I thought this was a decent draft of a novel, and I have certainly read far worse. I was very disappointed by this though, because it had potential. There's a nice little plot, some interesting characters... but all we get are the outlines. Nothing is fleshed out.
I truly felt that this was a work-in-progress, not the final product. So much felt... not even rushed, just undone. There are huge events that merit a sentence or two, and then there are well crafted paragrahs that focus on small details.

The start of the book is much better. The writing is more polished. By the end, the tone, style, and quality is completely different. It's as if this book was a term paper that the author had to turn in, and you can see when the time crunch hit.

I cannot recommened this book at all, but with some more practice and polish, the author could produce something more worthwhile.

This book is *super* short, but it still took me like two months to finally finish it. I kept getting distracted by other, shinier, books. The Fool's Girl is a vague re-telling or continuation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, with Shakespeare as one of the characters in the novel. I don't have any particular affinity to Twelfth Night, other than mostly knowing the outline, so I enjoyed this "historical fiction" take on it. Some parts seemed to drag in the story telling, as well Feste seemed awesome at first, and then less awesome as the book went on. And I really thought one of the "good" characters was going to have some kind of evil twist, but I guess the author went for the happy ending instead.

A very fun new interpretation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Suspenseful and well written.

I really enjoyed this book.

Based on the twelfth night... is extravagant!

I absolutely loved this book. At first I was a little skeptical because the story didn't seem that interesting but it proved me wrong. Seriously, this book was amazing. It took me a while to get comfortable with the characters but once I did there was no going back. Violetta's and Feste's friendship is the cutest thing ever, they don't feel the need to say how important they are for each other every five minutes, the way they look out for each other is enough. I also loved the story of Viola, Violettas mother, and Lady Olivia, Stephanos mother. I wish there was a book just about them and where they ended up afters their deaths because I feel like there is something or some place. Oh my god, I need a book about their after lifes.
Let's talk about Will, I couldn't really connect with him because to me he seemed kind of left out. Obviously he is somehow a big part of the story because he's helping Violetta and Feste but he doesn't interact with them or other characters the way the others do. He cares a lot about other people and is super smart but I feel like he's more being used than actually valued for what person he is. Cecil may be impressed with him and Forman may enjoy to talk to him (but he likes to talk to anybody so I don't know if that counts)but they all just talk to him because they need something from him. I feel sorry for him. The only thing that made me want to read more about him was horoscope that Forman wrote for him. He seemed quite shocked and when I read that part I was getting so excited to read about that and then Will burned it and that's when I gave up on his character.
Then there's the relationship between Violetta and Stephano. They're cousins but the book plays in a time when that was the norm so it's okay but besides that I didn't really feel them as THEM. I was hoping that she would end up with Guido but it was clear very soon that that wouldn't happen.

I read this book back when I was 17 and, I still enjoyed it a decade later.

The Fool's Girl tells the story after the events of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Violetta, daughter of Viola and the Duke. She has fled to England with Feste, the clown and good friend of Lady Olivia, in search of a stolen relic. The two go to William Shakespeare for help, and find the playwright before he has risen to great fame. This was an adventurous story. Sometimes I felt a little bit lost, because I have not read Twelfth Night yet. The story is told in a mixture of the present and flash backs to explain why Violetta had to leave her native Illyria.
There is also romance with Sebastiano, son of Sebastian and Lady Olivia. For some reason, it didn't click in my mind that Violetta and Sebastiano are cousins until halfway through the book, but by that point, I was already rooting for them to get together, so I could ignore the kind of wierdness.
I liked the book. There were some parts that seemed a little too convenient, but it was enjoyable.

I enjoyed "The Fool's Girl". Not a super ton, but enough to give it 4 full stars.

I picked the book up from Barnes & Noble for my Nook at a discounted price. I am glad I read it, but it lacked character development.

I did very much like the part that William Shakespeare played. I love the references to places I knew from history. I just feel that while it is a good read, it just moved so swiftly from point A to point B and I was left wanting to know more! :-)

That said, I did enjoy it and would probably read it again in a few years. :-)

~Hope