Much Ado About Magic
Kjersten Beck
language
(, Oct. 8, 2012)
He humiliated her last year when she was in love with his friend. Now Beatrice is supposed to believe Benedick is in love with her? Or is it all a trick?A retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, set in a contemporary high school--with magic!Last year, Beatrice Hero was humiliated by Benedick Padua using a truth spell on her to admit her love for Pedro Arragon, who quickly rejected her in front of the entire high school. Now she overhears that Benedick is in love with her and has been for years. Is she more interested in love or revenge?In a contemporary world where there are five clans with proprietary magic spells, Arragons with money, Heros with beauty, Florentines with strength, Paduans with truth, and Messinas with knowledge, Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is retold. Benedick and Beatrice are feisty lovers who take as much pleasure in needling each other with ever greater displays of wit as they do in kissing. But when Beatrice and Sarah are accused of stealing a different clan's magic spell and the World Council gets involved, only Benedick believes they are innocent and can prove that someone else is trying to change the balance of power and use all five magic spells at once.I hadn’t had a date since the beginning of my sophomore year, right about the same age Sarah was now. I thought about how badly that date had gone. He was all hands. And a senior guy, so I was afraid to tell him no. I let him kiss me at the end of it, and then he told me I kissed like a cow. As if he had been the greatest kisser in the world.“And how many cows have you kissed?” I asked him.He stared at me like he didn’t get the joke. “You have a smart mouth,” he said.“I have a smart whole head,” I pointed out. For some reason, he was still not amused.