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Gwen & Art Are Not in Love
Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer medieval rom-com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history.
It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.
They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run-up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen's childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.
Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, Gwen and Art make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight, and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen's royal brother. Lex Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.
It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.
They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run-up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen's childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.
Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, Gwen and Art make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight, and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen's royal brother. Lex Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published May 11, 2023
About the author
Lex Croucher
7 books2,439 followersLex Croucher grew up in Surrey, reading a lot of books and making friends with strangers on the internet, and now lives in London with an elderly cat. With a background in social media for NGOs, Lex now writes historical-ish rom coms for adults (REPUTATION, INFAMOUS) and historical fantasy rom coms for teenagers. GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE is their YA debut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,332 reviews
January 18, 2023
I have it on good authority that this is not a retelling
Want to read
January 7, 2023thank fucking god someone wrote a gay arthurian tale.
August 3, 2023
I really enjoyed this book for the first 70% or so. I found it very entertaining and the humor was right up my alley.
All the characters are so well-written. They are a bunch of lovable idiots who sometimes find themselves in the most ridiculous situations. I can't even choose who my favourite was or whose relationship I loved the most.
Gwen and Arthur were often pretty insufferable and bratty, but I absolutely loved their banter, as well as the banter between Arthur and Sid. Sid is such an amazing and loyal friend, I loved his friendship with Arthur so much. Gabe, Bridget and Agnes were just as wonderful and the romance part of the story was really sweet.
The last 30% of the book
I'd like to add that this story is not a retelling. It's just inspired by the Arthurian legend and takes place in the seemingly same world, but several generations after. It's humor and the medieval setting with a modern twist reminded me a lot of the movie A Knight's Tale and the Adventures in Aguillon series by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey. Both are my favourites. 😊
All the characters are so well-written. They are a bunch of lovable idiots who sometimes find themselves in the most ridiculous situations. I can't even choose who my favourite was or whose relationship I loved the most.
Gwen and Arthur were often pretty insufferable and bratty, but I absolutely loved their banter, as well as the banter between Arthur and Sid. Sid is such an amazing and loyal friend, I loved his friendship with Arthur so much. Gabe, Bridget and Agnes were just as wonderful and the romance part of the story was really sweet.
The last 30% of the book
I'd like to add that this story is not a retelling. It's just inspired by the Arthurian legend and takes place in the seemingly same world, but several generations after. It's humor and the medieval setting with a modern twist reminded me a lot of the movie A Knight's Tale and the Adventures in Aguillon series by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey. Both are my favourites. 😊
May 18, 2023
→ 4.5 ☆
i loved the relationship dynamics throughout the book. everyone felt real, it was refreshing to read. quick disclaimer: this review (kind of) contains subtle spoilers, so beware.
sid and art's friendship? perfect. they're unbreakable, humorous, and each other's best friend. i ADORE them together and as separate people.
sidney was so much fun. a former manwhore that has been wooed and wowed into a faithful man who only has eyes for agnes—who i also, undoubtedly, love dearly. sidney was so loyal, and you could feel his utmost love for art, who he stayed by the entire book and didn't once falter on his loyalty. his retorts to art's mood swings and little jabs would also count as a plus.
art, our local moody and alcoholic gay, made my heart ache. i felt personally attacked every time he used fake confidence to hide his self-doubts, or whenever he made self-depreciating jokes as a coping mechanism. he needs a hug! he needs a couple hundred hugs, but i'll settle for just one. a funny lad, he is. his banter with literally anyone had me giggling or puffing a little air out of my nose.
gwen's character was annoying at first, she was judgmental, crass, and often felt like everything was targeted regardless of it was or not. i felt so proud seeing her character development! watching gwen grow from someone who assumed the worst and sort of outcasted herself to someone who was doing things out of her comfort zone and deepening her relationships. she becomes so sweet and an overall joy (flaws and all). she's also such an introvert, and i love that she's not forced to become some social butterfly. however, we do get to see her find a spine and her own voice. seeing her be more understanding of bridget's situation? mwah.
BRIDGETTT! woman knight = perfection. i don't make the rules here, so... anywayy, i love her so much. she knows what she wants, and she doesn't let anybody tell her what they think she should. even though she faces soo much discrimination being the only female knight (to put herself out there), she still stays focused on her goal. she wants to be better, she wants to become a great knight, and she has no intentions of letting anybody try to force her to stop.
agnes, what a fantastic person.
sidney + agnes >>
they're so cute and i love them, they practically have hearts in their eyes every time they see each other. i love how we get to know her better as gwen gets to know her better, we get to see how much of a lovely person she actually is outside of gwen's assumptions.
overall, this was a really good (slight slowburn) romance. the only reason it isn't the full five stars, is because the politics kind of just hit me! of course, it makes sense later on, but the book wasn't engaged in the conflict enough for it to make sense until the climax. unrealistic, but cute ending, as well. ok, the end isn't like cute-cute because of obvious reasons, but i mean the veryy end.
thank you to netgalley and wednesday books for this arc in exchange for an honest review
mwah,
alayla. 📖
“to be truly brave, first you must be afraid—and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.”
i loved the relationship dynamics throughout the book. everyone felt real, it was refreshing to read. quick disclaimer: this review (kind of) contains subtle spoilers, so beware.
sid and art's friendship? perfect. they're unbreakable, humorous, and each other's best friend. i ADORE them together and as separate people.
“because he kissed me back.”
sidney gaped at him. “in the bird shed?”
“you’re awfully fixated on the bird shed.”
sidney was so much fun. a former manwhore that has been wooed and wowed into a faithful man who only has eyes for agnes—who i also, undoubtedly, love dearly. sidney was so loyal, and you could feel his utmost love for art, who he stayed by the entire book and didn't once falter on his loyalty. his retorts to art's mood swings and little jabs would also count as a plus.
“ah,” sidney said wisely. “you just want him to hold you like a baby crow.”
art, our local moody and alcoholic gay, made my heart ache. i felt personally attacked every time he used fake confidence to hide his self-doubts, or whenever he made self-depreciating jokes as a coping mechanism. he needs a hug! he needs a couple hundred hugs, but i'll settle for just one. a funny lad, he is. his banter with literally anyone had me giggling or puffing a little air out of my nose.
“better off dead.” he said it with such violent self-hatred, even half-conscious, that gwen winced.
gwen's character was annoying at first, she was judgmental, crass, and often felt like everything was targeted regardless of it was or not. i felt so proud seeing her character development! watching gwen grow from someone who assumed the worst and sort of outcasted herself to someone who was doing things out of her comfort zone and deepening her relationships. she becomes so sweet and an overall joy (flaws and all). she's also such an introvert, and i love that she's not forced to become some social butterfly. however, we do get to see her find a spine and her own voice. seeing her be more understanding of bridget's situation? mwah.
“it was dangerous to want things, and gwen was out of practice. in fact, the only thing she had truly wanted for years was to be left alone.”
BRIDGETTT! woman knight = perfection. i don't make the rules here, so... anywayy, i love her so much. she knows what she wants, and she doesn't let anybody tell her what they think she should. even though she faces soo much discrimination being the only female knight (to put herself out there), she still stays focused on her goal. she wants to be better, she wants to become a great knight, and she has no intentions of letting anybody try to force her to stop.
“but i didn’t say no to you, gwen. i said no to giving up my whole life to wait around for moments with you, whenever you could spare them. that’s not who i am, and it’s not what i want.”
agnes, what a fantastic person.
sidney + agnes >>
they're so cute and i love them, they practically have hearts in their eyes every time they see each other. i love how we get to know her better as gwen gets to know her better, we get to see how much of a lovely person she actually is outside of gwen's assumptions.
“yes.” agnes should have been very angry at her—could have raged at gwen for depriving her of her last glimpse of Sidney—but instead she reached over and took gwen’s hand.
overall, this was a really good (slight slowburn) romance. the only reason it isn't the full five stars, is because the politics kind of just hit me! of course, it makes sense later on, but the book wasn't engaged in the conflict enough for it to make sense until the climax. unrealistic, but cute ending, as well. ok, the end isn't like cute-cute because of obvious reasons, but i mean the veryy end.
thank you to netgalley and wednesday books for this arc in exchange for an honest review
mwah,
alayla. 📖
Read
July 5, 2024Source of book: NetGalley (like a million years ago, sorry)
Relevant disclaimers: Instagram mutuals.
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
---
So my personal favourite piece of Arthuriana is the 14th century poem, Gawain and the Green Knight. I think I mostly like it because nobody can super agree what it's about or, at least, what it represents.
The basics of the poem go like this: a young chad King Arthur is having a cheeky Nandos with the lads, but he declares that nobody is allowed to dive into their peri peri until something exciting and knightly, worthy of the tales of old, has happened. What a lege. Conveniently, a big green bro rides into the hall and invites everyone to participate in a fun game of decapitation. Top lad Gawain is up for it, on the understanding that he gets to be the active decapitation partner first. Unfortunately, once decapitated, the green bro retrieves his head and invites Gawain to visit him in a year and a day so he can decapitate him back. The rest of the knights enjoy this top bants and life goes on.
Eventually Gawain remembers he kind of has an obligation to fulfil and sets out, reluctantly, on his quest. He has a bunch of adventures en route that the poet does not deign to share, and eventually comes to a magnificent castle, inhabited by a fellow top lad, his fit wife, and a random old lady? This new top lad tells Gawain that the place where he's meant to be meeting the green bro for a little flip-decapitation is about two days ride and invites him to stay in the mean time so they can get Dominos. Gawain is well up for this. At which point, his host proposes a new game and Gawain, who has apparently not a learned a fucking thing from the Decapitation Incident, blithely agrees: every day the knight is going to go out hunting and Gawain is going to Netflix and chill, and at the end of the day they exchange what they've respectively managed to obtain.
First day, the knight's wife does her level best to bang Gawain but bros before hos and all that. Gawain barters her down to a kiss, which he duly gives to her husband in exchange for the double pepperoni passion he picked up on the way home. Second day, the wife once again tries to sheath Gawain's sword for him, and he, once again, barters her down to two kisses, which he exchanges with her husband for whatever he caught on his hunt (a boar I think?). Third day, however, the wife offers Gawain her underwear (okay technically a girdle is outerwear, but still) which will apparently protect him from any harm like, for example, getting his head cut off. Gawain takes this and instead of giving it to her husband, spontaneously ponies up three entirely heterosexual smackeroos.
Finally the day comes Gawain has to go get decapitated and he trots off to meet the green knight. First time the green knight swings his axe, Gawain flinches like a big ol' sissy and the knight takes the piss. Second time the knight doesn't strike and Gawain is like "dude, stop fucking around, just cut my fucking head off." Third time, the knight leave a tiny nick on the back of Gawain's neck as punishment for being creepy with his wife's intimate garments, and it turns out the green knight was the top bro all along, just cursed by Morgan le Fay, who--TWIST--was the random old lady staying at the castle.
Gawain goes home, full of shame, having determined to wear the green girdle for the rest of his life to remind him of the importance of being honest with your mates. The other knights are all like cool story bro.
Look, it's a really weird poem. And, like, is it about survival versus honour, is it about Christianity versus paganism, is it anti-Arthurian and anti-heroic, is about friendship and accepting each other failures, is it about gender, is it about ethics, is it about masculinity, is it feminist (given the sexual agency of the green knight's wife), is it GAY (I mean Gawain is reasonably indifferent about the green knight's wife trying to bang his brains out and surprisingly blase about snogging her husband when he returns from the hunt). And the green girdle is sort of emblematic of all this. It's this protean garment, that can be tied and untied, and shifts its meaning depending on context and perspective.
Sorry this got really long and tangent-ey, even for me. Where I'm going with my bullshit on this occasion is that Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is a gorgeous green girdle of a book: it's intricate and intriguing and multi-faceted, and I continue to watch Lex Croucher's career, especially their ever-growing confidence as writer, with rapt admiration.
Set in a kind of Medievalish AU where the legacy of King Arthur is closer to history than myth, Gwendoline (not Guinevere) is the royal princess of a fractured, factionalised, partially catholic England. She has been inescapably engaged to Arthur, the son of a powerful local lord (and Arthurian cultist) since infancy. There is, however, a major problem here: Gwen and Art are not in love (title drop, boom). Actually there are bunch of problems: there's Arthur's scheming father, there's the hot lady knight Gwen has a crush on, there's the seething resentment between Gwen and Arthur, there's Gwen's brother Gabriel, and his determination to be the perfect king irrespective of the personal cost, and, of course, there's the gathering threat to the kingdom.
As you can probably tell from the summary, this is a book with a lot going on. It is, in fact, ambitious as all hell and, mostly, I felt those ambitions paid off. Unlike Croucher's Regency-set series (which I deeply adore), where the POV tends to be close single person, this is dual-POV between Arthur and Gwendoline. Given their flaws, their blind spots, and their insecurities, as well as the girdle-esque knot of relationships that lies at the heart of the novel, it's ultimately a story of competing perspectives. Of learning to see things--and yourself--as they truly are. I mean, there's even a cat one character calls Merlin, and another character calls Lucifer. I see you & your feline-themed, multi-purpose metaphors, Croucher: just as the kingdom is torn between its Arthurian past and its Catholic present/future, so must the characters navigate the tensions between who they feel they're supposed to be and who they are, and thus we end up with a cat called Merlin AND Lucifer, comfortably both.
Like the Regency-set series, Gwen and Art is also a book about growing up. While, on the surface, Medievalist-ish Arthurian AU would not be something I'd naturally reach for as an allegory for queer adolescence, in practice it works extraordinarily well. It's a deeply fractured world, burdened with a history that has shaped the present in the way the current generation are not responsible for but nevertheless live with the consequences of, where pursuit of selfhood is situated oppositionally to duty, familial harmony, and social good. I mean, I can't speak for anyone else, but that's what being seventeen was like for me.
More broadly, there's something about Croucher approaches queerness that I connect with in a very ... a very personal way. I don't know if it's because we're both British or because--if Croucher's sense of humour is anything to go--we were exposed to similar media at impressionable ages but I always feel very seen by Croucher's books. And because identity is (and should be permitted to be) a complex and subjective thing, that feels like a rare and special gift from an author to a reader. I think what Croucher does for me, that's honestly difficult to do, is they approach queer joy and queer pain with equal depth and boldness.
Aware as I always vaguely am of The Disk Horse, I feel we're in in this quite specific place at the moment in terms of the "how" of presenting queer identity. I mean, I've spent most of my career defiantly putting queer joy page (something that continues to be devalued by supposedly queer and queer-supporting institutions, especially in the UK) but that doesn't mean I want to pretend to queer pain isn't real or doesn't exist. Of late, though, I've begun wondering if the pendulum might be swinging the other way, at least in the genres I'm interested in, because I've been seeing increasingly strong pushback from certain groups of readers about the inclusion of literally *any* conflict, bad feels, or compromise required from the characters. Don't get me wrong, it's nice that there are books that are, essentially, just chill queer vibes and I'm glad such stories exists, but they're not the "right" or the "only" way to represent queerness in fiction, but I don't think the cultural answer to a past of too much queer tragedy is the complete rejection of all queer pain. Not to put too fine a point, the idea that we are somehow "past" all that is a deeply privileged perspective because, while I love that so many young folks are apparently growing up completely accepted and unchallenged in who they are, that isn't a universal situation. And dismissing texts, or art, or media or, indeed, *people* who are still grappling with pain and shame is essentially to double reject those have already likely experienced rejection. Essentially I think I would like to reach a intracommunity equilibrium where we accept that the celebration of queer joy does not require the abandonment of those who are, or who have experienced, suffering.
To bring this back to Gwen and Art, while it can be very joyous to be queer in Croucher's books, it is not always easy--and, maybe I'm just contrary, but I find it reassuring to see that explored with tenderness and care. For me, one of the most devastating and complicated moments in the book (mild spoilers ahead) is when Gwen attempts to come out to her brother (who is also queer) and he (unable to accept himself) rejects her. They do later reconcile, of course, but ooof. What a moment. It's probably one of the hardest hitting moments in the whole story (although it is lightly foreshadowed by Arthur and Gwen *also* attempting to use recognition of the other's queerness as a weapon) just because it goes to places that aren't always easy to discuss or admit to ourselves i.e. that a sense of queer community isn't as perfect or as resilient as we would wish it to be (or are often pretending it is). On a purely personal note, I found it hard to forgive Gabriel during this section of the book but I don't think that was about the character. Given what Gabriel is dealing with on his own account, it's understandable he wasn't in a place to be the perfect brother just then and Croucher really does set up and resolve this particular conflict with skill and nuance. It just reminded me of every time my own fear, shame or pain has prevented me from being there as I should have been for someone else struggling in their queerness.
Anyway, in case I'm making this book sound terribly heavy and srs, Croucher, as ever, approaches their subject matter and their characters with a wonderful blend of darkness and light. For all the angsty gripping of my heart I did while reading this, I also laughed out loud several times and I am not, as a general rule, a laugher-out-louder. I smile, I may issue a small chuckle. But Croucher makes me *laugh*. Not necessarily a great compliment, if I'm honest, because I have an incredibly immature sense of humour:
*snarfles*
To be completely fair, as I try my best to be, I think sometimes the dark/light balance isn't always completely struck for me in Croucher's work and Gwen and Art are not exception here. It didn't diminish my admiration for the book, nor my pleasure in it, but some shit goes down in the final 25% and, while it was clearly being set up to go down from the get-go, it ended feeling both like a lot and not quite enough. By which I mean, the stakes get very high very suddenly and are resolved almost too quickly for the nature of those stakes. What does really come together, however, is the character work that Croucher has done in the first 75% of the book. It is genuinely lovely to see how the characters have grown and developed through their interactions (romantic and otherwise) with each other, and for that growth to manifest in the strength to navigate the crisis that rocks the kingdom. But, you know what? This is obnoxious of me because one critiques the art in front of you, not some art that exists only in your head, but I honestly feel there are two books in Gwen and Art. Book 1 is creating all these personal connections and allowing the characters to grow into the best and strongest versions queer AF versions of themselves (i.e. the first 75% of Gwen and Art) and book 2 is putting that to the test (i.e. the final 25% of Gwen and Art expanded to really pay off all the previous work).
Except also: that's just me. Maybe I'm just pining after two books instead of one because I adore all these characters and want to indulgently spend more time with them. Maybe I'm just the kind of helpless nerd who loves a well-built world and wanted more of that. Who knows? Let me make it super clear, though, that the fact there is only 1 book of Gwen and Art is not damaging to the book as it stands. I think it's more that, to me, there was scope here for 2. Especially because there were some plotlines that got wrapped up pretty hastily and some really big moments--like Gwendoline riding into battle towards the end--that didn't get the chance to land as hard as they potentially could. I also felt poor Arthur got short shrift at times, especially when it came to his relationship with his terribly abusive father. It's not that I needed that to be resolved exactly (although it sort of was), it was just it ended up feeling emotionally siloed from everything else going on in the book because it's never something that anyone else interacts with or ever has opportunity to truly acknowledge. And maybe there's an element of dark realism to that--some abuses, after all, never go acknowledged--but I guess I just wanted ... more for him from the people he loves. There's also a moment where the plot demands everyone believes Arthur has betrayed them, while also not allowing him any opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding, which I found slightly frustrating. It kind of reminded me of the political intrigue equivalent of those 80s romances where the hero arbitrarily decides the heroine is a whore on the basis of no evidence whatsoever. Arthur does nothing, the whole book, to make anyone suspect him of malfeasance. In fact, he mostly out of his way to help people. I do understand that plots have to happen but I wish there'd been a way to bring about the same set of circumstances without completely devaluing however-many-hundred pages of Arthur's emotional labour.
But, honestly. I think most of these minor rough patches are the book falling victim to its own scope and ambition. Like if you are going to write a book about three separate romantic couples, whose participants independently have (non-romantic) relationships with each other too, set that book in a complex and fascinating world, take on a bunch of complicated ideas about gender, queerness, identity and self-agency, engage meaningfully with several pieces of Arthuriana, and then throw in some well-constructed political intrigue AND A WAR something, somewhere is going to give. The fact that Gwen and Art has all this going on, remains structurally and emotionally coherent, and is besides deeply moving and funny as hell, is an incredibly impressive achievement.
It took me away too long to make the point, but I meant it when I said this book was a green girdle. It's so clever with its interweaving of its characters and its plot and its themes, and its ending is a delicate knot, full of equal parts of hope and uncertainty, which is my personal favourite kind of ending. Basically, Gwen and Art is a unique, bold and special book, and if a hot lady gives it to you, you should definitely risk decapitation to keep it.
PS - I also can't believe I wrote an entire review without finding space to mention Lady Bridget.
PPS - Also, this is a "take your meds mate" style nitpick but I am unreasonably irked by the fact the book is called Gwen and Art Are Not In Love and hardly anyone calls Arthur Art for the entire book.
Relevant disclaimers: Instagram mutuals.
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
---
So my personal favourite piece of Arthuriana is the 14th century poem, Gawain and the Green Knight. I think I mostly like it because nobody can super agree what it's about or, at least, what it represents.
The basics of the poem go like this: a young chad King Arthur is having a cheeky Nandos with the lads, but he declares that nobody is allowed to dive into their peri peri until something exciting and knightly, worthy of the tales of old, has happened. What a lege. Conveniently, a big green bro rides into the hall and invites everyone to participate in a fun game of decapitation. Top lad Gawain is up for it, on the understanding that he gets to be the active decapitation partner first. Unfortunately, once decapitated, the green bro retrieves his head and invites Gawain to visit him in a year and a day so he can decapitate him back. The rest of the knights enjoy this top bants and life goes on.
Eventually Gawain remembers he kind of has an obligation to fulfil and sets out, reluctantly, on his quest. He has a bunch of adventures en route that the poet does not deign to share, and eventually comes to a magnificent castle, inhabited by a fellow top lad, his fit wife, and a random old lady? This new top lad tells Gawain that the place where he's meant to be meeting the green bro for a little flip-decapitation is about two days ride and invites him to stay in the mean time so they can get Dominos. Gawain is well up for this. At which point, his host proposes a new game and Gawain, who has apparently not a learned a fucking thing from the Decapitation Incident, blithely agrees: every day the knight is going to go out hunting and Gawain is going to Netflix and chill, and at the end of the day they exchange what they've respectively managed to obtain.
First day, the knight's wife does her level best to bang Gawain but bros before hos and all that. Gawain barters her down to a kiss, which he duly gives to her husband in exchange for the double pepperoni passion he picked up on the way home. Second day, the wife once again tries to sheath Gawain's sword for him, and he, once again, barters her down to two kisses, which he exchanges with her husband for whatever he caught on his hunt (a boar I think?). Third day, however, the wife offers Gawain her underwear (okay technically a girdle is outerwear, but still) which will apparently protect him from any harm like, for example, getting his head cut off. Gawain takes this and instead of giving it to her husband, spontaneously ponies up three entirely heterosexual smackeroos.
Finally the day comes Gawain has to go get decapitated and he trots off to meet the green knight. First time the green knight swings his axe, Gawain flinches like a big ol' sissy and the knight takes the piss. Second time the knight doesn't strike and Gawain is like "dude, stop fucking around, just cut my fucking head off." Third time, the knight leave a tiny nick on the back of Gawain's neck as punishment for being creepy with his wife's intimate garments, and it turns out the green knight was the top bro all along, just cursed by Morgan le Fay, who--TWIST--was the random old lady staying at the castle.
Gawain goes home, full of shame, having determined to wear the green girdle for the rest of his life to remind him of the importance of being honest with your mates. The other knights are all like cool story bro.
Look, it's a really weird poem. And, like, is it about survival versus honour, is it about Christianity versus paganism, is it anti-Arthurian and anti-heroic, is about friendship and accepting each other failures, is it about gender, is it about ethics, is it about masculinity, is it feminist (given the sexual agency of the green knight's wife), is it GAY (I mean Gawain is reasonably indifferent about the green knight's wife trying to bang his brains out and surprisingly blase about snogging her husband when he returns from the hunt). And the green girdle is sort of emblematic of all this. It's this protean garment, that can be tied and untied, and shifts its meaning depending on context and perspective.
Sorry this got really long and tangent-ey, even for me. Where I'm going with my bullshit on this occasion is that Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is a gorgeous green girdle of a book: it's intricate and intriguing and multi-faceted, and I continue to watch Lex Croucher's career, especially their ever-growing confidence as writer, with rapt admiration.
Set in a kind of Medievalish AU where the legacy of King Arthur is closer to history than myth, Gwendoline (not Guinevere) is the royal princess of a fractured, factionalised, partially catholic England. She has been inescapably engaged to Arthur, the son of a powerful local lord (and Arthurian cultist) since infancy. There is, however, a major problem here: Gwen and Art are not in love (title drop, boom). Actually there are bunch of problems: there's Arthur's scheming father, there's the hot lady knight Gwen has a crush on, there's the seething resentment between Gwen and Arthur, there's Gwen's brother Gabriel, and his determination to be the perfect king irrespective of the personal cost, and, of course, there's the gathering threat to the kingdom.
As you can probably tell from the summary, this is a book with a lot going on. It is, in fact, ambitious as all hell and, mostly, I felt those ambitions paid off. Unlike Croucher's Regency-set series (which I deeply adore), where the POV tends to be close single person, this is dual-POV between Arthur and Gwendoline. Given their flaws, their blind spots, and their insecurities, as well as the girdle-esque knot of relationships that lies at the heart of the novel, it's ultimately a story of competing perspectives. Of learning to see things--and yourself--as they truly are. I mean, there's even a cat one character calls Merlin, and another character calls Lucifer. I see you & your feline-themed, multi-purpose metaphors, Croucher: just as the kingdom is torn between its Arthurian past and its Catholic present/future, so must the characters navigate the tensions between who they feel they're supposed to be and who they are, and thus we end up with a cat called Merlin AND Lucifer, comfortably both.
Like the Regency-set series, Gwen and Art is also a book about growing up. While, on the surface, Medievalist-ish Arthurian AU would not be something I'd naturally reach for as an allegory for queer adolescence, in practice it works extraordinarily well. It's a deeply fractured world, burdened with a history that has shaped the present in the way the current generation are not responsible for but nevertheless live with the consequences of, where pursuit of selfhood is situated oppositionally to duty, familial harmony, and social good. I mean, I can't speak for anyone else, but that's what being seventeen was like for me.
More broadly, there's something about Croucher approaches queerness that I connect with in a very ... a very personal way. I don't know if it's because we're both British or because--if Croucher's sense of humour is anything to go--we were exposed to similar media at impressionable ages but I always feel very seen by Croucher's books. And because identity is (and should be permitted to be) a complex and subjective thing, that feels like a rare and special gift from an author to a reader. I think what Croucher does for me, that's honestly difficult to do, is they approach queer joy and queer pain with equal depth and boldness.
Aware as I always vaguely am of The Disk Horse, I feel we're in in this quite specific place at the moment in terms of the "how" of presenting queer identity. I mean, I've spent most of my career defiantly putting queer joy page (something that continues to be devalued by supposedly queer and queer-supporting institutions, especially in the UK) but that doesn't mean I want to pretend to queer pain isn't real or doesn't exist. Of late, though, I've begun wondering if the pendulum might be swinging the other way, at least in the genres I'm interested in, because I've been seeing increasingly strong pushback from certain groups of readers about the inclusion of literally *any* conflict, bad feels, or compromise required from the characters. Don't get me wrong, it's nice that there are books that are, essentially, just chill queer vibes and I'm glad such stories exists, but they're not the "right" or the "only" way to represent queerness in fiction, but I don't think the cultural answer to a past of too much queer tragedy is the complete rejection of all queer pain. Not to put too fine a point, the idea that we are somehow "past" all that is a deeply privileged perspective because, while I love that so many young folks are apparently growing up completely accepted and unchallenged in who they are, that isn't a universal situation. And dismissing texts, or art, or media or, indeed, *people* who are still grappling with pain and shame is essentially to double reject those have already likely experienced rejection. Essentially I think I would like to reach a intracommunity equilibrium where we accept that the celebration of queer joy does not require the abandonment of those who are, or who have experienced, suffering.
To bring this back to Gwen and Art, while it can be very joyous to be queer in Croucher's books, it is not always easy--and, maybe I'm just contrary, but I find it reassuring to see that explored with tenderness and care. For me, one of the most devastating and complicated moments in the book (mild spoilers ahead) is when Gwen attempts to come out to her brother (who is also queer) and he (unable to accept himself) rejects her. They do later reconcile, of course, but ooof. What a moment. It's probably one of the hardest hitting moments in the whole story (although it is lightly foreshadowed by Arthur and Gwen *also* attempting to use recognition of the other's queerness as a weapon) just because it goes to places that aren't always easy to discuss or admit to ourselves i.e. that a sense of queer community isn't as perfect or as resilient as we would wish it to be (or are often pretending it is). On a purely personal note, I found it hard to forgive Gabriel during this section of the book but I don't think that was about the character. Given what Gabriel is dealing with on his own account, it's understandable he wasn't in a place to be the perfect brother just then and Croucher really does set up and resolve this particular conflict with skill and nuance. It just reminded me of every time my own fear, shame or pain has prevented me from being there as I should have been for someone else struggling in their queerness.
Anyway, in case I'm making this book sound terribly heavy and srs, Croucher, as ever, approaches their subject matter and their characters with a wonderful blend of darkness and light. For all the angsty gripping of my heart I did while reading this, I also laughed out loud several times and I am not, as a general rule, a laugher-out-louder. I smile, I may issue a small chuckle. But Croucher makes me *laugh*. Not necessarily a great compliment, if I'm honest, because I have an incredibly immature sense of humour:
‘The last time you were here,’ the king said finally, ‘you set fire to something.’
Arthur grimaced down at his hands. ‘Yes. I mean–my apologies.’
‘What was it, do you recall?’
Arthur pretended to think about it. ‘Er– I believe it was your wife, sire.’
*snarfles*
To be completely fair, as I try my best to be, I think sometimes the dark/light balance isn't always completely struck for me in Croucher's work and Gwen and Art are not exception here. It didn't diminish my admiration for the book, nor my pleasure in it, but some shit goes down in the final 25% and, while it was clearly being set up to go down from the get-go, it ended feeling both like a lot and not quite enough. By which I mean, the stakes get very high very suddenly and are resolved almost too quickly for the nature of those stakes. What does really come together, however, is the character work that Croucher has done in the first 75% of the book. It is genuinely lovely to see how the characters have grown and developed through their interactions (romantic and otherwise) with each other, and for that growth to manifest in the strength to navigate the crisis that rocks the kingdom. But, you know what? This is obnoxious of me because one critiques the art in front of you, not some art that exists only in your head, but I honestly feel there are two books in Gwen and Art. Book 1 is creating all these personal connections and allowing the characters to grow into the best and strongest versions queer AF versions of themselves (i.e. the first 75% of Gwen and Art) and book 2 is putting that to the test (i.e. the final 25% of Gwen and Art expanded to really pay off all the previous work).
Except also: that's just me. Maybe I'm just pining after two books instead of one because I adore all these characters and want to indulgently spend more time with them. Maybe I'm just the kind of helpless nerd who loves a well-built world and wanted more of that. Who knows? Let me make it super clear, though, that the fact there is only 1 book of Gwen and Art is not damaging to the book as it stands. I think it's more that, to me, there was scope here for 2. Especially because there were some plotlines that got wrapped up pretty hastily and some really big moments--like Gwendoline riding into battle towards the end--that didn't get the chance to land as hard as they potentially could. I also felt poor Arthur got short shrift at times, especially when it came to his relationship with his terribly abusive father. It's not that I needed that to be resolved exactly (although it sort of was), it was just it ended up feeling emotionally siloed from everything else going on in the book because it's never something that anyone else interacts with or ever has opportunity to truly acknowledge. And maybe there's an element of dark realism to that--some abuses, after all, never go acknowledged--but I guess I just wanted ... more for him from the people he loves. There's also a moment where the plot demands everyone believes Arthur has betrayed them, while also not allowing him any opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding, which I found slightly frustrating. It kind of reminded me of the political intrigue equivalent of those 80s romances where the hero arbitrarily decides the heroine is a whore on the basis of no evidence whatsoever. Arthur does nothing, the whole book, to make anyone suspect him of malfeasance. In fact, he mostly out of his way to help people. I do understand that plots have to happen but I wish there'd been a way to bring about the same set of circumstances without completely devaluing however-many-hundred pages of Arthur's emotional labour.
But, honestly. I think most of these minor rough patches are the book falling victim to its own scope and ambition. Like if you are going to write a book about three separate romantic couples, whose participants independently have (non-romantic) relationships with each other too, set that book in a complex and fascinating world, take on a bunch of complicated ideas about gender, queerness, identity and self-agency, engage meaningfully with several pieces of Arthuriana, and then throw in some well-constructed political intrigue AND A WAR something, somewhere is going to give. The fact that Gwen and Art has all this going on, remains structurally and emotionally coherent, and is besides deeply moving and funny as hell, is an incredibly impressive achievement.
It took me away too long to make the point, but I meant it when I said this book was a green girdle. It's so clever with its interweaving of its characters and its plot and its themes, and its ending is a delicate knot, full of equal parts of hope and uncertainty, which is my personal favourite kind of ending. Basically, Gwen and Art is a unique, bold and special book, and if a hot lady gives it to you, you should definitely risk decapitation to keep it.
PS - I also can't believe I wrote an entire review without finding space to mention Lady Bridget.
PPS - Also, this is a "take your meds mate" style nitpick but I am unreasonably irked by the fact the book is called Gwen and Art Are Not In Love and hardly anyone calls Arthur Art for the entire book.
January 25, 2023
these types of books are exactly what we queer people need. historical retellings that are gay as fuck because why do we need to hear over and over again the real history that's straight and boring when we can pretend this is what actually happened? right?
buddy read with sea!
this book was very emotional, especially the last chapters. it's a very slow paced book that if u take your time to enjoy and appreciate, you'll be given an incredible story that will forever be in your heart.
the way the author wrote the characters reminded me of the way Alice Oseman wrote them in novels like Heartless and Loveless, and that couldn't be a better thing. everyone was charming and distinctive, and just a delight to read. following gwen who has to deal with how people see her and how she actually is, arthur who was loved carefree throughout his entire life and wants people to live like that too, gabe that it's the total opposite, not wanting any complications even if it means hiding a huge part of yourself and bridget, someone that has to carry the weight of everyone's judgements for wanting to be something else.
lverall, this author just created an amazing story that will be comforting to many of us, and that's exactly what our community needs.
buddy read with sea!
this book was very emotional, especially the last chapters. it's a very slow paced book that if u take your time to enjoy and appreciate, you'll be given an incredible story that will forever be in your heart.
the way the author wrote the characters reminded me of the way Alice Oseman wrote them in novels like Heartless and Loveless, and that couldn't be a better thing. everyone was charming and distinctive, and just a delight to read. following gwen who has to deal with how people see her and how she actually is, arthur who was loved carefree throughout his entire life and wants people to live like that too, gabe that it's the total opposite, not wanting any complications even if it means hiding a huge part of yourself and bridget, someone that has to carry the weight of everyone's judgements for wanting to be something else.
lverall, this author just created an amazing story that will be comforting to many of us, and that's exactly what our community needs.
March 12, 2023
Gwen & Art might not be in love, but I’m in love with them and with Gabriel, Bridget, and above all Sidney! F.T. Lukens’ vibrancy and banter meets Alexis Hall’s wit and drama.
I have a soft spot for sadder and darker stories, but I’m also a sucker for stories full of delightful dialogues and sharp humor that pull the corners of my mouth up and make lights dance in my eyes. As soon as I read the first page, I knew this would be a five-star read. It’s funny. It’s heartfelt. It’s uplifting. It’s serious at times. Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a marvelous book that embraced me wholeheartedly and melted my heart.
I cheered Bridget on when she jumped into a fight to save someone, and I said aww, when Gabriel took care of a wounded baby crow. I laughed out loud when Sidney told Art that he probably wanted to be held like a baby crow too, and Gwen and Art, well, they just captured my heart. Gwen, who needed to be a bit braver to color outside the lines, and Art, who hid his self-hatred behind a wild and playful mask.
This historical YA romp is a delight, and I’m secretly hoping for a sequel! Read this one when it’s out in November 2023, everyone!!! You won’t be disappointed!
Thank you so much, Gwyneth from Macmillan International, for sending me the ARC of this book!
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I have a soft spot for sadder and darker stories, but I’m also a sucker for stories full of delightful dialogues and sharp humor that pull the corners of my mouth up and make lights dance in my eyes. As soon as I read the first page, I knew this would be a five-star read. It’s funny. It’s heartfelt. It’s uplifting. It’s serious at times. Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a marvelous book that embraced me wholeheartedly and melted my heart.
I cheered Bridget on when she jumped into a fight to save someone, and I said aww, when Gabriel took care of a wounded baby crow. I laughed out loud when Sidney told Art that he probably wanted to be held like a baby crow too, and Gwen and Art, well, they just captured my heart. Gwen, who needed to be a bit braver to color outside the lines, and Art, who hid his self-hatred behind a wild and playful mask.
This historical YA romp is a delight, and I’m secretly hoping for a sequel! Read this one when it’s out in November 2023, everyone!!! You won’t be disappointed!
Thank you so much, Gwyneth from Macmillan International, for sending me the ARC of this book!
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February 28, 2024
she was silly but she was fun
rtc
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I’m not a YA romcom girlie anymore… but I’ll become one again for Thai sapphic character!!!!!
rtc
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I’m not a YA romcom girlie anymore… but I’ll become one again for Thai sapphic character!!!!!
// buddy read with breana!
April 29, 2023
*The publisher has provided me with an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.*
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.
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.
May 14, 2023
Wow. I love when a book exceeds my expectations, and this one absolutely did that!
Arthur and Gwen, were some of the sweetest, relatable characters I’ve experienced. And don’t even get me started on Sidney or Bridget! I immediately fell in love with each and every one of these characters, scars, flaws and all. The ridiculous situations and conversations they kept falling into, were hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. Lex Croucher has such talent for writing some of the most witty banter and cheeky humor! (My face actually hurt from smiling and laughing so much.)
Surprisingly the plot even kept me on my toes. You might wonder how a “Medieval romantic comedy”, could possibly do that… But the wonderful bits of Arthurian lore, strategically placed throughout the story, really created a wonderful book.
Can we please have more amazing, queer, romantic comedies like this?!?! I think the world would be a better place, if people read adorable books like this more often.
Thank you to Lex Croucher, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
*Update* I loved this book so much, that I even bought a special edition from Waterstones and paid for international shipping. Yeah… it’s THAT good. 💕
Arthur and Gwen, were some of the sweetest, relatable characters I’ve experienced. And don’t even get me started on Sidney or Bridget! I immediately fell in love with each and every one of these characters, scars, flaws and all. The ridiculous situations and conversations they kept falling into, were hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. Lex Croucher has such talent for writing some of the most witty banter and cheeky humor! (My face actually hurt from smiling and laughing so much.)
Surprisingly the plot even kept me on my toes. You might wonder how a “Medieval romantic comedy”, could possibly do that… But the wonderful bits of Arthurian lore, strategically placed throughout the story, really created a wonderful book.
Can we please have more amazing, queer, romantic comedies like this?!?! I think the world would be a better place, if people read adorable books like this more often.
Thank you to Lex Croucher, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
*Update* I loved this book so much, that I even bought a special edition from Waterstones and paid for international shipping. Yeah… it’s THAT good. 💕
May 25, 2023
the gay arthurian story bbc was too afraid to give us
August 28, 2024
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a Queer Medieval YA Rom-Com that is absolute sugar to read. I walked away feeling light and airy on its sweetness.
This is a YA-debut for this author, and I'm really hoping we'll be seeing more from them in this space. I feel like this one definitely succeeded in what it set out to do.
This story follows Gwen and Arthur, who have been betrothed since they were kids and they're not happy about it. The only thing they've had in common over the years is the ability to annoy one another.
As they reach marriageable age, Arthur travels to Camelot to stay for the Summer in the lead up to their impending nuptials. It doesn't start off well, as Gwen catches Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur discovers Gwen's long-held crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.
It's now clear that it's more than general disdain keeping them apart. Having a new found understanding for one another, and their predicament, the two make a pact to cover for each other as they pursue their love interests.
This was adorable and so much fun. I think this would be a great fit for Readers who enjoy the style and feel of the Lady Janies books, such as My Lady Jane, or My Contrary Mary.
I definitely recommend the audiobook. There is dual narration for Gwen and Arthur, which is incredibly well done. The narrators captured the spirit of these characters.
The dynamic between Gwen and Arthur was the highlight for me. It was a bit of a journey of self-discovery for them both and I enjoyed watching them open up to one another.
Through their honesty with themselves and each other, they were able to develop a much needed support system in their new friendship group. There is a strong found family element to this story, so if that is something you enjoy seeing, you'll definitely find it here.
I enjoyed the level of humor that Croucher brought to this story and that it didn't get steamy at all. It's fun, playful and flirty, but without being drowned out in unnecessary details for characters who don't feel ready for all of that just yet.
For me, I could have used a bit more action, intensity or intrigue in the overall plot, it was just lacking a little of that for me. That is 100% personal taste though, and you may not feel that at all when you read it.
The action did amp up a bit right at the end, with a battle and some political changes, I just feel like I sort of needed a little more during the bulk of the story if I were going to give this a 5-star rating.
At the end of the day, this is a hugely enjoyable story. It's heart-warming, it's fun and I would definitely recommend it to Readers looking for a fun Queer story, or for Readers who enjoy witty dialogue, or a Medieval setting.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I will be picking up more from Lex Croucher!
This is a YA-debut for this author, and I'm really hoping we'll be seeing more from them in this space. I feel like this one definitely succeeded in what it set out to do.
This story follows Gwen and Arthur, who have been betrothed since they were kids and they're not happy about it. The only thing they've had in common over the years is the ability to annoy one another.
As they reach marriageable age, Arthur travels to Camelot to stay for the Summer in the lead up to their impending nuptials. It doesn't start off well, as Gwen catches Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur discovers Gwen's long-held crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.
It's now clear that it's more than general disdain keeping them apart. Having a new found understanding for one another, and their predicament, the two make a pact to cover for each other as they pursue their love interests.
This was adorable and so much fun. I think this would be a great fit for Readers who enjoy the style and feel of the Lady Janies books, such as My Lady Jane, or My Contrary Mary.
I definitely recommend the audiobook. There is dual narration for Gwen and Arthur, which is incredibly well done. The narrators captured the spirit of these characters.
The dynamic between Gwen and Arthur was the highlight for me. It was a bit of a journey of self-discovery for them both and I enjoyed watching them open up to one another.
Through their honesty with themselves and each other, they were able to develop a much needed support system in their new friendship group. There is a strong found family element to this story, so if that is something you enjoy seeing, you'll definitely find it here.
I enjoyed the level of humor that Croucher brought to this story and that it didn't get steamy at all. It's fun, playful and flirty, but without being drowned out in unnecessary details for characters who don't feel ready for all of that just yet.
For me, I could have used a bit more action, intensity or intrigue in the overall plot, it was just lacking a little of that for me. That is 100% personal taste though, and you may not feel that at all when you read it.
The action did amp up a bit right at the end, with a battle and some political changes, I just feel like I sort of needed a little more during the bulk of the story if I were going to give this a 5-star rating.
At the end of the day, this is a hugely enjoyable story. It's heart-warming, it's fun and I would definitely recommend it to Readers looking for a fun Queer story, or for Readers who enjoy witty dialogue, or a Medieval setting.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I will be picking up more from Lex Croucher!
July 15, 2023
✨A (Lusty) Knight’s Tale✨
*spoilers betwixt these lines below, proceed with caution*
It was a bit too metal for me at the end. I definitely wouldn’t classify the second half of the book as a romance novel: too much death and limb loss (sorry but it’s no Kresley Cole). It took a while for the couples to pair off and then it took even longer for emotional things to develop and then there were battles and death and it never rest regained the happy, charming feel of the beginning.
I think we definitely saw more growth between Gwen and Bridget, and I definitely was more convinced by their romance. I was actually living for it. The massage got me down SO BAD. I also liked how they compromised in their relationship at the end.
But I definitely needed more from Art and Gabriel; I never was really sold that they were a good match. Gabriel was a tough nut to crack and since we didn’t have his POV, a lot of necessary inner monologue didn’t happen. Art and Gabriel were never really together, with Gabriel fully embracing who they were until the very last chapter. I adored Art, but yeah Gabriel needed to cook a bit longer. They had the makings of such a sweet relationship, but what we saw on page didn’t have too many sweet moments.
For as long as the book was, the relationships really weren’t given enough space to develop, just with how the book was paced and plotted out. I guess the way the book ended in the last third needed to happen so they could all get their HEAs…but I guess I’m not entirely happy and honestly the characters didn’t really either?? Just sad and a bit miffed all around. The book was very long and kinda felt that way towards the end.
Overall, The ambiance of the book was incredible, and it definitely hit that A Knight’s Tale modern historical mark, but I wish it developed the romances fully. I loved the friendships in the book as well. The one between Sidney and Arthur REALLY embodied that Heath Ledger and Alan Tudyk energy. I’d have preferred this book be split into two books in a duology, rather than the one with both relationships. But even then, I feel like the book as a whole will work better for me via audio, as that creates a more cinematic experience.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5
Big spoilers:
I’d also just prefer a nice father not get stabbed in the neck lol. On a scale of 1-Lion King…ngl I felt a bit like Simba reading that. Also I just do not think Gabriel was ready to be king, he didn’t break out into song ONCE with a persnickety hornbill. And Arthur was hurt for like 70% of the book, poor chap.
Thanks to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.
*spoilers betwixt these lines below, proceed with caution*
It was a bit too metal for me at the end. I definitely wouldn’t classify the second half of the book as a romance novel: too much death and limb loss (sorry but it’s no Kresley Cole). It took a while for the couples to pair off and then it took even longer for emotional things to develop and then there were battles and death and it never rest regained the happy, charming feel of the beginning.
I think we definitely saw more growth between Gwen and Bridget, and I definitely was more convinced by their romance. I was actually living for it. The massage got me down SO BAD. I also liked how they compromised in their relationship at the end.
But I definitely needed more from Art and Gabriel; I never was really sold that they were a good match. Gabriel was a tough nut to crack and since we didn’t have his POV, a lot of necessary inner monologue didn’t happen. Art and Gabriel were never really together, with Gabriel fully embracing who they were until the very last chapter. I adored Art, but yeah Gabriel needed to cook a bit longer. They had the makings of such a sweet relationship, but what we saw on page didn’t have too many sweet moments.
For as long as the book was, the relationships really weren’t given enough space to develop, just with how the book was paced and plotted out. I guess the way the book ended in the last third needed to happen so they could all get their HEAs…but I guess I’m not entirely happy and honestly the characters didn’t really either?? Just sad and a bit miffed all around. The book was very long and kinda felt that way towards the end.
Overall, The ambiance of the book was incredible, and it definitely hit that A Knight’s Tale modern historical mark, but I wish it developed the romances fully. I loved the friendships in the book as well. The one between Sidney and Arthur REALLY embodied that Heath Ledger and Alan Tudyk energy. I’d have preferred this book be split into two books in a duology, rather than the one with both relationships. But even then, I feel like the book as a whole will work better for me via audio, as that creates a more cinematic experience.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5
Big spoilers:
I’d also just prefer a nice father not get stabbed in the neck lol. On a scale of 1-Lion King…ngl I felt a bit like Simba reading that. Also I just do not think Gabriel was ready to be king, he didn’t break out into song ONCE with a persnickety hornbill. And Arthur was hurt for like 70% of the book, poor chap.
Thanks to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.
June 21, 2023
I can see how other people might enjoy it, but overall nothing about this worked for me. This book lost me in the first 10%, ngl, but I tried to push through. But less than halfway through I just really wanted to DNF; I reeeeally struggled to finish this. 😬
This book is described as funny, but honestly??? The humour didn’t work for me. A couple of lines could be humorous (perhaps if this were a movie), but even then – I personally wouldn’t say this book is funny at all. I could tell the author was attempting to inject comedy into this story, but I just kept staring blankly at every “joke”. 😐
The characters weren’t terrible, but they also weren’t that enjoyable. Arthur was ridiculous and immature (though he did grow on me), and Gwen was kinda just…. there? They both felt like caricatures who mostly existed to react to the situations they ended up in. Idk, I just couldn’t take anything they did seriously, to be quite frank, particularly their rivalry – it was completely absurd. The LIs were mostly irrelevant. Gabriel was a nerdy and nice boy who doesn’t want to be king; extremely generic, but still the most likeable character (though I’ll forget about him in a week). I couldn’t tell you much about Bridget, bc most of what we see of her is just from Gwen’s perspective (when she’s crushing on her from afar or just having bland conversations).
I never cared much about the romance. The characters either already had a crush on their LI from the beginning of the book, or there simply wasn’t a lot of development in the romance, so I just couldn’t really get why these characters liked each other. They didn’t have any chemistry. It was always just “I shouldn’t like someone of the same gender, but I do.”, but the book didn’t show any reason for either of them to like *specifically* each other. Like, why didn’t Bridget crush on any other lady? Why did Gabriel like Arthur? Just because they were acquaintances for longer? At some point Bridget tells Gwen “We don’t even know each other that well.” and I was like… EXACTLY!!!!!!!! Gwen only liked Bridget from watching her. They didn’t KNOW each other! I genuinely don’t know why they were in love. 😐😐😐 Overall, I just didn’t feel ANYTHING about either couple (though I’ll say I preferred Arthur and Gabriel’s dynamic).
The pacing was also very off. This book dragged on for no reason. Nothing was happening other than the romance (which I didn’t care about, so there was no reason for me to keep reading). Then at around 80% there’s some kind of battle/coup/whatever, and I was really confused, because….. had there been any politics in this book????? There’s a chance I accidentally skipped every part they talked about politics, but idk… That whole conflict just seemed to come out of nowhere; it didn’t feel properly built up.
Overall: booo.
This book is described as funny, but honestly??? The humour didn’t work for me. A couple of lines could be humorous (perhaps if this were a movie), but even then – I personally wouldn’t say this book is funny at all. I could tell the author was attempting to inject comedy into this story, but I just kept staring blankly at every “joke”. 😐
The characters weren’t terrible, but they also weren’t that enjoyable. Arthur was ridiculous and immature (though he did grow on me), and Gwen was kinda just…. there? They both felt like caricatures who mostly existed to react to the situations they ended up in. Idk, I just couldn’t take anything they did seriously, to be quite frank, particularly their rivalry – it was completely absurd. The LIs were mostly irrelevant. Gabriel was a nerdy and nice boy who doesn’t want to be king; extremely generic, but still the most likeable character (though I’ll forget about him in a week). I couldn’t tell you much about Bridget, bc most of what we see of her is just from Gwen’s perspective (when she’s crushing on her from afar or just having bland conversations).
I never cared much about the romance. The characters either already had a crush on their LI from the beginning of the book, or there simply wasn’t a lot of development in the romance, so I just couldn’t really get why these characters liked each other. They didn’t have any chemistry. It was always just “I shouldn’t like someone of the same gender, but I do.”, but the book didn’t show any reason for either of them to like *specifically* each other. Like, why didn’t Bridget crush on any other lady? Why did Gabriel like Arthur? Just because they were acquaintances for longer? At some point Bridget tells Gwen “We don’t even know each other that well.” and I was like… EXACTLY!!!!!!!! Gwen only liked Bridget from watching her. They didn’t KNOW each other! I genuinely don’t know why they were in love. 😐😐😐 Overall, I just didn’t feel ANYTHING about either couple (though I’ll say I preferred Arthur and Gabriel’s dynamic).
The pacing was also very off. This book dragged on for no reason. Nothing was happening other than the romance (which I didn’t care about, so there was no reason for me to keep reading). Then at around 80% there’s some kind of battle/coup/whatever, and I was really confused, because….. had there been any politics in this book????? There’s a chance I accidentally skipped every part they talked about politics, but idk… That whole conflict just seemed to come out of nowhere; it didn’t feel properly built up.
Overall: booo.
August 16, 2023
✰ 3.5 stars ✰
“To be truly brave, first you must be afraid – and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.”
With Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, I felt that Lex Croucher was attempting to 'kill two birds with one stone' - trying to write a book that successfully portrayed a romance of two different pairings. It's a big feat to pull off - sometimes it's a hit, sometimes a miss. After reading it, though, I have to say that it was definitely the latter, for me.
Gwen and Arthur may have been very unlikable characters at the start - not only to each other, but to me, as well - but what was very gratifying to watch was how their mixed and multiple experiences actually brought them closer together. Once their secrets were outed to each other, they shared a sense of camaraderie and kinship that actually made them appreciate one another. Arthur was VERY annoying at the start - I really could not stand him or anything that he was spouting from his mouth - believe me, I TRIED. 😥 But, as you learn more about him, get to see his real side, he became a better person in my eyes - but only a little bit.
‘Nobody else is ever going to care as much as you do about the things that you want, Gwendoline. So it’s up to you – you can put them aside forever, if you can live with that, or you can put on your big-girl girdle and demand more for yourself.’
Gwen and Bridget were a very cute couple. Gwen being so smitten over her knight in shining armor was adorably written and even if Bridget was the more sensible one of the two, I liked that Gwen was able to bring out the fun and frolic in her - even with her armor on - literally and figuratively. 🥰 Arthur and Sidney were a fun pair - their banter wasn't so much very funny and witty, rather snarky and clever, which really showed how close best friends they were, that genuinely cared for each other. 💕💕
‘No,’ Arthur said, sounding unconvincing even to himself. ‘I don’t. But he intrigues me. And he feels like one of my own, you know? I ought to help. Tell him he doesn’t have to be a lost lamb, stealing kisses in secret and then agonising over them afterwards.’
‘Ah,’ Sidney said wisely. ‘You just want him to hold you like a baby crow.’
‘Oh, go to hell. It’s not like that.’
‘I mean, for one thing, I don’t really believe you,’ said Sidney. ‘And for another – don’t you think you should meet people where they are?’
Strangely enough, the only character I really did like was Gabriel - despite his own personal misgivings and view on the world, I would have liked to have known more about him. Maybe I'm so accustomed to dual POV's alternating between the two love interests, I FELT SOMEWHAT deprived of getting a glimpse into his mind - what he was thinking, what he was truly feeling at those moments with Arthur. 😢
The chapters alternated between Gwen and Arthur's perspectives at a rather imbalanced rate. They didn't feel like the story was progressing at each meeting - it was more like reading a glimpse into a diary entry to one said part of their life and then we don't get any immediate follow-up to it, jumping right into the other character's situation. And as each chapter was relatively short, it would then be almost a necessity to have another chapter from said character's POV, to complete that scene. I mean, what's the point of alternating POVs one at a time, and then having two chapters dedicated solely to the character's POV? It just makes for inconsistency and abrupt cut-offs without really allowing the depth of the story to sink in. 🤔
The ending was bittersweet rightfully so, but rather abrupt; unless the author intends to continue the story, I would have liked some more closure to how people would react to the future king and his shift in values. I am glad everyone got their own version of a happy ending, in whatever possible way conceivable, but it just felt like something was missing to tie it all together. 😔
If you enjoyed that movie from yester-year, The Knight's Tale, then I'm sure the writing would definitely be to your liking. It was just too hip, too modern, too uncharacteristically unfitting to the timeline it was representing. I get that it's 'historical-ish' and I should just treat it as an Arthurian romcom set in a medieval-ish setting, but there's only so much I can take when 'shit' is part of their daily vocabulary or knowing what century the characters were living in! 😩
Perhaps it was intentional to be as ambiguous as possible about the world-building, but it just left room for me to contemplate that I might in fact be reading a story set in modern times, acting as if they were living in the past. I shouldn't take these things too seriously, but it does - to no fault at all to the author who will definitely have readers who don't mind it in the slightest.
I wish I could have liked it more as a cute fun YA romcom with a modernish medieval twist, because I really feel like a dark cloud over the happy and promising reactions to it. 😶🌫️ There's a lot of potential for this to be series - one in which, I would appreciate that there are books dedicated solely to one pairing. Believe me, there would be so much more growth to the characters - some time for us to actually digest their interactions and get a little understanding into their own thoughts and feelings. 🤷
“To be truly brave, first you must be afraid – and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.”
With Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, I felt that Lex Croucher was attempting to 'kill two birds with one stone' - trying to write a book that successfully portrayed a romance of two different pairings. It's a big feat to pull off - sometimes it's a hit, sometimes a miss. After reading it, though, I have to say that it was definitely the latter, for me.
Gwen and Arthur may have been very unlikable characters at the start - not only to each other, but to me, as well - but what was very gratifying to watch was how their mixed and multiple experiences actually brought them closer together. Once their secrets were outed to each other, they shared a sense of camaraderie and kinship that actually made them appreciate one another. Arthur was VERY annoying at the start - I really could not stand him or anything that he was spouting from his mouth - believe me, I TRIED. 😥 But, as you learn more about him, get to see his real side, he became a better person in my eyes - but only a little bit.
‘Nobody else is ever going to care as much as you do about the things that you want, Gwendoline. So it’s up to you – you can put them aside forever, if you can live with that, or you can put on your big-girl girdle and demand more for yourself.’
Gwen and Bridget were a very cute couple. Gwen being so smitten over her knight in shining armor was adorably written and even if Bridget was the more sensible one of the two, I liked that Gwen was able to bring out the fun and frolic in her - even with her armor on - literally and figuratively. 🥰 Arthur and Sidney were a fun pair - their banter wasn't so much very funny and witty, rather snarky and clever, which really showed how close best friends they were, that genuinely cared for each other. 💕💕
‘No,’ Arthur said, sounding unconvincing even to himself. ‘I don’t. But he intrigues me. And he feels like one of my own, you know? I ought to help. Tell him he doesn’t have to be a lost lamb, stealing kisses in secret and then agonising over them afterwards.’
‘Ah,’ Sidney said wisely. ‘You just want him to hold you like a baby crow.’
‘Oh, go to hell. It’s not like that.’
‘I mean, for one thing, I don’t really believe you,’ said Sidney. ‘And for another – don’t you think you should meet people where they are?’
Strangely enough, the only character I really did like was Gabriel - despite his own personal misgivings and view on the world, I would have liked to have known more about him. Maybe I'm so accustomed to dual POV's alternating between the two love interests, I FELT SOMEWHAT deprived of getting a glimpse into his mind - what he was thinking, what he was truly feeling at those moments with Arthur. 😢
The chapters alternated between Gwen and Arthur's perspectives at a rather imbalanced rate. They didn't feel like the story was progressing at each meeting - it was more like reading a glimpse into a diary entry to one said part of their life and then we don't get any immediate follow-up to it, jumping right into the other character's situation. And as each chapter was relatively short, it would then be almost a necessity to have another chapter from said character's POV, to complete that scene. I mean, what's the point of alternating POVs one at a time, and then having two chapters dedicated solely to the character's POV? It just makes for inconsistency and abrupt cut-offs without really allowing the depth of the story to sink in. 🤔
The ending was bittersweet rightfully so, but rather abrupt; unless the author intends to continue the story, I would have liked some more closure to how people would react to the future king and his shift in values. I am glad everyone got their own version of a happy ending, in whatever possible way conceivable, but it just felt like something was missing to tie it all together. 😔
If you enjoyed that movie from yester-year, The Knight's Tale, then I'm sure the writing would definitely be to your liking. It was just too hip, too modern, too uncharacteristically unfitting to the timeline it was representing. I get that it's 'historical-ish' and I should just treat it as an Arthurian romcom set in a medieval-ish setting, but there's only so much I can take when 'shit' is part of their daily vocabulary or knowing what century the characters were living in! 😩
Perhaps it was intentional to be as ambiguous as possible about the world-building, but it just left room for me to contemplate that I might in fact be reading a story set in modern times, acting as if they were living in the past. I shouldn't take these things too seriously, but it does - to no fault at all to the author who will definitely have readers who don't mind it in the slightest.
I wish I could have liked it more as a cute fun YA romcom with a modernish medieval twist, because I really feel like a dark cloud over the happy and promising reactions to it. 😶🌫️ There's a lot of potential for this to be series - one in which, I would appreciate that there are books dedicated solely to one pairing. Believe me, there would be so much more growth to the characters - some time for us to actually digest their interactions and get a little understanding into their own thoughts and feelings. 🤷
December 4, 2023
A fun and cute queer medieval rom-com.
This story follows Gwendoline and her betrothed, the honorable Arthur. Against their will, they find themselves forced to spend the summer days together within the walls of Camelot. However, events take an unexpected turn when Gwen stumbles upon Arthur engaged in a passionate embrace with another young lad. But little does she know, Arthur is not unaware of her longing for Brigidet, a valiant lady knight in her realm. Realizing the potential advantages of their situation, they reach a pact to feign affection towards each other, all the while pursuing their true romantic interests.
I absolutely adore the witty exchanges between Gwen and Arthur. However, I only wish the story had delved deeper into the secondary characters, allowing more growth and development alongside the main characters. Despite that, it was still a fun read. Perfect for fans of queer romance.
***Thank you to NetGalley, Lex Croucher, and Macmillan Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***
This story follows Gwendoline and her betrothed, the honorable Arthur. Against their will, they find themselves forced to spend the summer days together within the walls of Camelot. However, events take an unexpected turn when Gwen stumbles upon Arthur engaged in a passionate embrace with another young lad. But little does she know, Arthur is not unaware of her longing for Brigidet, a valiant lady knight in her realm. Realizing the potential advantages of their situation, they reach a pact to feign affection towards each other, all the while pursuing their true romantic interests.
I absolutely adore the witty exchanges between Gwen and Arthur. However, I only wish the story had delved deeper into the secondary characters, allowing more growth and development alongside the main characters. Despite that, it was still a fun read. Perfect for fans of queer romance.
***Thank you to NetGalley, Lex Croucher, and Macmillan Audio for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***
December 29, 2023
Such an addictive, fun, wild, hilarious, and high-stakes fast-paced historical romance with memorable characters and fanfictionesque writing (slash pos of course.) Young adult romances that deal with real shit in fantastically unlikely contexts is delightful to read. Lex Croucher does it again— hits a queer YA historical romance out of the park <3
Maybe 4.5 stars
Maybe 4.5 stars
June 16, 2024
i feel like the language here was a bit too modern here for a historical romance and honestly this is only the second book i’ve read by this author but i find her work extremely boring, the needs to be making her books shorter or something
March 13, 2023
Don't read this for historical accuracy. Do read this for a perfect comfort read full of banter.
It seems like YA historical fiction is starting to become more popular again, and I couldn't be happier about it. This is such a fun romcom, full of genuinely funny moments and dialogues, with both an f/f and m/m romance that I guarantee you will love. Like I said, it's an excellent comfort read, and I loved how it pokes fun at Arthurian legend.
It seems like YA historical fiction is starting to become more popular again, and I couldn't be happier about it. This is such a fun romcom, full of genuinely funny moments and dialogues, with both an f/f and m/m romance that I guarantee you will love. Like I said, it's an excellent comfort read, and I loved how it pokes fun at Arthurian legend.
Read
September 15, 2024I’m on BookTube now! =)
I really enjoyed this book and it was a lot of fun! =)
The conversations between Gwen & Art were hilarious and gave me life, plus their interactions with Gabe & Bridget were cute. The ending was a little bit heavy, though so I dunno. >_<
Full RTC soon! I’ll give it a think.
______________________________
I recently found “Gwen & Art Are Not in Love” in my library and just had to borrow it because the premise sounds way too good.
I mean, this is a retelling in which Gwen and Art are supposed to marry each other, but actually hate each other’s guts?! *lol* And to top it all off they are not only in love with other people but both of them are queer as well! This sounds like the most interesting love square!?
I hope this is a good one!! *fingers crossed*
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I really enjoyed this book and it was a lot of fun! =)
The conversations between Gwen & Art were hilarious and gave me life, plus their interactions with Gabe & Bridget were cute. The ending was a little bit heavy, though so I dunno. >_<
Full RTC soon! I’ll give it a think.
______________________________
I recently found “Gwen & Art Are Not in Love” in my library and just had to borrow it because the premise sounds way too good.
I mean, this is a retelling in which Gwen and Art are supposed to marry each other, but actually hate each other’s guts?! *lol* And to top it all off they are not only in love with other people but both of them are queer as well! This sounds like the most interesting love square!?
I hope this is a good one!! *fingers crossed*
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My Blog
Want to read
January 18, 2023Very curious what a medieval rom-com looks like. Do they have a meet-cute in the apothecary when they each reach for the same leech to bleed out the humors from their plague pustules?
I GUESS I'LL FIND OUT
I GUESS I'LL FIND OUT
November 29, 2023
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is one of the best rom-com I've read this year. Fun and funny.
The medieval settings are quite unique. I love the heavy Arthurian references, although that makes it a bit disappointing that there wasn't any real magic in this book's world. 😅 But then that gives space to more romance, comedy, and less dense/info-dumpy worldbuilding; all of which I enjoyed.
The ending was... surprising. I'll leave it at that, but would love to discuss it with anyone who'd like to.
I'd recommend this book!
The medieval settings are quite unique. I love the heavy Arthurian references, although that makes it a bit disappointing that there wasn't any real magic in this book's world. 😅 But then that gives space to more romance, comedy, and less dense/info-dumpy worldbuilding; all of which I enjoyed.
The ending was... surprising. I'll leave it at that, but would love to discuss it with anyone who'd like to.
I'd recommend this book!
Read
January 5, 2024No rating or review for SMP boycott
September 16, 2023
Hundreds of years after the time of Arthur Pendragon, his descendent Arthur Delacey is betrothed to Gwen, the princess of England. If only she wasn't more interested in the only female knight in the realm; if only he wasn't more interested in her brother...
I picked up this book because I was excited by the premise, which seemed sure to have plenty of humor and romance, and because I was interested in the setting, which is a sort of alternate history set in an England where King Arthur is a factual figure whose life and rule is an important part of the country's heritage.
This is a very cute book, populated with lovable characters. I really liked that the developing friendship between Gwen and Arthur was given as much attention as their respective romances with Bridget and Gabriel. It was fun seeing Gwen come out of her prickly shell, and Arthur was just a ridiculous rogue. I also really loved Sid and Agnes, who are often much more sensible than the people they work for. There's plenty of cute, humorous moments throughout that had me laughing out loud.
However, I did think that the book suffered from an uneven tone. The first half of the book is very light-hearted, so the sudden swerve into much darker territory in the second half is jarring, even though the actual plot points were foreshadowed earlier on. I feel that I would have enjoyed the book better had the escalation in stakes was smoother. I also wished we got more of an understanding of Bridget and Gabriel; though we spend plenty of time with them, I didn't feel that we got in their heads as much as I would have liked, especially Bridget.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
I picked up this book because I was excited by the premise, which seemed sure to have plenty of humor and romance, and because I was interested in the setting, which is a sort of alternate history set in an England where King Arthur is a factual figure whose life and rule is an important part of the country's heritage.
This is a very cute book, populated with lovable characters. I really liked that the developing friendship between Gwen and Arthur was given as much attention as their respective romances with Bridget and Gabriel. It was fun seeing Gwen come out of her prickly shell, and Arthur was just a ridiculous rogue. I also really loved Sid and Agnes, who are often much more sensible than the people they work for. There's plenty of cute, humorous moments throughout that had me laughing out loud.
However, I did think that the book suffered from an uneven tone. The first half of the book is very light-hearted, so the sudden swerve into much darker territory in the second half is jarring, even though the actual plot points were foreshadowed earlier on. I feel that I would have enjoyed the book better had the escalation in stakes was smoother. I also wished we got more of an understanding of Bridget and Gabriel; though we spend plenty of time with them, I didn't feel that we got in their heads as much as I would have liked, especially Bridget.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
July 1, 2023
I need to stop reading books and start writing reviews
but review to come for this lil cutie
but review to come for this lil cutie
July 6, 2023
˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 4/5 stars
read if you like:
♡ dual pov
♡ very loose arthurian inspiration
♡ queer, medieval & knightly escapades
♡ lgbtqia+ rep
➸ you will never meet a more lovable pair of bickering beards than art and gwen. a ruthlessly hilarious and buoying coming of age rom-com, gwen & art are not in love grapples with themes of friendship, sexuality and self-acceptance in the face of external expectations - all cast in the melodrama of teenage angst.
➸ it would be a sisyphean task to try to find two individuals who get along more poorly than the ferocious princess of england, gwen, and the dissipated nobleman’s son/descendent of the fabled king arthur, art. and yet in a stroke of extraordinarily ill-luck, they have been shackled to an engagement between them since birth. locked in a frosty battle of wills with no detente in their foreseeable future, things come to a boil when they’re forced to spend time together for an entire summer at camelot until the day the wedding bells ring for them. not even a day has passed when art is caught in flagrante with another boy by gwen and it dawns on them that they might have more in common than they would like to believe.
➸ as a character-driven novel, it should come as no surprise that, sweepingly, every character figuring in it is unfailingly and ineffably worthy of adoration. not only that, but they are each of them so unlike one another that crouch virtually caters to every palate. don’t like abrasive and dagger-tongued gwen whose self-imposed social isolation forms the plate of her armour? well then why don’t you try your luck with the callous and rakish art, whose barbs and debauchery are no more than a front for a vulnerable young man compelled to hide the truth of his sexuality and thereby hide his all? still no? not to worry, there’s still gwen’s reticent and sweet brother, gabriel, mournfully peering out from the bars of his cage as future king. and if none of the above have secured your attention there is always the good-humored sidney pumping out jokes which will have you bent double ten ways from sunday. or the admirably brave and self-possessed bridget, or, failing all else - the lovely agnes. with a cast like this one, suffused with the chemistry of popping candy, lively and well-timed verbal jousting is therefore a foregone conclusion.
➸ crouch’s debut ya novel is absolutely overflowing with sugar-spun prose and a thoughtful mix of era-appropriate lexicon as well as more facetious modern-day idiom. this is not a historical fiction work nor a retelling and in skirting the limitations of such, crouch is given more room to play around with the story and keep it all fairly light-hearted/unpretentious. that is, until we enter the last third of the novel wherein the tone assumes a darker pitch. this variation of the novel’s character stumbled on so suddenly i experienced a tremendous degree of whip-lash and not for the better. by the end however, i came to a slightly begrudged acceptance of this new direction for the plot and the ending was beautiful albeit tempered with bittersweetness.
➸ conclusion :
a divinely soft and alternately heart-wrenching tale of awkwardly coming into one’s own, i will cherish gwen & art are not in love with every particle of my being.
thank you netgalley for the arc !
read if you like:
♡ dual pov
♡ very loose arthurian inspiration
♡ queer, medieval & knightly escapades
♡ lgbtqia+ rep
➸ you will never meet a more lovable pair of bickering beards than art and gwen. a ruthlessly hilarious and buoying coming of age rom-com, gwen & art are not in love grapples with themes of friendship, sexuality and self-acceptance in the face of external expectations - all cast in the melodrama of teenage angst.
➸ it would be a sisyphean task to try to find two individuals who get along more poorly than the ferocious princess of england, gwen, and the dissipated nobleman’s son/descendent of the fabled king arthur, art. and yet in a stroke of extraordinarily ill-luck, they have been shackled to an engagement between them since birth. locked in a frosty battle of wills with no detente in their foreseeable future, things come to a boil when they’re forced to spend time together for an entire summer at camelot until the day the wedding bells ring for them. not even a day has passed when art is caught in flagrante with another boy by gwen and it dawns on them that they might have more in common than they would like to believe.
➸ as a character-driven novel, it should come as no surprise that, sweepingly, every character figuring in it is unfailingly and ineffably worthy of adoration. not only that, but they are each of them so unlike one another that crouch virtually caters to every palate. don’t like abrasive and dagger-tongued gwen whose self-imposed social isolation forms the plate of her armour? well then why don’t you try your luck with the callous and rakish art, whose barbs and debauchery are no more than a front for a vulnerable young man compelled to hide the truth of his sexuality and thereby hide his all? still no? not to worry, there’s still gwen’s reticent and sweet brother, gabriel, mournfully peering out from the bars of his cage as future king. and if none of the above have secured your attention there is always the good-humored sidney pumping out jokes which will have you bent double ten ways from sunday. or the admirably brave and self-possessed bridget, or, failing all else - the lovely agnes. with a cast like this one, suffused with the chemistry of popping candy, lively and well-timed verbal jousting is therefore a foregone conclusion.
➸ crouch’s debut ya novel is absolutely overflowing with sugar-spun prose and a thoughtful mix of era-appropriate lexicon as well as more facetious modern-day idiom. this is not a historical fiction work nor a retelling and in skirting the limitations of such, crouch is given more room to play around with the story and keep it all fairly light-hearted/unpretentious. that is, until we enter the last third of the novel wherein the tone assumes a darker pitch. this variation of the novel’s character stumbled on so suddenly i experienced a tremendous degree of whip-lash and not for the better. by the end however, i came to a slightly begrudged acceptance of this new direction for the plot and the ending was beautiful albeit tempered with bittersweetness.
➸ conclusion :
a divinely soft and alternately heart-wrenching tale of awkwardly coming into one’s own, i will cherish gwen & art are not in love with every particle of my being.
thank you netgalley for the arc !
February 18, 2024
Well this was an absolute delight! A vaguely and playfully Arthurian YA story about queer friendship, queer siblings, and queer love! I love how Lex Croucher balances wit and comedy with vulnerable characters and heartfelt takes on serious issues. Art, for example, is a kind of class clown, always joking around; but the book also makes clear that this behaviour is linked to his father's emotional abuse and neglect.
This book is full of interesting and fulfilling relationships (Gwen the princess with her years long crush on the kingdom's only lady knight that finally comes to fruition!!) but I think my favourite was the friendship that blossoms between her and Arthur. They go from hating each other to being queer buddies who love each other! Also: sword fights!!
This book is full of interesting and fulfilling relationships (Gwen the princess with her years long crush on the kingdom's only lady knight that finally comes to fruition!!) but I think my favourite was the friendship that blossoms between her and Arthur. They go from hating each other to being queer buddies who love each other! Also: sword fights!!
January 16, 2023
Gwen & Art—a princess & a noble—are betrothed to be married, but find themselves far from loving each other considering they're both queer. Gwen can’t help admiring the only woman competing in the palace’s tournament of knights, while Art is falling for Gwen’s brother, the prince soon-to-be king.
Unconventional royal romances are a lot more fun that I give them credit for. This one was an all-around good time with easy banter between protagonists, and several heartwarming moments between both couples. Art and his bodyguard were too funny for their own good, while Gwen and her brother tugged at my heartstrings all throughout this story. I flew through this book in a day, which is a commendable achievement considering how slowly I’ve been reading because of school.
Art was easily the standout character for me. Something about effortlessly charming (and effortlessly dumb) character have the key to my heart. The consistent drunken humour was top tier. This, paired with the fact that he began falling for Ben because of how kindly he treated his bird (and animals in general) was possibly the greatest thing ever. Animal lovers rule!
My only qualm with this book was the flimsy world-building. I found it hard to care about the magical politics in a book that is centrally focused on romance, so I didn’t piece together much of what was going on in that regard until the final scene. To Croucher’s credit, I was honestly shocked by how crazy the climax was. When I tell you I was stressed for these characters, I mean it. It’s a shame the ending wasn’t a bit longer, I really wanted more!! This was a really fun story, with so much genuine heart and meaning spread throughout both protagonists’ experiences!
Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the arc!
Unconventional royal romances are a lot more fun that I give them credit for. This one was an all-around good time with easy banter between protagonists, and several heartwarming moments between both couples. Art and his bodyguard were too funny for their own good, while Gwen and her brother tugged at my heartstrings all throughout this story. I flew through this book in a day, which is a commendable achievement considering how slowly I’ve been reading because of school.
Art was easily the standout character for me. Something about effortlessly charming (and effortlessly dumb) character have the key to my heart. The consistent drunken humour was top tier. This, paired with the fact that he began falling for Ben because of how kindly he treated his bird (and animals in general) was possibly the greatest thing ever. Animal lovers rule!
My only qualm with this book was the flimsy world-building. I found it hard to care about the magical politics in a book that is centrally focused on romance, so I didn’t piece together much of what was going on in that regard until the final scene. To Croucher’s credit, I was honestly shocked by how crazy the climax was. When I tell you I was stressed for these characters, I mean it. It’s a shame the ending wasn’t a bit longer, I really wanted more!! This was a really fun story, with so much genuine heart and meaning spread throughout both protagonists’ experiences!
Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the arc!
February 22, 2024
3.5 — well, if this wasn’t the most scrumdillydumptious rom-com I have read in the last couple of years. idk how the author cooked up something as entertaining as this during lockdown, but this book is full of that pandemic spice that’s telling me lex put their whole chrouchussy into their queer arthurian-inspired story. Now, if it hadn’t been for the riverdale quote jumpscare, the info dumping, and a cartoon-coded villain, I would have liked this even better.
The best thing about this novel is without a doubt its setup: EVERYONE IS QUEER. That’s it. That’s the plot. But if it doesn’t suffice as a plot summary, here goes: the story takes place hundreds of years after king arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and current ne’er-do-well has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the short-tempered princess of England, since birth. Which wouldn’t be a problem if they didn’t hate each other. This also wouldn’t be a problem if Arthur wasn’t a homo of sexual and Gwendoline a less bien.
While this setup is everything, the bit where they haven’t yet discovered that the other is 💅, was tedious to read. Since they strongly dislike each other, their “he/she is the worst thing to walk the earth” banter was just that: tedious. Since knowing the queer twist was part of the novel’s marketing campaign, all readers can do is wait for the characters to catch up and find out they’re both as straight as cooked spaghetti. luckily, the “revelation” occurred around the 15% mark, and that’s where things became more interesting.
When they realise they’re both not the person the other wants to marry and that their respective romantic interests must be kept secret for now, they decide to cover for each other, and while Arthur gets closer to Gwen’s brother Gabriel, Gwen’s fully focused on the kingdom’s only female knight, Lady Bridget Leclair.
From then on until the last 15% of the book, the book did exactly what it set out to do. There’s jousting, bouts, feasting, lesbian midnight rituals that involve praying to a long-dead witch (yk, just girlie things), characters getting drunk as well as getting in all sorts of trouble and mischief, queer pining, found family and lots of royal shenanigans. All in all cute, quirky and enjoyable, if a bit surface-level.
The overall writing style is very easy-going and flippant, which doesn’t fit the medieval setting but does fit the fact that this a YA novel about and for teenagers – which is why you have characters saying stuff like “chill out” and even referencing riverdale: “not everybody lives for the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of the little black and white squares [of chess]”.
It is what it is, and it ain’t what it ain’t.
Especially towards the beginning, there are a few paragraphs info-dumping a whole lot of very relevant and necessary background info on the royal family on us, which is rather unnecessary. On top of that, we get something like this:
Like damn, you sure a character called THE KNIFE isn’t secretly the hero of the story?? 💀
When towards the second and third acts it becomes clear that the crown is in danger from usurpers who are uncommonly knowledgeable about the royal family’s plans and doings, it takes a child to figure out what is going to happen and who is betraying whom. Combined with a tonally awkward shift happening during the last 15% of the novel, that has the book go from a cute, joyful YA rom-com to a Game of Thrones level battle in which blood sprays and characters get maimed and killed, the whole usurper plot reads like an attempt to make this out to be more than it is.
Usually, I will always advocate for romantic comedies to not only focus on the main couple(s) but on the side characters and the plot, too, but in this instance, the usurper plot was a bit all over the place. Less of that, less useless banter in the beginning would have made this a better read for me.
The relationships between Arthur and Gabriel, as well as between Gwendoline and Bridget, were well-developed, striking the right balance between fun and teasing and serious if need be. Too bad that Arthur and Gabriel’s blossoming relationship was granted much more space, while throughout the story, Bridget felt less like a main than a side character. We get POV chapters from all of the main characters except for her, which makes me think there is much more to learn about her story than what we see on the page in this book.
Despite the occasional hiccups and whatever the hell happened in the last few chapters of this book, this was a really enjoyable QUEER QUEER rom-com with a lot of pizazz and snark, a novel clearly written with a lot of love for queerness and queer readers. This is the kind of novel I would recommend to every teenager and YA reader, but especially queer kids, as it does a great job of, while not retconning, reimagining a time that is still taught and thought of as an exclusively heteronormative space.
As always, thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for granting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
🎬 After reading this, you should watch that: Lady Bird (2023) & Rosaline (2022)
The best thing about this novel is without a doubt its setup: EVERYONE IS QUEER. That’s it. That’s the plot. But if it doesn’t suffice as a plot summary, here goes: the story takes place hundreds of years after king arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and current ne’er-do-well has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the short-tempered princess of England, since birth. Which wouldn’t be a problem if they didn’t hate each other. This also wouldn’t be a problem if Arthur wasn’t a homo of sexual and Gwendoline a less bien.
While this setup is everything, the bit where they haven’t yet discovered that the other is 💅, was tedious to read. Since they strongly dislike each other, their “he/she is the worst thing to walk the earth” banter was just that: tedious. Since knowing the queer twist was part of the novel’s marketing campaign, all readers can do is wait for the characters to catch up and find out they’re both as straight as cooked spaghetti. luckily, the “revelation” occurred around the 15% mark, and that’s where things became more interesting.
When they realise they’re both not the person the other wants to marry and that their respective romantic interests must be kept secret for now, they decide to cover for each other, and while Arthur gets closer to Gwen’s brother Gabriel, Gwen’s fully focused on the kingdom’s only female knight, Lady Bridget Leclair.
From then on until the last 15% of the book, the book did exactly what it set out to do. There’s jousting, bouts, feasting, lesbian midnight rituals that involve praying to a long-dead witch (yk, just girlie things), characters getting drunk as well as getting in all sorts of trouble and mischief, queer pining, found family and lots of royal shenanigans. All in all cute, quirky and enjoyable, if a bit surface-level.
The overall writing style is very easy-going and flippant, which doesn’t fit the medieval setting but does fit the fact that this a YA novel about and for teenagers – which is why you have characters saying stuff like “chill out” and even referencing riverdale: “not everybody lives for the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of the little black and white squares [of chess]”.
It is what it is, and it ain’t what it ain’t.
Especially towards the beginning, there are a few paragraphs info-dumping a whole lot of very relevant and necessary background info on the royal family on us, which is rather unnecessary. On top of that, we get something like this:
“Gwen watched as the pallid, translucent-looking Sir Marlin [the King’s cousin] entered the courtyard, unsmiling. He was more commonly referred to in whispered gossip as “the Knife”, due to the fact that he was short, thin, and uncommonly bloodthirsty. Relations between the king and the Knife’s sponsor, Lord Willard, were somewhat strained, to say the least (…)”
Like damn, you sure a character called THE KNIFE isn’t secretly the hero of the story?? 💀
When towards the second and third acts it becomes clear that the crown is in danger from usurpers who are uncommonly knowledgeable about the royal family’s plans and doings, it takes a child to figure out what is going to happen and who is betraying whom. Combined with a tonally awkward shift happening during the last 15% of the novel, that has the book go from a cute, joyful YA rom-com to a Game of Thrones level battle in which blood sprays and characters get maimed and killed, the whole usurper plot reads like an attempt to make this out to be more than it is.
Usually, I will always advocate for romantic comedies to not only focus on the main couple(s) but on the side characters and the plot, too, but in this instance, the usurper plot was a bit all over the place. Less of that, less useless banter in the beginning would have made this a better read for me.
The relationships between Arthur and Gabriel, as well as between Gwendoline and Bridget, were well-developed, striking the right balance between fun and teasing and serious if need be. Too bad that Arthur and Gabriel’s blossoming relationship was granted much more space, while throughout the story, Bridget felt less like a main than a side character. We get POV chapters from all of the main characters except for her, which makes me think there is much more to learn about her story than what we see on the page in this book.
Despite the occasional hiccups and whatever the hell happened in the last few chapters of this book, this was a really enjoyable QUEER QUEER rom-com with a lot of pizazz and snark, a novel clearly written with a lot of love for queerness and queer readers. This is the kind of novel I would recommend to every teenager and YA reader, but especially queer kids, as it does a great job of, while not retconning, reimagining a time that is still taught and thought of as an exclusively heteronormative space.
As always, thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for granting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
🎬 After reading this, you should watch that: Lady Bird (2023) & Rosaline (2022)
August 5, 2023
thank you to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book!
this was so... wow. i've always toed around the line of historical books, because sometimes i like them, and sometimes i don't, so this was an absolute treat for me. i devoured this in a few hours, that's how good this was.
all of our characters were easy to enjoy (to no one's surprise, my favorite was gwen.) and their relationships were easy to root for. this placed a heavy emphasis on accepting yourself, rather than focusing on everyone else's expectations and standards, and it makes me really, really happy to see themes like this in books for queer youth! especially with this being a romcom, i think the heavier themes and topics were handled incredibly well and in a way that wasn't too "light", yet didn't weigh the book down either.
all in all, completely lived up to my expectations. the writing style was light and easy to follow, the characters were lovable, and the story had me hooked from start to finish.
5 stars!
this was so... wow. i've always toed around the line of historical books, because sometimes i like them, and sometimes i don't, so this was an absolute treat for me. i devoured this in a few hours, that's how good this was.
all of our characters were easy to enjoy (to no one's surprise, my favorite was gwen.) and their relationships were easy to root for. this placed a heavy emphasis on accepting yourself, rather than focusing on everyone else's expectations and standards, and it makes me really, really happy to see themes like this in books for queer youth! especially with this being a romcom, i think the heavier themes and topics were handled incredibly well and in a way that wasn't too "light", yet didn't weigh the book down either.
all in all, completely lived up to my expectations. the writing style was light and easy to follow, the characters were lovable, and the story had me hooked from start to finish.
5 stars!
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