Review: Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle

I had high hopes for this novel, it was Young Adult, it had time travel and Shakespeare all things that make up a “me” kind of book.  Unfortunately my high hopes were dashed and fairly early on I might add – this book was unfortunately a very light read, without much substance and the actual plot I found very difficult to swallow.

Miranda is kidnapped from the present day by a time traveller called Stephen Langford so that she can travel back in time to the 1500s and seduce Shakespeare in order to keep him from becoming a priest, forever altering the world as we know it.  Without more than a minute of protest she goes off in time and agrees to sleep with Shakespeare by posing as Stephen’s sister and before you know it she’s a co-conspirator of this crazy plot.   Miranda is chosen by Stephen for this task as she is well versed in Shakespeare’s works and for this reason will fit into life during the 16th century without any problems.

This entire summary really displays how weak the storyline of Kissing Shakespeare is, and in fact reading back over it has me rolling my eyes all over again. How or why anyone could be friendly with someone who had taken them against their will is beyond me, and I absolutely hate virginal female leads who are willing to “give it up” for the most ridiculous and flimsy reasons.  Your either open to sex and sexual encounters or you’re not, one minute Miranda was all for it, the next she wasn’t because she wasn’t a “slut” that type of melodrama really gets on my nerves. I also felt that any modern day teenager would severely struggle with the etiquette and lifestyles of someone in the 1500s let alone be expected to impersonate someone.

The characters really let this story down in general.  Stephen wasn’t particularly likeable though he was clearly meant to be a wonderful considerate man.  Miranda while sweet was a little stupid at times which I found quite irritating and Shakespeare himself was written as a bit of a womaniser and flirt.  The entire time Miranda was trying to seduce him I couldn’t quite work out why Stephen thought that this would be the best option.  To me it was fairly clear that Shakespeare really needed some good friends who he could be honest with about his writing passion and thoughts about priesthood.  I actually thought that this seemed a much more rational approach and could have easily turned into a romantic liaison if that’s what the author wanted and it would have seemed much more believable to the reader.

What this book did well was that it moved quickly and was well written making this very easy to read and overall enjoyable if you were willing to overlook the actual main plot.  The descriptions of the English countryside and life of the 16th century was nicely handled, I really liked hearing about it without there being too much descriptiveness unnecessarily bulking out the story. I was a bit surprised by the ending – I really had thought things were going to be different and was surprised that Stephen didn’t explain that he had seen Miranda as some brilliant Shakespearean actor in her future leading him to choose her.  I will be interested to see if this stays as a stand alone or if the author decides to write sequels either with Mirander or Stephen as the main character.

While this book wasn’t by any means a favourite of mine I still did enjoy the reading experience for the most part. I think that if you are after a fairly fast easy to read YA novel and you like time travel or historical romances this is worth picking up.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children’s Books for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. Kissing Shakespeare is released on 14th August 2012 and can be purchased via the links below.

Rating

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August 7, 2012 at 1:17 pm Reply

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emaginette says:

August 8, 2012 at 12:54 pm Reply

Too bad. I like reading a book where history comes alive. Oh well maybe next time.

I just started to follow you thanks to the RCCleanup. Feel free to drop by my blog anytime. Love to have you.

Philippa says:

August 10, 2012 at 2:23 pm Reply

Thanks for the comment! Yes I was a bit dissapointed too, I love historicals especially when there is time travel involved

Ashley says:

August 15, 2012 at 4:13 am Reply

Nice review. I considered getting a copy of this book but I think I’ve decided not to. It might not be horrible but it doesn’t sound great, and I have a huge pile of “great” books to get around to.

Philippa says:

August 16, 2012 at 1:19 pm Reply

Completely agree, I feel like I’ve wasted my time every time I read an average book, though at least I rarely seem to pick up complete duds anymore

Christina K. says:

September 10, 2012 at 7:28 am Reply

I actually kinda liked it!! I went in thinking it would be light, so I didn’t expect something else. I liked Miranda, I think for the premise she fit perfectly.

Great review though!

Philippa says:

September 12, 2012 at 1:50 pm Reply

I’m sure a lot of people loved this book, I think it’s one of those cases that I had high expectations and it fell a bit flat for me!