Summary from Goodreads:
he course of true love never did run smooth . . . and neither does high school in this new graphic novel series for fans of Heartstopper and The Prince and the Dressmaker.
Vi came to Arden High for a fresh start and a chance to wear beanies and button-ups instead of uniform skirts. And though doing it without her twin feels like being split in half, Vi finds her stride when she stumbles (literally!) into broody and beautiful poet-slash-influencer, Orsino. Soon Vi gets roped into helping plan the school’s Twelfth Grade Night dance, and she can’t stop dreaming about slow dancing with Orsino under the fairy lights in the gym.
The problem? All Vi’s new friends assume she’s not even into guys. And before Vi can ask Orsino to the dance, he recruits Vi to help woo his crush, Olivia. Who has a crush of her own . . . on Vi.
Star-crossed love abounds in this hilarious and romantic story of self-discovery, mistaken identities, and the magic that happens when we open our hearts to something new.
Review:
This was a really sweet graphic novel about crushes, dances, and growing up. The artwork and premise reminded me a little of the Heartstopper books by Alice Oseman. Though, these have a bit of fantastical element. And the character development for me was never quite as strong as it needed to be. I never loved the characters like I love everyone in the Heartstopper books.
Right away, there’s a lot going on here. I love Shakespeare. I love twin stories. I love stories about false misconceptions. I think maybe there was too much going on, so not enough time was focused on the things that mattered. I was a a little confused by the presence of the fairies. At first I was like, are we supposed to think they they are real? Are fairies and magic real in this world? Why is nothing else magical if that is the case? And it kept taking me out of the plot whenever the fairy characters came to play….
The other thing I kept doing was trying to relate the story to the Shakespeare story it’s named for…but, I don’t think I was supposed to do that. There’s not too many connections besides the obvious ones. And then there are the fairies from a Midsummer’s Night Dream. Again, this took me out of the story…. I guess this could have been fixed if the book was just called something else. Maybe Shakespeare High was taken?
This all being said, I loved the idea for the book and the art was top level. It’s really stunning to look at. The crush story about going to the dance and the twins finding their way away from each other was nice on its own, but there’s just so much other stuff going, it got a little much for me. All in all, I give this one a 7/10.
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