Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle

Hardcover, 352 pages
Release Date: August 14, 2012
Published by: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Stand-alone
Source: Own
For fans of: Chick-lit, Historical, Romance, Time Travel

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.



*MY THOUGHTS*
     First I want to start off by saying this book isn’t what I would normally read. I am one of those people that HATES history. I have to be honest and admit, the only reason I read this was because of the title… I mean the thought of kissing the man who wrote “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and better yet, “Romeo and Juliet“?! *SWOONNNNNNNN* So I gave it a chance…. And I’m so glad I did.
     Shakespeare has been a part of Miranda’s life as long as she can remember. She is the daughter of two extremely talented, world known actors and hopes to one day become one as well. Then one day after performing in the play “The Taming of the Shrew,” she feels that she didn’t do a good enough job so she hides from the cast. But one of the members finds her, and changes her world upside down. He tells her she is the one who must save the world’s greatest play wright, by seducing him.
    For the story to have such an exciting plot though, it moved slowly to me. Granted I was moved right to 16th century England from Mingle’s words, but it seemed a little boring. I felt like a real girl during that time, doing nothing. I understand it was a romance novel, but a little plot twists or something would have made it a little more interesting. 
     I was awed by the way Mingle was able to pull me into Miranda and Stephen’s world. By the way they characters talk and act shows that she definitely did her research for her story. I like when it is evident in the story that the author did their homework. It shows that they wanted every detail covered and really wanted to transport the reader to the time their story is set. 
    Overall, it turned out to be less than what I thought it was about, which kind of disappointed me. I guess I’ll leave it there to avoid spoilers.