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A review by nadineeeeeee
Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth
5.0
thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc!
HAPPY RELEASE DAY IN THREE DAYS!!!!! <3333 i’ve been putting off writing a review for this book because i feel like no amount of paragraphs from me can pay it justice but well. here we are!
i love love <b><i>love</b></i> this book so much (if you can’t tell already from the rating). i had such a ball reading this, like this book was written for me!!!!!!!!!! i was scrolling through my previous ‘annotations’ from my first read to prepare myself for writing this review, and every charm, every banter, all the good things about this book just came back to me.
you can tell that the author of this book (alexene farol follmuth, i love you please do keep writing romcoms) actually <i>had</i> gone through the HELL that is often referred to as a ‘fanbase’ (a too innocent name for something so self-destroying honestly) with the amount of fandom references and terms sprinkled throughout the every-day-life, and how these obsessive, sleep deprived, chronically online (affectionate) average-internet-user-fan behaviors were ingrained <i>deep</i> into her main characters (most specifically VI (my love!!).
i have soo much to say just about this aspect of the book alone. vi ranting about toxic people in the fandom, vi immediately looking into a fix-it fic after a disappointing piece of media, vi (as cesario) telling jack about tumblr and its edits (my favorite one btw, if you even care), vi rushing to make a thread on how horrible the season was, LIKE DO YOU GET IT. ITS SO FUN.
having <b>VIOLA REYES</b> as a main character in a romcom novel was probably one of the most FUN i’ve ever had reading-wise this year. she’s so opinionated (which is probably my most favorite thing about her), whether it’s to us (the readers) or to the people around her. she’s confident, and independent but still with tons of flaws and self-destructive tendencies (avoidant attachment issues, isolation, etc) that she would have to explore and grow out of throughout the book. she’s angry all the time (mostly about how everything in the world always work in favor of the western world and men) and she’s RIGHT every time of course. her sarcasm and witty remarks are one for the books, and i could listen to her talking about how wrong everything is with the world for HOURS. she’s obsessive and a fanatic and a maniac when it comes to her favorite media (just like me fr), and how she often uses it and its fandom as escapism, and she’s sooo happy and giddy when she’s around the kind and excited people that share this same interest of her (also just like me). it’s allll sooooo endearing to watch. I LOVE HERR (can jack fight).
<b>JACK ORSINO</b> is also not to be forgotten, of course! he’s kinda giving patrick verona (add the likeable-to-the-mass par though) to vi’s kat startford, and i loved every second of it. jack is your average popular, attractive, glorified, but still very likeable and loved by all, football player in a high school setting from the outside, but he’s sooo much more than that in the inside. first of all, he’s also a DORK. his interactions with cesario (vi) only proved that as much (also the way he so easily grasped the chronically online language after a short period of time was really impressive, he could easily be one of my tumblr mutuals and i would not bat an eye). not to mention, he’s also a deep pathological people pleaser that i, for one, had no choice but to relate. we got to explore him having an existential crisis after the whole football thing went south, and see him tentatively and timidly explore more of his options in the world even when everything still felt unreal to him. it’s great!
<b> <i> *hey siri please look up viola reyes/jack orsino modern au angst fluff T on fanfiction.com* </i></b>
do i even have to say anything more about them???? i love them. and i fear that’s all i have to say. like jane austen was very right when she said “if i loved you less, i might be able to talk about it more” because yes!!! if i loved them less then i might be able to talk about them more!!
few things i’d say about them though : i love their interactions and the build up to everything. whether it’s offline or online, everything was just! perfect! in real life, their banter and silly goofy behaviors despite it all captivated me. whereas online, their unhealthy tendencies to stay up late until like two to play games and fangirl while also criticizing obsessively about this show they’re currently watching ALSO captivated me. there’s just nothing to lose with them.
i love the fact that, while romance is the main focus of this story, it doesn’t make our two main characters explicitly only grows within that narrative.
vi and jack are both well-written and well fleshed out and both respectively have strong personalities in their own way, and that just makes it all the more interesting. how their roles in the romance aren’t what dictate their characters, but exactly the opposite. vi and jack’s relationship is the main thing to be fixated on in this story, but we also get to see how each of their relationships with other people broke and healed.
especially with vi, who often has trouble with letting people in, even those who are already close to her, and how sometimes it feels like it’s easier to just immediately take the gasoline and burn the bridge. her friendship with antonia (which is also part of the reason why i hope you stayed until the very end because their resolution!!), her growing friendship with olivia in the midst of it all, her relationship with her family (bash and her mom, which also has incredibly well writtej moments), and everything else. we also get to see glimpses of the dynamics and the bumps within the orsino family (although not as thorough as vi’s) and how everything comes together in the end. and of course, his falling out with his girlfriend, olivia and how it all ended up intertwining in this story.
(okay woah that’s definitely not just a thing or two. anyways. moving on)
the <b>side characters</b> are also soooooooo! i love all of them. the dynamics between vi’s family (bash and their mom) was so comical and sitcom-esque, it’s like a cherry on top. i actually did laugh (like real <i>real</i> laugh) reading so many of their interactions. olivia is so sweet and i love her. vi’s friendship with antonia is a bit rocky in the story, but you’ll see!!! and i don’t know. everything, everything else.
another thing i love and appreciate about this book is the <b>representations and the constant conversations about gender and racial discriminations </b>. again, why i love ya contemporaries so much is how they bring up hard topics like these and talk about them, but not like it’s revolutionary to do so (like how often hollywood does ekhem), but casually while also still bearing much weight because for most people, it’s a struggle well-acknowledged and felt everyday.
the main characters are diverse and each of them, at some point of the story, whether said explicitly or not, has opened up to their struggles as someone who’s not a privileged white man living in the free world of america.
this is a ya romance novel, but also deeply entwined with tonssss of social and political commentaries (mostly by vi of course) served as passing remarks that just makes it all more realistic and thought-provoking to read.
so. uhhh bottom line—woah this is a really long review isn’t it 😭—I LOVE THIS BOOK.
actually, it’s not a 4.75 stars (sorry i was just in denial) this is, to me, a full on 5 STARS. i love love love this book so much (oh really, we can’t tell) and i can’t wait to read more of her books to come!!!! <3 soo going to buy the physical copy of this once it’s available here! (ok i really need to stop now my phone is heating up but AJSKSKSGDL READ IT 🫶🏽🫶🏽) (25.5.24)
———————
FINISHED THIS WITH ONLY 23 HOURS TO GO. THIS WAS SO SO GOOD. kinda tempted to just give this a five star not going to lie. thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc<333 RTC! 11.5.24
HAPPY RELEASE DAY IN THREE DAYS!!!!! <3333 i’ve been putting off writing a review for this book because i feel like no amount of paragraphs from me can pay it justice but well. here we are!
i love love <b><i>love</b></i> this book so much (if you can’t tell already from the rating). i had such a ball reading this, like this book was written for me!!!!!!!!!! i was scrolling through my previous ‘annotations’ from my first read to prepare myself for writing this review, and every charm, every banter, all the good things about this book just came back to me.
you can tell that the author of this book (alexene farol follmuth, i love you please do keep writing romcoms) actually <i>had</i> gone through the HELL that is often referred to as a ‘fanbase’ (a too innocent name for something so self-destroying honestly) with the amount of fandom references and terms sprinkled throughout the every-day-life, and how these obsessive, sleep deprived, chronically online (affectionate) average-internet-user-fan behaviors were ingrained <i>deep</i> into her main characters (most specifically VI (my love!!).
i have soo much to say just about this aspect of the book alone. vi ranting about toxic people in the fandom, vi immediately looking into a fix-it fic after a disappointing piece of media, vi (as cesario) telling jack about tumblr and its edits (my favorite one btw, if you even care), vi rushing to make a thread on how horrible the season was, LIKE DO YOU GET IT. ITS SO FUN.
having <b>VIOLA REYES</b> as a main character in a romcom novel was probably one of the most FUN i’ve ever had reading-wise this year. she’s so opinionated (which is probably my most favorite thing about her), whether it’s to us (the readers) or to the people around her. she’s confident, and independent but still with tons of flaws and self-destructive tendencies (avoidant attachment issues, isolation, etc) that she would have to explore and grow out of throughout the book. she’s angry all the time (mostly about how everything in the world always work in favor of the western world and men) and she’s RIGHT every time of course. her sarcasm and witty remarks are one for the books, and i could listen to her talking about how wrong everything is with the world for HOURS. she’s obsessive and a fanatic and a maniac when it comes to her favorite media (just like me fr), and how she often uses it and its fandom as escapism, and she’s sooo happy and giddy when she’s around the kind and excited people that share this same interest of her (also just like me). it’s allll sooooo endearing to watch. I LOVE HERR (can jack fight).
<b>JACK ORSINO</b> is also not to be forgotten, of course! he’s kinda giving patrick verona (add the likeable-to-the-mass par though) to vi’s kat startford, and i loved every second of it. jack is your average popular, attractive, glorified, but still very likeable and loved by all, football player in a high school setting from the outside, but he’s sooo much more than that in the inside. first of all, he’s also a DORK. his interactions with cesario (vi) only proved that as much (also the way he so easily grasped the chronically online language after a short period of time was really impressive, he could easily be one of my tumblr mutuals and i would not bat an eye). not to mention, he’s also a deep pathological people pleaser that i, for one, had no choice but to relate. we got to explore him having an existential crisis after the whole football thing went south, and see him tentatively and timidly explore more of his options in the world even when everything still felt unreal to him. it’s great!
<b> <i> *hey siri please look up viola reyes/jack orsino modern au angst fluff T on fanfiction.com* </i></b>
do i even have to say anything more about them???? i love them. and i fear that’s all i have to say. like jane austen was very right when she said “if i loved you less, i might be able to talk about it more” because yes!!! if i loved them less then i might be able to talk about them more!!
few things i’d say about them though : i love their interactions and the build up to everything. whether it’s offline or online, everything was just! perfect! in real life, their banter and silly goofy behaviors despite it all captivated me. whereas online, their unhealthy tendencies to stay up late until like two to play games and fangirl while also criticizing obsessively about this show they’re currently watching ALSO captivated me. there’s just nothing to lose with them.
i love the fact that, while romance is the main focus of this story, it doesn’t make our two main characters explicitly only grows within that narrative.
vi and jack are both well-written and well fleshed out and both respectively have strong personalities in their own way, and that just makes it all the more interesting. how their roles in the romance aren’t what dictate their characters, but exactly the opposite. vi and jack’s relationship is the main thing to be fixated on in this story, but we also get to see how each of their relationships with other people broke and healed.
especially with vi, who often has trouble with letting people in, even those who are already close to her, and how sometimes it feels like it’s easier to just immediately take the gasoline and burn the bridge. her friendship with antonia (which is also part of the reason why i hope you stayed until the very end because their resolution!!), her growing friendship with olivia in the midst of it all, her relationship with her family (bash and her mom, which also has incredibly well writtej moments), and everything else. we also get to see glimpses of the dynamics and the bumps within the orsino family (although not as thorough as vi’s) and how everything comes together in the end. and of course, his falling out with his girlfriend, olivia and how it all ended up intertwining in this story.
(okay woah that’s definitely not just a thing or two. anyways. moving on)
the <b>side characters</b> are also soooooooo! i love all of them. the dynamics between vi’s family (bash and their mom) was so comical and sitcom-esque, it’s like a cherry on top. i actually did laugh (like real <i>real</i> laugh) reading so many of their interactions. olivia is so sweet and i love her. vi’s friendship with antonia is a bit rocky in the story, but you’ll see!!! and i don’t know. everything, everything else.
another thing i love and appreciate about this book is the <b>representations and the constant conversations about gender and racial discriminations </b>. again, why i love ya contemporaries so much is how they bring up hard topics like these and talk about them, but not like it’s revolutionary to do so (like how often hollywood does ekhem), but casually while also still bearing much weight because for most people, it’s a struggle well-acknowledged and felt everyday.
the main characters are diverse and each of them, at some point of the story, whether said explicitly or not, has opened up to their struggles as someone who’s not a privileged white man living in the free world of america.
this is a ya romance novel, but also deeply entwined with tonssss of social and political commentaries (mostly by vi of course) served as passing remarks that just makes it all more realistic and thought-provoking to read.
so. uhhh bottom line—woah this is a really long review isn’t it 😭—I LOVE THIS BOOK.
actually, it’s not a 4.75 stars (sorry i was just in denial) this is, to me, a full on 5 STARS. i love love love this book so much (oh really, we can’t tell) and i can’t wait to read more of her books to come!!!! <3 soo going to buy the physical copy of this once it’s available here! (ok i really need to stop now my phone is heating up but AJSKSKSGDL READ IT 🫶🏽🫶🏽) (25.5.24)
———————
FINISHED THIS WITH ONLY 23 HOURS TO GO. THIS WAS SO SO GOOD. kinda tempted to just give this a five star not going to lie. thank you to netgalley and publisher for the arc<333 RTC! 11.5.24