The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life: A Review
The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen is a fun, slice of life contemporary novel. In The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life, we follow Alison Green, as she tries to make a misfit of fellow students work together to create this years school play.
Alison Green can’t seem to stop putting her foot in her mouth. Her first mistake shows when she agrees to produce a Midsummer Night’s Dream, despite not knowing anything about plays. She ruins relationships and possibly some theatre mafia drama, but manages to pull it together. This book was fun, and made me laugh at times. The quirkiness of the different characters allowed them to be well rounded. And the teens acted like teens, which I think a lot of YA books miss.
I do have some grievances, though. Alison Green does not seem to really learn from her mistakes. She puts herself above others, regularly. She does this thinking she’s doing the right thing, but, it never ends well. While these mistakes get repaired, she doesn’t seem to learn anything from them. The romance with Charlotte was sweet, and made Alison a bit more likeable. The drama with Zack, and his in the closet boyfriend, was also a fun part of this book. I just wish the main character had more character development in all of this.
All in all though, this book made me laugh. I enjoyed the weird dramas that happened to Alison and her friends. It was a funny read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book for an honest review!
Leave a Comment