I did not expect to enjoy this book nearly as much as I did! I couldn't stop reading and I was genuinely excited to see what was going to happen next.

What I enjoyed:
-This book is very funny and made me laugh out loud a few times.
-The characters were well developed. I was invested in them as people and I loved the banter they would have (not just the two leads with one another, but also with their romantic interests and friends).
-The relationships (both platonic and romantic) and how they developed seemed realistic and well-paced.
-Certain social/relationship issues were addressed in a way that was earnest and did not feel preachy.
-There were a few times that I was so stressed for the characters that I had to remind myself that this was a book.
-The ending was much more dramatic and had far more weight to it than I expected.

What would have pushed this into a five-star read for me:
-The worldbuilding was a little confusing at first... I get that the King Arthur mythos is the initial gimmick of this book, but I think the story would have been better with its own unique little cult instead. I think the King Arthur mythos was more of a shorthand so that readers would understand the beliefs of the cultists without having to explain it in detail in the text. As someone with admittedly bare-bones knowledge of those stories, it felt a little bit messy and unnecessary.
-No spoilers, but the resolution of one large issue is alluded to rather than actually be shown on the page. After being so invested, I wanted to read what happened with my own eyes! Don't cut the story right before the best part!

This book was fun! I'm glad that I read it and I may end up buying it when it releases so that I can have a physical copy.

Truly fantastic book! It was hilarious, had fun romances, tons of action - everything about it worked for me. It was a little long, but I was having such a good time reading it I didn’t even mind. I’m now going to read all the other books Croucher has written in the hopes they are even half as good as this one.

This is a super cute book! I thought the characters were super cute and the rivalry and banter between Gwen and Arthur was adorable. I enjoyed the romances and was pleasantly surprised by the storyline. Quick read that I would definitely recommend for a road trip or a Renaissance festival.

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- this was a cute story, filled with queer joy and a cast of characters full of love, life, and determination to get what (and who) they wanted.

5 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“To be truly brave, first you must be afraid - and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.”

As someone approaching their mid-20s, I find myself pickier about the YA novels I decide to read. Thinking back on the YA series I loved back in middle and high school, I can’t help but think they would simply read as juvenile to me now. I feel that I’m outside their target audience and the teenage antics would all feel slightly ridiculous.

That being said, I’ve found that the YA genre has done a good bit of evolving over the years, where more and more are being written that could appeal to anyone - and this book is certainly no exception. Gwen and Art Are Not in Love reminds me of The Princess Bride, my favorite movie and a classic that is enjoyable to all. The YA attribution, like the PG rating given to The Princess Bride, is not necessarily an indicator of quality or maturity level, and I can confidently say that this book has become one of my all-time favorites as well.

Gwen and Art is queer, comforting, heartbreaking, hilarious, emotional, and so wonderfully healing. There’s so much sharp wit that my copy is filled with highlights of passages that made me laugh out loud - and I never take notes or highlight. The main characters all feel so wonderfully flawed, complex, and most importantly, real. No one is perfect. People say and do things they don’t mean. There’s laughter and tears at inopportune times. We see incredibly sweet, awkward, and relatable moments of young love. And I couldn’t get enough of it all!

This book has a slower start, but by no means did that take away from my enjoyment. I adore character-driven stories and Lex expertly develops our protagonists in a way that feels like we get to learn and grow alongside them. It picks up speed as things get more complicated for our characters and the ending was so full of drama and tension that I couldn’t put it down. This book broke my heart, held my hand as it helped put it back together again, and turned me into its #1 fan and proponent for a sequel.

Lex created this absolutely beautiful tale full of heart, self-discovery, identity acceptance, forgiveness, growth, and true friendship. I just finished the book and I wish I could forget it so I could read it for the first time all over again. Seriously, if you’re looking for a queer rom-com, or if you’re also a part of the LGBTQ+ community, I can’t recommend this enough. This will forever have a special place in my little heart.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Genuinely loved this one. Such amazing characters, especially Gwen and Bridget. I am a massive fan of looking at old stories, in this case King Arthur and the knights of the round table, through an LGBT lens. Highly recommend this book and loved the ending.

Lex Croucher’s books are a guaranteed good time! Set in post-round table Camelot we get knights and princesses and joust tournaments, plus angsty teens, delightful banter, silly antics, coming-of-age character development, and multiple love stories. It was a pleasure to read.

I did not finish Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, but I will not be posting my review on Goodreads or social media out of respect for the author and publisher. I like the premise of this book, I really do! It had a ton of potential. It just felt incredibly slow to me. It has very long chapters, and there isn't enough action or things actually happening - even 40% in, I feel like we were still building to what the actual plot/conflict of the story was.

Gwen and Art have a problem. They have grown up thinking the worst of each other and dreading the day the betrothal that's been in place since their birth comes to fruition. Much to their chagrin the time is drawing near and they have to spend the entire summer together in preparation for the announcement of their wedding day. In what may turn out to be a stroke of luck for the two betrothed, Gwen catches Art in a compromising position that allows her to see that they may have more in common than she anticipated. Could a mutual arrangement allow Gwen to follow her heart to the brave knight Lady Bridget who's caught her eye? Additionally, could this be a chance for Art to reconnect with Gwen's older brother Gabriel and find a spark that he never expected? Alongside all of this, is there something deeper brewing beneath the surface of the kingdom as the people gather to celebrate the royal tournament being held?

This was an absolutely adorable tale of young and unrequited love. Additionally, I appreciated that none of the main characters had things figured out yet, especially since they are teenagers and that's a messy time in your life full of self-discovery. This really shined in the candid conversations between Gwen and Art revealing that, despite what might appear to be external confidence, they are still kids and still learning who they are and how to navigate their new feelings. I appreciated the unapologetic queerness of this book. Obviously, the environment still wasn't conducive to straying from heteronormativity, but the characters themselves reinforced that there was nothing wrong with who they were and who they chose to love. I also didn't expect the sort of deeper lore of conflict and mystery and feuding factions, but it was a pleasant surprise as it wove through the novel, culminating in an unexpected twist. Overall, I think this was a great coming-of-age romance and I would read it again in a heartbeat. I wish I had this book around when I was in my teens and obsessed with Medieval tales of lady knights.

This is hands-down my favorite read of the year so far. I first found out about this book from tiktok and thought it sounded cute, but I didn’t expect it to be so amazing. It’s hilarious, it’s adventurous, and it’s emotional.

The characters are incredibly well-developed. They’re flawed but loveable. Gwen longs for companionship but tells herself otherwise because she believes others don’t like her and therefore judges them before they can judge her. Arthur hides his insecurities behind alcohol and sarcasm. Gabriel hides from himself in favor of his duty and becoming the kind of king he believes his country and his family want. They’re not perfect; they’re believable.

I’m also obsessed with the way this book was written. It was intentionally written in a modern style with modern slang, and I think it worked really well for this story. The characters, especially Art, were hilarious, and I marked so many places where I actually laughed out loud. I also enjoyed how diverse the book was. Obviously the main characters are LGBTQ+, and two of the main characters are people of color, as well as some side characters. One of my favorite scenes was when some of the characters, both men and women, were trying to attend a party that was for women only. Instead of immediately turning the male characters away, they were asked if any of them were men. It was a single line, but it felt like a recognition of trans and non-binary people who may not “pass.”

If I had any complaint about this book, it would be that I didn’t feel like I got to know Bridget as well as the other characters. She had her own battles to face, quite literally, but it felt like we didn’t learn as much about her flaws as the others.

Regardless, this was a 5-star read for me, and I will be buying the finished product as soon as it’s released.

4.25 ⭐
this book is such an entertaining read! i've never read anything set in medieval times and i genuinely didn't know what to expect, but i'm glad i enjoyed this book. i love every single character so much, their interactions and banter are so funny, especially between sidney and arthur. the whole book is chaotic in a fun way and radiates comforting energy. the only thing i don't love is the pacing, the ending and climax is too quick in my opinion but it's a romcom so it's not a huge problem. overall, i definitely recommend this book to whoever is looking for a lighthearted read!

I absolutely loved this book!! Croucher does an amazing job with the four main characters, they certainly aren't perfect, in fact they are quite chaotic and messy but not at the expense of being unlikeable. Gwen is strong willed and I love the arc she has in the book in regards to her sexuality and how quickly she embraces who she is and her crush on Bridget. Arthur is probably one of my favorite characters in a YA book, he's whitty, impulsive, and a freaking delight. Bridget is a fantastic love interest for Gwen and I love the part where she stands up for what she wants, she is everything a knight in shinning armor should be. Gabriel is quirky and nerdy, and struggles the most with the expectations put on him but he has a nice redemption arc and his dynamic with Arthur is so much fun to read.

One small thing that did bother me is that the book starts focused on Gwen but about half way through is then focused on Arthur. I would have liked it to stay more focused on one of them instead of the switch as I felt like by the end I wanted more of Gwen and Bridget's story and it felt a bit like an afterthought to Arthur and Gabriel.

I highly recommend this book and I can't wait to read it again when it's released!

Note: I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was like a breath of fresh air in the YA fiction world. It is so refreshing to read “forbidden” love stories that are explicitly not heterosexual. Often, LGBT+ books are written for more mature audiences due to social stigmas, but Croucher does an excellent job at keeping this book age-appropriate without doubting the reader’s intelligence.

The characters were often easy to love. I personally struggled with Gwen and had to keep reminding myself that the teenage girl was indeed acting like a teenage girl, but since the book splits the narrative it was much easier to handle. Bridget especially was awesome to read, as her cool maturity was a balm to the frequent teenage hormones.

I would recommend this as a relatively easy read for those who enjoy wlw and mlm relationships in fiction, especially historical.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This is definitely a cute story. I found the first half rather slow, but it definitely picked up after that. I would have liked to have seen a little more relationship development and a little more angst. That being said, it’s not steamy and I’d rate age 12+ despite the high school rating I saw online. All of the characters were great, but Arthur stole the show!

ETA-my teenage daughter and target audience for this book, gave it 5 ⭐️.

Lex Croucher can literally do no wrong. I would read a cereal box if they were the ones writing it. Excellent story and characters as always.

This book was so much fun and truly something my students would lose their minds over. The charcters in this book are not only loveable, but a beautiful representation of complex relationships that go through 'the mortifying ordeal of being known'. As the novel went on, it was so heartwarming to see Gwen and Bridget figure out how to be together as well as Gabe coming into his own as king. The ending of the book had me gripping my kindle white knuckled as I read in anticipation. Even though Art and Gwen were certainly not in love, thie r friendship was refreshing and caring.

Gwen and Art are not in love is absolutely hilarious, and every single character's relationship and friendships are so sweet and gives you so many reasons to love them. This book was almost entirely about the friendships and relationships among the characters and I loved seeing it all happen especially because I live for character driven books. But the plot also went some very unexpected, sometimes heartbreaking, ways especially in the end which I enjoyed a lot too. It made me kinda go "oh shit" because y'know I expected the comfy fun medieval contemporary but it made for such a great story.

Gwen and Art supposedly hate each other, but thats not the case really at all and you find that out pretty quickly. Their relationship is like brother and sister, they're always bickering and throwing jabs at each other going rounds constantly (which I lived for it was so funny) but when it really does come down to it they show up in their own ways. Arthur thinks himself selfish and useless but he really is quite the opposite, he cares a lot for his friends and especially for Sidney, Gwen, and Gabriel. The small gestures and things he did for them throughout the book without even realizing that what he was doing was making an impact was so heartwarming to see. Him and Sidney were also fun, I can only imagine the type of shenanigans they pulled off BEFORE they ever came to Camelot lol. Gwen's very closed off and doesn't really bother much with friends or being around people in general besides her brother but it was nice to see her open up progressively and go for what she actually wanted with the help and advice of Arthur. Which included Bridget, who was a badass character and I loved the tournament part of the book for her specifically. She's got a very distinct "take no shit, stand up for whats right" personality. Her confidence also often sent Gwen spinning and it was hella funny to watch honestly. Loved the sibling relationship between Gwen and Gabriel too, since I'm super close to my sister it always makes me happy to see sibling relationships done right in books. Overall a phenomenal book, I'll look forward to seeing it get the well deserved love and attention when it comes out and I cant wait to have a copy on my shelves.

Alright - this was so stinking cute and fun and just such a good time. No one will be praising Gwen and Art Are Not In Love for being historically accurate, but from the start, you know that this renaissance style is much more like a renaissance fair - think A Knight’s Tale or Men in Tights vibes. Gwen, the young princess, is betrothed to Arthur, but in love with the Lady Knight Bridget Leclair. Arthur, for his part, is very much into men, and finds himself growing more and more interested in Gwen’s brother Gabriel. And of course, antics a-la early 2000s teen romcom ensue.

This is a book that knows exactly what it wants to do and succeeds wonderfully. It is fun and self aware. I only have two points of critique with regards to the story. First, while I appreciate the exploration of queer identity despite not being socially acceptable or accepted by parents is a point of view that needs to be told in young adult stories, I am of the age where I just want queer normative stories. I think the fact that Gwen and Arthur were betrothed would have been conflict enough without having a general (but not overly present) homophobic world as its background. With how many liberties were taken with historical accuracy, I think having queerness acceptable could have been tossed in there too.

My other critique is the pacing of the ending. I was happy to go along with the story, but at the 50% mark, it seemed that the story seemed to stop jogging along and decided to bolt towards an entirely new direction. Then again I am someone who enjoys slice of life and would have been happy to trot on until we reached a natural slow ending. But I understand the need for plot and dramatic reveals. Still, I didn’t have a bad time, I just wanted the good, fun, lighthearted vibes to continue, which they did in the wrap up.

Overally, I think folks will fall in love with Gwen & Arthur Are Not in Love and it is 100% one of those books I wish I had when I was a kid.

*I received an eARC from St Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, & NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Gwen and Art Are Not In Love” is a diverse take on the Arthurian legend that focuses on love and friendship.

The highlight of this novel is its endearing, unique characters. The characters are well-developed with their own distinct personalities and the banter and humor was entertaining. This book is lighthearted and heartwarming, and I’m sure this will be a new comfort read for many people.

The main issue I had with this book, however, is that there is no central plot that holds this story together. The entire book is simply the characters talking without any major events. While I did enjoy the characters’ interactions, I would have loved a bit more action. If you love character-driven stories, though, this sill not be a problem.

Overall, Gwen and Art Are Not In Love is a light-hearted and feel-good novel that is perfect for anyone looking for a quick and enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for the early e-arc!

I loved this so so much, and the romance was so cute! I really did wish there were more scenes between the main couples but there was really good talk between them about duty, responsibility, passion, and where their lives were meant to be headed.

I wasn't invested enough with the politics so if there was more of that, it might have helped with understanding it a bit more, but at the same time I guess it did help with the climax of the story because it escalated beyond what I would have imagined, so I don't mind it too much. The romance was the main thing for me and I really enjoyed how things progressed overall.

I wouldn't classify this as a retelling at all if anyone thinks it might be that, but it's a fresh take on this kind of medieval story!