For the Love of the Bard — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Jessica Martin
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: Berkley Books
Pages: 352

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): To go for it or not to go for it? That is the question when two former high school flames return to their Shakespeare-obsessed hometown for a summer of theater and unexpected romance, in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author Jessica Martin.

Literary agent and writer Miranda Barnes rolls into her hometown of Bard's Rest with one goal in mind: to spend the summer finally finishing her YA novel, the next installment in her bestselling fantasy series. Yet Miranda's mother, deep in the planning stages for the centennial of the town's beloved annual Shakespeare festival, has other ideas.

Before you can say "all's fair in love and war," Miranda is cornered into directing Twelfth Night--while simultaneously scrambling to finish her book, navigating a family health scare, and doing her best to avoid the guy who broke her heart on prom night.

When it comes to Adam, the veterinarian with a talent for set design and an infuriating knack for winning over Miranda's dog, the lady doth protest too much. As any Shakespeare lovers knows, the course of true love never did run smooth, and soon Miranda realizes she'll have to decide whether to trust Adam with her heart again.

First Impression

I’m not the biggest Shakespeare fan but the idea of a writer going back to her home own during a huge Shakespeare festival sounded very fun. The cover is also so colorful and very eye catching and I like that it’s a little different than the current typical romance cover.

What I thought

This novel straddled the line between quirky fun and quirky annoying and I’m still a little iffy about where it landed.

Miranda Barnes heads back home for the summer to help with the 100th anniversary of her town’s Shakespeare festival, as well as to get out of her writer’s block to write the next book in her YA fairy series. While back home, she runs into her high school crush who broke her heart, Adam, and sparks still fly.

So, Miranda’s town is Shakespeare obsessed, and this isn’t even an exaggeration. Every store is named with a Shakespeare pun, which, ok, kind of cute. What irritated me is that it becomes almost cultish in their use of quotes and the Bard’s name. Like, instead of saying “For goodness sake” (or other alternatives), they say “For Bard’s sake”. Multiple times. And they have fights in which they hurl Shakespearean insults at each other. Multiple times. I honestly cannot wrap my head around that being real and it pulled me out of the book every time I read a line like that.

Another small irritation that honestly, really has no impact on the rest of the book but bothered me all the way to the end is that Miranda calls her sister Portia “Porsche” at one point because it supposedly irritates her but, it’s pronounced the same way? So how does she know she’s calling her a different spelling of her name in spoken word and not in writing?

But speaking of Portia, I did enjoy the sisterly relationships in this book with Portia, Cordy, and Miranda. It was my favorite part and I loved watching them work through a lot of their problems and grow and become more adult. I also really liked their parents, so honestly, the home-town family aspect of this book was a huge win for me.

I did like Adam, and I liked Miranda, but I don’t know if I liked them together. There was just something missing and I can’t put my finger on it. They had moments of chemistry, but I think maybe I needed a little more of a slow burn? Not my favorite couple I’ve read, especially recently.

I did enjoy her friend Ian as well as Miranda’s struggle with writing the next book in her YA series. It was interesting to see how the negative reviews of the previous book made it so hard for her to start the next one.