After reading My Mechanical Romance and loving it, I had high hopes for Twelfth Knight - and I was not disappointed!! Alexene does it again!

While I understand most people's annoyance with Vi's character, I also saw the angry and hurt side of her that led to her character's decisions. My emotionally avoidant ass understood her immediately, and I'm so happy to see characters that are more complex appear in YA novels. As was a familiar theme in Mechanical Romance, Vi also faces sexism in her field of MMORPG. So much so that she takes on a male persona to play in peace. What happens when she befriends Jack online while bickering with him IRL? Well, that's half the fun of this book - watching how that all unfolds!

Twelfth Knight is about letting down your walls, letting people see the real you, and trusting that they will still accept and love you for who you are. I loved the gaming aspects, and while not a MMORPG player myself, it makes me want to get back into cozy gaming haha! Jack and Viola are joined by a wonderful cast of characters who are as endearing, flawed, and unique as they are. All in all, I will for sure be keeping an eye on all of Alexene's YA books as I believe I've found a new favorite!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. Twelfth Knight is perfect for those who enjoy a classic retelling. The main character Viola was very much high school me to the point of me questioning if the author found my high school diary!

Twelfth Knight is a perfect coming-of-age story that combines romance and "real life". You'll follow along whether you're a seasoned gamer or new to the gaming world.

Lastly, one of the best lines:
"I just think that maybe happiness isn’t crossing a finish line, or finally meeting the right person or getting the right job or finding the right life. It’s the little things."

“𝙔𝙤𝙪,” 𝙄 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙝𝙞𝙢, “𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙅𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙊𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙤.”
“𝘼𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙪𝙩𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚.

Viola Reyes is going through it — between her lackadaisical tabletop campaign, creeps at the RenFaire telling her to "smile more", and picking up the slack of the oblivious Student Body President. Her only solace comes in the form of her favorite online video game, a community who hasn't been girl-friendly. Jack Orsino has had his entire world flipped upside — a major knee injury has ended his football season early, his girlfriend wants a break, and he's struggling to hang out with all of his friends, who tiptoe around him and his injury. The only thing getting him through his recovery is an online role-playing game, where a mysterious player helps him through the quests.

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧. 𝙄𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙢, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

This book was so incredibly cute. Both Viola and Jack had so much growing up and learning to do and the romance doesn't happen until they've had a chance to figure out themselves first, which is so refreshing, and vital for a YA rom-com. The Shakespearean-retelling means this story has a timeless feel while bringing in the really cool modern components, like RenFaires and MMORPGs. The mistaken-identity trope had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, wondering when when when the truth would come out.

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙄 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧? 𝙉𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚, 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛. 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Alexene Follmuth, and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Jack "Duke" is the king of the school. He is the star football player about to go play college football. Jack is also the president of the student body and does absolutely nothing.

Violet loves to game! She's annoyed though when her friends shut down her game idea. Violet is also the vice president of the student body and is annoyed that Jack does nothing.

When Jack tears his ACL, he's at a lost on what to do, so he picks up gaming. He happens to play the same game as Violet. When they begin talking on the game (Jack thinks its Violet's twin brother), they realize they have more in common than they think.

A fun gaming YA read! I loved the combination of a "gamer" and a popular kid in high school. It shows that all social groups can interact and have relationships.

This was cute and a good intro to Follmuth/Blake’s character driven story telling. I enjoyed the modern twists in the classic story, the reverse grumpy sunshine, and the gamer culture and focus on fandoms. High school me would have loved this!

It is YA and therefore some of the characters focus seems silly but weren’t we all worried about who liked who and what would happen after graduation? Also Vi black cat persona got a little old but I was glad when she decided to finally open up about her feelings.

There’s enemies to lovers, forced proximity, secret identity, lots of nerdiness, dual POV.

I unfortunately didn’t love this as much as other books by the same author. I love a good Shakespeare re-telling, but I felt no connection with the main character - just annoyance. It did get 3 stars still because you do see growth within the main characters by the end of the book which really did redeem Vi for me, but the fact it took almost the entire book to felt ok with her character was not enjoyable.

Besides that - the romance was nice. A perfect amount for a YA novel.

4.25 stars

Well written and character driven, I enjoyed this author's writing style and the setting. (Geek girl at heart here.) The romance was nice as well.
I am glad that the main characters grew by the end of the story because they started off a bit one dimensional. (A very strong, in your face, stereotype of a dimension.)

Recommended.

DNF @ 14%

I wanted to love this book so badly, especially since I loved the author's YA debut, but unfortunately that just wasn't the case. And it mostly boils down to Vi's character. She was absolutely insufferable. She was annoying, she was rude. In 50 pages I could not find one nice thing about her. I love a powerful female character, but she wasn't powerful, she was just cruel. She wasn't likable enough for me to care about what was going on with her.

I also took huge issue with the way the TTRPG was portrayed. I'm a seasoned D&D player of 11 years and those parts of the book were just not done well. Vi would be the worst player in the world to play with and it seems like a group of kids that all can't get along well enough to be a cohesive party.

The parts with Jack were great ;and he's such an interesting character, if not a little too cocky at times, but Vi's character has more page time and it wasn't something I was enjoying.

I didn't love this as much as I did My Mechanical Romance but I still think this one was a pretty cute read. It was fun seeing Vi and Jack interact in the game and in real life.

3.5 stars

I loved Twelfth Knight. It was a fast ya read. I couldn’t put down. I think I would ready anything by this author. For sure will be recommending.

This was so delightful! I will read anything this lady writes, including scribbles on the back of receipts. I love a retelling, and this one was so much fun.

I love a good Shakespeare retelling and the cover looked cute and nerdy, so I figured this book would be right up my alley. I'm glad I went for it because this was exactly what I could have hoped for.

Twelfth Knight is based on Shakespeare's, you guessed it, Twelfth Night, all revolving around the world of role playing/MMORPGs.
Fans of the play or of the movie She's All That will enjoy this book.

Vi (Viola) is tired of being pushed aside because she's a female in a male dominated world, so she creates a male character in the online game, Twelfth Knight, so she won't be antagonized for her love of the game. Jack (Duke) just got injured pretty badly in a high school football game, and has to rehab before he can play again, so his friend introduces him to Twelfth Knight.

With a case of mistaken identity, these two school rivals develop a friendship online that ends up bleeding into their real lives.
Both characters really aren't allowed to be themselves. Viola is unabashedly herself, but is ostracized for it because she doesn't take crap from anyone. and has struggled to find people who accept her for who she is. Jack is living in his family's football legacy an has to do and say things that others want him to say, which makes him popular, but kind of a pushover. They both have a reputation, but when they're forced to be around each other, they can finally see that their reputations are quite what they seem.

I was immersed in this gaming world when I was younger, so it was great to see that representation that is needed and very identifiable as a female gamer.

I loved this book! It was perfect for my nerdy heart. It’s my first by the author and makes me want to dive into her adult series (under Olivie Blake). I'm always impressed when someone can take a work by authors like Shakespeare and Jane Austen and make it their own, while also keeping the theme of the original. I'm hoping we'll see more of this from the author.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and Net Galley. I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

A fun YA retelling of a Shakespeare classic is exactly what I needed to start the summer.
This book was fun and sweet. It was funny and had tender moments. It’s one of those books you wanna hug.
I love mistaken identity tropes and I love that two people can connect in a personal level through games or online conversation.
This is a modern take on a retelling and it was relaxing and entertaining in all the right ways.

Viola and “Duke” bond over something that brings them peace and a safe haven. With their walls down, they bond. What happens when Duke finds out who Viola is? Well, this is why you gotta read.

This reminded me of a movie that I would watch for comfort. Love it!

Happy release day to this gorgeous gorgeous book!!
Screaming to the world how much I adore this book and how fantastic a writer Alexene is (always)!! This really may be one of my favorite books of the year.

Twelfth Knight is one for those of us who grew up in the fandom world. It felt like a love letter to my younger self, who found a special community in the Harry Potter fandom and fanfiction world and who spent years of my life getting lost in fictional magical worlds. Alexene managed to write a beautiful book that made me feel so nostalgic, while also writing a wonderful coming of age story for young adults.

Twelfth Knight is a YA romantic comedy, coming of age novel about Jack and Viola (written by Alexene, who writes her adult SFF books under the pen name Olivie Blake). Vi is a strong, badass female main character who struggles with finding people who love her for all the barbs and snares of her vibrant personality and spends most of her time lost in the online world, cosplaying as a male knight to deal with sexist stereotypes. Jack is the sweetest little jock, who tears his ACL when he is supposed to be at the top of his game with football, and is struggling to come to terms with his new identity after his injury. When Jack starts playing Twelfth Knight, Vi and Jack connect online and share many conversations, learning more about each other and themselves.

Alexene did a wonderful job of writing the perils and tension of navigating young love and the relationships of a teen all while trying to find your place in the world. The characters were so unique, so sweet, yet filled with their own flaws. Alexene created such a safe space for these characters to grow in the online world and in fandoms. It was so inspiring to see characters like Vi and Jack discover and express themselves in the fandom world.

Thank you so so much to Tor Teen for providing me with this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review.

If you know me, you know I will absolutely DEVOUR any sort of Shakespeare retelling, especially if it's in the style of an early 2000's rom-com (She's the Man and Clueless for example).

When Jack "Duke" Orsino is injured, he immediately sees all of his college and future plans disappear. Without having a direction, he decides to jump headfirst into the game 'Twelfth Knight' to give himself a new community and something to do. On the flip side, Viola Reyes seemingly has everything all figured out in her perfect life, but it's all on the surface. Below that, she's struggling and needing an escape which she also finds in the online world of Twelfth Knight - where she pretends to be a male player to avoid the rampant online sexism.

This book has it all - romance, intrigue, and of course a fun spin on a classic favorite of Twelfth Night by good ol' Will Shakespeare. If you're a fan of She's the Man in particular, you will love the heck out of this!

Somewhere in the 4.5-4.75 range but I’m going to obviously going to round up!

WHAT A BOOK!!! I feel like I don’t have the words to express how great this book was, but I’m going to try. This will probably be long.

I loved how it explored fandoms, especially how so often woman in fandom get belittled. Although, I never really been in the gaming fandom world, I have had the same experiences as being a woman in STEM-so I think even if you’ve never been to the gaming side of the world the messages and the feelings are universal to any woman whose has ever been in any male-dominated space. I loved getting to know more about MMORPG and DnD. It was also so fun to see all the internet slang and stan twitter’s representation (which I do know wayyy better god I both love and hate that place). Most importantly, I just loved that I could feel Vi’s love for her hobbies and what she does from the page. I’m somehow who just loves learning about people and love hearing about what people love so her excitement was contagious and it made me so so so happy. (Plus we all get a little geeky and over-excited about things we love-like hello have you seen my Olivie Blake collection? Or how I’ve made-with Alicia of course)- t-shirts to celebrate one of her book releases, or my fan art collection? I’m like insane-so I could relate to Vi in that way a lot). It was just super nerdy and fun and I’m so happy I know a little bit more about that world.

I guess let's move to the characters:

Jack: My precious Jack 🥺 the moment I read the summary of this book I just knew he would be a character that would stay with me. I also had to face the hard reality and fear that his story would remind me so much of my younger self that it would be hard to read/to remember. For context, Jack is an all-star football player who is all set and committed to a college to play and desperately wants to play in the NFL one day, but at the start of the season he suffers an ACL injury which threatens all his plans and leaves him depressed and lost on what his purpose is. Although I was never as good at my sport as he is and college gymnastics would never ever have been in the cards for me-this is facts not self-deprecating I promise-when I had to quit due to ankle injuries it also sent me into a very bad depression and a constant feeling of being lost without a purpose in the world anymore. So, I knew reading his story would be like looking into a mirror of my own past in a lot of ways-and it was. His growth is absolutely beautiful and it made me tear up. I’m just so so so proud of him. I think it will be hard for me to read other reviews of this book because I feel very protective over Jack because I just saw so much of myself in him and don’t want to be perceived by others in that way. Alexene really wrote this storyline perfectly, she touched on so many things that make this type of life journey so challenging and I can’t thank her enough for it.

Vi: My angry, emotionally closed off, hating emotions, but extremely brave girl <3. I adore her, and in a lot of ways I wish I was Vi (as a teenager and even as an adult). I wish I had her confidence in being whole-heartedly herself no matter what. I think people might struggle to like Vi in the beginning of this, but as you go and get to understand her even more you see who she truly is-which I think is the point in some ways-because she has such a hard shell, but when she loves you she truly loves you and I relate to that a lot. Her growth is also so beautiful and I’m equally proud of her.

Bash (who has chemistry with like everyone-my god), Olivia, Curio, and Nick all have my heart too. I wish I could have more of them. I’m really proud of all of them

The love story between Vi and Jack is so adorable. I loved their banter so much-and it never stops even when they are together. It’s my favorite type of dynamic to be honest. It’s slow burn, tension filled, and angsty. They both push each other to be the best versions of themselves and to go out of their own comfort zones and I just ADORE them okay. They really love each other for who the other person is and it’s so special because neither of them really had that before. Don’t even get me started on this quote: “Someone who keeps colliding with you, over and over. In everything you love, he’s there too, and real or not, you can exist in every universe with ease because of him. Because for every version of him, there is a corresponding one of you.” because that is like my favorite thing to ever exist

(A random side note but if you loved nicolibby from the atlas series by the same author I really think you’ll love ViJack-there are so many similarities between the two. The vibes are strong I promise)

But also-this wasn’t just a love story between Vi and Jack-but also a love story of loving yourself, platonic love, and familial love as well. They both got to love parts of themselves they didn’t know they needed to, find great friends, and the sibling love between Bash and Vi was one of my favorite parts-and them and their mother. I just love love in all its forms so it was incredible to see.

There are only 2 reasons this isn’t a full 5 star read for me: 1) I did think the beginning was super slow, it took me a really long time to get to the point where I became truly invested in the story (I would say it took up to somewhere in the 35-40% range) before that it felt chore like to pick it up 2) I don’t love how one of the friendship arcs was concluded. I won’t spoil it-but I just don’t really get why it ended this way-that person was terrible to Vi and Vi gave her way to much credit. I just found it too annoying and is a tiny bad blip in how I’ll remember this book.

The ending of this is PERFECTION. Like it couldn’t have ended better.

Overall though, this book was INCREDIBLE and also so funny! So many quotes will live in my brain, heart, and soul forever. I’m so thankful to have read this and I wish so badly it existed when I was a teenager. I think it really could have helped me work out some of my angst (again mostly Jack’s storyline). Thank you Alexene for writing this book, I’ll forever cherish it.

Also had to include a line from her acknowledgements because she always writes ones that pierce through my heart so enjoy:

“And finally, to you, Reader, for being here. If you're the kind of person who feels angry all the time but you don't feel like you're allowed to be, I see you. If all the wrongs committed against you are too small and too infinite to be properly put into words, I hear you. Be kind to yourself, be good to your mind, be gentle with your heart.”

^what she said.

Oh! wanted to add: there is a scene in this book that reminds me so heavily of the iconic scene from A Cinderella Story (yes that scene) so if the rest of this review did not inspire you to read this then this has to...

Anyway, please go read this masterpiece!!!

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! (I also very cooly won a physical arc of this book in an Instagram giveaway)

I thought this was a really good unique way of doing Twelfth Night. I think my biggest problem is I could not stop picturing the cast of She's the Man while reading this. It made it hard for me to keep up but that is a me problem not an everyone problem. Despite my own issues, I really liked it and would definitely recommend to my students for an alternative to the Shakespeare title.

Every time I think I'm over Shakespeare's retellings, something pulls me back in. This was such a delightful use of Twelfth Night to tell a great story about fandom and opening yourself up to other people and experiences. Using gaming and fandom as a way to utilize the disguise of identity aspects of Twelfth Night was nothing short of genius. Although, at this point, genius is something I expect out of Follmuth's writing both as Alexene and Olivie. I'm a fan of both Blake's adult books and YA and this was another great example of that biting wit and characterization.

Viola comes off initially as slightly brash and it was a really great journey for her and the reader so she opens herself up to realizing she does need other people while not losing that angry and stubborn part of her that gets things done. I really liked her and Duke getting to know each other in "real life" and through the RPG. There is SO much attention to detail here both in the world of fandom and in the game and as a huge con/fandom nerd that was especially fun to see in this book. I also love how equal grace was given to "Duke" as he realizes football isn't everything.

This was a really sweet, smart YA book and I am so thankful for NetGalley and Tor Teen for granting me an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this clever contemporary YA take on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night! This was my first time reading a novel by Alexene Farol Follmuth (who also writes as Olivie Blake) and I am very much looking forward to reading more.

Viola Reyes is the brilliant student vice president of Messaline High, and since she has a lot of traditionally male-dominated hobbies and passions (RPGs, cosplay, fantasy TV show fandoms), she has also learned how to take no bullshit. Her student council counterpart, handsome football player president Jack Orsino, is a thorn in Vi’s side until he sustains a major injury on the field and has to figure out who he really is when he can’t be a sports star. While recovering from surgery, Jack gets into the MMORPG video game Twelfth Knight, and runs into Viola online (though he doesn’t know who she is, as she plays as a male knight named Cesario). Through a comedy of errors of mistaken identity, witty banter, and heartfelt conversations between in-game swordfights, these two find that their initial dislike morphs into a real connection.

I really enjoyed this reimagining of the classic story, which seamlessly incorporated contemporary themes and a cast of almost entirely BPOC characters, all fully formed and all chaotically dealing with their own emotional baggage (as is the high school condition). Vi in particular is an incredibly nuanced character, and one I don’t see represented enough in fiction, especially in YA; she’s confident and honest and sure of her skills and her interests, but she’s also full of big feelings like loneliness and uncertainty and desire. I had many similar “nerdy” interests growing up, and I found a lot I could relate to while reading about her struggles with her friendships and within those niche communities.

Everything about this book was thoughtful and impactful and well-done, from the references to the many different relationships, and the central romance felt very realistic, all fragile and bumbling and sweet. This was exactly the kind of book I would have loved as a teen, and I’m so glad I got to read and love it in my thirties.

4.5 stars

Thanks to Tor Teen and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book felt like a warm bath after a long day, and the comforting feeling you get from a sip of hot chicken tinola* soup on a rainy day. I love this teen romcom, Shakespeare retelling; it was so much fun and light-hearted. The dual POV was perfectly executed, and I can’t recall how many times I laughed between Vi and Orsino’s thoughts, banter, and conversations.

I LOVE all the characters, and also the side characters. Despite Vi’s flaws, her character remained strong and confident; she didn’t let others change her perspectives. Jack’s development was impressive—I was rooting for him until the end. The challenges they faced were incredibly relatable, both in real life and online. I’m in awe of the research that must have gone into this book, particularly the accurate portrayal of online gaming and its ability to foster connections. (#MMORPGs)

The overall message of this book is absolutely incredible. While some might have preferred more romance, I believe the book didn’t need it (no spice). It’s about growing up, not giving up, cultivating friendship, experiencing love, and appreciating family. The book emphasizes that there’s always a choice—you’re not born to do just one thing, and there are always other outcomes, not all of which have to be sad.

*Filipino chicken soup typically served with rice

Thank you NetGalley, the author, and Tor publishing group for gifting me an e-ARC copy of this book