This was a sweet and fun! I love the setting and the characters didn't feel like typical teenagers, in a good way. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments and some great concepts about grief and finding the "new normal".

Schumacher really knows how to write emotion driven YA that leaves me emotionally connected to the characters and this did not disappoint. Gwen misses her mom desperately after her death and is bound and determined that nothing else in her life will change. She relies on lists and routine and the Renaissance faire but when the new owners and their son Arthur enters her life everything is about to change. Loved the atmosphere and everything about this one!
Thank you #wednesday and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

this was a fun read especially if you love faires! The characters were fun and quirky and it was a good read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

As a big fan of Well Met, this is a great option for teens. A great book about grief with a sweet male protagonist who lives in a literal castle.

This was such a sweet and wholesome story set at the Ren Faire. Maddie and Alex's relationship is so adorable and I appreciated the author's way of addressing grief and body image.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that I would, but I was surprised by how much I truly did like it. This book explores difficult themes such as grief (tw: death of a parent, off page) and accepting oneself despite not fitting in with typical societal standards, and I just felt that Schumacher did a really good job exploring these themes. I really liked how the romance started as friendship (or acquaintances) and just grew from there, and I really liked Madeline's growth throughout the novel. I honestly think that this was the most important aspect - as she learned to navigate life without her mother, and figure out how to be comfortable in her own skin, but at the same time, it wasn't too heavy as to be overwhelming. Schumacher did a good job balancing the heavier themes with levity. Overall, I recommend this one and I am really glad I read it.

As always, Ashely Schumacher has written a book that tugs on the heartstrings and both makes me cry while also bringing me some delightful hope. I really loved this one and I loved Maddie as the main character. What a wonderful, complex and thoughtful character. And Arthur! I love Arthur.
I also loved the Ren Faire setting - as someone who very much enjoys attending them, I loved the attention to detail and joyful way that the faire was woven into the story and into the lives of the characters! Highly recommend this one.

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway was a very sweet and charming book! There were moments that were emotionally poignant as the lead character copes with having lost her mother a year earlier. The book, set at a renaissance fair, is most likely a dream come true for younger readers.

At the heart of this story, is a very slow and cute romance between Maddie and Arthur, the son of the son of the owners of the faire. He is so clearly captivated by her while she works through a lot of her body issues.

I think this is a good read for teens looking to lose themselves in the ren faire world.

3.5 stars rounded up

I am instantly drawn to anything that has to do with Renaissance Fairs, so this book was a must. And the whole insight into what it would be like to live inside the traveling group is so interesting. I loved that aspect.
It was so much fun reading as Arthur moved into the picture and, as an almost enemies to lovers appeal, breaks down her hardened facade and finally gets her to open up.
Plus, give me a old man selling potions to random bystanders, love it.

Maddie grows up in the renaissance faire circut. When her mother dies, she refuses to get close to other people and is intent on remembering everything through journals. A chance meeting with a bard named Arthur forces her to open herself up to new people and new experiences.

I connected with Maddie's grief and fear of change including wanting to remember everything. While her experience resonated with me, I didn't quite connect well with her. She had a tough exterior that sometimes frustrated me, and her initial treatment of Arthur made me mad at her. Arthur was nice and had an abundance of patience for her.

Although I liked Arthur, Maddie's hesitation about him and his suddenly strong feelings for her were well-founded. I would have felt the same knowing that someone who suddenly liked me was just recently in love with someone else. They had fun moments with each other that I enjoyed. Because I am cynical about love but a hopeless romantic, I was still rooting for them. I liked what they brought out in each other, especially the hope they sparked in one another.

I like Ashley Schumacher's writing. She writes teens and teenage romances well. While her previous two were more evocative, The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway has more humor in it and less heart-crushing. (3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
I was predisposed to find this one cute because I connected with my now partner over the ren faire!
It was cute and fun as expected.

I loved this sweet YA romance set at a ren faire, in which Madeline works through her grief over her mother's death and tries to figure out if Arthur is worth her vulnerability. The biggest thing I didn't like was Arthur's insistence on calling her Gwen (not her name or nickname, just his observation that she looks like Guinevere from his childhood book of fairy tales). Other than that, I really enjoyed the characters (both Madeline and Arthur and their parents), and the setting was super fun.

Early copy received, and I’m digging in right away!
...it skipped the line (sorry, TBR!) so I could finish it by today. It’s such a sweet coming of age story! Highlights include: a Renaissance Faire, a diverse cast, camel jousting, sunshine/grump love story, finding joy through grief, and so many witty banter moments. Don’t miss this one!

Thanks Wednesday Books!

A very cute and feel good YA rom com. I love the setting of the renaissance faire. We have a plus size main character which is so nice. A dorky a little too good to be true male lead Arthur. There’s a little romance but i really enjoyed their friendship and growing together, the type of friendship you want as a youth especially when it feels like you don’t have any, as life grows and changes. The writing was solid, the story was a feel good one, and though not everything was realistic, it was a good easy read and again I want more faire settings! They are so fun!

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway is marketed as Dumplin' meets Well Met. Melanie "Gwen" Hathaway has thought life would never be the same after her mother's passing, so she welcomes the monotony of working the ren faire circuit with her father. But when Gwen arrives at her mother's favorite last stop faire, she finds that it is under new management and meets Arthur. Things start to change for Gwen upon meeting Arthur.

For this book being marketing as Dumpling meets Well Met, I can say I've never read Dumplin' but I've read Well Met and the only thing that I can find comparable is that they both have ren faire's and that is all I can say for comparisons.

I really appreciated that Gwen is a plus sized character and even voiced her struggles with being plus sized. I know, I know we as a society need to be more body positive but as someone who is plus sized, I totally get how she feels about her body and all the insecurities that come with it. I really love how as the story progresses with her stepping out of her comfort zone because of Arthur helping her and because of Arthur and the new experiences she goes through she starts to see herself and her body in a new light. I should note that this is not because of Arthur on his own or a guy making an FMC into the Damsel in Distress trope but it's because she needed that push of being broken out of the bubble, she wrapped herself in with the refusal to come out of it and experience new things and to see the world differently.

For the relationship of Arthur and Gwen, I mostly enjoyed them becoming friends and it becomes more but I did spend a lot of time annoyed with Gwen thinking she was not good enough for him because she did not look like the other girls and her not opening her eyes to see that he actually likes her and likes her for who she is. Because of her lamenting on that a lot I knocked it down a star because it internalized a lot and other than that I really liked them both together.

This was a fun summer, YA read, and I really enjoyed the ren faire aspect of this book and loved the imagery of it because I have never been to one (even though my home state of Maryland has some big ren faire's...) so the imagery of the setting was much needed for me to feel immersed in the ren faire culture and to enjoy it.

If you are looking for a ren faire book with some reminiscence of Well Met (but make it YA), a plus sized MC, or just a cute YA book then pick this one up.

I enjoyed this YA book that offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a Renaissance fair through the eyes of someone who grew up in this unconventional environment. The book felt anchored with the deeper themes of grief and belonging, which kept this book from feeling too light or silly. This one was sweet and felt just right for a summer read.

While this book was cute and fun at times, I didn't love it and found myself skimming it a lot of the time just to get it finished. I loved the setting, I loved, loved the body positivity and inclusion message that Ashley Schumacher included, I loved how she handled mental health and grief, but I just didn't love Madeline (Gwen), the MC. I know she had a lot going on and was a teenage girl, but I just couldn't like her and that made me struggle. I also think I kept comparing this, unfairly, to the Well Met series of books that also take place at a Renaissance fair, which I just love, and that sorta ruined the reading experience--not the book's fault, more of a me issue!

I do think it's a sweet story and most readers will enjoy it more than I did, so definitely pick it up and give it a try!

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC, All opinions are my own.

An absolute delight, The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway snuck up on me and I found myself enjoying it more than I expected!

This novel had a lot of heart. Reading about Maddie as she navigated grief, social anxiety, and body image issues was a trip, and I felt it was done realistically. The concept of this book was really fun, and I love a renaissance setting/background plot. While there were parts at the beginning I found a bit slow, it really added to the world and character building. The big payoff came around the last 100 pages, where I found myself really happy to see Maddie and Arthur confronting demons.

By the end of the novel I found myself snorting at Arthur's antics and cheering for Maddie as she faced her challenges. It was extremely cute, and a book I would definitely recommend to YA readers

Thank you to NetGalley and to Wednesday Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A story about loss, grief, moving on, and finding yourself in the process.
Madeline wants nothing to change so she never does anything outside of her very strict rules and rituals. She grew up homeschooled while traveling from one Renaissance fair to another and was happy with her life until her mom dies. She's still reeling from her death a year later when she and her dad arrive at their favorite fair to find it completely changed and under new management. The new owner's son, Arthur, tries to befriend Madeline and convinces her to become the fair princess for the summer. Madeline ends up agreeing and setting off a summer full of new adventures, revelations, and accepting that things can and will change and that's just life.
It took me a while to warm up to Madeline. She has a very justifiable but negative way of looking at things. She lives a regimented life trying to ensure that nothing ever changes because she's afraid of losing anything else after losing her mom to an illness. But she gets better as Arthur wins her over by getting to open up and experience new things, which is kind of the point, so that's a point in Schumacher's favor.
Overall, it stands out thanks to an original setting and a very positive message. It's not exactly a book that makes me want to tell everyone about it, but it is a good read.
Happy thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the read!