Review: Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle

Kissing Shakespeare
by Pamela Mingle
Release Date: August 14, 2012
by Delacorte Press

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A romantic time travel story that's ideal for fans of novels by Meg Cabot and Donna Jo Napoli--and, of course, Shakespeare.Miranda has Shakespeare in her blood: she hopes one day to become a Shakespearean actor like her famous parents. At least, she does until her disastrous performance in her school's staging of The Taming of the Shrew. Humiliated, Miranda skips the opening-night party. All she wants to do is hide.

Fellow cast member, Stephen Langford, has other plans for Miranda. When he steps out of the backstage shadows and asks if she'd like to meet Shakespeare, Miranda thinks he's a total nutcase. But before she can object, Stephen whisks her back to 16th century England—the world Stephen's really from. He wants Miranda to use her acting talents and modern-day charms on the young Will Shakespeare. Without her help, Stephen claims, the world will lost its greatest playwright.

Miranda isn't convinced she's the girl for the job. Why would Shakespeare care about her? And just who is this infuriating time traveler, Stephen Langford? Reluctantly, she agrees to help, knowing that it's her only chance of getting back to the present and her "real" life. What Miranda doesn't bargain for is finding true love . . . with no acting required.

*A copy was provided by Delacorte Press for review purposes*

This book was a huge surprise for me. I’m not a huge fan of time travel or historical fiction, and having the two combined had me a little nervous. But I could tell from page on that I was going to enjoy this book. First off, Mingle got right into the story, not messing around at all. From then on, it was amazing. I loved that it was different. It was exciting throughout and funny at times. Mingle did a great job of staging the events throughout the book, and it was fun to read because I was able to figure out who the bad guy was. I loved the ending, although it was really sad. The speech was really eloquent and the writing was superb. Also, I really want a second book, because I seriously need to find out what happens with Stephen and Miranda.

Spoiler [After reading the summery, I thought that Miranda was going to fall in love with Shakespeare. However, I’m glad it was Stephen instead]. Stephen was so nice and caring and cute and just perfect. I hated how he kept on pushing Miranda away though. I can kind of understand why he would, but it still kind of irritated me.
And, to complete it, I really liked Miranda. She was funny, spunky, annoying at times (in a good way) and just a perfect main character. I loved how she stood up for herself and it was really funny to see her talking in the modern way compared to how Stephen talked in the old-fashioned way.

If all books from this genre are like this one, I will love all of them. This book was a breath of fresh air for me, seeing as how I usually read paranormal books. But this one will stand out more for its uniqueness and amazingness. :P

4 pink flowers