I really enjoyed this YA Sapphic historical romance between an aspiring Blacksmith who finds herself donning the guise of a knight and jousting in dragon slaying tournaments while also falling for a young noblewoman. This was lighthearted with fun breaking the fourth wall moments from a cheeky anonymous narrator. There was also dragons, fierce female main characters and no focus on the guys! Loved it on audio and would highly recommend for fans of books like Lex Croucher's Gwen & Art are not in love or All the painted hearts by Emma Denny. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a very satisfying and playful take on a female knight wooing her damsel. It's a bit like a queer Princess Bride with wit, romance, and adventure in spades

I really enjoyed this YA novel. It was a campy, fun medieval romp. Perfect for fans of A Knight’s Tale and Ella Enchanted

I really enjoyed this book. I found the characters endearing, the banter between the lady’s was hilarious, and the romance was very sweet. I also really liked the omniscient narrator’s chapters that was very tongue in cheek about the story.

Helen Keely does an excellent job with the main part of the story. She has a great voice and does accents well. I could tell the two main ladies apart quite easily even though Helen was narrating both of their chapters. Barbara Rosenblat does an excellent job of being the omniscient narrator’s voice and I found her rather drole attitude and voice very amusing for these chapters. I would listen to either of these two women again.

The story is told from both Gwen’s and Isobelle’s points of view, switching with each chapter. I really enjoyed both of these young ladies. Gwen is smart and strong and has a desire to prove herself to be just as good if not better than any man. Isobelle hides behind this image she has created that she is flighty and not very smart but she is crafty and devious and can manipulate the castle politics as well and any man. When these two meet it is the start of a beautiful friendship that grows into much more.

I liked the romance between these two quite a bit. Gwen is immediately attracted to Isobelle, but it does take Isobelle awhile to realize she has feelings for Gwen. I really appreciated that Gwen gave her space to figure out what Isobelle wanted and her feelings for Gwen. The romance grows out of the trust and friendship these two developed first which was nice to see. It is a pretty clean romance on page with only some steamy kisses, but there are hints that things heat up off page by the end of the book.

There are a lot of secondary characters that help to flesh out the story quite a bit. I really enjoyed Isobelle’s friends, Sophie, Hilda and Jane. They were hilarious and I loved that they had both Gwen’s and Isobelle’s backs when they figure out what is really going on. Isobelle’s maid, Olivia, was great and much more than a maid. I also really enjoyed Madame Dupont, the ‘dance instructor’ who coaches Gwen in jousting. Most of the men in the story were despicable, except for Gwen’s dad and Sir Orsin. I loved the relationship between Gwen and her dad. I really liked Sir Orsin up until he did what he did and if there is a sequel I still want to see him in it.

The setting was a pseudo medieval european setting. Think of a whitewashed Hollywood vision of what medieval times were like. It fit this modern fairy tale story and I really enjoyed it. The pacing was well done, although it did feel a little on the draggy side in the middle and the story on the whole was maybe a tad too long. The writing and the dialogue were also well done, and the few jousting scenes felt realistic. I also really liked the fight with the dragon.

As far as I know this is a stand alone novel, but the ending was left open enough that I am hoping that we might get a sequel at some point in the future. If you enjoy fun, romantic stories with a little bit of tongue in cheek attitude towards medieval society then this is a book I think you should give a chance. I highly recommend that you listen to the audiobook, as the readers really added to the story and very much made the characters come alive.

I hate "read alikes" but The Princess Bride and Knights Tale (yeah yeah it's a movie only, deal with it) had a lesbian daughter and that is this book. It is soooo much more fun and intelligent than most YA. The romance between the main character faced actual difficulties, not "oh but what if they love this other person more than they love me!", which is generally what bores me with YA. The characters had so much depth, the supporting characters were interesting individuals, I could actually tell the squad members apart, and there actually were useful / decent male side characters so I didn't find myself wondering how the society survived each day. I'd like to see more from this world, though this would be one hell of an act to follow. I need to look up the work of both of these writers.