The Young Adult Romance “Twelfth Knight” by Alexene Farol Follmuthis is a wonderfully modern retelling of the classic comedy “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare. We follow Viola Reyes and Jack Orsino who know each other from shared responsibilities at school but due to their personal biases never really gave the other a chance. After Jack is injured in a football game he dives into the world of the MMORPG called “Twelfth Knight” where he unbeknownst by him meets Viola's character. Viola however plays as a male character in order to be taken seriously by other players and starts interacting with him without telling him who she really is. I adored it! And not solely because of the romance but because of the conversations of this book. The protagonists as well as the side characters have complex personalities and problems that enriched the story immensely. They touch on friendship, expectations, fandom, gaming and especially the perception of women in typically male dominated environments. The decision to write this book in dual POV was also great in my opinion since it gave Jack much more depth. I had the pleasure of listening to this as an audiobook. The narration by Alexandra Palting and Kevin R. Free was excellent! I really liked their representation of the characters and appreciate the decision to utilize a male and female narrator. Furthermore I have to say that I really found myself in this book. As a gamer I shared many experiences with Viola on how I am perceived in online games and the struggle to be taken seriously. I loved the way new characters were introduced into fandoms and overcame their prejudices towards them. As you can see I am full of praise for this book because of its topics and insightful writing so I wholeheartedly recommend it! A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Für alle Fans von to all the boys I loved before. Es ist eine super cute high-school romance die allerdings mehr Tiefgang hatte als ich erwartet habe. Der männliche Protagonist hat mich total an Peter kavinski aus Tatbilb erinnert. Und die Protagonistin hat mich total an kate aus 10 Dinge die ich an dir hasse erinnert und ich liebe beide Filme sehr. Mit der Protagonistin Vi konnte ich so mitfühlen. Diese Wut die man als pupertierendes Mädchen auf die ganze Welt verspürt und das Gefühl, dass das Leben ungerecht ist, weil man viele Freiheiten nicht hat die ein Junge in unserer Gesellschaft hat, einfach weil man in einem weiblichen Körper zur Welt gekommen ist. Viele Situationen denen wir als Mädchen bereits in sehr jungen Jahren unterliegen und wie anstrengend dass sein kann. Hier no h ein paar Stellen die ich mir im Buch markiert habe: "Boys seriously think that girls only want romance and ballgowns and puppies, which is proof they don’t understand the first thing about actually being a girl. I play this game because in the real world, I’m stressed. Or angry—and don’t I have good reason to be? When I first started playing MMORPGs, I used to use a headset. I don’t anymore. You know why? Because when boys hear a girl’s voice, they either come for you unnecessarily, thinking you’ll be easy prey, or they think everything you say is flirting. Being nice to a geek while being visibly female is the kiss of death. Do you know how many times I’ve gotten vulgar messages or explicit pictures? And if I say no, do you know how many times I’ve been called a bitch? Not that all guys are awful, but the awful ones are impossible to escape. And certainly impossible to tell at first glance." ----------------------- "People think I walk too fast, but in my defense, I have to. My mom says the best way to avoid being a convenient target for anyone with nefarious intent is to always seem like I have somewhere to be. (Super fun how she had to teach me that, but not Bash.)" ----------------------- "I open my mouth to say it wasn’t a threat, but then I remember that even if I did tell on George, nothing would happen. He didn’t do anything—that’s the whole point. What did he call it? A joke. Right. The real joke is that it’s not a crime to stand too close or refuse to hear the word no. It’s just … boys being boys. I don’t think I could explain “he makes me uncomfortable” beyond just saying that. But I’d kind of hoped my best friend wouldn’t require an explanation." -------------- "DUKEORSINO12: /can you teach me how Huh. That is a surprise. I sit back in my chair, trying not to be impressed until I remember that oh yeah, he thinks I’m Cesario. He thinks I’m a dude. This is exactly the kind of thing that doesn’t get said when people already know you’re a girl. Instead, people (boys) usually assume they can teach you something. One of many benefits to Jack Orsino not knowing who I really am, since there’s no way he’d ask me this in real life. About anything."