Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth

After thoroughly enjoying My mechanical romance by Follmuth, who is also the author of the adult series The Atlas Six under the penname Olivie Blake, I couldn’t  wait to read Twelfth Knight, another YA romantic comedy. I was not disappointed. Twelfth Knight is witty and the budding romance between two disparate characters is delightful.

Viola Reyes is frustrated with her group of friends when they reject her game and to make things worse school running back star Jack Orsino is the most annoying and lazy Student Body President who makes her job as Vice President difficult. The only outlet she has is the Massively Multiplayer Online Game Twelfth Knight  where she plays under the male name of Cesario, after finding that competent girls are not exactly welcomed. When Jack Orsino is injured and his football career put on hold for a year his friend recommends that he plays Twelfth Knight and a whole new world is opened to him. Vi finds that Duke Orsino and Cesario get along in the online world, even though Jack does not know that Vi is masquerading as Cesario. In the real world of school politics, Jack and Vi gradually get to know each other as school activities need to be planned.

With many laugh-out-loud moments the sparkling dialogue will entertain as the grumpy Vi and easy-going Jack learn to work together, Jack's likeable nature smoothing the way for Vi to get things done. Vi is often frustrated by the overt sexism that prevails and has no hesitation in calling it out. Meanwhile Jack learns that there is more to life than football and he really enjoys the online world. As the pair grow to know each other in the real world, Vi is faced with a dilemma. She has not told Jack that she is Cesario. How will he take it?

Twelfth Knight is an engrossing feel good rom/com with Shakespearean overtones, a lively coming of age story and amusing repartee.

Themes: Romance, Sexism, Online game playing, Football, Coming of age, Humour.

Pat Pledger