Review of Eyes Like Stars

Goodreads Summary: "All her world’s a stage
 
Enter Stage Right
 
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith (Bertie): Our heroine.
Nate: A dashing pirate who will do anything to protect Bertie.
Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, and Peaseblossom: Four tiny, mischievous fairies, and Bertie’s loyal sidekicks.
Ariel: A seductive air spirit. Disaster follows in his wake, but Bertie simply cannot resist him.
 
Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. The actors are bound to the Théâtre by The Book, an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of the actors, but they are her family. And she is about to lose them all because The Book has been threatened, and along with it the Théâtre. It’s the only home Bertie has ever known, and she has to find a way to save it. But first, there’s the small problem of two handsome men, both vying for her attention. The course of true love never did run smooth. . . ."

I don't think I've read a book that had me laughing this hard since Kiersten White's Paranormalcy. I found myself hooked within the first few lines of Eyes Like Stars, giggling and snickering my way through the beginning of what proved to be an entrancing novel.

Fey, magic, and theater...what more could you ask?

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith was a character if not a Player. I just loved her bumbling and there is just no other way to describe her. She had the best of intentions but her follow through on said intentions was sorely lacking. But I loved watching her try. She was just the kind of character you wanted to give a big hug and become best friends with. She had such spunk, such creativity, and an abundance (some may some an overabundance) of creativity.

And her little minions, the fairies, were just a few cards short of a deck. They had me in stitches with their insanity. They refused to let the novel have so much as a single dull moment nor go more than a couple pages without a giggle or two. To be frank though, Lisa Mantchev managed to make all of her characters come alive even the ones that weren't hers to begin with.

You know an author wields an amazing power in her words when her own novel makes you eager to dash to your TBR pile and pluck every single Shakespeare from it...and subsequently devour them. There are so many characters, settings and plotlines referenced from his works and I was cringing at myself (a literature major nonetheless!) for recognizing so few of them.

I devoured Eyes Like Stars within a few hours and found myself wanting to kick myself in the arse for having let it sit on my TBR pile for so long...and for not having the sequels on hand to devour them in a similarly rapid fashion. Both books are now on my wishlist and will be bought as soon as possible.