Sigh, this was a hard one for me to get through, I found Viola to be really annoying and tbh wanted to DNF this many times because of it, I think the two main characters on their own were decent but together lacked any spark.

While I don't think this was a terrible book at all, I enjoyed the author's other YA romance, My Mechanical Romance, more. Part of it was that for half the book, Viola is just kind of infuriating and definitely in the wrong in some instances. Don't get me wrong, I emphasize with having to cater to men's opinions and deal with their jokes, but I think she took her attitude too far - which I know is the point! It just got to me after a while.

The romance itself also didn't feel super natural to me. At one point, maybe halfway through, I thought that Viola and Olivia actually had a better chemistry and almost hoped that they would get together instead. Viola and Jack are cute together, but I wasn't gushing over them getting together like I was with the characters in My Mechanical Romance.

Some of the pop culture references in this book make sense, but I also think some of them won't age super well. I did like the insights to TV and video game fandoms, and it's clear the author has spent some time in them herself and cares for those environments.

I was glad to see Viola's growth, and I loved Jack's realization that the expectations put on him don't have to define him. The messages there are very important. (I also reeeeally loved Bash and Olivia as supporting characters.) All in all, I didn't have a bad time reading this book, but I also didn't feel as connected with the story beats.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. This review reflects my honest opinions.

I have long been a fan of Olivie Blake but am now just as obsessed with her YA writings!
This one was great! As a gamer myself, I really connected with the characters.
A must read!

Viola Reyes is "Mad Woman" to a T. And as someone who has been called many of the things Viola has, she was exactly the character I needed to read. My blood boiled for her not only objectively - because the sexism she experiences makes your skin crawl - but in the ways it mirrors past experiences of mine. I've experienced plenty of times where I felt unsafe in gaming spaces online and IRL. Where our attention was mistaken as affection. Viola's character made me feel seen in the ways the world asks us to tone it down. To not get so 'upset'.

Loved everything about this book!!! Such a clever retelling. The characters were spot on. A new classic.

Oooooookay I loved this. Normally i hate sporty things but the nerdy rpg aspect had me intruiged. Our fmc is brash, bold, and knows what she’s about. Our mmc is facing the loss of his life and relearning who he is. Viola and Jack deserve the world. I couldn’t tell you about the retelling aspect as I’ve never read much Shakespeare, but the story had me hooked and I couldn’t put it down. A story about overcoming challenges, love, finding yourself, and enjoying the little things.

The writing is a little more flowery than I thought it would be, but this retelling of Twelfth Night stays true to the source without getting bogged down. I enjoy Shakespeare in the real world, and I think this will be a staple for current teens and the ones to come. Follmuth's style may not be for everyone, but they definitely have the pulse of current trends and know how to use those trends to craft an engaging work.

When I got to the 50% mark, I wasn’t really sure how I was going to rate this one; I was debating between 3 or 4 stars. However after the acknowledgements section of the book, everything came full circle to me. I was a major fan of the authors first book, “My Mechanical Romance” and was very excited when I received an arc of “Twelth Knight”. However, the reason why I gave this book four stars instead of five stars was because of the characters. Our two main characters were interesting on their own but when they were together, I didn’t feel any sort of chemistry between them. Also, when they gamed together, it wasn’t really a bonding experience which I thought it would have been so that also fell flat for me. I guess I was expecting more romance from this one for sure. That being said, I still enjoyed this one a lot and look to reading other works by this author. Thank you NetGalley for proving me with an arc of this book in exchange for my honest feedback

Tweflth Knight was a fun and modern Shakespeare retelling that I think can help the themes of his work be far more digestible for the adolescents (and adults!) of today. I love Alexene Farol Follmuth's writing and characters. Whenever I want to see character development and read a good representation of the human experience, I always seek out her work as Follmuth or Olivia Blake. I read her first YA novel as well, and she just knocked it out of the park with these. As a 35 year-old, I don't often read much YA. However, Follmuth's books to bridge the gap seamlessly and put me right back into the emotions, challenges, and triumphs of being a teen. I look forward to continuing to pick up all of her works.

This book was slow for me to get into but I really enjoyed the pacing, the depth of the characters and how the author wove the story together!

"Twelfth Knight" is a delightful, modern interpretation of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Knight," that explores the highs and lows of fandom, gaming, cosplay, and conventions. The friendship and romance between the main characters will make it impossible for readers to put the book down.

This was really cute. Jack was adorable and he loved Viola so much. I love that they didn't have a separation at the end, he was upset but he just had a conversation about it with her. Viola just needed someone who wasn't going to let her push them away and Jack was that person. I wish there was an actual epilogue though.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading the author's previous book "My Mechanical Romance" and this one was another absolute treat!

While this had some of the usual tropes: enemies to friends to something more, secret identity, online relationship, misunderstood characters...the setting and situations felt fresh. The author did a great job of character development of both our main couple, Viola and Jack (and even the side characters!)

This was a fun book that still had a lot of depth. I'm definitely a fan of the YA author!!

4 stars

The start of this was just not it. Apparently im not a big fan of football because the play by play through me so off. It was such an info dumpy beginning I just did not end up liking the rest after such a lackluster beginning. Its weird because I loved the Atlas Six but this was almost like she was just throwing out the whole setup right then and there instead of walking us through it throughout the book.

This has all of my favorite tropes: grumpy x sunshine, slow burn, and of course enemies to lovers. This book is well written and nuanced.

This book was so damn close to a one star for me. I was so incredibly frustrated with this book for many times. Honestly, I did consider DNF'ing this book quite a few times as well. I just thought that almost every single character was just absolutely insufferable. At one point or another I despised every character besides Viola and Charlotte. Charlotte is an actual angel, but also has some great depth to her. Viola is considered a bitch by everyone in this book, but she's so unapologetically herself, and she just doesn't bullshit. I thought she was such an engaging main character, especially because we see her inner monologue and know she's so full of hurt as well. She felt so human and real. The scenes with Charlotte and Vi were easily my favourites of the book. They form such a great connection, and I love how for each of them they are the first person to see the other for who they are in a while. Gods, I actually wished for this to be their romance instead in this book because I just loved their connection so much. To be fair, I do love their friendship, and I totally understand why they aren't together. Don't worry, that's not a thing against this book.
But besides those two I hate everyone. Yes, I even hated Jack. He's such an ass. He definitely isn't the worst person in the book, but he is so incredibly condesending. It's so annoying to read. Even by the end when he and Vi are really close, and he claims to really understand and respect her, he still said so many things that were so condescending about the things she loves. Anything that could have been considered slightly "geeky", he acted like it was the devil, and it would have been fine if most of his issues with Vi are how she doesn't take his sports seriously. Even when Vi is WAY less condescending about it than he is. I also felt like throughout the book there were several instances of him just being so casually misogynistic, and considering miogyny is a thing that is so heavily discussed in this book it felt jarring that his misogyny was never adressed. Like I said he's nowhere near being the worst character in the book. By the end of it I didn't even mind him too much. He does go through some growth.
Every single side character in this is absolutely awful. Especially the side characters on Vi's side. They are literal BULLIES and the author tries to paint them off as Vi's friends who just got hurt by Vi's no bullshit exterior. I SMELL LIES. Truly, they all want her to be a completely different person and arguably are WAY hasher to her than she has ever been. Even at Vi's meanest she wasn't as mean as some of these people are. Like one of her so called "friends" literally told her she should smile away sexual harassement instead of fighting back. How can Vi be in the wrong there? I truly don't get it. I felt gaslit by the end of this book where these people got an apology from Vi, and they barely acknowledged what they did to her. Ugh! It was so incredibly frustrating.
I've been so very ranty about everything I hated about this book but I didn't hate it. Like mentioned before I loved Vi as a character, I loved Charlotte, and I loved their friendship. The Twelfth Knight game was also such an incredible part of this book. They caused for some really good scenes as well. The romance between Jack and Vi is also really cute, and I totally get the 90's/00's contemporary teen adaptations of Shakespeare vibes (think "She's The Man", "10 Things I Hate About You") from this book that this author said she was inspired by in the acknowledgements. So yeah, it wasn't an awful read, but I also really didn't like it.

I absolutely adored this read! It had all of the smarts that I’d expect from Olivie Blake and most importantly it has heart. I questioned Vi in the beginning but was ultimately happy with how her character grew- in more ways than one. I highly recommend!!

This is a book for every person who has ever been told "you should smile more!" or "oh, he was only being nice. No need to make a big deal about it" or "he's only doing that because he likes you." It is also for every person who doesn't yet realize how effed it is to tell another human "you should smile more."– Take notes.

Twelfth Knight is Shakespeare meets female rage.

I love how complex these characters were, and how deep each of their lives were explored throughout the book without it being overwhelming! Both Vi and Jack have seemingly hit hgihschool rock bottom. Vi's safe place isn't so safe anymore, and Jack is trying to learn if he is more than just how fast he can carry a ball. Little do they know that everyone around them is not as one-sided as they seem either.

I absolutely loved that there is no third act breakup in this book, but that Jack and Vi actually talk things out when he discovers her online persona (the play was written centuries ago, so I don't think spoiler apply to Shakespeare retellings). This book was so cozy and so fast paced! I coul dnot put it down once I started and was so sad when it was over!

If you appreciate works of literature, this book is for you!! This is a Shakespeare retelling.. Haven’t seen anything like this one. Take my word for it

I was skeptical at first when I started reading it but the more I got into the chapters I just didn’t want to stop. I’ve never read anything by Olivia Blake but I sure will after this one. Her writing style is very easy on the eyes and funny and not a single boring moment

This book teaches you to keep the people who show that they love and care about you and support you unconditionally close to you.. And to let go of those who don’t appreciate you as they should

The characters are very swoony-worthy and the friendships and the bonds built is just very heart warming because it’s built on integrity and virtues and I think that’s beautiful. There’s so much honesty and clarity and I loved it because I’m that blunt too and it helped me grow and “filter” the people in my life and there’s nothing more satisfying

It was a very fun and amusing read. It made me laugh more times than I can count

I like that there’s gaming and the breaking of norms and sexism and secret identities and internet friendships and unexpected greetings.. it’s just a very unique plot, nothing like I’ve read before

I also really liked the Easter eggs between chapters showing that Olivia has a somewhat Arab background - might be biased because I’m an Arab too; but I loved that

If you’re a girl, best believe this book will make you feel seen. Like if I could talk to my younger self and give myself some advice, I’d wrap up this book in a few words (if possible) and make sure I understand that the world is cruel ONLY if I let it

It definitely gives nostalgic rom com movie vibes. I would so recommend this book as one of the books you should read before you die. It’s high up on my list of comfort books

I have only good things to say about Twelfth Knight and I don't even know where to start because there are so many things I adored about this book!!! It gave me everything that I want in a YA contemporary romance, and in such a fresh way!

This book was so unapologetically nerdy, yet also super accessible if you're not familiar with video games or fandom in general. Any terms were defined and contextualized so well, and in a way that felt natural to the story and writing. I loved Jack's progression into video games and fandom and think that Alexene Farol Follmuth really nails the excitement when you are REALLY into a game or show.

I loved the characters in this book and all the different kinds of relationships we see. I loved the family dynamics between Viola, Sebastian, and their mother. You can feel the affection under the casual insults that are thrown within this family, and I got the sense that they all knew eachother so deeply. The platonic friendships in this book also felt really authentic, including dramatic falling outs with close friends and the growth of new friendships.

The romance!!! This book had so much banter and tension and I loved it. The slow growth from dislike to friendship to like was so good and there are some lines in here that gave me chills. Truly Alexene builds such a solid foundation for this relationship that the growth feels super believable.

The way that complicated situations were handled in this book was really cool, and often went in realistic ways vs being milked for maximum dramatics like I've come to expect when reading a book. The way the third act conflict was handled felt so fresh and realistic and perfect. I just generally thought this book did so many smart things and the storytelling was so clever.

Lastly, I really related to Vi's experience with being a woman in video games and having to alter your behavior due to past experiences and harassment that women routinely face if you dare to talk in voice chat of a competitive online game.

Overall I loved this book and highly recommend it! The friendships! The banter! The lore! It was definitely 10/10 for me!