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A review by goosemixtapes
Nothing Happened by Molly Horton Booth
3.0
this book is fine. it’s fine. the prose is on the juvenile side of YA; the characters are lovable enough to follow; it's easy to binge-read; i'm still not sure ben's sister needed a POV. it’s more or less a play-by-play of much ado about nothing set at a summer camp, and i picked it up because i adore much ado; still, there's not much new here. beatrice is black and claudio is a lesbian, which is cool, and it’s definitely sweet! but overall this adds very little to the story. some scenes are almost paraphrased from the shakespeare--and if given the choice between shakespeare or a closely-followed shakespearean paraphrase, i’d always rather read the man himself. (particularly in terms of the main couple--ben especially never really hit the proper benedick notes for me.)
that said, i do famously love wlw hero/claudio, even if i think this book could have done more with claudia + the specific self-consciousness of a first gay relationship. still waiting for the day someone writes a f/f beatrice and benedick, but i guess i’ll have to do it my damn self.
(you may be thinking, "max, you keep rating YA books 3 stars. should you just stop reading YA?" to which my answer is that i will always seek out shakespeare retellings regardless of age/genre. they will always entice me. this will never change.)
that said, i do famously love wlw hero/claudio, even if i think this book could have done more with claudia + the specific self-consciousness of a first gay relationship. still waiting for the day someone writes a f/f beatrice and benedick, but i guess i’ll have to do it my damn self.
(you may be thinking, "max, you keep rating YA books 3 stars. should you just stop reading YA?" to which my answer is that i will always seek out shakespeare retellings regardless of age/genre. they will always entice me. this will never change.)