I wanted to like it so much. SO MUCH. Being a reader, it's near impossible not to be enthralled by Shakespeare. The whole premise and adorable cover make it sound light and airy with awesome Shakespeare references. Think that level in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (the PC 1997 version) putting the Globe Theater together while viewing mounds of rolling green hills and a cute and literate future playwright flirting with our MC.

What I got was a lot of descriptions of the ale, rainy days spent inside working on needlepoint, and a happy-go-lucky young Shakespeare (who I always thought would be a bit more brooding in my head) mixed in with a LOT of religious chatter.

I did like the scenes with Will in them (there weren't many!), reading through early drafts of his scripts and Miranda aka Olivia dressing up as a boy to spy. I didn't think England in Shakespeare's time could be boring... but it was. And that ending, gah! No resolution, so you WILL see him again or you WON'T? Because since you don't have the time turner thinger mabobber, how is that up for you to decide? Iz confused. To be honest, I knew I was in trouble about 50 pages in, but this was one of my most anticipated novels of 2012 so I HAD to read it. Thank god I got an arc copy on netgalley, I just saved myself the 17.99 I would have paid the day it came out. Such a let down. :((