Will Shakespeare is a young, country boy with dreams of becoming a well known London player and writer. Meg Macdougall is a girl who loses her mother and father at a young age and is forced to hide her identity to survive. Will’s money problems and Meg’s longing for adventure draw the pair together in London as Will learns to draw inspiration from his new surroundings. This historical fiction is a humorous and creative telling of William Shakespeare's early life and romantic relationships. The narrative flow follows that of a Shakespeare comedy and stage play; filled with crossdressing, high stakes swordfights and satirical depictions of cultural, social and legal customs of the time. The well crafted plot and dialogue reflects middle english language and renaissance customs. The backmatter includes an author’s note that distinguishes aspects of the plot that are fact and fiction which provide the reader with insight into the research behind this story. The occasional references to sex and descriptions of teenage desire should be considered prior to recommending, especially in a school library environment. This book is recommended as an additional purchase for a school or public library in need of quality historical fiction. (Ages 15-18) ( )

Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.

I am not Mack; I am only Meg.

Honestly, I'm not at all sure of what I want to say about Love Disguised. I wish I could tell you that it was brilliant, or that the characters blew me away... but that would be a lie. While I liked this one, I didn't find it particularly or interesting or ground-breaking.

I really liked it in the beginning; it had a certain charm about it, what with all the characters referring to themselves in third person, and the alternating points of view. But the more I read, the more I started to notice things. Like the fact that the writing style itself was a bit odd. I couldn't really get into it, and I never figured out why!

The alternating points of view (though a plus in the beginning) soon became a hindrance. They sort of bled together, and I couldn't differentiate Will's voice or Meg's in all the ruckus; which I felt was a shame. As characters, they were okay, maybe even good; but as narrators they lacked a certain wit. I mixed them up more times that I could count!

Will had a wonderful sense of humor, and I enjoyed his jokes... but how could someone so happy write such tragic literature? I never quite understood that, though I did like this "lighter" Will Shakespeare. There is, however, something that happens towards the end that I assume makes him the "tortured" man that we see in his work. (Something that I respect his decision about.)

Meg was also a good character. She had spunk, and I found her to be very brave. She wasn't whiny at all, but her friend Violetta was terrible! I couldn't stand her constant whining and bossing. And her man? Don't even get me started on how lovesick and annoying he was!

While I found several parts of this book to be rather entertaining, I didn't believe the story. *gasp* The idea that a woman could be friends with a man as a man? No. Several times throughout the book Mack was recognized to be Meg, and yet Will never saw it? That doesn't make sense to me, but it was a minor issue.

Another minor issue that I had was the dialect. I felt like it wasn't exactly authentic for that time frame. People from poorer areas would speak in a less polished tongue than those from richer areas, but that "tongue change" wasn't shown. It was easy to read, though.

All in all, I just didn't love this one. I liked it, and that's all you'll be getting from me on the subject. ( )