Madeline has an unusual childhood: her family follows the Renaissance faire circuit. Wearing period clothes, they make and sell exquisite jewelry and beautifully decorated journals. Home is an RV affectionately named Britomart. Maddie is more than content: she enjoys online school and following the “Ren circuit.”

As the story opens, ten-year-old Madeline has a burning question to ask the Wizened Old Wizard, who is sought out by many Faire visitors (before he suddenly disappears). She enters his tent but, before she can ask her question, the Wizard says she seeks certainty. Giving Maddie a delicate gold chain with a small globe in the middle, he also gives her advice she doesn’t understand. She must tame a sometimes-cruel world and make it kinder. Maddie returns the next day to ask her question, but the Wizard’s stall is empty.

Fast forward seven years. Seventeen-year-old Madeline is looking down at a moat, wondering what the Wizard would say now. For her world has fallen apart: her mother died last year, near the end of Stormsworth (her favorite faire) of a lengthy illness. Now the Stormsworth Faire is underway again (and the anniversary of her mother’s passing is approaching). Yet it’s nothing like the place her mother loved. New owners have completely renovated the grounds, even installing a moat surrounding a real castle instead of a worn facade. Stormsworth no longer feels like home.

Maddie’s reverie is interrupted by a young bard. Irritated by his cheerfulness (perhaps because it reminds her of her mother’s personality) and insistence on calling her Gwen, she only wants him to go away. Instead, he tags along as Maddie returns to their stall. She knows her dad will simultaneously look happy, sad, and relieved to see her with another teen. And Maddie is determined to avoid caring for anyone for fear she will lose someone else important to her. Finally taking the hint, the dejected young bard walks away.

And Maddie’s routine continues: making tallies in her noticings journal (the number of times she sees or hears things like her dad working on his journals), weekly video sessions with her therapist, phone conversations with her cousin Fatima, making jewelry, and school assignments.

Yet that isn’t the last Maddie sees of the bard. She learns his name—Arthur—during a late-night encounter when, unable to sleep, she wanders through the grounds. It was his parents who bought Stormsworth and transformed it. Beneath his cheerful demeanor, Arthur is a perceptive and empathetic young man. And he is determined, despite her protests, to turn Maddie into the Princess of Faire and a difficult time into a series of amazing experiences. Arthur’s so-called road tripping includes wearing bright red sunglasses and eating Tootsie Pops (Maddie’s favorite) as they trek to a zoo three hours away instead of one nearby, a visit to a video game museum that, true to Arthur’s promise, turns out to actually be fun, and coloring in coloring books made for children. Maddie wonders if his enthusiasm and caring might make her say yes to the question he often asks: Are we friends?

Author Ashley Schumacher tells Maddie’s story through her eyes. The first-person narrative allows readers to share the mourning teen’s experiences as she perceives them. As Maddie’s world view gradually shifts (thanks to Arthur’s determination that she find positivity in her life) and she realizes that situations, and people, are often not what they seem, we cheer for every step she takes towards finding joy again. All the people in Maddie’s world are realistic. Her father, despite his grief, is a caring parent who celebrates Maddie’s reluctant reentry into the world outside herself. Cousin Fatima (who we never actually meet) comes alive through the telephone conversations between her and Maddie. Arthur is definitely three-dimensional: for all his exuberance, he can be moved to tears when his not-yet-friend lets him know she understands him and cares.

There is one drawback to this novel. In a nod to today’s world, Arthur’s parents are two men who are devoted to each other. This fact might offend the sensibilities of some people (myself included, to be honest). The story could have been just as meaningful–perhaps even more so–if Arthur’s parents were not of the same gender. For this reason, we must take care to whom we recommend this novel.

At first, I was dissatisfied with the conclusion, as there did not seem to be proper closure. (Perhaps I, like Maddie, appreciate certainty.) Yet, upon reflection, I realized that the ending leaves an opening for the reader to think about what might happen in the future. The above drawback aside, The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway is a sensitive, true-to-life story that will resonate with many young people.

A really, really sweet teen romance. Our “Gwen” has quite the self-discovery journey while mourning her mother, and Arthur is right by her side to be whatever she needs. But I love that Arthur’s not perfect - he has insecurities as much as any teen. It makes me happy to think about their adorable future together.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley, Ashley Schumacher, and Wednesday Books.

After losing her Mom almost a year prior, Madeline is determined to remember everything about her life and the loved ones she has left. To do this, she keeps lists and tallies things in her travel journal in an almost compulsory fashion. She has no intention of adding anyone new into her journal. She can’t stop caring for the people she already loves, but she can avoid caring for anyone else. The less people she cares for, the less she has to keep track of and the less she has to lose.

Enter Arthur, stage right and lute in hand. He is determined to befriend Madeline - or Gwen, as he calls her - for reasons unbeknownst to her. He convinces Madeline to become the faire’s Princess, a position that makes sure they’re together pretty much every day. Coincidence? I think not! The two become (not) friends, going on adventures together and sharing their thoughts on Olivia Rodrigo, Tootsie Pops, and heavier topics, too.

Throw in a magical coin, several supportive dads, and video chat advice via best friend Fatima, and you have a lovely novel about how life and personal growth continues even when one’s life feels consumed by grief.

I feel weird calling a book that deals with such heavy topics as grief, body image, and mental health adorable, but this also somehow managed to be that. No one emotion was given less gravitas than the other. Schumacher’s The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway was equal parts relatable, heartbreak, and giggle inducing. Can’t wait to order my physical copy!

4.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up.

What a sweet read! It skewed a little younger than I expected but I couldn't help but root for the two main characters. Arthur seemed a little whiny for me personally at some points, but I might just chalk that up to me as the reader being a woman with a little more life experience. I hadn't known a lot about RenFaires and so this was a fun entrance into a new world for me - and how structured it all sounds! Sometimes it felt like a lot what happening at once without too much actually happening, and I wish it were slightly longer so we could dive into more road trips or just focus on the fair. The timeline also seemed a little confusing to me but I may just have not been paying attention to that and focusing on the romance. Overall it would be a sweet gift or stocking stuffer for a young person in your life!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Every Ashley Schumacher I have read finds its way to wiggle its way into my heart. Each in different ways, but Gwen Hathaway was no different. I absolutely adored this! I've never been to a Ren Faire that I can remember, but reading about them makes me want to go to one!

Arthur and Maddie were such fantastic main characters and I loved how each developed. The found family trope was definitely strong with this and I really loved watching friendships blossom and Maddie's relationship with her Dad grow and evolve. I don't want to give to much away, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

If you love Ren Faire's, found family, slow burn romance, and growth in your MC's- I'd highly recommend this! It's a light, fluffy read that you'll be unable to put down.

I loved this book.
It was so enjoyable. A Renaissance book, yes please!! It was well written.
I loved that they had a main character as a "plus sized" girl

This book was so good. While it reminded me so much of other Renaissance Faire books such as My Faire Lady and Well Met, the story was enjoyable and unique. I really loved that the main characters were well rounded and full of personality. While there was a lot of time spent focused on trying to find meaning after a significant loss, I felt the story really addressed what it means to be present in one's own life. To live your life when all you want is to go back in time and change fate. This story made me laugh and cry, but it also helped me in my own journey out of grief. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this amazing book.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an opportunity with this title. I really liked Gwen Hathaway and find I wish it is something I could have stumbled across sooner, simply because I think it would have made much more of an impact if I were the target audience age. A simple story with tenderness and warmth to be found within.

wow! this was so incredible !! amazing! i am so thankful that i got to read this one early and it was just so sensational! thank you so much netgalley for this e-arc!!!

I'm disappointed by how little I care about this one. I'd loved Schumacher's debut, Amelia Unabridged, but both this and Full Flight have fallen flat. They just don't have the emotion that Amelia did.

And really, I should've loved this one. I loved Well Met. I love Ren-Faire settings. I love all the concepts this one utilized. I just didn't like the actual book. It wasn't bad, it just also isn't anything I'd recommend or read again. I'm starting to realize that Schumacher's writing might no longer be for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

a renaissance fair romance with a plus-size main character??? that's a YES for me! a huge thank you to the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

Madeline “Gwen” Hathaway has been grieving the death of her mother and the only thing she looks forward to is working the ren faire circuit with her father...until she arrives at her mother’s favorite end-of-the tour stop to find that the faire is under new management and completely changed... and then she meets a bard who is about to change her entire summer. Madeline doesn’t handle change well, and is dealing with grief over her mother’s death, mental health, and her insecurities about her weight and social awkwardness. When she meets an annoying bard, or rather the son of the new owners named Arthur who actually is a lute-playing bard, she’s in for a lot of change. Arthur is convinced that it’s fate he met her and that she is the perfect person to play the princess in his family faire and that they have a connection. Now Madeline is in for an adventure she never imagined and despite how much she doesn’t want to be his friend or like him, she can’t help but enjoy his company and have fun. Now she has to figure out if she’s willing to risk it all to be with the one person who will change her forever and if getting her heart broken is worth the risk. This was a cute romance perfect for fans of Well Met! It takes place at a ren faire, has a pretty fun cast of characters, and the romance/friendship was cute.

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Overall easily 5/5 stars from me, I enjoyed every moment while reading, even the moments I weeped at.

I hesitated jumping into reading this book. Not because of any worries it would be bad or even worries it would be bland. But I knew the subject matter involved a girl learning to deal with life after her mother's death, and I knew it would effect me greatly since I'm in the same shoes. I was right of course; I cried at nearly every struggle, every up, every down. I cried at the poetry included, the way Maddie clung onto her noticings, the way she didn't know how to let go and move forward because to her that was losing another part of her mother. (heck, I'm crying writing this review)

I felt utterly seen and recognized; I felt comforted even when it made me cry. It was a joy to read Maddie's journey and I definitely came out the other side feeling like I just got some good advice from a friend on how to have my own little Maddie journey.

I love YA books that have a core to them that is rooted in family, friends, and a life outside of romance. I think it gives the eventual YA romance so much more substance and reality, to know these characters have bloomed from a whole life they have lived, rather than having been shoved together for romance and romance only.

My bias on feeling emotional about mothers aside, this was an excellent YA novel. Easily a top ten that I have read this year and may even break top 5 when I look at my 2022 as a whole. I think as an adult reader (and even in my own teen years) I always preferred to read about characters who were not so caught up in wild emotions that they never step back to figure out how much is their own fault and how they could change (instead of just constantly blaming outside forces). There was still the incendiary height of teenage emotions and miscommunication, but they figured it out! It wasn't left to stew too long, and it wasn't steamed away into just petty grievances. The characters all had their own journeys to go on, their own princess or prince or knight stories to embark.

I really love how the side characters were not flattened away. Even the most minor of minor characters felt like they had a personality trait beyond "Side Friend Number 2". I also love the faire as a character; it is a place with personality and gosh do I want to visit so bad!

I loved the teeniest tiniest touch of magical element. An argument can be made that it was totally based in reality, and the book does argue that, but I also think the ending and epilogue shows that the magic in your heart, in your hope, in your belief.... that can make a simple coincidence into fate.



Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press Wednesday Books for the eARC! It was much appreciated!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute read and I loved the ren faire setting! Give it a try.

AS really said “let me write ‘Well Met,’ but for teens.”

And she did a decent job. The setting is fun if you enjoy ren faires, the characters are cool if you enjoy teenage humour, and the story is engaging if you enjoy messages about coping, growth, and identity. It ticks all the boxes for a YA contemporary novel.

That being said, this did feel a little too simple, a little too basic for me. Everything important is given in the synopsis, so it never felt like I was discovering anything new in the story.

But I do think, for what this is, it's okay.

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway by @ashwritesbooks was such a fun, endearing story.
Madeline is struggling with her mother’s death… trying to figure out her way through her grief, learning to deal with her life as it is now.
Along comes Arthur, trying to make her his Guinevere! Bringing joy to her life, while also acknowledging her grief.
It’ll be out in March, you should read it!

The number one thing that drew me immediately to Ashley Schumacher’s new novel The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway is that it is set against the backdrop of a Renaissance faire. What an amazing world to spin a tale of young love around! Renaissance faires are already steeped in such romance and mystique, it just felt like the perfect setting in which to write a love story.

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway follows a teen named Madeline (you will discover how she comes to be called Gwen when you read the book), who lost her mom nearly a year ago, and who travels the Renaissance faire circuit with her father, selling her mother’s handmade jewelry and her dad’s journals. This is their family’s business and it the only life Madeline has ever know, journeying from one town to another, selling their wares and enjoying all the magic that a Renaissance faire can bring.

But this year, Madeline and her dad will be at Stormsworth, her mom’s favorite faire, on the anniversary of her death. As Madeline’s grief manifests in her various ways, including tallying “noticings” in a journal she keeps to ensure that she never again misses a single moment of her life before it slips away from her, she meets an intriguing young Bard at the faire. Arthur just happens to be the son of Stormworth’s new owners, and when he proclaims Madeline “Princess of the Faire,” she discovers that this summer is going to be unlike anything that she expected, whether she is prepared for it or not.

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway is a difficult book for me to review because I wanted to LOVE it so much. It had all of the elements to be something great! But the part of the book that I was most excited about - the Renaissance Faire setting - truly wasn’t painted as vividly as I would have liked. While the faire is mentioned frequently throughout the book and plays a starring role in numerous scenes, I feel that Schumacher did readers who have never actually attended a Ren faire injustice - in my opinion, she does not build this world strongly enough to allow readers to accurately picture a Renaissance faire as it is. She could have done so much, so easily, and yet she did so little.

I also took issues with the character and plot line. Both fell flat, and while they were good enough, I never felt truly compelled to pick up this book and read it. This story wasn’t fun or exciting, and rather focused primarily on angsty teenage miscommunications and body insecurities. While these are certainly issues that teenagers face daily, I would have preferred for this story to have had more oomph. As it stands, it is a solid read, but not one I am likely to remember.

4.5 Stars. So, I really like Ashely Schumacher’s books and jumped at the chance to read this one.

I thought this book was adorable and it made me want to attend a Renaissance Faire ASAP!
Gwen Hathaway has been living the Renaissance Faire circuit her whole life with her parents. She is homeschooled and works in her father’s shop when not studying. Since the death of her mother, she has also taken on the responsibility of creating the jewelry her mother used to make.

But Gwen needs her lists. It is the only way she makes sure she doesn’t miss anything that has happened since her mother’s death. And then she meets Arthur, who happens to be the son of the owners of the current faire. His positive outlook on life lends to an easy friendship that helps her find her way to fun.
I loved Arthur and Gwen. Their characters’ lives were hard, but they were both loveable and watching them grow together was very satisfying.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Madeline is seventeen, and has travelled and homeschooled with her parents on the Renaissance Faire circuit her entire life. Madeline’s mother died from a lengthy illness, and she and her father are awash with grief. As the year anniversary of her mother’s death approaches, Madeline knows she needs to take some healing steps. As she and her dad return to their final stop for the season, her mother’s favorite and coincidentally final faire she attended, Madeline discovers everything has changed. The former owners have sold the property to a couple who have revamped everything. The changes are grand – there is an actual castle and moat, and even though Madeline knows she should see these as improvements, all she sees is changes that her mother never will. Heart firmly closed (allowing more people in allows more opportunity for loss), Madeline meets Arthur, the bard and son of the faire owners. Arthur promptly dubs her “Gwen” (as in Guinevere), suggests she is truly a princess, and tries to convince her to open her heart to adventure and perhaps…more?
This is a lovely novel and doesn’t shy away from showing the toll grief can take on a person. Madeline has been coping by keeping careful notations of things, “noticings” in a journal, and does see a therapist online regularly to cope with her mother’s death. The cover indicates that Madeline also struggles with insecurities regarding her weight and social awkwardness, but it’s clear to the reader that this is a young woman struggling with larger mental health issues related to the trauma of having a chronically ill parent who succumbs to their illness. However, while the character struggles with her mental health, she has professional help and there is no stigma attached to any of this by any of the characters. Arthur is a lovely character, supportive and kind, but he also is fleshed out enough to be revealed to not be perfect, his flaws and insecurities while not as pointed, exist. The romance is very innocent, and appropriate for all readers. All in all, this is a lovely little novel about love- with familial, loss, friendship, and romantic all part of the plot. I was given an advance copy in return for an honest review.

This was very cute ! I honestly have no complaints about this novel; this was just a prime example of personal tastes triumphing over any qualms (or lack thereof) on the author’s behalf. I might even one day round this up to a 4, but right now it’s staying at a solid 3.5 stars.

The setting and pace of this novel was utterly phenomenal. I felt like I was transported into the midsts of a Renaissance faire and I LOVEDDDD the plus-size representation that was provided. Very appreciative of the fact that Madeline/Gwen’s fatness was just accepted and that the plot line didn’t revolve around her body-image. AND THE COVER?!? Major props to the artist & author!!

On a more serious note, when I first requested this book on NetGalley, I was a tad nervous about the depth in which Ashley Schumacher would tackle grief, but it was so beautifully and eloquently written that that one caused me to increase my rating on this book. Yes, I got a little tearful at parts but I was also laughing with the characters at others. I wish there were more books that tackled grief like this.

Overall, a highly impressive book and one that I would immediately recommend, but just to the right person.