Out Now from Tor Publishing Group; 320 pages
Content Warning: Language, sexual content
About the Author: “Alexene Farol Follmuth is a young adult romance author, a first-generation American, and a lover and writer of stories. Alexene has penned a number of adult titles under the name Olivie Blake, including the internationally bestselling The Atlas Six. Her YA debut, My Mechanical Romance (2022), was a Goodreads Choice Nominee, while her sophomore release, Twelfth Knight (2024), was an instant New York Times and Indie bestseller, a June 2024 B&N YA Book Club Pick, and a Reese’s Book Club Summer 2024 YA Pick. Alexene lives in Los Angeles with her husband and goblin prince/toddler” (Bio from author’s website).
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In a swoonworthy, humorous and heartwarming YA retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, worlds collide when a star football player and an overachieving gamer meet in a popular online video game. Vi Reyes is fed up with just about everything in her life, including Jack Orsino, a talented athlete (and the guy who beat her for student body president). When a football injury benches Jack, he uses his free time to evade reality in the world of Twelfth Knight, Vi’s favorite game and safe space. In this online platform, a connection sparks between Vi and Jack, albeit under some false circumstances. Desperate to hide her identity from Jack, Vi pretends to be her brother in the game, but as her connection with Jack grows stronger both online and IRL, she is forced to confront feelings she never expected to have and a lie she never anticipated to go so far.
Follmuth’s modern-day twist on an iconic Shakespearean play was energetic, entertaining, and sweet. I appreciated how Follmuth took an honest approach to how friendships and relationships change as you grow older, not shying away from the hard feelings that people experience when these changes take place through Viola’s story especially. Twelfth Knight is not just a tale of teen love; it also focuses on universal topics and feelings, like the idea of true “belonging” and the importance of being open and vulnerable with those we love. Additionally, this book provided a compelling insight into different ideas of masculinity and femininity, examining what it means to express gender identity through the journeys and perspectives of different characters. Each character shows incredible mental and emotional growth during the progression of the novel, which is something I adored about the book. One of the only drawbacks to this focus on this individual growth (especially Viola’s) was that I was not as invested in the actual romance. While I loved the banter between Jack and Viola, there were a few times where I wasn’t able to understand their compatibility or how their relationship had progressed in the way that it did. With that being said, Follmuth’s skill for complex character building, which I have loved in her past novels like the Atlas Trilogy and One For My Enemy, finds a place in this book and makes it a beautiful and worthwhile read.
Sam Parker, Pine Reads Review Writer