After two attempts, I cannot finish this book…

3.0 / 5.0 I read the first half of this book many months ago, did not find the story interesting, and put it aside. I began again and got a little farther into the story but still wasn’t interested. I even jumped to read the last two chapters to try to foster an interest in getting to the end, but it just didn’t happen.

That being said, what I did read was well written, the character and world building are good, and the plot is fun, just not interesting to me.

I have no recommendation for or against this book.

Until Next Time
MC

I received an eARC of this book on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is my first read by this author and I have to admit I’m a fan now.

This almost feels like a comfort read. It’s clever and witty while being full of charm and cuteness.

The audiobook is narrated to perfection by Sarah Ovens and Alex Singh. They both bring real heart to the story. Croucher definitely has a remarkable way with words and these two narrators brought it to life in a beautiful and fun way.

If you’re looking for your next historical romance that is more of a romcom, this is for you. If you’re a fan of the wit of the movie A Knight’s Tale, pick this up pronto.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and it did not disappoint! I am a huge fan of retellings but specifically retellings of mythology. I just love people fucking around with it and having fun! Especially because Arthurian legend is already gay as fuck, this is honestly more accurate than half of the retellings that I've read/seen in recent times. Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is the definition of queer men and queer woman solidarity. And I love that for them. I love princesses falling in love with women knights. Who doesn't love women with swords! And Art is perfectly chaotic. Read it folks!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for giving me an ARC (eGalley) to review. Always excited to read new works!

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a queer fantasy romance (or as some would call it, romantasy) in a post-King Arthur medieval setting with surprisingly high tension for a young adult (YA) title, dual POVs, and two blossoming romances. Gwen, a princess, and Art, the son of a lord, are arranged to marry despite their loathing for one another and despite their attraction to the same sex. When Gwen finds Art kissing a boy and Art finds Gwen admiring the lady knight of the realm, the two decide to pretend to get along while pursuing their separate romantic interests. Found family, secret lovers, first kisses, lots of conflict, and suppressed emotions can all be found in Croucher’s novel.

While Gwen and Art are not in love, I know I sure am with this cute, YA, fantasy romance novel by Lex Croucher!

What I Enjoyed:

1. As Gwen and Art pretend to court one another, the two get to know each other better and a friendship develops. The friendly banter between Gwen and Art is a joy to read. Their banter is incredibly fun and Croucher makes sure to keep the banter platonic. The character growth from Gwen and Art’s hatred of one another, to indifference, and then eventual friendship is one of my favorite parts of the story.

And of course, the romance is great as well. What a treat to have not one but two queer leads pursuing two separate romances, one of which is sapphic! I’m often thrilled with even one queer romance but Croucher, as a little treat, gives us two in one book.

2. While the romance is, of course, the meat of the novel and a big part of the main conflict, the romance itself is not the only plot point. I enjoyed how the romantic and situational conflict intertwined alongside the political conflict that exists in the background. Gwen and Art both have their respective conflicts with their family members and with their roles within the kingdom.

And looming in the background brought to the forefront nearer the end of the novel, is an interesting political conflict. Croucher creates an intriguing post-King Arthur political realm, in which Arthurian rule is regarded in both history and myth with a cult of King Arthur believers and the belief or non-belief in the magic behind King Arthur’s story.

These conflicts enrich the novel and make it more enticing beyond just the romance.

3. This is a great and fun novel for young queer individuals. I know I would have loved to read this in my younger years had this book been published then. The romance is fun and inspiring, the character development is solid, and the novel does not skimp on the conflict. I recommend giving it a read!

How It Could Be Improved:

1. There are some time jumps that made me feel as if I missed out on time with the characters and on their character development. The time jump that bothered me the most was the one at the end of the novel, as I was hoping to see more resolution before the ending. While these time jumps did bother me, they did not take away from the story as a whole. The time jumps left the smallest of gaps that I would have loved to see filled. This book is still worth the read!

2. The conflict heated up rather fast, with the political conflict coming to the forefront near the end of the novel. I was having a great time delving into the characters’ silly romantic conflicts and their more serious familial conflicts when the last section of the book took a sharp and serious turn toward the political conflict. While I stand firm that this political conflict does enrich the novel as does all the non-romantic conflict, the last part of the book’s seriousness took me a bit by surprise. Although there is a sudden shift in feel near the end with the introduction of the political conflict, do note that the ending is a happy one that keeps in line with the main feel of the novel.

3. I was expecting more romantic shenanigans to occur before the shift to the political conflict. I wanted more time with the characters and their romantic conflicts. This is both a compliment and a note. I loved the characters so much that I wish I had gotten to spend more time with them!

I am so very lucky to have the chance to read this eARC!
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, I know have been raving about this book! Now that I have read it, the hype is well deserved. I cant wait to buy every edition that releases!

Despite being bethrothed, Gwen and Art are very much not in love - in part because they're both gay, and in part because they just really dislike each other. After being forced to spend time together over the summer, their dislike turns into an uneasy alliance, and from there into a true friendship, while they help each other pursue the objects of their affections. Throw in a little attempted coup, some swordfighting, and a tournament full of dashing knights into the mix, and you end up with this fun, goofy, heartfelt novel.

I really enjoyed the development of Gwen and Art's relationship. I could understand why they each hated the other to start off with, but getting to watch them get to know and understand each other and come to rely on each other was such a joy. Their strong platonic bond was really the shining relationship of the book for me.

The queer relationships were...honestly just kind of okay. I didn't feel the love interests were especially fleshed out, and the relationships seemed to develop mostly off-page. I wish they were given the same care that Gwen and Art's relationship was, but they felt like a bit of an afterthought.

All in all, a fun book, with sharp humor and heartfelt relationships, both romantic and platonic.

This book was so insanely good it exceeded my extremely high expectations. It feels like if a really popular ya romcom was written as an "AU - Medieval Fantasy England" fanfic (in the best way possible). Before reading the premise, I assumed this book would follow the same "they're engaged but they hate each other and oh no they have to live in the same castle for a summer but now they're developing feelings for each other." Then I read the synopsis and realized it had the absolute best take on the arranged marriage trope - they're both super gay and in love with someone else. Gwen and Bridget had me screaming. Their slowburn was so good it felt reminiscent of a CW show with two girls who are obviously in love but the writers are cowards are won't do anything about it - except in this book they actually get together. I also loved Arthur and Gabriel's relationship and how they really brought out the best in each other. But Arthur and Gwen's friendship is definitely the best part of this book. Arthur, who is comfortable in his sexuality, helps Gwen, who is not comfortable in her sexuality, realize that she doesn't have to repress her feelings for Bridget. Overall, I loved seeing them go from two people who misunderstand and despise each other to besties who support each other. It's so hard to find queer books set in historical times (especially 1700s ish England) that are silly and cute and also feature sapphic relationships.

I've never been so enchanted by a historical fiction YA book. I absolutely adored the characters and was very pleasantly surprised that the book wasn't about King Arthur and Guinivere! Will definitely be purchasing for my library (both personal and work libraries).

Queers with anxiety!

This was a quick read with some funny moments and a lot of queer longing. I really liked the sapphic sword fighting and the dynamics between all the main characters. The characters were flawed and recognized those parts of themselves. Through the story, they tried or were pushed to work on those flaws to an extent. There are darker elements especially near the end where the tension and conflict ramp up. I didn't mind the predictability of the storylines since the book isn't trying to be complex.

However, I wanted some elements that were brought up to be explored further like Arthur's alcoholism and his father's abusive behaviour. I desperately wanted Gabriel's POV. While we get some background of Gwen's massive crush on Lady Bridget, I would have loved some more development leading up to Gabriel and Arthur's relationship. Also, the more modern language could be a bit jarring and the miscommunication or lack of communication got frustrating.

I liked how queer the story is in general. Also, Arthur is half-Iranian on his mother's side and Bridget is Thai. These aren't explored very deeply as it's more casual representation.

Even with its issues, I had fun reading this overall, so if you're looking for a queer YA read and/or are interested in Arthurian-inspired stories, this may work for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC copy.

A fun, queer YA retellikng of King Arthur - say less! WHile I enjoy Lex Croucher's adult historicals, this was still an amazing read.

Gave this a 3 star as I did not finish it but want to be fair. Truthfully, I just don't think I like this author. I find the writing extremely juvenile. There were SO MANY double entendres in the first 30% of the book and it was annoying by the end. I didn't like any character at all and found it was very slow. Not to say this hasn't been enjoyed by a lot of other people (I've seen great reviews online!) it just really isn't for me, though I had high hopes.

I originally saw Gwen & Art Are Not in Love billed as Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale and was immediately sold!

This YA coming of age story had me on an emotional rollercoaster from page 1 in the absolute best way possible! We follow Gwen & Art who are sworn enemies - the issue? They are betrothed! The other issue? Art has developed feelings Gwen’s brother while Gwen is swooning over a Lady Knight who is competing in their local tournament. Together they make a pact to keep each others secrets so they can pursue their true love interests while also planning their wedding and keeping their families none the wiser.

This laugh out loud coming of age romantic comedy is full of found family, loss, action, romance, understanding, acceptance, character growth, friendship and love, Truly a great read!!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the advanced copy!

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I did not finish this and left off at 50%.

Hmm. This book has a ton of potential but it just feels like it's floundering everywhere. It's very fast-paced and set up like a high school rom-com sort of set up in medieval times but not really. They're not really reincarnated from the OG Arthur/Merlin/Gwen/etc but they kind of are.

I feel like this book could have been its own thing--since it's so far from the original Arthurian mythology--and it wouldn't have changed much. Arthur and Gwen are absolutely atrocious people and extremely off-putting to read. They developed a little bit by the 50% mark but not enough for me to keep reading.

A queer romance that is somewhat inexplicably set in an alternative 7th century England where modern day slang is common and the biggest political divide is between Roman Catholics and Arthurian "cultists" who believe the spirits of Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Mordred will one day be reborn. The story primarily focuses on a pair of royal siblings, Gabriel and Gwendoline, and in particular on Gwendoline's unhappy match to Lord Arthur who would really rather be with King Gabriel thank you very much. The mix of modern and historical evokes Heath Ledger's A Knights Tale but it is, at its core, a pretty basic teen romance. It was disappointing to me that the author chose to depict both gay men as stereotypical closet cases. While the author was clearly trying to be progressive and inclusive, it felt like a step back to exclusively depict gay men as emotionally damaged who either repressed their sexuality or set it aside in service of country and heir making.

Folks, I'm just gonna say it: I didn't enjoy GWEN & ART ARE NOT IN LOVE nearly as much as I wanted to.

It wasn't bad, by any means. The whole conceit of "it's a non-retelling retelling" was interesting and well done, the OG legend callbacks were delightful, the romances were unexpectedly nuanced, and the dialogue was properly hysterical at times. But this was a book that really tried to do and say A LOT, which meant that a lot of it fell inevitably short, in terms of story development and completeness. More than anything, I really struggled with the pacing of it - honestly, it was just so much talking, and I think in the moments where the dialogue and humour were prioritized, the plotting and world-building really fell by the wayside. I was definitely held back from the story by how little of anything I was able to visualize. Most of the action was happening in a white space in my own head.

I enjoyed the political machinations and cultist v. Catholics conflict (which I thought was a really clever, true-to-history way of incorporating the original legend), but that ending was... something else. Again, not bad, but somehow really out of place within its own narrative. The tonal shift from quirky, medieval rom-com to bruising war epic was incredibly disarming.

And also, I dunno, this is more of a personal opinion than an actual story flaw, but, like, there wasn't NEARLY ENOUGH Lady Bridget.

This book takes messy gay and lesbian friendship to another level. Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a beautiful queer historical fantasy that draws from Arthurian myth to set the scene for it's politics and characters. The story follows a betrothed couple, Gwendoline and Arthur, as they are forced to spend a summer together to learn more about one another after a lifetime of not getting along. The dialogue between them is refreshing to read as it is often snarky and playful even when they become closer. The individual romances between the characters are fun to read because of the situations they get themselves in. This book was truly a delightful surprise and very enjoyable for something I was on the fence about reading. I cannot wait to purchase myself a copy when it comes out.

I loved this so much - the humor, the romance, the representation, the romantic advocacy, it was beautiful. It also had perhaps the most perfect quote on romance I've read in a long time - “to be truly brave, first you must be afraid—and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.” Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

Love seeing new-age spunk added to historical fiction. Definitely a more modern take on a historical legend and some moments were completely juvenile (which I get, it's YA), but still a very enjoyable read with such lovable characters. Felt the ending could have provided a little more closure, but I'm assuming a Book 2 has already been agreed upon, hence the left-over loose ends.

A very fun and amazing twist to the myth and legend of Arthur! I really enjoyed this one, and I loved the representation that was within it. I also loved how Gwen and Art became allies and friends!

Anyone who can make me love and give me swoon-worthy romance is a 10/10 in my book. Lex Croucher did all these things and more with their book. I laughed, I gasped, I swooned. Honestly, Croucher is 100% one of auto-buy authors.