perhaps this will be resolved by publication, but I think there just needed to be MORE here.

Jack on the other hand I greatly enjoyed reading! He handled his situation very well and had strong emotional maturity. He was a jock, and owned it, but also opened himself up to other interests and people. He had setback after setback take place, but never gave up and kept going. Additionally, he wasn’t a bland “go getter” character and did have real emotions that he processed throughout the book. Overall, I LOVED his perspective.

I think what I struggled with most in this book was I kept wanting more. There were numerous relationships that were dissolved between Vi and <insert character> and I felt as though they weren’t really resolved. They would go from not speaking, to basic apologies, to besties again. I would have LOVED to see deeper discussions into the characters actually resolving or at least talking about the initial issues. Similarly, I wanted to see more self reflection from Vi. For me, I was very sad that she went from a somewhat cruel and loud woman to a self deprecating one by the end. This in part felt like it was because everyone around her kept telling her to give in, and she eventually just agreed that she was the bad guy.

Finally, I struggled with the fact that Vi’s twin brother Bash was the only one to call her out on lying and her actual issues. Everyone else just kept excusing her saying that she probably had good reasons-even a priest did! Part of my issue with this was toward the end when her relationship with Bash was brought up and without spoilers, it felt like this topic came out of nowhere. I wonder if future edits may resolve this or even remove this conversation as it was very odd to me.

Overall this was a genuinely enjoyable book. I just wish I had gotten a little more out of it.

“You can’t convince me that you’re heartless, Viola. I hate to tell you this, but you’re not as cleverly disguised as you think.”

Viola is constantly fighting against people's expectations of her as a girl who loves D&D, video games, and cosplaying. Jake is hailed as the top player on his football team, but suffers an injury that may make him lose everything he's been working towards. No one would expect they would become friends, but maybe everyone is wrong.

I wanted to love this book, and there were a lot of reasons to love it: Nerdy FMC, fantasy/comic con references, Shakespeare retelling. However, this book fell flat for me because of the unlikeable characters. I almost DNFed at 30% since all the characters (except Bash!) were really annoying or frustrating to me for various reasons. At the end, I did find that the characters were not as bad, but I still didn't love the character arcs enough to rate it higher. I definitely think some people would love this, but it was not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book!

This was a lovely ya romance. I enjoyed the theme of the book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc. I will always be a fan of this author.

I really think young adult contemporary fiction is where AFF shines. I would love to see her write even more of these kinds of stories. Her fantasy can often feel convoluted and like a lot of aimless info dumping. However, these stories are so hilarious, fun, and reminiscent of Jesse Q Sutanto silly humor, which I love.

4.5 stars for this love letter to learning that you don’t have to abide by society’s conception of who you should be and allowing others in to see you for who you really are, when you may not even see yourself. This was love letter of acceptance; acceptance that life doesn’t always go the way we planned, but also accepting that it also opens other doors for paths we didn’t initially see. I loved Vi and her unapologetic views. I loved Jack for his heart and how they both learned to give, take, and let go. I loved the “geekiness” and the fandoms. I devoured this book and I enjoyed all of the perspectives. I will definitely be buying this for my shelves on release day to read again and enjoy all over. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy.

Another great YA book from Alexene - I loved My Mechanical Romance last year, and I loved Twelfth Knight. I don't know what magic she puts into these books, but it works. I loved Viola and Jack,, Viola and Bash's interactions, and the gaming aspect of the book. All the characters were well developed. I absolutely recommend this for any YA reader.

An absolute no-brainer 5-star read! The story was filled with subtle, enjoyable details that were so fun, but at the same time, the maturity and the way the conversations flowed made it feel realistic. While reading it felt like there was a coming-of-age movie playing in my mind, and I felt nostalgic the entire time. Vi's tough and hostile exterior honestly drew me in; her journey to embrace vulnerability was incredibly relatable. I loved her sass and realness, even though she definitely would’ve made me cry had I been on the other end of her words 😂. Despite her seeming certainty, her emotional growth stuck with me and helped my own realizations, even as a 23-year-old woman. I think that’s the beauty of reading YA, you can still learn so much even as an adult. I appreciated that Jack, despite being your typical YA football jock, wasn’t portrayed as a rude and dumb individual. His charm really masked his insecurities and you could tell that he played into a role he was given so well, even he believed he was unstoppable. Truly, the cutest opposites attract, jock, and nerd romance.

As someone who goes to conventions, like DragonCon, when Alexene Farol Follmuth described MagiCon, you could tell she had a true appreciation for the community because the sentiment towards it was so positive. But, I especially love that she didn’t shy away from talking about the toxic nature of the gaming and convention community, specifically towards women.
Overall, I absolutely loved her presentation of MagiCon, and it made me miss DragonCon (or conventions in general) so much.

I wish I had this book when I was in HS. I know I would’ve benefited from the conversations & emotional maturity.

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for providing me an advanced e-arc in exchange for an honest review! Twelfth Knight publishes May 28, 2024!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for approving me for an eARC of this book!

SHUT UPPPPP, THIS WAS SO CUTE! Okay, as a female gamer who was HEAVY into MMORPGs, this book felt in particular very important to me. The whole reason why Viola played as a male character? It's a real thing that happens. Gaming spaces can feel really unsafe sometimes to female gamers, but I think its more prevalent in arena games or FPS games (not the point, it still happens and it shouldn't!).

I think I connected better to Olivie Blake's writing in a YA format better than I did for her adult books, but I definitely caught hints of her distinct, intellectual writing style. But as always, this book was well written and the main characters were smart and intuitive and really mature for being high schoolers.

The character arcs for both Viola and Jack were heartbreakingly good, but I loved how everything ended up for them. The side characters were perfect, with their own frustrations but still perfectly fitting in with the main characters struggles. This was very much a character driven novel, and honestly I love those the most. So 100% totally loved this - the only mild thing that didn't really work for me was the Shakespeare aspect, but that's just because I never got into that and I'm not knocking that in my rating. 5/5 recommend, loved this!!

4/5 Stars

Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Grumpy X Sunshine
Slow Burn

Quite possibly the cutest little YA romcom (more comedy than romance in my opinion) I have read this year! I am a HUGE Shakespeare fan so when I saw this book on NetGalley I became giddy with joy and immediately signed up for it! Retellings are always a joy to read!

This book reiterates why I love dual pov books, you get to see what both MCs are thinking and the slow progression of their relationship from both sides. I'm a huge fan of seeing the MMC's falling for the girl, its always so fun to me to read the moment when they realize that "hey I think I like/am in love with her".

I felt for Viola; everyone made her out to be a mean spirited. But in reality she was just your normal angry teenage just trying to figure out how to regulate her emotions. Her being labeled as mean spirited gave her the ability to use that as a crutch when it comes to interacting with people. I really enjoyed the growth she had, opening up an getting more control over her emotions. The book touched on some pretty heavy topics while still being fun and lighthearted.

It's not filled with romance which makes this the perfect book for those who are just starting to dip their toes in the romance world. This truly was a perfect coming of age story with its lightheartedness.

Thank you to Tor Publishing and NetGalley for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.


I'm a sucker for Shakespeare retellings in general but especially Twelfth Night. The 1996 adaption (With Tobey Stephens doing the absolute most) was my introduction to The Bard and I've been hooked ever since. I also love a prickly heroine so this felt like it was meant for me.


Review: I'm sad to say that I DNF'd the book at around 8 percent. The book is written in present tense-first person, switching from Orsino and Viola's POV's. While this does give you some interesting insights into their feeling (Especially about their "stations" in life), I found that I didn't really enjoy being in their heads. And I don't mean just Viola, my angry little nugget but Jack as well. Also, I was hoping for some of the spark and humor that the play had but I didn't see it. Perhaps it comes later in the book. Admittedly, my executive function has been on the fritz and I might be burned out on YA so it's not entirely this book's fault. Maybe I'll return to this in the future but for now, it's a no for me.



Now, it that's all you wanted to know, you can skip the rest of it but I'm gonna ramble about why I will probably feel overprotective about this book.



So both leads of this book are POC. Viola is Latine (Possibly afro-Latine, I didn't get that far) and Jack is Black. As mainstream as nerd culture has gotten over the past few years, it's still shockingly rare to see BIPOC faces showcased. At the red carpet on the 2018 movie, Solo: A Star Wars story, star Thandie Newton wore a dress with drawings of all of the Black Star Wars characters at that time. Including herself, it was less than 10 people. And that's still not mentioning the vitriolic hatred the Fandom Menace spews whenever someone not a white dude gets showcased.

As someone who remembers who hard it was to be a BIPOC female teen, it's really hard to be in a space and love something that doesn't make you feel safe. That doesn't seem to love you back and we see that in Vi's anger.



Yes, Vi is prickly to the point of unlikeable in this. Granted, I didn't finish it so I don't know how far she goes but I remember being her. I thankfully had the safe places to geek out about SFF with my guy friends but yeah, it was rough. I remember the need to prove myself to people who didn't matter, acting as gatekeeper to newcomers, the frustration at everything. And I was fat so while I didn't deal with the Nice Guys hitting on me, it still sucked. Also who wasn't incredibly annoying as a teenager? Again, I remember being a teen and respectfully, I was the worst.



I'm really glad that we're getting a book with BIPOC teens in these spaces and talking about the racist, sexist (Internalized and otherwise) in the geeky spaces. Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me, which is fine!



Twelfth Night comes out May 28th, 2024.



TW: Racism, sexism, injury,

3/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen Publishing Group for an ARC of Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth in exchange for an honest SPOILER FREE review.

Twelfth Knight follows teens Viola Reyes and Jack “Duke” Orsino as they navigate through their own trials and tribulations. A good book that is about finding yourself and allowing others to see it. This is definitely a YA book and would appeal to a range of readers, from athletes to geeks alike.

The pacing of the book was decent with only a few down spots, prose was good and the setting fantastic. Character development was the shining spot of this book for me. At the end I really felt that I got to know the two main characters and who there are as people, the struggles that they deal with internally, and how they grow from them. Even some of the minor characters in the book get backstory that adds another level of depth and understanding.

Overall I recommend reading Twelfth Knight if your into YA RomCom books. Although this book isn’t necessarily one that I would typically read I can appreciate it for what it is and the story that was told. I did find the plot to be predictable, however, it did keep me engaged and wanting to keep reading until the end. Overall I am giving this book 3/5 stars due to predictable plot, and the fact that the pacing could have been better.

Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night that follows high schoolers Vi and Jack as they are making their way through high school. Jack is a football star but a knee injury puts him out for the season and he ends up playing an online game. He quickly makes a friend in the game but unknown to him, that friend is his rival at school, Viola. Hijinks begin to ensue as these two become close online while trying not to tear into each other at school.

I loved this book. I did read Twelfth Night before starting this so I could pick up on the references and I am glad I did because I think it really added to my experience. This is exactly the rivals-to-lovers story I love. Both characters have povs so you get to see what both of them are thinking and in the beginning, they really dislike each other. I thought all the gaming stuff was really fun. I want to play that game now! I love any book that talks about cons and fandoms and this did it perfectly.

This book also really gets into how differently men and women are treated in these kinds of circles. There is such a huge stereotype that women cannot compete in games the same way men do and I think this book explores that really well. Viola is very aggressive and standoffish in the beginning of this book because that’s the way she has learned to deal with things.

I just had such a good time with this book. I think it’s a very important book because of the topics it discusses but it’s also fun for anyone who loves nerdy things. I cannot wait until me preorder of this book comes in because I’m so excited to read back through some parts!

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! IM STANDING OUTSIDE OF THIS BOOKS HOUSE WITH A BOOMBOX HELD ABOVE MY HEAD! I’M SINGING ‘I LOVE YOU BABY’ TO THIS SONG FROM THE SCHOOL BLEACHERS!!!

Was it cheesy and easily the nerdiest book i’ve ever read? yes. AND I LOVED IT! There were a few parts of the dialogue that felt a little bit off, but I feel like that could also easily change between this arc and the actual published version.

This is probably my least ‘professional’ (used for lack of better word) sounding review, but all I want to do is hype this book up. I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy and read everything this author does from here on out!

As someone who is not very familiar with the work of role-play games and video games, this book was an exciting step outside my comfort zone! The relationship between Duke and Vi was perfectly executed as both set but the prefer amount of tension ( Go is so witty and confident as a woman in a male- dominated field). This was a cute read and I recommend it to everyone, regardless of your video game knowledge!

I got about 33% though this book and cannot force myself to continue. I have no problem with feminism, but I cannot with this fmc and how whiny she is over no one understanding her and how self absorbed she is. I love twelfth night, but I do not love this.