Excerpts and conclusion: … I did enjoy reading about the play within a play, as I’d never heard of it before, but I wanted to get to know the characters, the actors, more and would have preferred the play pay a secondary or background part of the story, rather than seemingly to be the main focus. … This isn’t a bad story at all. It’s very well written and I did enjoy most of it. I felt sorry for the put-upon stage actors, having to deal with the unreasonable requests of the “audience” (the actors playing the part of specific audience members) and I did enjoy how they forced the stage actors to do their bidding and there were some good humorous parts. The parts with Dale and Topher added some nuance to the overall story … Overall, this is a decent read and if you don’t mind reading about a play with a bit of romance added on, then you might enjoy this one.
P.S. It’s worth noting that this review site no longer solely focuses on paranormal romance!
Narrelle M. Harris said: … this curious and charming book …
A reader might fear that the layers of story – actors playing actors in The London Merchant interacting as actor/character with audience members playing Rafe and his sidekicks – will render the whole too muddled to follow.
Fear not, reader. You’re in good hands with Julie Bozza. She’s always been a skilled storyteller with a grasp of the complex, and her knowledge of and affection for theatre and for the Beaumont play are clear.
She handles each layer of the story with clarity, delicacy and warmth, allowing the crossovers of relationships, themes and centuries room to develop without ever overwhelming you.
The Dale/Topher romance underpins the story rather than being the whole focus – there’s as much joy to be had in how the play actually unfolds as with these two lads getting their romantic act together – but that feels rightly balanced with what also feels like a love letter to an obscure play that was a failure for its playwright at the time. I do hope Francis Beaumont knows, somewhere, that Julie Bozza loves him. And at the end of this book, so do I!
Anna Mladen said: I don’t know what exactly I’ve been expecting from this book, but by 12% on that kindle scale I was suddenly awake and breathless to see how all of this will play out: it was like certain discourse from certain Tumblr/Twitter feeds where ‘righteous’ citizen are up in arms to lay down the law of the land. Er. Fandom world, but not only.
The good Citizen in the book/play is up by the stage by this point, demanding that she’ll have representation in the play, or else. Who can deny the RL echoes of this one with the number of ‘shoutout’ we are subjected to these days….Just like 400 years ago, it seems. Eh. Wonder what that means?
There’s little I love more than seeing history intertwined with contemporary events all over again. It brings out perspective, my ears start to sting from lessons we should have known already, and the ‘original’ and monumental game-changing concerns of these days are starting to lose something of their shiny and pressing edge. Issues become once again man-made problems, and thus seem easier to overcome. One can breathe better, hope beating again in the chest.
Sylvia said: That was fun and less confusing than I feared :)
A.D. gave it 5 stars and said: I had a wonderful time reading this book!
This has been a breathless read for me.
I went through it wide-eyed, having an amazing time discovering the real-life, actual life, echoes of a 400-years-old play. The Citizens are the main character is said somewhere in the book, and one only has to venture out on Tumblr or Twitter to come upon the present time embodiment of the play shoutout for representation.
Loved it!
Modern LGBTQ+ fiction inspired by Jane Austen’s novels