Lady Katherine has lost all that she knows and loves. Her father is killed for illegally practicing Catholicism and she has nothing left in this world. With nothing to lose, Katherine thirsts for revenge against Queen Elizabeth I. William Shakespeare’s newest play which shall be performed for Her Majesty is the perfect opportunity for Katherine to avenge the death of her father. Unfortunately for her, the play is a tool to find insurrectionists and squash the rebellion. A tool that is wielded by Toby Ellis, a young spy. When Katherine disguised as a boy and Toby are cast as the leads in the play they must fight their attraction to one another. The closer they get the more danger they put themselves in. They must decide if they can pay the price of star-crossed love or if they can survive without the other.
Before I start talking about how the book was and all of that good stuff, let me tell you how I chose this book. You’ve probably heard the phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover.” So naturally I did just that! I looked at the title, thought "Sounds interesting," and picked up the book. I essentially went into the book blind which made the experience of reading this book that much better. I liked that I slowly discovered things in the book such an appearance by Shakespeare, which I would not have had the pleasure of discovering.
One thing that I was supremely worried about was the LGBTQ aspect of the book. I was anxious because I was afraid that I was reading too far into the subtext of the book. I thought that the author, Virginia Boecker, was going to pull a 180 on me pretend like she didn’t write a story with some serious LGBTQ undertones. There aren’t enough LGBTQ characters in books these days as it is (although that is slowly changing now) and to have her take this away from readers would have been terrible. Thankfully she did not do that. In fact, I would say that she charged on ahead like a champ and I love her for it.
I loved the fact that this book paid homage to Shakespeare’s stories and included him in the book itself. Mistaken identity, cross-dressing, and the perfect play to complement them, what more can a girl ask for? I love it when books go all meta on me! This aspect of the book was enhanced for me because I didn’t even know Shakespeare was in it when I picked it up, how was I supposed to know about the cross-dressing and confusing identities?
Let's talk about what I didn't like: the ending. Don't get me wrong, I want a supremely satisfying ending as much as you do. But I don’t want it to be a rush order of satisfying ending. I want to be a slow and luxurious ending, like a cat stretching. The ending could have been fleshed out more and if it had been I would have most likely given this book 5 stars. I don't know if the multiple POVs (Points of View) contributed to this rushed feeling or if it was something else. I don’t hate multiple POV books at all. They increase the pace (like Unwind) and they can even create dramatic irony which I love. All of these aspects were in this book but they didn’t work well together in this instance which is why the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped. I’m giving it 4 stars because of the rushed ending but other than that it’s a wonderful book. Especially to buy as a gift as it is a standalone book that is fairly unique in its plot. I would recommend it to people who enjoy historical fiction and have a decent understanding of Shakespeare.
This modern English is difficult for me.
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