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renuked's review
4.0
Whoever decided we needed a retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, set in the 1920s, on Long Island, around a speakeasy named Hey Nonny Nonny, was a genius. This is everything I look for in a book. The end even has some cool historical notes about prohibition on Long Island (which is where I grew up, so this was doubly fun and fascinating) and CITES SOURCES if you want to check those out.
Also, this is a fun article:
http://lipulse.com/2013/02/22/prohibition-tales/
Also, this is a fun article:
http://lipulse.com/2013/02/22/prohibition-tales/
rlstrayer1's review
5.0
5 stars
“I'm penniless, alas. If I win, I want a dance. If you win, I'll give you a kiss."
"I don't suppose it occurred to you I might not want your kiss."
"If you don't want it, you can give it back.”
This book is by and far one of my absolute FAVORITES of 2018 😁
Shakespeare can be hit or miss for me. Romeo and Juliet, for example, annoying the living crap out of me. Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, The Twelfth Night....these are my babies. Wit, humor, and massive confusion all resulting in a happily ever after is my dream book, and these plays deliver them all. So naturally when I find a YA retelling I'm all over it. And just like Shakespeare, some of these retellings are hit or miss. I'm pleased to say that Speak Easy, Speak Love is firmly in the hit camp for me. I mean, I even went to Barnes and Noble and bought a physical copy today, so there's that.
I'm not going to get into plot here, because I think it's fun to go in blind to this one. This book is set during the 1920's Prohibition era, and it has all the charm and fun that the 1920's brings. It follows Much Ado About Nothing pretty well, but it has it's own twists and turns that make it it's own story. The wit and snark in this book is at full speed, and I love all the interactions between all the characters. Even our villain gets his own little happily ever after =)
Off to watch the Joss Whedon version now. Oh, you haven't seen it? GO WATCH IT and then read this book =)
“I'm penniless, alas. If I win, I want a dance. If you win, I'll give you a kiss."
"I don't suppose it occurred to you I might not want your kiss."
"If you don't want it, you can give it back.”
This book is by and far one of my absolute FAVORITES of 2018 😁
Shakespeare can be hit or miss for me. Romeo and Juliet, for example, annoying the living crap out of me. Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, The Twelfth Night....these are my babies. Wit, humor, and massive confusion all resulting in a happily ever after is my dream book, and these plays deliver them all. So naturally when I find a YA retelling I'm all over it. And just like Shakespeare, some of these retellings are hit or miss. I'm pleased to say that Speak Easy, Speak Love is firmly in the hit camp for me. I mean, I even went to Barnes and Noble and bought a physical copy today, so there's that.
I'm not going to get into plot here, because I think it's fun to go in blind to this one. This book is set during the 1920's Prohibition era, and it has all the charm and fun that the 1920's brings. It follows Much Ado About Nothing pretty well, but it has it's own twists and turns that make it it's own story. The wit and snark in this book is at full speed, and I love all the interactions between all the characters. Even our villain gets his own little happily ever after =)
Off to watch the Joss Whedon version now. Oh, you haven't seen it? GO WATCH IT and then read this book =)
flowersofquiethappiness's review
5.0
I have struggled to know what to say in this review. Because when a story is this good?! All I can seem to come up with is: YOU'LL LOVE IT, GO READ IT. So you can understand my turmoil, right? ;) For your sake, I'll attempt to be coherent, though...
First, the setting. I never knew that taking Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and placing it in the Roaring 20s would be so completely perfect. But it IS! It really, really is. All the foibles of these characters just absolutely make sense in a prohibition time period. From the Hey Nonny Nonny, to Prince and John and the mob, to the glorious and wonderful bickering into love of Benedick and Beatrice, to the constant fear of the prohibition agents, it just fits so seamlessly together! Sheer perfection, I tell you.
And then there's Benedick and Beatrice. They are, naturally, two of my very favorite characters ever. But if I thought I loved them before, well! These versions made me love them more, a thing I didn't know was possible! Their chemistry is explosive and intense, even as they do all they can to deny it. Oh my heart, how they deny and it is lovely and awesome and hilarious to watch them circle each other and try so very hard not to engage the other in conversation in the beginning, but one says something that the other just can't leave alone and oh my word, friends, I love every single bit of interaction they have!
And John and Maggie....ah, how I didn't expect to fall in love with these two! I was appropriately wary of John every time he came on the page, oh but not Maggie. Never Maggie! She is fierce and amazing and anything but scared of John. And he's a guy that is worthy of fear, let me tell you. He wields his power with control and his facial expressions rarely relax. But oh his soft center that only a certain someone is privy to? Ah, I don't know what to say about these two characters except that you have to meet them! I never in my wildest dreams expected to like Don John, but John Morello? Oh, just go meet him and then you'll see what I'm talking about.
Then there's all the other vast array of characters with their heartbreaks and happiness and all manner of goings-on. They have such relatability, even though I am nothing like nor do I understand anything about how they lived their lives. Yet that didn't matter, because I knew their hearts. I fell in love with so much of this book because Ms. George's words, people. I kept highlighting multiple sentences and whole paragraphs and just simply being blown away by the sheer charm and delight of being swept up in her ability to smoosh together a mere twenty-six letters to create such beauty.
This book, y'all. I could probably spend ten or twenty more paragraphs trying to expound on how much I loved it. (I won't. :) It's definitely more a character-driven story surrounded by a glorious setting, which is always a big draw for me. And just trust me! If you like Much Ado, I think you really ought to give this one a try! It's just SO GOOD, PEOPLE. So, so good! :D
First, the setting. I never knew that taking Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and placing it in the Roaring 20s would be so completely perfect. But it IS! It really, really is. All the foibles of these characters just absolutely make sense in a prohibition time period. From the Hey Nonny Nonny, to Prince and John and the mob, to the glorious and wonderful bickering into love of Benedick and Beatrice, to the constant fear of the prohibition agents, it just fits so seamlessly together! Sheer perfection, I tell you.
And then there's Benedick and Beatrice. They are, naturally, two of my very favorite characters ever. But if I thought I loved them before, well! These versions made me love them more, a thing I didn't know was possible! Their chemistry is explosive and intense, even as they do all they can to deny it. Oh my heart, how they deny and it is lovely and awesome and hilarious to watch them circle each other and try so very hard not to engage the other in conversation in the beginning, but one says something that the other just can't leave alone and oh my word, friends, I love every single bit of interaction they have!
And John and Maggie....ah, how I didn't expect to fall in love with these two! I was appropriately wary of John every time he came on the page, oh but not Maggie. Never Maggie! She is fierce and amazing and anything but scared of John. And he's a guy that is worthy of fear, let me tell you. He wields his power with control and his facial expressions rarely relax. But oh his soft center that only a certain someone is privy to? Ah, I don't know what to say about these two characters except that you have to meet them! I never in my wildest dreams expected to like Don John, but John Morello? Oh, just go meet him and then you'll see what I'm talking about.
Then there's all the other vast array of characters with their heartbreaks and happiness and all manner of goings-on. They have such relatability, even though I am nothing like nor do I understand anything about how they lived their lives. Yet that didn't matter, because I knew their hearts. I fell in love with so much of this book because Ms. George's words, people. I kept highlighting multiple sentences and whole paragraphs and just simply being blown away by the sheer charm and delight of being swept up in her ability to smoosh together a mere twenty-six letters to create such beauty.
This book, y'all. I could probably spend ten or twenty more paragraphs trying to expound on how much I loved it. (I won't. :) It's definitely more a character-driven story surrounded by a glorious setting, which is always a big draw for me. And just trust me! If you like Much Ado, I think you really ought to give this one a try! It's just SO GOOD, PEOPLE. So, so good! :D
pantsreads's review
4.0
An adorable retelling of one of my most favorite plays.
Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.
Check out my full review at Forever Young Adult.
darlenefaye's review
4.0
“I love you.”
“Against your will.”
“With so much of my heart, none of it is left to protest.”
ಥ‿ಥ
“Against your will.”
“With so much of my heart, none of it is left to protest.”
ಥ‿ಥ
brandypainter's review
5.0
Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
I LOVE Much Ado About Nothing. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. That is 100% due to Beatrice and Benedick being one of my all time OTPs. (I've written about them before here and here.) There are parts of the story I would, of course, like to change for a more modern sensibility (such as everything with Hero and Claudio). I am therefore completely and irrevocably in love with McKelle George's clever retelling Speak Easy, Speak Love. She fixed everything I wanted fixed, and gave me things I never dreamed I wanted from the story but now can't live without.
Benedick Scott is finished. He is saying good-bye to his old, privileged life and taking off to live the remainder of his days at the "boarding house" Hey Nonny Nonny! While making his escape to meet his friend Prince, a schoolmate named Claude catches Ben leaving and tags along only to find himself completely captivated by Hey Nonny Nonny's young mistress Hero Stahr. Ben is unsurprised as he seems to be the only male he knows immune to Hero's charms. But Ben has another surprise waiting for him in Hey Nonny Nonny's newest full-time resident. Hero's cousin Beatrice has come to live with them. She is a freight train and a tornado wrapped up in human girl form, and she knocks Benedick completely off his feet.
Beatrice Clark has dreams and ambitions that do not involve rich boys slumming it on their whimsy. She is going to be a doctor. Just as soon as she straightens out her financial and educational standings. Helping out at her family's "boarding house" that fronts as one of Long Island's most famous speak easies in the meantime just seems logical. They need help, and as capable as she is practical, she can provide help in abundance. Too bad most of her help puts her in the company of the one person in the household she would most like to avoid...
George's versions of Beatrice and Benedick are just top notch. It never would have occurred to me to take Benedick and turn him into a wannabe novelist who has a love affair with his (named-feminine, of course) typewriter, but it is just so perfect in every way. It takes all of his philosophical insecure ramblings and gives them a purpose and a psychology that absolutely fits the original intent of the character and the 1920s setting of this iteration perfectly. Beatrice is as ever highly capable and painfully honest. She is a practical girl who yearns to go to medical school and be a doctor. Following her ambitions has lead her to learn a great deal on her own already. She lugs around a trunk full of medical study materials and diagnoses everyone she comes in contact with who seems remotely suffering from an unknown ailment. When he meets her, Ben is feeling rather purposeless even though he's trying to invest his life with meaning by running away from his rich father to be a writer. For her part, Beatrice is trying to find her place in a world that doesn't seem to want her and is simply grateful to her uncle for taking her in. Sparks fly between the two immediately and the banter is wonderful and clever and amusing in every way the banter between these two is supposed to be. Though a few choice lines from the source material are used, George adds her own spin to their dynamic and makes their banter relevant to the setting. I would have kept turning pages just to keep reading their back and forth.
The supporting characters that round out the cast are also well done, and it is here that George changed things up a bit. John is not the unscrupulous villain of the source material, and the fraught relationship between him and Pedro (Prince) is explored in more depth. Maggie (Margaret) has a far more prominent role and is not the hapless dupe she was in the original. The sub-plot of her relationship with John is my second favorite part of this novel. I would love to read another book just about them. Claude isn't much changed from Claudio except he is very much put in his proper place by the end. Hero is far more rounded a character. George spends a considerable amount of time focusing on how the absence of Hero's recently deceased mother has affected everyone. Anna is almost as much a character as all the living characters of the story. There is much acknowledgment that things with Hero would go much differently if her mother were still alive. Prince is the secondary character I feel the least amount of connection to, but I was very content with the way his story concluded in this version. I thoroughly loved what George did with the magistrate characters. The addition of Ben's father as a character is a stroke of genius. (Also I loved him. I could read more of him too please.)
The 1920s setting is inspired. Bringing all of these characters together for the purpose of running a speak easy is a brilliant twist. Prince is the one who does the majority of the smuggling as Leo grieves the death of his wife. Hero is determined to keep it all going and runs the place. Maggie is the singer. Ben just tries to help without getting in the way. John is an Italian mobster trying to protect his little brother from getting in too deep in a world that could kill him. Beatrice ends up there because she's related, but she fits in right away and begins helping without batting an eye.
I can't in anyway pretend objectivity with this. It is exactly so much a me book that I was bound to love it no matter what. The banter lives up to its predecessor, the dynamic between Beatrice and Ben is perfect in every way, the setting pleased me, and I loved every single character.
My only regret is that I waited this long to read it.
I LOVE Much Ado About Nothing. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. That is 100% due to Beatrice and Benedick being one of my all time OTPs. (I've written about them before here and here.) There are parts of the story I would, of course, like to change for a more modern sensibility (such as everything with Hero and Claudio). I am therefore completely and irrevocably in love with McKelle George's clever retelling Speak Easy, Speak Love. She fixed everything I wanted fixed, and gave me things I never dreamed I wanted from the story but now can't live without.
Benedick Scott is finished. He is saying good-bye to his old, privileged life and taking off to live the remainder of his days at the "boarding house" Hey Nonny Nonny! While making his escape to meet his friend Prince, a schoolmate named Claude catches Ben leaving and tags along only to find himself completely captivated by Hey Nonny Nonny's young mistress Hero Stahr. Ben is unsurprised as he seems to be the only male he knows immune to Hero's charms. But Ben has another surprise waiting for him in Hey Nonny Nonny's newest full-time resident. Hero's cousin Beatrice has come to live with them. She is a freight train and a tornado wrapped up in human girl form, and she knocks Benedick completely off his feet.
Beatrice Clark has dreams and ambitions that do not involve rich boys slumming it on their whimsy. She is going to be a doctor. Just as soon as she straightens out her financial and educational standings. Helping out at her family's "boarding house" that fronts as one of Long Island's most famous speak easies in the meantime just seems logical. They need help, and as capable as she is practical, she can provide help in abundance. Too bad most of her help puts her in the company of the one person in the household she would most like to avoid...
George's versions of Beatrice and Benedick are just top notch. It never would have occurred to me to take Benedick and turn him into a wannabe novelist who has a love affair with his (named-feminine, of course) typewriter, but it is just so perfect in every way. It takes all of his philosophical insecure ramblings and gives them a purpose and a psychology that absolutely fits the original intent of the character and the 1920s setting of this iteration perfectly. Beatrice is as ever highly capable and painfully honest. She is a practical girl who yearns to go to medical school and be a doctor. Following her ambitions has lead her to learn a great deal on her own already. She lugs around a trunk full of medical study materials and diagnoses everyone she comes in contact with who seems remotely suffering from an unknown ailment. When he meets her, Ben is feeling rather purposeless even though he's trying to invest his life with meaning by running away from his rich father to be a writer. For her part, Beatrice is trying to find her place in a world that doesn't seem to want her and is simply grateful to her uncle for taking her in. Sparks fly between the two immediately and the banter is wonderful and clever and amusing in every way the banter between these two is supposed to be. Though a few choice lines from the source material are used, George adds her own spin to their dynamic and makes their banter relevant to the setting. I would have kept turning pages just to keep reading their back and forth.
The supporting characters that round out the cast are also well done, and it is here that George changed things up a bit. John is not the unscrupulous villain of the source material, and the fraught relationship between him and Pedro (Prince) is explored in more depth. Maggie (Margaret) has a far more prominent role and is not the hapless dupe she was in the original. The sub-plot of her relationship with John is my second favorite part of this novel. I would love to read another book just about them. Claude isn't much changed from Claudio except he is very much put in his proper place by the end. Hero is far more rounded a character. George spends a considerable amount of time focusing on how the absence of Hero's recently deceased mother has affected everyone. Anna is almost as much a character as all the living characters of the story. There is much acknowledgment that things with Hero would go much differently if her mother were still alive. Prince is the secondary character I feel the least amount of connection to, but I was very content with the way his story concluded in this version. I thoroughly loved what George did with the magistrate characters. The addition of Ben's father as a character is a stroke of genius. (Also I loved him. I could read more of him too please.)
The 1920s setting is inspired. Bringing all of these characters together for the purpose of running a speak easy is a brilliant twist. Prince is the one who does the majority of the smuggling as Leo grieves the death of his wife. Hero is determined to keep it all going and runs the place. Maggie is the singer. Ben just tries to help without getting in the way. John is an Italian mobster trying to protect his little brother from getting in too deep in a world that could kill him. Beatrice ends up there because she's related, but she fits in right away and begins helping without batting an eye.
I can't in anyway pretend objectivity with this. It is exactly so much a me book that I was bound to love it no matter what. The banter lives up to its predecessor, the dynamic between Beatrice and Ben is perfect in every way, the setting pleased me, and I loved every single character.
My only regret is that I waited this long to read it.
darcybeckett's review against another edition
5.0
Rating: 5/5
I honestly cannot describe how much I loved the characters and plot of this book! Everyone was just so much fun and the writing was amazing! I can't help but think that this book was made for me!!
I honestly cannot describe how much I loved the characters and plot of this book! Everyone was just so much fun and the writing was amazing! I can't help but think that this book was made for me!!
readmyheart's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0