Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me access to the E-arc.

I really enjoyed this arc. I loved that it surrounds video games, plays and academics. It’s a great nerdy and fun YA rom com. Viola is a strong main female character. She knows who she is and nothing can change that. But she finds herself mixed up in a couples issues. This YA novel deals with hard topics in a more light hearted way.

I highly recommend it!

I loved this so much! I loved the characters and the plot! With this book you get Grumpy x Sunshine, Enemies to Lovers, Slow burn, Banter

Thank you so much to Alexene Farol Follmuth and TOR Publishing Group for the eARC. This is my first book I've read by Alexene. Twelfth Knight was a bit different then I expected but it was a good different. It was a great, easy, and quick read. Definitely something ill be recommending to my fellow peers in my school.

I received a free digital review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing company for this honor!

True Shakespeare readers (and those who had a Shakespeare class last semester, like yours truly) know the plot of Twelfth Night: Twins Viola and Sebastian get separated on a ship wreck and assume the other twin is dead. Viola disguises herself under the name Cesario as a male servant to Duke Orsino, is sent to woo Lady Olivia on the Duke's behalf, and accidentally woos Olivia for herself. Whoops! Sebastian, on the other hand, makes a friend, Antonio, and I really can't remember what they do most of the play. I read Shakespeare's Twelfth Night about a month before reading Follmuth's version, and I like this modern version a lot better!

In Follmuth's story, Viola is a high school senior who loves an MMORPG, Twelfth Knight, and a tv show, War of Thorns. She is extremely feminist and plays under the name Cesario in Twelfth Knight so that she isn't targeted, or underestimated, by other players. She's the Vice President of Student Government and the President, Jack Orsino, is a football player that does not take his job of President seriously. His focus is on football, but that all comes to a halt one day when he takes a bad knee injury during a game. During his healing period, he joins Twelfth Knight and meets Cesario (who knows who Jack is), and the two team up to take on the final quest of the game.

There is a lot more to the plot, of course, but I'm not great at summaries, so that'll have to do for now. It will be really hard to review this without giving spoilers, but I'll try my best. Onto the review!

I really liked how Follmuth's book both fulfilled and subverted some of the main parts of Shakespeare's original play; Ms. Follmuth hit all of the right tropes and skipped all of the bad ones. Antonio was thrown out the window (thank goodness), the twins don't have a tragic part where they both think the other is dead (in fact, Sebastian, or "Bash" isn't a super big part of the story), and there's no giant, confusing reveal scene in which Olivia says, "Oh, well, I'm not gay, so I'll just marry the guy that looks extremely like the girl I fell for!" Um, ok, Olivia. Whatever.

I also liked how Vi and Jack expand each other's worldviews and help better each other. No more on that because spoilers. The romance itself, however, was cute and I did feel the chemistry between the two characters.

Honestly, I felt like this book was either missing something big or doing something wrong, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. I won't take points off for that because that's just my feeling. It may have been perfectly fine, idk.

However, I didn't like how this book tried to be profound in parts, but just wasn't. Maybe I read it too fast, but all of the introspection didn't make much sense and was too much for me. And I'm constantly self-aware and introspective to the point of extremity. I know the author said in her Acknowledgements (which were super sweet, by the way!) that she wanted to focus on the characters, but sometimes I think it was too much of a focus on them. The book didn't have the right balance of internal characterization and plot, I think.

I'm also not a fan of how Jack sees Viola. He sees her in a good light, but her personality seems to really dim down. It seems that in the beginning she was angry and bossy all the time and those were her only character traits. Taking that away is good (I was an angry, bossy high school senior once, too), but you have to let her other traits shine through, which I guess was supposed to be her passion for things. I just didn't feel that at all. Through Jack's eyes, Viola seems a little dull and even hard to recognize as a character sometimes.

I also could not keep track of how they fell in love. I can point out exactly where in the book Jack stops hating Vi and starts liking her (yeah, not a fan of how he fell first. Viola fell first in the play and I kind of wish they kept that), but there is no lead-up. Why does Jack stop "hating" her? Does he see her passion for things- her internal self- and find himself opening up, too?

However, all this could just be me really, really dense and not getting it at all, whereas it may make perfect sense in everyone else's eyes. Just a disclaimer.

Overall, this was a really cute story! I loved the modernization of everything (having Mal/Volio be a creep was perfect, and I'm glad his whole scene of trying to impress Olivia with his clothes was scrapped in this version) and hearing about Vi and Jack's passions (ok, I actually hate football, lol).

I have read novels with the cosplay and gamer aspect but never in this way before. Both main characters were extremely refreshing. This was a very new and interesting combining of age teen story and I would recommend it to others. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC  in exchange for an honest review.

I've never felt more frustration and anger towards such a sweet teen romance because well, maybe this hit too close to home.

Video game world aside - very well written, full of details and conquests without being boring nor childish to the rest of the book -, this is the story of how Vi and Jake become better people at the bare age of 16 because they understand something that most people haven't yet understand and a older age: whatever it is, it's not the end of the world.
If you break your knee and you can't play football for the rest of your life, even if that was everything you've ever known, it's fine. If you're scared of letting people in because you know you're very sensitive, and other people love to say how much of a bitch you are only because you stand for yourself, it's fine.
What will happen will still happen, the glass should always be half full and all the other craps that help you see the good side of life.

But this is not why I'm complaining. On the contrary, I love a good happy ending, a critique of misogyny and a not-so-subtle bad comment on “GoT”’s finale.
See, while both Jake and Vi are very relatable in their way of approaching other people, when everyone silently agrees you're the villain in their life, they're not gonna ask for forgiveness afterwards insulting you nor they’ll try seeing your point of view.
I'm so mad at every single character for how they treated Vi, from Antonia to her own mother and brother, because not one of them, NOT ONE, ever sat with her and asked what had happened. Antonia dismissed her attitude with “Vi being Vi”, her brother waited for her to come to him when it was clear from the beginning that she was the one used to handling things on her own and not asking for help, her Mom reached her to always be true to herself and don't care about others expectations and then wonder why she doesn't stand other people bullshit.

Vi pushes people away because she knows it's common to hurt others, intentionally or unintentionally that is. I don't argue with her logic, I understand it and from experience, I can say that yes, sometimes is worth staying around and seeing what happens, but if the effort comes from only one person, she’ll soon realize her heart will become tired and she’ll shut down again, given time.
Also, none of them properly apologized to her.

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Alexene Farol Follmuth has the unique talent of making me absolutely enthralled by a book that I fully do not understand. Do I have any clue how the magic system in The Atlas Six works? No. Do I understand any of the robotics in My Mechanical Romance? Absolutely not. And do I have any idea what goes on in TTRPGs and MMORPGs (and also football)? Definite no, considering I had to google what an MMORPG is. (Technically, Pokémon Go is one!)

That all doesn’t stop me from loving everything that Alexene/Olivie writes; there’s something about the way she crafts characters and motivations and feelings that transcends the necessity to have any clue what’s happening in a particular scene. Twelfth Knight is a fantastic exercise in understanding the teenage experience, and I wished it wouldn’t end. My only question is whether Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night exists in the world of this book, because if it does … how on earth would the characters react to that?

This digital ARC was obtainable via NetGalley for an honest review!

When I first attempted to read this, I was not in the right headspace, so I did not finish. Recently, I decided to give "Twelfth Knight" a true chance and I am so glad I did. Most of these characters are not likeable at first. Bash and Olivia are the anomalies.

Viola grew on me fast once I had seen how everyone treated her. I began to grow a soft spot for her. Normally, labeled as b****, Vi turns out to be more than that. The people who assassinate her character are actually worse than her. She is honest majority of the times and often misunderstood. I found it refreshing that Vi did try to stand up for herself when need be. Maybe she needs a few lessons on how to soften the blow, but I understand.

Jack was most definitely getting on my nerves with him not taking care of his responsibilities while essentially forcing Vi to do so. However, he grew on me too. The character development of Viola & Jack was done well. Their romance was pretty sweet too. Also, I love the gaming aspects. Overall, this was a good solid book. I will be purchasing a copy once it has been released!

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group, Tor Teen for allowing me to read a eARC in exchange for an honest review. All the views and opinions expressed in this review are purely by own and not affiliated with any brand.

This was a fun book! I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the sports world and the nerd world! I have read books that focus on board games but nothing about RPG video games.. It was great to read the growth of both the main characters. And I always love a book that incorporates a Con in some fashion. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves an enemies to lovers troupe and who enjoys seeing two opposites attract.

Thank you to netgalley and Tor Publishing Group, Tor Teen for allowing me to read this book. I loved the gamer and cosplay aspect of the book. This was so cute I really enjoyed it.

I recently read into "Twelfth Knight," a YA romantic comedy by Alexene Farol Follmuth, expecting a cute and heartwarming tale. To my delight, it surpassed my expectations, offering a captivating exploration of online and offline life through the eyes of protagonist Viola Reyes.

Viola escapes real-world challenges by immersing herself in the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, adopting the persona of Cesario. A twist in the plot occurs when Jack Orsino, the laid-back Student Body President and star athelete, enters the virtual realm, connecting with Viola's alter ego. As the characters navigate life and love both online and offline, the lines between reality and the gaming world blur.

Follmuth's narrative seamlessly blends romance, humor, and relatable challenges. The banter between Vi and Jack feels authentic, and the characters, including Viola, Jack, Olivia, and Bash, are portrayed with depth. While I wished for a bit more emphasis on the romantic aspect, it doesn't diminish the overall excellence of "Twelfth Knight," and it feels appropriate for the YA moniker. The story not only captivates with its romance and online escapades but also delves into themes of friendship and self-acceptance.

Viola Reyes's character resonates, highlighting the challenges of growing older, staying true to oneself, and navigating the complexities of friendship. "Twelfth Knight" is a genuine and comforting read that beautifully explores the balance between online and offline identities. The characters' growth, relatable challenges, and heartwarming moments make this novel a must-read. I'm excited for "Twelfth Knight" to charm book lovers on both BookTok in 2024, and the enchanting cover perfectly complements the warmth within its pages.

4.5 stars. First of all, thank you netgalley for the ARC. Took me a while to get to this story but then, it was just such a fun read. Been a while since I've read a YA book and this was just hilarious and adorable. She's the man was one of my go to movies in the younger days (Jesus christ, I feel so old now) and I've enjoyed Shakespeares Twelfth Night. So this was a good adaptation of the story but with twist, as always.

Vi reyes, I love this kid. Her anger is just so understandable and good god, I do not miss high school. This book made me want to go back to RPGs and delve in the art of DnD. Will see.

Congrats Alex (Olivie) on your book. This was a fun read.

4/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

Twelfth Knight follows two characters. Twin Viola Reyes, a perpetually annoyed with the world for navigating the difficulties of dealing with other people in life. When I tell you this is the most relatable character on the planet, I’m not kidding. And we have school running back Jack Orsino, beloved by all (except Viola), and with a big athletic future ahead of him. Until he breaks his leg, and somehow they end up playing video games together every night for months—only he has no idea he’s playing with her, not her twin brother, Sebastian.

Vi is such a fantastic character. She’s done with the world, but easily hurt by it. I loved following her and her love of gaming. Outside of his own POV, I can see why she thought of Jack as a perpetual headache. Jack, who was such an interesting character to read from, being outed from his beloved game by an injury and finding solace in a video game instead. I loved both their character developments, the journey of self discovery and when they start to allow themselves to care for each other.

Honestly, perfect romance, characters, everything. I only really had one problem with this book.

Olivia Hadid, popular cheerleader and Jack Orsino’s ex girlfriend who’s been avoiding him. Olivia Hadid is Palestinian. It’s never mentioned once that she is, but she’s given a Palestinian last name, she says her family lives in Jordan, and while creating a self insert for a game, she implies her character is in “exile”. I’m not sure why it wasn’t outright said, but there it is. Olivia is just…riddled with stereotypes that I really had a hard time getting over. Aside from getting her name from a model, she’s struggling with her family (Jack mentions that her family doesn’t really approve of him). Also while creating her self insert for the game, she creates a character who is running away from an evil uncle that wants to marry her off. The character tries to help other women in similar situations, too. I honestly don’t know how you can fit so many stereotypes into the few pages dedicated to an unimportant side character. Like it’s baffling.

Overall, the sweetest romance as always. I highly recommend it!!

I was a bit skeptical about wether the gaming and cosplay would ruin this book for me but it did make it more interesting! And was something I’d never read before.

But it was great ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The slow burn enemies to lovers was perfect. Viola and Jack are high school rivals and complete opposite attracts.

Fun, quick and easy read. It definitely kept my interest, I wanted to know if they won the MMORPG game or not!

Thoughtful teen romance and coming of age story.
Vi is a gamer, geek, nerd and is blunt to a fault. Jack is a people pleasing jock with the “perfect” high school life. When a knee injury turns Jacks world upside down it throws him into the world of Twelfth Knight a game where he meets Vi who is pretending to be a male. Sparks fly as these two try to negotiate the pressures of high school, making choices about the future, and negotiating the horror of relationships.
A warning if you don’t like the character of Vi in the beginning maybe don’t read this book. I found lots of other review that complained that Vi was just mean. I think she just didn’t know how to express herself and is justified in some of her actions.
I thought this was a sweet coming of age story that covers issues faced by females who want to work/play in male dominated areas. The story is the classic nerd girl meets jock boy but done in a slightly more sophisticated way.
Read if you like
Geek cultures/games/cosplaying
High school romance
Grumpy sunshine female grump male sunshine
Feminist undertones

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I unfortunately decided to DNF this book. I went into this book expecting to love it, the entire premise of it really spoke to me, a Shakespeare retelling, a nerd x jock trope, and characters of color as main characters, were all up my alley in terms of what I look for in a good read. But this book did not deliver. Vi is one of the most unlikeable characters I've read in a long time. I understand the struggle, living a world where everyone seems to be working against you just because of who you were born as, a woman, a person of color and a woman interested in hobbies that put you into a male dominated space. But Vi is just...MEAN. She's not nice, even to the people around her who support her, and are working with her. She's not a good person, she's not a heroine to root for, she's a villain. The entire first chapter of the book, she spends telling us how unimportant everyone around her (who are apparently her friends) are, how unmemorable, how unattractive, how boring, how unintelligent, but god forbid someone disagree with her, then they're terrible people. Vi's personality gets a 0/10 for me.

Jack is really just as unlikeable as Vi. He's cocky and demeaning to people around him, and his indifference towards Vi is gross, even if Vi is a person I do not like. He's not special, and also if your girlfriend dumps you, maybe respect that?

I thought I would try to power through the book, in hopes of Vi's personality turning around as she learns perspective and perhaps empathy for those around her, but as I skipped forward a bit to see if that's the case she really doesn't show any growth, and I was uninterested in pulling my teeth by continuing this book.

I'm really disappointed, I've heard such amazing things about this author and I was really surprised to see this character be so incredibly bad, for lack of other words. I would not recommend this book to friends, and unfortunately I do not plan on coming back to it in the future.

*Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book, and for the opportunity to read and review it in anticipation of it's release.*

I was honoured to receive an Arc of this book and excited to be able to review it! while i am definitely older than the target audience of YA, i found the book and the plot kept me reading none the less.

the characters were engaging and heartwarming, even side characters had a depth to them that left you attached to them after brief meetings. violet was an amazing fmc, her expression of herself and her strength also feeling isolating were things that resonated with me. and duke was an amazing mmc who showed a depth of thought not commonly associated with the ‘jock’ type.

everyone is more than they seem in this book. and thats its glory.

quite frankly the discussions of race, sexuality, personality, feminism, and even briefly on religion, all hit the nail on the head without being preachy or too fact laden.

i’d definitely recommend this book to anyone! while it IS ya, and even appropriate for younger YA audiences, this book has plenty for adults to read and enjoy as well.

This was so cute and nostalgic for me since it's a retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Knight and therefore, also reminded me of one of my favourite movies - She's the Man!
At first, I didn't like Viola all that much but her character growth is so well executed. I was rooting for her and Jack the whole way through! Jack is a darling! I also love all the side characters, especially Olivia and Bash! I just can't wait for the rest of the world to meet this crew! Thank you, Alexene, publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this lovely book, I will always be honest with my reviews.

Twelfth Night is the PERFECT read for anyone looking for something fun and charming but also... socially relevant. This book delt with so many topics like sexism, sexuality, social and familial responsibility, dealing with self-worth issues, etc., but incorporated everything so realistically into a light-hearted romcom.

I don't want to be considered beautiful without being seen as capable, too.


I'm both so similar and so different from the MC Viola Reyes that it's kind of comical to me. She's a self-proclaimed nerd (same) with very strong feminist views (also same)... but the difference is, she is so firm with her own self-worth that she is willing to put her friendships on the line so that she doesn't ever get stepped on as a woman, which is something I can only aspire to be.

I don't know how any girl can exist in the world without being perpetually furious.


I can understand people who would hate Viola. She's definitely a bitch who just assumes the worst of everyone. BUT! While I was reading from her perspective, I constantly found myself thinking, Yup, this is what being a woman is like. She basically voiced out everything I keep hidden in the depths of my brain.

Then we have our hero, Jack Orsino. He's charming, sweet, and has everything figured out... until he doesn't. He's definitely not the most memorable character, but he's likeable and does grow a lot in the book.

Twelfth Knight wins in the side character department, though, which is so rare for a contemporary romcom. We have Olivia, who is so charismatic and deep. She's a fantastic friend and a wonderful sister. There's also Bash (Viola's twin brother) who is lively and unexpectedly caring.

"I think we're lonely. Like, as a species."
"So what does that mean?"
"That we can like who we are and still like being alone and still want to feel connected."


We have so much character and relationship growth in this book from all angles -- we have characters who learn to look at life differently, and characters who we realize are truly the garbage of society; we have relationships that make it through complicated situations, and relationships that are formally broken for good reason. I really appreciated how this book showed both the good and bad in society.

There are only a few minor qualms I have that turned this book from a 5-star to a 4-star:
- Jack felt more like a side character than a main character to me. Normally, I'd be more than fine about the heroine taking the spotlight, but this book was written in 2 POVs, so I would have liked to feel more connected to him.
- I needed more romance! Like I said, there were so many things dealt with in this book that it felt like the romance did take the back seat sometimes.
- One of the MCs (Viola) was... Filipino? This felt so random and unexplored. She didn't feel Filipino at all, so I didn't even realize this until she started calling her grandmother lola. I wish they'd either incorporated more culture into her character.

Overall, though, this was a fantastic read. Here's to all the feminist nerds of the world who need to be seen! ❤

This was so cute! What a great little theatre romance! I will definitely be reading more by this author!