Normally, I would read something like this on my kindle, where no one could see the silly girl on the cover or the ridiculous title as I read. However, I had a coupon, and well, the name Shakespeare posses some weird kind of power over me. Specifically, I need to personally own every obtainable copy of whatever it’s printed on–except those creepy covers for the plays. You know the ones I’m talking about.
Anyway, aside from that bizarre addiction of mine, I was also in the post-Doonian state of READ ALL THE HISTORICAL FICTION! (Click for my review of Doon.) So I picked up Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle. The book wastes no time jumping right into the plot. Miranda (Ah! Tempest reference!) is the daughter of two Shakespearean actors who has been cast as the lead in her school’s production of Taming of the Shrew. She thinks it’s because her mother so famously portrayed Kate.
With the pressure of expectations, Miranda blows opening night, playing a flat and uninspired Katherine. While she’s hiding out in shame in the green room, Stephen, the actor who plays Lucentio, approaches her with a wild story; He needs Miranda to come back in time with him to save Shakespeare’s life.
She doesn’t believe him, there’s a short chase, and then he pulls her off of a building after spouting some iambic pentameter. Suddenly they’re in the past, and Stephen reveals he is a time keeper, burdened with keeping the order of the world. And dun dun duh…. has recently discovered a threat to Shakespeare’s works and life. If Miranda doesn’t seduce Shakespeare to prevent him from becoming a priest, he will never write his plays and the world will fall apart. He may even die. And the world will fall apart.
It sounds ridiculous, and parts of it are. Shakespeare is young, charming, and seriously enchanted with the idea of becoming a priest, but not quite ready to give up on his writing and acting ambitions. Mingle uses the time right before Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, so as not to royally mess with history–a fact which makes me respect her more. She also capitalizes on the religious… issues of the day, and the Catholicism of the Shakespeare family. As someone who loves Shakespeare, I very much appreciate that.
There’s also a subplot of Miranda verses her parents expectations versus those she believes her parents have for her verses the ones she holds for herself. The mother-daughter relationship is examined throughout. The book also touches on religious freedom, marriage, and morality.
There will be spoilers ahead, so skip down two paragraphs if you want to avoid those.
Predictably, while trying to enchant Shakespeare, Miranda begins to fall for Stephen. At the time, she is pretending to be Stephen’s sister, so naturally, with a probable spy and many people pretending to be someone else (another nod to Will), that causes problems. Stephen also enlists Miranda, now to be called Olivia (haha), partly because of the loose morals of the women of her time–i.e. her willingness to sleep with any man. Miranda resents the assumption and that causes more issues and misunderstandings between the star crossed-lovers, using the love-hate relationships of some of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. Not to mention the sexual tension.
The thing I probably enjoyed most about the book is that there was no quick fix to their impossible love-the two could barely be together while playing brother and sister. Also, they come from very different worlds and Stephen has a responsibility to protect the universe and Miranda has a dream of being on the stage. And there is no way around that; they cannot be together and the book ends with promises to never forget each other and Miranda leaving Stephen to return to her proper time. In a world of happily ever after books (or I end up with my true love books), it was refreshing to read something where the first love was ended and both characters had no choice but to move forward.
***
Was this book one of the best I’ve ever read? No. Did I probably enjoy it much more than I should have because it involves Shakespeare? Perhaps yes. The thing is, I couldn’t stop reading it. Something unnameable kept me reading virtually nonstop. I may have paused to eat at one point. So will I recommend it? I think I have to, especially for romantics and Shakespeare lovers.
Life's a Book 