I did not expect to enjoy this one as much as I did. I have a soft spot for King Arthur stories, and so reading this one with all the twists and turns, it was definitely a book that kept me on my toes!

I loved this medieval YA romance. It has gay awakenings, fake dating, lady knights, and political intrigue (a few of my favorite things). The banter between Gwen and Art is top level, and the way their relationship evolves throughout the book goes from frustrating to heartwarming. This book is like if A Knight's Tale was queer, and I enjoyed every page.

I am a huge fan of Camelot stories. Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is a different twist that I hadn't read before. It was cool to see characters I love represented in different ways, namely as queer characters. While I enjoyed the banter of the characters at points and the setting of the story, I overall was a little bored with the pacing. I think it was a bit too long and I would have liked to see more breadcrumbs or pining with the love interests.

This book had a lot of buzz, and it lived up to the hype! Queer royals, lady knights, and a hinted at Arthurian throuple, it ticks all the boxes. I love each main character dearly for different reasons. Can't wait to read the fanfiction based on this.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is rooted in Arthurian folklore. It's not quite a retelling as the titular Art is a descendant of the Arthur of lore. However, his family has fallen from grace a bit and another family is on the throne. Gwen is princess and has been betrothed to Art since birth as part a political alliance between Gwen's father, the king, and Art's father who is influential in a group of cultists. The kicker? Gwen and Art are both very much not straight. Everything comes to a head as the crown hosts its annual tournament and the date for the wedding approaches.

This book is absolutely delightful. I loved it. The characters were phenomenal. The desires and conflict between them all played together beautifully

Also, Art's mother's family was from Iran. It is so nice to see a book set in "Arthurian time" that acknowledges that the world was not static and people did move about.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (4.25)

Content Warnings: homophobia, violence, death of a parent

This was a cute and sweet effort, but the humor didn't quite work for me, and that made it hard to get into the story as a whole. I liked the idea and the characters themselves felt interesting, but the character interactions and the romances didn't quite work for me in the end. I also felt that the pacing was somewhat strange, as it is very slow for the first couple of hundred pages, and the shift in tone in the latter part of the book was somewhat jarring. I would have liked there to be more of a focus on the romantic relationships that we got.

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
#NetGalley published 11/28/23
#retelling #alternatehistory
#LGBTQIA #ya

This book started off very slow for me. Then it got funny. Then it slowed down again and I didn't want to pick it up. If the is wasn't an ARC, I probably would not have given this book as many chances as I did.

The story is hundreds of years after the original King Arthur and Guinevere. And it has a queer twist to it. Which is really fun, actually. Art and Gwen have hated each other since childhood. Then they end up with others sounding like the typical friend group in high school you hear about.

I'll leave the story there. Since there were tons of fun bits, I'll be rounding up for ratings. Just for me, there were too many times I didn't want to pick up the book.

#historicalfiction
#romance
#bookstagram #bookrecommendation #booknerdsbookreview #bookreview

<i> I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. </i>

i liked this book, just … a predictable amount given my everything. but i finished this book in two sittings, and i can’t stop thinking about it oh my GOD.

the premise of this book is an arranged marriage in a faux-medieval society, where both parties are actually queer. it’s enemies to friends to fake-lovers, and it’s got so much heart it manages to soar above the pile of tropes that got me to read it to begin with.

all of the characters have such wonderful arcs, and the dynamics between characters - they’re all smart and emotionally competent (mostly) and know what they want (eventually), and they take good care of each other and care about each other so so deeply.

AND there’s a riverdale reference in the first 30 pages. man. it’s just. AUGH THIS BOOK.

i was actually laughing out loud, kicking my feet, screaming into my pillow, especially as the climax of the story got underway. it was just. oh my god. can’t stress enough that i started this at 9 pm, expecting to get a bit of reading done and then put it down, and then before i knew it it was 2 am and i was like ‘well there’s only 30 pages left and i can’t go to bed without knowing what happens’.

can’t stress enough how much i love all of these characters. arthur and sidney’s friendship, his petty rivalry turned best friendship with gwen, bridget’s dynamic with her friends, gwen growing to see that her judgement of agnes as a ‘silly girl’ was rooted in her fear of being rejected …

it’s just good. you need to read it. banger way to start 2024.

I really enjoyed Gwen & Art Are Not in Love! This is a queer medieval rom com which follows Gwen (the daughter of the present king) and Arthur (a descendent of King Arthur). Forced into a political engagement, Gwen and Art don't initially see eye-to-eye. However, when they each learn that the other is queer, they begin to realize that the appearance of an engagement may work to both of their advantages.

This was a fun and easy read. Croucher's humor hits just right -- as with Infamous which I read earlier in the year, there is a definite Louise Rennison influence here. Honestly, I'm a sucker for it. I laughed out loud at various points throughout. Towards the end, the book takes something of a tonal shift when the stakes dramatically increase. I didn't see this coming, even having read earlier reviews, but I think Croucher really pulled it off. Would recommend this to anyone who's looking for a fairly light, silly romance.

The story enthralled me from the first page, I love Arthurian legend and while this wasn't a retelling, I loved that it took place in the same world, and loved that it was a queer story.
The characters were all extremely lovable and flawed and I wanted to spend more time with them.
I will say the ending 20% or so of the book went in a direction I didn't expect, but it wasn't off-putting, just entirely unexpected.

I really enjoyed Gwen & Art Are Not in Love! A fun, queer medieval rom-com with a lovable cast of characters. This hit all of the boxes for a delightful comfort read for me.

A queer Arthurian delight! I loved the charm and wit of Art and the badassness of Bridget as the only female night in the land. This story is so well crafted, the characters thoroughly developed. Although the ending felt a little rushed.

I got an ARC of this book.

At first, it was a little bit fun. Felt like it was supposed to (A Knight's Tale), but then it didn't seem like anything grew or got deeper (Heartstopper was missing). I could put it down to days to weeks and not realize it. I ended up not finishing it, because it just felt stagnant. So it could very well have gotten more emotional and deeper as it went. I just didn't make it far enough to find out.

It isn't the worst book, but it was compared to two major titles. I think that partially set it up for failure. I expected more out of it than it delivered, because of those comparisons. Is it a bad book? No. Did it live up to its own cover? Also, no.

Lex Croucher's debut offers a refreshing twist on Arthurian lore, diverging from conventional retellings. The narrative's humor and character dynamics shine, but a sudden dark turn in the final stretch may catch readers off guard. Despite some tonal inconsistencies, it remains a commendable 3.5-star read, exploring themes of friendship and self-acceptance within a modern medieval context

so cute and funny! i loved each character and the relationships they have with each other. it reminded me a lot of the movie "a knight's tale" because it's not a king arthur retelling, it's only inspired by the legends. i love the lgbtq+ rep in there! and the found family trope (which is one of my favorites) was well done here. i would have like for the secondary characters to be a bit more developed and i thought the end was pretty violent compared to the rest of the book, but overall, it was great book!

The moment I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to request it, and I'm so glad I did. I loved this book so much from everything from the plot to the characters. While it definitely has sweet moments the "sword-fighting" mention in the summary shouldn't be overlooked either. There were some tense moments in the plot, and I thoroughly enjoyed the underlying action and intrigue. I really enjoyed the dual POV, and the relationships between Gwen and Art, Art and Gabe, and Gwen and Bridget. Gwen and Art were both written as a bit of obnoxious characters to begin with, but it was clear that it was for the overall character development, so it was easy to take into stride rather than it negatively impacting the reading experience. I wish I could provide a better and more detailed review, but I somehow lost my reading notes for it...

All I can say is I highly, highly recommend this book and hope everyone gives it a chance!

I would literally read anything Lex Croucher writes. This one though was particularly one of my favourites. It was a really funny Camelot romance. She never fails to bring a realistic, humorous aspect into the period era pieces she writes which makes reading them really effortless and fun. I saw a lot of similarities to Heartstopper but honestly I loved this more. It felt much more authentic that they were being forced into a marriage where both of them were obstructing a very large truth about themselves. It’s very meaningful especially for the time period.

Y’all this book is SO GOOD. I’m so grateful I received an ARC. It’s about 4 teenagers being really gay in a castle one summer in the Middle Ages. It’s like a more angsty Red White and Royal Blue, with higher political stakes à la Young Royals. It’s funny and exciting and beautiful and coming-of-agey and there’s a queer friend group and a TRAINING SEQUENCE. And there are TWO romances, though the true heart of the book is the friendship between Gwen & Arthur, who both get satisfying character arcs.

That said, reading this book stressed me the fuck out. I kept having to stop reading because I’d get nervous for the characters. Without spoiling anything, some significant and pretty devastating things happen in the last section of the book, and I wish we could have explored them further. There are some conversations and apologies that didn’t get to happen, and I really, really wanted them to happen! I like watching characters work things out.

I feel like Croucher could have split Gwen and Art Are Not in Love into two volumes, and used the second book to consider the consequences of the first book’s ending. There’s just so much more I wanted to see! More world-building! More time with Gabriel and Bridget!

Here’s hoping Croucher pulls a Melina Marchetta (Saving Francesca hive rise up!!!) and gives us a second book from someone else’s perspective someday. Until then, I’m eager to get into her catalog.

Gwen and Art Are Not In Love was my first read by this author. I was really excited at the idea of this book; I think the world needs more fake dating and more lady knights. The first 2/3 of the book were enjoyable, but felt a bit fluffy. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the author was quietly making me fall in love with the entire cast of characters before unceremoniously tilting their world upside down and throwing them into a situation I didn’t see coming. The final 25% of the book was expertly written, fast paced, emotional, impactful, and even made me cry at least once. I couldn’t put it down and finished the last quarter in one sitting, glued to the pages and desperately needing to know how it would end.

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is likely one of my top reads of 2023. A fun subversion of traditional Arthurian-inspired tales, this story follows Princess Gwen (Gwendoline, not Guinevere) and the old King Arthur's descendent of the same age who, despite having been betrothed since her birth, completely despise each other. Luckily, Arthur does not have the same dislike for Gwen's brother, the future King of England, and Gwen harbors much more tender (and salacious) thoughts for the kingdom's only female knight. This is a fairly typical Lex Croucher novel in terms of the romance aspects. The characters are equally enthralling, and I absolutely adore all of our main four (plus a few of the side characters). Where this novel particularly shines, however, is the inclusion of all of the grand political maneuvering surrounding the normal romance fare. The plots of Gabe's preparation to become the perfect king, the presence of sinister cultists who want to see Arthurian glory returned to the realm, and much more provide much more substance to this book than I originally expected. It is worth noting that there are elements of this book that are much more intense than in much of Croucher's other novels, and it is important to know going in that this is not purely a light fluffy romance. That said, it is lovely, and I cannot say anything bad about the author and this book that was very clearly, as the dedication said, for them.