Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

When I read the description of this book, I knew I had to read it. A King Arthur retelling where Gwen and Arthur are queer? Sign me up!

This isn't a retelling, exactly. This Gwen and Art are descendants of the original king and queen of Camelot trying to find their own way. Arthur and Gwen have hated each other since they first met as children and are unfortunately betrothed. Gwen sees Art kissing a boy and thinks she has an easy out of the marriage until Art steals Gwen's diary and reads all about her feelings for a female knight and they end up forming an alliance to basically be each others beards. 90% of this book is just banter, and it is glorious. It is a slow paced, character driven novel with snatches of the overall plot thrown in, but the dialogue between everyone is just so hilarious you don't really even care. But Arthur... that dude throws in so much wisdom in his sarcasm it's unreal. He is almost always the (drunken) voice of reason and is the reason for the majority of the character growth, even his own. I have already started recommending this to everyone because it is just so well done. 4.5 / 5 stars.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I really enjoyed this new YA fantasy romance novel from Lex Croucher. It explored the life of two royal siblings who exist in the time after the legendary King Arthur (note, this is not a retelling, which I liked) and how they navigate being who they are when they’re expected to be everything they’re not.

The writing and dialogue was well-paced and realistic, and I felt that every piece of the story made sense and drove forward the character development and respective romance plots. Croucher also did a great job of balancing the romance with the very real political conflict that culminated at the end of the story.

I particularly liked how the romances developed. It felt very realistic and not at all forced, as each couple wasn’t immediately in love because that suited the story. Even by the end, the couples were honest about their attraction, but still working on figuring things out and getting to know each other better, which I felt was so much more satisfying than the “insta-love” you see in other romances.

I did wish for a bit more around the misunderstanding between Gwen and Arthur, and would have liked a scene where they talked about their differences and perceptions of the other, and really hashed it out. They slowly grew to like each other and understood the other more over time, but it happened more as a side effect of their story and I would have liked to see their friendship more purposely strengthened.

I would absolutely recommend this as a fun and engaging YA read. You don’t need to understand or like the King Arthur legend and stories to enjoy this book, and if you’re looking for a fresh and easygoing read, this is a great choice!

Fun relationships and banter but overall I was thrown by the combination of the modern language and behavior of the characters and the historical setting. However, I always appreciate when authors write the book that they want to write and this author clearly did that!

This was a cute and fun read!! I think we should make all of history gay lol.

Gwen & Art Are Not In Love was pretty predictable, but the last few chapters hooked me in! i want more of Bridget please 👀 I also appreciate that the author made multiple characters people of color without it being a big scandal.

Thank you to NetGalley & Wednesday Books for the eARC of Gwen & Art Are Not In Love!

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is my new favorite Arthurian love story. Its a book full of self-discovery, a bit of trauma recovery, with just a hair of action thrown in at the end. Gwen and Arthur are set up to bring about the 2nd coming of King Arthur and want nothing to do with how life is suppose to be despite what their parents want. Starting off as enemies they come to an uneasy truce to work towards the life they want for themselves. The characters are all dynamic and draw you in. It reads at a decent pace though I do wish there was an epilogue that tied things up a bit more than what was done. It was still a happy for now ending but I need more.

I will be posting my review to Amazon up release. It is currently available on Goodreads, Bookbub, and TikTok.

This is a fun and loose retelling of Arthurian legend that isn’t totally for me, but I enjoyed it enough and know other readers will gobble it up.

This was the medieval royalty, coming-of-age, self discovery, YA, queer romcom I didn’t know I needed!

I love love loved all the characters. Each one, even side and minor characters, are beautifully written and you can’t help but love every one of them. Gwen and Art going from enemies to friends was probably my favorite part and I loved their banter!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. I’ve always been intrigued by the legend of King Arthur, so I knew I would enjoy this at least a little bit. Even though this isn’t a retelling, I liked how parts of Arthurian legend were incorporated into the story and how the character used the history to shape their own stories.

My first Lex Croucher but definitely not my last!

(Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc!!)

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

I think this is a perfect example of right book, wrong time. I really wanted to love this book, and the first 25% showed great promise, but then the plot stalls and nothing happens until literally the last 15%. Don't get me wrong, the writing is exceptional and I loved the banter between all of the characters. I actually feel that this might have been better if the book was Adult instead of YA, and had been able to explore the relationships between the characters further. This book will still appeal to younger demographics that enjoy historical romance but want it to feel more contemporary.

If you are looking for a coming of age story/queer historical romance, I would absolutely still recommend this book!

I can’t stop smiling and giggling. This book blew me away. It was one of my most anticipated reads of the year for a reason. I don’t have a single bad thing to say about this book. The plot was great, I adored every single character, and the writing had me laughing and gasping out loud. What a perfect book that I would give six stars if I could.

(3.5) This was cute and a great time, but I didn’t love the pacing of the plot.
The characters shine in this book—I loved them all and I really wanted the best for them. There’s a lot of good interaction and development of friendships and relationships throughout the story.
My only real issue with this book was that I thought the beginning was nice and pretty slow-to-medium paced and I enjoyed spending time with the characters, but then it tries to fit way too much in the last little bit and I found it harder to stay interested.
I’d still highly recommend this book; it’s charming and has an interesting setting!
Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC!

This was a very sweet YA queer romance! I absolutely loved all of the characters, especially Arthur, and enjoyed the found family aspects of it. My only complaint is that the plot seemed to drag a bit at times, specifically towards the end, but I adored the characters so much that I still found this to be a highly enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend for anyone wanting a light and fun medieval-type queer romance!

A queer Arthurian inspired YA rom com? Yes please! This book from the start made me laugh, so many of my annotations are proof to this (lol) this book was incredibly sweet and I enjoyed it from start to finish!

I know this book is a rom com, but I have to say the found family aspect was my favorite part. Watching all the characters evolve and come out of their shells was so cute and heartwarming, if found family is one of your favorite tropes like me, I definitely recommend this books!

The plot happens mostly in the background until it smacks you in the face in the last 20% of the book, but I like character driven books so I didn't mind at all!

Overall, this book was so sweet and heartwarming, I loved it so much!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

What a delightfully fun story, with many laughs and lots of heart.

Gwen & Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher is set in Camelot, several hundred years after Arthur, Merlin & company, but still in jolly OLD England. Gwen, the Princess, is betrothed to Arthur, a descendant of his name-bearer. The problem? They hate each other. Oh, and Art likes boys (and eventually Gwen’s brother, Gabriel), while Gwen is infatuated with a female knight. They agree to ‘play nice’ in order to keep each other’s secrets, and also end up stumbling upon some political intrigue.

I had a lot of fun reading this. I’m pretty sure I had a smile on my face almost the entire time. Gwen, Art, Gabriel, as well as Art’s bodyguard Sid, and the female knight, Bridget, are SO likable! Despite their many faults, you can’t help but fall in love with these characters. And the banter! Lex Croucher really perfected the witty, snide comebacks and remarks. No, the language obviously isn’t representative of the actual language of the time, but I did not care. At all. I chuckled the entire way through. While there was a plot of sorts, it was the relationships between these characters that was the star of the story. And central to that, was the witty back-and-forth of the characters. I simply loved it. I rooted for all these characters, and cheered at their quest for queer love in a time that notion was deeply frowned upon. And the relationships these characters formed with one another -and altogether - was just heartwarming. An adorable found family, which is one of my absolute favourite things.

The political intrigue plot was embedded somewhat throughout the book, though I found it sped up too much in the last quarter or so to reach its conclusion. This did not detract from my enjoyment of the book, though. It just felt like the action was sort of clumped together in one spot.

For me, Gwen & Art Are Not In Love is a story I thoroughly enjoyed and will likely pick up a physical copy when it becomes available. I fell in love with these characters and want to revisit them on days I need a smile. Totally recommend for those who love quick wit and character-driven stories.

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

DNF at 35%

Kurt Vonnegut once famously said that true terror is waking up one morning to discover your high school classmates running the country. I'll raise him a millennial variation: true terror is reading a book that you can tell was written by someone who used Tumblr at the same time you did.

You guys, I tried with this book. I tried REALLY HARD. I wanted to like it; I requested an ARC in the first place because I thought it sounded cute. And it is cute - an extremely self-aware, winking-at-the-reader, poisoned-by-pop-culture-irony sort of cute. This is a book that quotes the memefied "epic highs and lows of high school football" Riverdale line in a medieval fantasy romance. (Side note: I'm fairly certain that this particular meme never broke Tumblr containment, and Tumblr these days is largely populated by thirtysomethings. But this book is aimed, ostensibly, at teenagers. If they recognize the line at all, the only emotion it's going to evoke is puzzlement at why this novel is quoting a CW soap.) Yes, the book is overflowing with anachronisms in the dialogue (King Arthur isn't dead, he's "on sabbatical") but the problem with that is, the author wants to have their cake and eat it too; the reader is meant to chuckle knowingly at these modern references, but Croucher also clearly wants them to take the emotional stakes seriously. And I'm sorry, but it doesn't work like that. You can be a Shrek-style sneering goof fest, or you can take your plot and characters seriously. In trying to do both, this book succeeds in doing neither.

And honestly? Even if the obnoxious tone hadn't overwhelmed the story for me, the cardboard cutout characters and worldbuilding would have finished the job. I could tell you from the jump which archetype everyone was meant to slot into: Art is the cocky jerk nursing a secret vulnerability over the expectations his father has placed on him (yes, Lex Croucher, I also watched BBC's Merlin back in the day), Gwen is a Hermione-style priss whose "awkwardness" came across more like a chip on her shoulder, Gabriel is the sad, studious gay boy who is no doubt intended to launch a million tiktok edits to whatever song is trending right now (the Wylan, if you will), and Bridget is - actually, Bridget is a glorified prize for Gwen's character development, because she certainly has none of her own. She's a Pinterest board titled "hot lady knight aesthetic" and not much else. The worldbuilding is likewise a mess - this book takes place in the real world, we know that because there are mentions of England and Norway and Catholics, but also England is split between Catholics and "cultists" (people who believe in/worship the legends of King Arthur) and also, see above re: the proliferation of anachronisms that are just there for the sake of a joke. If Croucher isn't taking any of this seriously, why should I?

Now, to be fair, I did DNF this book, and it's possible that the author pulls a 180 in the back half that retroactively justifies every issue I had with the first hundred pages. But it's quite frankly too little, too late, because if the beginning of your book - the part you present to the reader in an attempt to hook them - is this messy, this smug, this convinced of its own nonexistent charm, your readers are not going to stick around for a third act heel turn.

I am absolutely amazed about how much I loved this book and how much it means to me. I went into this book not really knowing what to expect. The plot seemed pretty straight forward and obvious BUT NO. There are so many beautiful layers to this story. This book was about coming out and accepting yourself. But it was also about choosing your own destiny and carving your own path. The character development in this story amazed me and it felt like watching your kid grow up. This book had me tearing up for the characters, but also had me laughing out loud and kicking my feet. The side characters absolutely made the story for me. This book was the definition of found family and I could only hope for friends like theirs.

Thank you to Wednesday Books (and Rivka Holler for keeping me on their email blasts whenever an amazing new book is coming out!) and NetGalley for this eArc of <i>Gwen and Art are Not in Love</i>. All opinions are my own.

Firstly, happy Pub Day (in the UK), Lex! Congrats on another amazingly fun romp!

Since I've enjoyed all of Lex Croucher's other books, I was anticipating that this one would be equally as fun a time, and I was right! If anything, I think I had even more fun reading this book than her two previous titles <i>Reputation</i> and <i>Infamous</i> (although I certainly enjoyed both). I loved seeing Croucher's same sense of storytelling, humor, and heart applied to younger characters. Although the experience of having to get married young and inheriting the crown to a kingdom aren't exactly common occurrences for most young adults, I think most teens can relate to the heavy weight of expectations and the shame that comes along with the realization that you will never be able to meet them. And, of course, it wouldn't be a good YA book with that journey of self-discovery, of finding who you really are and what (and who) you really want, and it was pure joy seeing each of the four main characters, Gwen, Art, Gabriel, and Bridget, grow into who they were meant to be.

The titular Gwen and Art aren't who you think they're going to be, the namesake of the Arthurian legends, King Arthur and Guinevere. Rather, Gwen and Art are two teens, many generations removed from their magical namesakes—one a princess, one a boy from a well-to-do family and an overbearing, conniving father who just happens to be betrothed to said princess. The problem? They hate each other. A lot. And yet, the expectation that they'll be married remains with nothing to do for it. What follows is, I would say, generally a comedy of errors a la Shakespeare as the two betrothed make discoveries about who and what they really want, culminating in some real feels and some serious medieval fighting action scenes (which I had no idea I would enjoy as much as I did).

I have literally three students doing research papers on medieval warfare and armor at the moment, all of them serious readers, and I can't wait to recommend this book to them!

Well this is a DNF

This one was just not for me it felt very similar in my brain to another YA set of books that are supposed to be like a modern spin but still in era. I don’t like it

I will start off by saying that I don’t typically read historical fiction or YA super often, but I had to read this one because I love LGBTQIA+ characters and I dabble in historical fiction and I am so glad I read this one! The characters were well-written, the story line was fantastic and although it’s historical fiction, it plays so well in this book. I thought the story was heart felt, the found family was amazing, and the whole thing felt really good. I needed this book right now.

3.5/5

If a queer, Arthurian-inspired historical romance with some medieval action sounds up your alley, I definitely recommend this book!

Gwen and Art may not be in love, but I loved them (although Arthur and Sidney’s relationship was my favorite). It’s technically a romance, but the found family aspect of this story definitely stood out the most to me.

The pacing was a bit slow during the first half, but it eventually picked up and I really enjoyed the ending. I’m going to miss these characters now and I would honestly love a sequel!

I generally avoid Historical Fiction, but I make exceptions for books that play fast and loose with Historical specifics. By this I mean I love books similar to the film, "A Knights Tale", or books like "My Lady Jane" and "A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue". This book did this. Yes, it takes place in Britains past, there are known Historical figures (some more fictional then others), and more. But, the style of speaking is more similar to modern day speaking, making for a more accessible book. The premise itself was fun, with a betrothed couple who hate each other and secretly love others. These secret relationships are queer, with one character being Gay and the other one Bi. The story follows these relationships while maintaining a sub plot with clashing political parties and ruling. Overall a quick fun, and funny, read that I will be purchasing for my library and recommending to my readers. (Thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC)