Much Ado About Margaret

Title: Much Ado About Margaret

Author: Madeleine Roux

Series: N/A

Rating: 3.5/5

~ thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review ~

Oh boy how I love a good Shakespeare retelling. I recently took a class on Shakespeare, and I am now familiar with more of his works, so I get very giddy being able to connect the dots on retellings. Much Ado About Nothing has been one of my favorites to see retold, and this book is nothing different. I had such a fun time reading this book! I think that this was a good and fun read, though definitely different from my normal choices. All of the Shakespeare sprinkled throughout felt like fun little easter eggs to keep track of, and even knowing the general plot to expect I was still taken by surprise at a few turns. I think the biggest one for me was the timeline towards the end of the book. I don’t want to get too spoilery with it, but I just wasn’t expecting the timeline of the last couple chapters to be what it was, but in a good way. 

Margaret and Bridger were so fun to read together! I thought their unfortunate meeting at the beginning of the book was a good setup, and it made it a fun rivals/enemies to lovers plot. I did feel like it was kind of weird that Margaret would reference Shakespeare, and even Much Ado About Nothing, within the novel but then not recognize the similarities to what was happening in her own life and Shakespeare’s Much Ado. However, this is fiction and I can suspend my disbelief for a cute romance like this, so it was definitely not a make or break kind of situation, more of just a funny little thing. Watching Margaret go through her thinking process for everything was very interesting, especially when it came to Bridger. Again, they were just so cute together and the chemistry was definitely there. 

I also loved basically every single scene involving Ann. She was so fun to read about, her personality was great, and she was probably my favorite character in the whole novel- Margaret and Bridger aside, of course. I would absolutely be friends with Ann in real life if that was ever possible. 

All in all, I think this book was a really good and fun read, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good romantic Shakespeare retelling. 

I think that this book is such a good, cute romance to read for this summer! It also felt like it quenched that Bridgerton (tv show) thirst that I was having, at least akin to season one for me. Let me know if you read it and what you think!