Tag Archives: Shakespeare

Sep19

Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese

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Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese

Liese, Chloe. Two Wrongs Make a Right. Berkley, 2022. 336 pp. ISBN 978-0593441503 $17.00

*****

Tis the season for Shakespeare inspired stories! Two Wrongs Make a Right is based on Much Ado About Nothing, in which Benedick and Beatrice don’t love each other until his friend Count Claudio and her sister Hero (who are in love with each other) convince Benedick and Beatrice they are meant to be.

In this modern retelling told in alternating voices, Jamie and Bea literally bump into one another at a party and it’s hate at first sight (even though they’re attracted to one another). He seems stuffy and serious, and her artist persona, tattoos and creative dress seem at direct odds with his buttoned up Boy Scout persona. Her twin sister Juliet and her love, Jean-Claude get engaged, assume everyone should be as happy and in love as they, and after seeing the sparks fly, set up Bea and Jamie on a blind date that amps up over a week’s work of anonymous bantering texts back and forth. Upon discovering the identity behind their exchanges, they are less than amused, and even less to discover the culprits spying on them. To get revenge they decide to fake date and have a dramatic break up to teach a lesson. As always in these cases, it backfires and they discover a deep compatibility.

Shakespeare details abound (the family cat is named Puck) including mistaken identities (Jamie is known to friends as West, Bea calls him James to irritate him and dubs him NRB–not real Ben in her phone) and favorite romance tropes (opposites attract, forced proximity, awkwardness after physicality). The writing is fast paced and witty, and the chapter headings have truly awesome names. Best of all is the protagonists are such fully realized characters, from Bea’s subtly erotic greeting card art, astrology leanings, and aversion to vegetables, her bisexuality and dating trauma, to Jamie’s pediatrics practice, fur babies, waltzing skills and family issues. Their slow burn that builds to comfort, trust and passion is a delight.

In the vein of some of my favorite authors (Olivia Dade, Talia Hibbert), neurodivergence plays a strong role in character development and is celebrated. Jamie’s anxiety and Bea’s ASD presented as real, complete, lovable and enough. Sprinkled with pop culture allusions to games and movies, their date encompass bowling, paint night, and more than one family party. This is also a smart book – big vocabulary words, a spattering of French and Latin, chess metaphors. It was a joy keeping up.

The intimacy is beautifully rendered, from the first impulsive lush kiss to their mutually satisfying no-penetration encounter to making love. Jamie comes across (no pun intended) as a perfect partner: willing to take his time, not judge, communicative, and taking pleasure in Bea’s pleasure. A minor detail that I really loved — instead of saying I’m clean, a character discloses their “STI-free” status which is a wonderfully modern and non-judgemental way to disclose one’s health to a new partner. I cheered.

Jean-Claude’s slow descent into possessive, abusive madness as Jamie and Bea’s relationship deepens sends Bea protectively to her sister’s side and retreating from her new and perfect relationship when her past traumas are triggered. She demands a break with no end in sight, he takes it as a breakup. But all’s well that ends awfully, and they come to their senses (no wedding yet though).

I’m hopeful that both twin Juliet and sister Kate are going to get their own Shakespeare treatments in future works from Chloe Liese; I can’t wait to read them.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #TwoWrongsDontMakeARight from #NetGalley.

Sep13

Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor

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Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor

Kaylor, Serena. Long Story Short. Wednesday Books, 2022. ISBN 978-1250818416 336 pp. $18.99

***

Homeschooler, math genius introvert Beatrice shocks her parents by applying to Oxford–and getting in, at sixteen. Since she has barely interacted with her peers, or left the house much, really, they strike a deal: She must go away to camp for a month and accomplish a list of teenager goals created by her therapist parents: make a friend, accept an invitation you don’t want, do an outdoor activity, hug three people, even pull a prank. Designed for character growth for a child on the spectrum, these are tame but challenging for Bea.

The camp, of course, is a geeky Shakespeare camp for budding thespians, and the shy girl must not only interact, but ACT, thanks to her photographic memory.

This fun, fast-paced, and witty YA read is ultimately tame, with an interesting cast of characters.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #LongStoryShort from #NetGalley

Sep13

For the Love of the Bard by Jessica Martin

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For the Love of the Bard by Jessica Martin

Martin, Jessica. For the Love of the Bard. Berkley, 2022. ISBN 978-0593437438. $16.00

*****

Miranda is back in her hometown for the summer to finish writing the final installment of the popular fantasy series that no one knows she authors. Mortified to run into her ex, hunky veterinarian Adam, she is frustrated by how much her dog loves someone she really wants to avoid due to a long-held grudge. Her mother is in poor health and Miranda ends up having to direct a production of Twelfth Night for the Shakespeare festival, where of course, she keeps running into Adam.

If you love Gilmore Girls, the small town feel of this novel will hit you in all the warm and cozies. I think the author even REFERENCES Gilmore Girls. At first, all of the Shakespeare allusions and puns were groan-inducing and eyeroll worthy… and then I started to really appreciate how the characters developed into solid, real, complex people. The sister dynamics evolved as well.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #ForTheLoveOfTheBard from #NetGalley

Feb7

Joker by Ranulfo

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Joker by Ranulfo

Ranulfo. Joker. Harper Teen, 2006. ISBN 978-0060541583 208 pp. $12

*****

If you liked Baz Lurhman’s film retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, you’ll LOVE this version of Hamlet, “cracked” by Australian author Ranulfo. Modeled nearly act for act after the Bard’s tragedy, the novel is set in the post-September 11th “kingdom” of Elsinore High and features Matt, a boy of Danish ancestry.  His mother has recently taken up with his father’s close associate Claude, driving the poor man nearly mad and causing him to haunt his once happy home and implore his son to kill his competition

Matt’s struggling with his parent’s destroyed relationship (and the recent loss of his best buddy, Ray)… so of course, he takes it out on his sweet girlfriend, Leah… His madness mainfests as Joker, an alter ego who pervades his thoughts and is a catalyst for his darkest thoughts and actions, leading him to contemplate suicide.  The story is a familiar one, told in a jumble of hallucinations, rap, blog entry, and dialogue besides traditional narrative.

Characters are recognizable from the original. Moral Polonius appears as Leah’s dad – the high school principal. Matt moves out of his house, hooking up with former classmates Roscoe and Guido in a tent city, and wandering across the grave of Rick Yo,  before founding his theatre of truth, peopled with misfits.

The flow is smooth, the voice is smooth, and the story riveting and accessible. Although not told in old English or riddled with quotes from Hamlet, there are many clever and fitting allusions to other works by Shakespeare, citing Rosalind from As You Like It, and referencing the sonnet “Venus and Adonis,” to name a few. Pair with the play for best results.

Oct21

The Flip Side by Andrew Matthews

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The Flip Side by Andrew Matthews

Andrew Matthews. The Flip Side. Delacorte, 2005. ISBN 978-0385730969 160 pp. $15.95

***

This British novel about gender and sexuality is cleverly staged around Shakespeare’s gender-bending play As You Like It. When Robert is assigned the role of Rosalind in a class reading of the play, he is surprised to discover he not only enjoys dressing as girl, but that his crush Milena seems to like it too. As Robert struggles to wrap his mind around the idea that his preconceived notions of boys and girls no longer fit into little boxes, he raises more questions than answers, Milena agrees to a date, and his best mate Kev gets homophobic on him. A party invitation instructing attendees to dress as the opposite sex brings about a predictable climax.

In spite of knowing how the story will end, the author makes the journey there half the fun, keeping the serious story light and mixing in quotes from Shakespeare with true-to-life characters and issues. The underlying themes that we are all a mix of feminine and masculine, that we should be accepting of ourselves and one another, that there is no such thing as normal and that it is possible to surpass labels and just be are all positive ideas that teens–and possibly our politicians–need to have reinforced, not just in their literature, but in the world around them. Not as fluffy as David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy (Knopf, 2003) or as serious as a Nancy Garden novel, The Flip Side would make a fantastic title for book discussion.