Searching for Billy Shakespeare

Kate is a grad student at Columbia, working on her dissertation on Shakespeare. When she catches her boyfriend cheating on her she has to find another place to stay and she is fortunate to find a new apartment (and roommate) at the East Side of Manhattan. Low rent and she only has to cater to her new roommate by making breakfast en cleaning the apartment.

When the brother of her roommate calls one night she is immediately taken in by his voice. And when he asks her to help him prepare for an audition on her fave subject (Shakespeare) Kate is happy to oblige. She and Gabe have long telephone conversations and Kate develops a crush on someone she has never even met! Until the day they do meet...

This is my first book by this author and I was attracted by the cute cover and the blurb. Love me some smart heroines and Kate is also an introvert. I actually did not really deduct that from the story, she was more shy to me. However, she was very able to stand up for herself.

I read this in a couple of hours and even delayed going to bed as I wanted to read on. There is no drama-for-the-sake-of-drama in this book. It is mostly about Kate and the changes in her life after meeting new people. The relationship between Kate and Gabe was really sweet.

I give it 5 stars as it grabbed my attention and even spurred me on to read it in one sitting.

This book was adorable! It was a story I simply couldn't put down. I love Shakespeare myself, so I loved that part of the story, but I also loved Kate and Gabe as characters. So cute!

Searching for Billy Shakespeare,  Crista McHugh

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance

I loved the description – I adore movie star romances – but though Crista has written many books I've only read one, Here All Along, which is about Gabe's friend Gideon, and it didn't really work for me. Still, hesitantly I requested and – I'm so glad I did as I loved it.

It doesn't have the deep, heavy angst and drama I love so much, but Kate and Gabe were such great characters that I still was totally hooked by it. We don't actually meet Gabe til nearly halfway through, but he's there in multiple phone conversations with Kate and I was in love with him just from those ;-)

Kate's wonderful, studious and slightly klutzy, and with a total jerk of a boyfriend, Mike. He seriously took her for granted, and in way he'd become just a safe habit for her. He'd sapped her confidence which is why she left him get away with it. Catching him out was awful, but with the help of her friend Lizzie moving out and on was the best thing she could have done. I was hoping the jerk would get to see just how well she'd moved on from him but...maybe in another book as a secondary plot.
I loved her, she was so hardworking, so honest and one of those people who are just plain Right. She worked hard at her PHD, did the best she could for her students, was a good friend to Lizzie, and TBH had been carrying Mike when it came to relationships. All that time though, she was a bit lost, a bit marking time it seemed, not sure of direction, and Gabe came along at just the right time.
I love that she doesn't know who Gabe is, so she's not awed by him, treats him as anyone else. He needs that, the Gabe I remember from the other book was a bit of a prat, but here he's wonderful. Maybe he just reflects how he's treated, and Kate talks to him as an equal so he reacts back the same way. He admires her intelligence, isn't awed by it as so many people are, and that gives her confidence.

Its a great fun read, I really enjoyed all of it, made me smile and I was so understanding of how Kate felt. I did wish for a teeny bit more angst, y'know, the sad bit that usually hits about 80% when relationships hit a block, but that's just me, and this was still a perfect read without.
Its not one I'll re-read though I think, I'd need the drama for that but I'll certainly feel Crista is an author whose work I wont hesitate to try again.

 Stars: Five, a great fun read, a real feel good romance, though for me I could have had a teeny but more sad parts.....
ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers