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Hearts on the Table:
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Expected 22 Sep 26Win a free print copy of this book!
22 days and 20:54:16
10 copies available
U.S. only
"A masterful reimagining of Shakespearean characters." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
In a twisty transformation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, populated with queer, trans, and neurodivergent characters, a seventeen-year-old feminist with a penchant for thrashing men at cards finds herself tangled in the last mess she’d ever expect: love.
Violet is used to winning—with her mathematical mind, no one stands a chance of beating her at cards, or much of anything else. So, when her wrathful father threatens to marry her and her trans twin brother Seb to the highest bidders, she’s certain they can escape England, even with a war on. But before they reach safety in Italy, a U-boat sinks their ship, and Violet washes up on a small island, on the wrong side of enemy lines, desperate to find her missing twin.
To earn passage to the mainland, where she hopes Seb has landed, Violet disguises herself as a man and accepts a job delivering love poetry for melancholy pacifist Teo, the island’s irritating golden boy. The object of his affection, fair Olivia, is less than enchanted, but she is intrigued by the handsome delivery boy—Violet in disguise. While Violet struggles to sidestep Olivia’s attentions, she’s vexed by her own inconvenient but undeniable attraction to Teo.
Add a mysterious newcomer, who converts the love triangle into a square, and Olivia’s autistic sister, who’s concocting a devilish revenge against the island’s biggest bully, and odds are things will only get messier.
Fortunately, playing the odds is Violet’s specialty.
Susan Metallo’s whip-smart writing makes for a witty, elegant, and high-stakes exploration of love, loss, friendship, and identity.
In a twisty transformation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, populated with queer, trans, and neurodivergent characters, a seventeen-year-old feminist with a penchant for thrashing men at cards finds herself tangled in the last mess she’d ever expect: love.
Violet is used to winning—with her mathematical mind, no one stands a chance of beating her at cards, or much of anything else. So, when her wrathful father threatens to marry her and her trans twin brother Seb to the highest bidders, she’s certain they can escape England, even with a war on. But before they reach safety in Italy, a U-boat sinks their ship, and Violet washes up on a small island, on the wrong side of enemy lines, desperate to find her missing twin.
To earn passage to the mainland, where she hopes Seb has landed, Violet disguises herself as a man and accepts a job delivering love poetry for melancholy pacifist Teo, the island’s irritating golden boy. The object of his affection, fair Olivia, is less than enchanted, but she is intrigued by the handsome delivery boy—Violet in disguise. While Violet struggles to sidestep Olivia’s attentions, she’s vexed by her own inconvenient but undeniable attraction to Teo.
Add a mysterious newcomer, who converts the love triangle into a square, and Olivia’s autistic sister, who’s concocting a devilish revenge against the island’s biggest bully, and odds are things will only get messier.
Fortunately, playing the odds is Violet’s specialty.
Susan Metallo’s whip-smart writing makes for a witty, elegant, and high-stakes exploration of love, loss, friendship, and identity.
464 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication September 22, 2026
About the author
Susan Metallo
2 books32 followersI am a neurodivergent author and youth services librarian. Reasons to Hate Me, my debut novel, received several honors including being named a "Best YA Book of the Year" by Publishers Weekly and a "Teacher Favorite" by the Children's Book Council. I am a graduate of the College of William and Mary, and I am living my best nerd life in Central Virginia with my husband, my children, and an 80-lb. bulldog who fervently believes she will fit on your lap. Find me on Bluesky (@metallowrites.bsky.social) and Instagram (@metallowrites).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Want to Read
June 16, 2026This sounds fantastic and more people should be getting excited about it
Want to Read
June 27, 2026So excited for this new book from my library-school classmate Susan! It's the kind of story I'd read anyway (retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night featuring queer and neurodiverse characters), but it's more fun when I personally know the author. :) Starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal (plus positive from Publisher's Weekly), hooray!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
♥️🃏 Hearts on the Table by Susan Metallo 🃏♥️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you so much to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for the ARC!
This was SO much fun! I went in knowing it was a Twelfth Night retelling, but I wasn't expecting to get quite this invested in all the chaos. 😂
Violet is stranded in an enemy country during WWI, separated from her twin brother, and forced to disguise herself as a boy just to survive. From there, we get mistaken identities, tangled relationships, secret crushes, love poetry, revenge plots, and enough romantic confusion to make Shakespeare proud.
I absolutely loved Violet. She's clever, stubborn, fiercely feminist, and not about to quietly accept the life society has planned for her. Watching her navigate a world determined to put women in their place while also trying to find her brother made her such an easy character to root for.
The cast was another huge win for me. I loved that we got queer, trans, and neurodivergent characters, and that their identities were simply part of who they were rather than the entire point of their characters. Everyone felt distinct and genuinely human, and I became surprisingly attached to this little group.
I also really appreciated the way Susan Metallo tackled gender roles, feminism, racism, classism, and ableism within the historical setting. There are some heavier ideas here, but the story never felt like it was lecturing me. It was wrapped up in a genuinely entertaining story with plenty of humor and heart.
And the historical setting?! SO GOOD. I loved the WWI backdrop and the way it influenced everything happening around the characters. The author's note at the end was also fantastic—I always love getting that extra peek into the research and separating the historical reality from the fiction.
If you like My Lady Jane, Not for the Faint of Heart, Shakespearean chaos, or historical YA with a little bit of everything, I think this one is worth picking up.
I laughed, I got invested in the romance, I wanted Violet to find Seb, and I absolutely enjoyed watching everything spiral into one giant mess of mistaken identities and feelings. 😂
My only complaint? I wanted more! The ending works perfectly well as a standalone, but I would happily read another book with these characters because I was nowhere near ready to leave them behind.
5⭐️ — clever, chaotic, heartfelt, and SO much fun. ❤️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you so much to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for the ARC!
This was SO much fun! I went in knowing it was a Twelfth Night retelling, but I wasn't expecting to get quite this invested in all the chaos. 😂
Violet is stranded in an enemy country during WWI, separated from her twin brother, and forced to disguise herself as a boy just to survive. From there, we get mistaken identities, tangled relationships, secret crushes, love poetry, revenge plots, and enough romantic confusion to make Shakespeare proud.
I absolutely loved Violet. She's clever, stubborn, fiercely feminist, and not about to quietly accept the life society has planned for her. Watching her navigate a world determined to put women in their place while also trying to find her brother made her such an easy character to root for.
The cast was another huge win for me. I loved that we got queer, trans, and neurodivergent characters, and that their identities were simply part of who they were rather than the entire point of their characters. Everyone felt distinct and genuinely human, and I became surprisingly attached to this little group.
I also really appreciated the way Susan Metallo tackled gender roles, feminism, racism, classism, and ableism within the historical setting. There are some heavier ideas here, but the story never felt like it was lecturing me. It was wrapped up in a genuinely entertaining story with plenty of humor and heart.
And the historical setting?! SO GOOD. I loved the WWI backdrop and the way it influenced everything happening around the characters. The author's note at the end was also fantastic—I always love getting that extra peek into the research and separating the historical reality from the fiction.
If you like My Lady Jane, Not for the Faint of Heart, Shakespearean chaos, or historical YA with a little bit of everything, I think this one is worth picking up.
I laughed, I got invested in the romance, I wanted Violet to find Seb, and I absolutely enjoyed watching everything spiral into one giant mess of mistaken identities and feelings. 😂
My only complaint? I wanted more! The ending works perfectly well as a standalone, but I would happily read another book with these characters because I was nowhere near ready to leave them behind.
5⭐️ — clever, chaotic, heartfelt, and SO much fun. ❤️
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I love this!
The story revolves around Violet, staunchly feminist and struggling against the world's misogyny and the feminist movement's racism and classism. When she washes ashore in an enemy country without her brother Seb, not speaking the language, she has to find a place for herself. She disguises herself as a boy for safety and convenience and much mistaken identity and relationship drama ensues.
It has Shakespeare's mistaken identity drama along with a heavy dose of feminism, grappling with queer identity, and appreciation of communist ideals set against a backdrop of World War I. There are queer characters, trans characters, and neurodivergent characters.
The characters feel real and like friends; their struggles are easy to empathize with. The historical setting felt believable and real.
It wraps up satisfactorily as a single book, although I would love a follow-up with the same characters.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick for providing an early copy for review.
The story revolves around Violet, staunchly feminist and struggling against the world's misogyny and the feminist movement's racism and classism. When she washes ashore in an enemy country without her brother Seb, not speaking the language, she has to find a place for herself. She disguises herself as a boy for safety and convenience and much mistaken identity and relationship drama ensues.
It has Shakespeare's mistaken identity drama along with a heavy dose of feminism, grappling with queer identity, and appreciation of communist ideals set against a backdrop of World War I. There are queer characters, trans characters, and neurodivergent characters.
The characters feel real and like friends; their struggles are easy to empathize with. The historical setting felt believable and real.
It wraps up satisfactorily as a single book, although I would love a follow-up with the same characters.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick for providing an early copy for review.
August 17, 2026
This book elicited so many feelings from me 🥹
Our protagonist Violeta, is a hardcore feminist. She takes zero shirts from anyone and has values regarding equal rights and freedom. She meets Teo, a man who rescues her from the beach and shares values that are not aligning with violet. I love the bantering between the two 🥹 the annoyance transformed into comfort and later into romance 💝 my only critique is that I would have liked to see an epilogue with them as a couple.
I loved the LGBTQ representation in this book. A trans brother (seb), a woman who is queer (Olivia) and the themes of identity and woman rights. I appreciated the author providing historical insight on her book and classifying what is true and what is fiction.
Our protagonist Violeta, is a hardcore feminist. She takes zero shirts from anyone and has values regarding equal rights and freedom. She meets Teo, a man who rescues her from the beach and shares values that are not aligning with violet. I love the bantering between the two 🥹 the annoyance transformed into comfort and later into romance 💝 my only critique is that I would have liked to see an epilogue with them as a couple.
I loved the LGBTQ representation in this book. A trans brother (seb), a woman who is queer (Olivia) and the themes of identity and woman rights. I appreciated the author providing historical insight on her book and classifying what is true and what is fiction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Fantastic. Reminiscent of Lex Croucher’s Not for the Faint of Heart and Cynthia Hand’s/ Jodi Meadows’s/ Brodi Ashton’s My Lady Jane. But also entirely its own. I love the ways Metallo shines a light on early 20th century attitudes about gender roles and ableism without ever being preachy. Metallo’s historical note at the end allows interested readers to separate the story’s facts from its fiction and learn some fascinating history in the process.
Thanks to Edelweiss and Candlewick Press for the electronic ARC.
Thanks to Edelweiss and Candlewick Press for the electronic ARC.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews