Returning to the last Ren Faire her mother attended a year after her death was supposed to make Madeline feel closer to her. But everything has changed - new owners have turned the grounds from rundown memories into a splashy new escape. With a young bard calling her Gwen(what is up with that?) and just wanting to work at her family’s handmade jewelry and journal stall, this is not the summer Maddie expected at all.

I loved this story!! It handled grief with great care, and I really appreciated that Maddie had sessions with her therapist on page.

Arthur is adorable, and I loved how he made space for Maddie to grieve, while also pushing her to experience life more fully. Not gonna lie, him calling her Gwen confused me on multiple occasions, and just typing this review made me want to type “Gwen” when I mean Madeline 🤣 still, his open heart and kind nature made him a quiet but powerful source for change when Maddie was ready.

Watching Madeline overcome obstacles, and come to appreciate herself and her life was incredible, and I fully wish I could start this over with a blank slate to experience it all over again. Would highly recommend!

This book was my first by this author and I was pleasantly surprised at how unique, thoughtful and relatable it was.

I appreciated the representations such as…..
-A girl who lives on the road with her dad in a trailer.
-The story is set in renaissance faire.
-The male main character Arthur has two dads.
-Both main characters have body image struggles.

-I love the way the author tackled grief and made It relatable and easy to understand for a YA audience. There’s a lot of adults who would benefit from learning some of the little lessons in this book...
“Somewhere along the way, what I meant to be a coping mechanism became shackles.”

-This teenager romance was super cute and chaste. This quote was especially adorable…
“I hope we didn’t burn your freckles off yesterday. It would be a pity to see so many constellations disappear at once.”

THOOUGHTS:
-Maggie/Gwen was like a hurt puppy. She bites at the hand trying to feed her, and I totally understood her lash out tendencies, I really did, but I wish she could have been a little nicer at times.

-There was a scene in the book where Maggie tells one of her secrets in a place no one can hear her and I was so fascinated with this moment because of the setting and it felt like a big step for her as a character, but it was never revisited or mentioned again, and I felt a little let down.

-The romance was fine for me. It was sweet but I feel like the topics of grief, self-discovery and body acceptance were the main focus.

The book was just fine for the first half. I wasn’t bored but I also didn’t mind if I put it down for a while. It was cute, but it didn’t fully grab my attention until about 60% when I was laughing and getting teary eyed. It's almost like the book woke up for me at that point.

OVERALL:
A great book for YA readers. I'm not sure if adults will connect with this as much, but its thoughtful, well written and I can see a large audience for this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love love loved Ashley’s first book and so was anxious to give this a try even though Ren Faires are not my thing. The main character Madeline is going through debilitating grief & anxiety and also has some major body insecurities. Working through these issues is the main focus of the story, it just happens to be taking place at a renaissance faire with a charming boy helping her along the journey. I personally don’t struggle with the same things or in the same way as Madeline did so there were a few times it felt a bit extreme to me, but I truly do know this is how some people (maybe especially teens) think and this would be great representation for them. The relationship with Arthur was just so wholesome.
I think Ashley Schumacher writes YA with such depth and I’ll definitely be on the lookout for her next.
*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Ren fair romances are taking over--and in a good way! I didn't know much about them before reading Jen DeLuca's Well Met Series, and I could not have been more excited to try this YA take on the location. And it's ripe for fun! This story stars Maddie, a plus-size teen who has grown up on the road, home-schooled while her family travels from one ren fair to another. But when her mother passes away from cancer, it's difficult to cope. One year after her mother's passing, she and her dad are back at the last fair grounds they attended with her mom. But it's completely different, overtaken by flashy and expensive props and grounds--overhauled by new owners who happen to have a son, Arthur, Maddie's age. When they ask her to be the fair's princess for the summer, she's self-conscious about someone her size taking on the role. But when Arthur talks her into it and ends up taking her on more adventures that she could have imagined, her summer of grieving ends up taking on a different tone.

This is a beautiful book that takes on a lot of difficult topics--grief, body image, self-esteem--while also presenting an adorable love story between two teens in a setting that couldn't be more fun. Maddie can be a frustrating heroine at times, but is also completely normal for someone who is only seventeen and in the recent throws of loss. Her and Arthur balance each other out so wonderfully that I shipped them from the moment he stepped onto the page playing modern music on his lute.

Thanks to Wednesday Books for my eARC and finished copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5stars - 8/10

The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway is a sweet YA book that grapples with some heavy topics (death/grief) in an appropriate way! I loved the ren faire setting of the book and the diverse group of characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital advanced readers copy! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This novel will be published March 14, 2023.

THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY by Ashley Schumacher is a young adult novel that starts out well, building empathy for Maddie Hathaway, a soon-to be high school senior whose Mom died a year ago. Her family has travelled the faire circuit for years with her dad selling leather-bound handmade journals and her Mom crafting and selling jewelry. Maddie is struggling to adjust to the new circumstances and rather obsessively keeps a journal of noticings (e.g., how many times she has dinner with her Dad). It gets interesting when she meets an unconventional, but very kind teen named Arthur; he calls her Gwen and asks her to be princess of the faire. Their adventures are fun and joy builds, but Maddie is reluctant to care for anyone again so there is some darkness, too. Unfortunately, that is when the story starts to feel very repetitive despite the quality dialogue between Maddie and Arthur and also with her good friend, Fatima. All in all, it takes Maddie quite a while to believe in herself and in Arthur. THE RENAISSANCE OF GWEN HATHAWAY offers some fun young adult romance, but like Booklist, I would target middle school and maybe very early high school readers for this romance and coming of age story. 3.5 stars

This was a great story, and I appreciated that the main character was someone I could identify with. It's really great to see characters that feel like people I know, especially in a YA book. These stories are important because they empower readers to take pride in the things they love, however nerdy they might seem to the popular kids. There is a place for each of us, and this book gave me a view into the world of Renaissance Fairs. It was new to me, but I had such fun reading this book that I endeavor to experience one in real life someday.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Ashley Schumacher and the publisher of this book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Life has been hard for Gwen after the death of her mother. She tries to not think about it too much by working the ren faire circuit with her dad. Things change though when she arrives at her mom's favorite end-of-tour stop to find it is under new management and has completely changed.
To make things harder, Arthur, the son of the new owners wants to be her friend and convinces her to become the Princess of the Faire. This role is different than what her mom loved, but Gwen is loving it!

A cute YA read that I would highly recommend. I'm loving all the new YA renaissance books!

oh my. i knew going into this that i would cry at one point but i didnt expect to cry THAT MUCH. ashley has such a beautiful way with words and the way she covers grief really gets me.

i dont think i’ve read a book that takes place in a renaissance faire before and it was such an interesting concept! i adored the characters SO much especially arthur. the found family trope >

I had high hopes for this one, as I’ve loved previous books by the author. Amelia Unabridged is one of my all time favorites - so when this one was taking me a little while to get into I was bummed.

It picked up in parts and got me wanting to keep reading to see what happened, and then would sort of fall flat again.

I pushed through and the last few chapters were probably my favorite, but this book just didn’t hit the same as her previous ones.

I do think some might enjoy it, it just wasn’t one for me.

Maddie has grown up on the renaissance faire circuit with her parents, but this summer is discovering what life looks like one year after her mom’s passing.

Schumacher writes beautiful coming of age stories that blend grief and growth. Maddie plans to spend the summer reflecting on memories of her mom, but instead meets Arthur, a charming bard who is persistent with his friendship. We see Maddie navigate the messiness of grief and body insecurities while trying to find the courage to live her life and go after what she wants.

It’s a heartwarming story of opening yourself up and embracing change. Fans of Well Met will love the ren faire setting!

It's been almost year since Maddie's mom died, and Maddie has done all that she can to keep everything the same. When she and her dad arrive at the final ren faire that she was at with them, Maddie is dismayed to find it under new owners and completely changed. Not only that, but a lute playing boy her own age has latched on to her and wants her to be the Princess of the Faire. All Maddie wants is to work in the booth with her dad and keep things the same. Arthur slowly works his way into her heart and her mind and she begins to understand that maybe change isn't so bad and maybe her mother would like the person she is becoming. A touching story of loss and grief and new friendships that bring hope. Recommended for grades 8 & up.

So, I read this book back in December, because I was really missing being at the Ren Faire. Most of the time I try not to read a book so far before publication. That is especially true because when I read this one, I hadn’t quite decided to jump back into blogging. But I’m glad that I’ve made the decision to blog again, because oh boy, I’ve really missed this.

I miss Ren Faires too. 2022 was the first year I haven’t gone to the faire since I went for the first time back in 2017. I absolutely love getting dressed up in garb and wandering around, trying out all the delicious food, seeing the different shows, and browsing the shops and stalls. There’s basically no feeling like it, aside from maybe going to comic cons.

Now this isn’t the first Ren Faire focused book that I’ve read (if you haven’t checked out the Well Met series by Jen DeLuca, you’re missing out), but I did devour this book just about as quickly. Getting to follow a teen whose family work and travel the faire circuit made for an interesting story.

Maddie was a compelling story and I really felt for her. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a parent the way that she did, but I do know what it feels like when a parent is just gone. It’s tough at any age, and it does change things. And I understood her reluctance when Arthur kept popping up and trying to pull her into doing things.

Arthur was cute and fun, but he also had his own struggles. I loved watching the friendship develop between Arthur and Maddie, and them going on all their little week day trips (traveling on paths that I went on while driving between conventions, so that was fun for me).

Honestly, this story just felt real and cute and honest and emotional, and I was definitely wrapped up in all of it. I ended up reading this story very quickly, and I can’t wait to have a finished copy on my shelves.

Leave it up to this author to create yet another book that left me loving her even more. We meet Maddie, who travels with her family to these Renaissance Fair’s, reminds me of the medieval times, that’s the setting, and there are little markets and people selling relics and all that fun stuff. Anyway her family is part of these circuits and they travel because of it, she also recently lost her mom, so its just her and her dad. Anyway in one of the Fair’s which is her moms fave one, there are new owners and all of these changes are overwhelming for her. She meets Arthur and the rest in history. Because not only is he annoyingly fun, they develop this friendship, that all the way towards the end Maddie could not resist him. I loved the theatrics, a little bit of magic, some heartfelt moments, I loved how she was able to put aside her insecurities about her body, I loved how Arthur was even able to move past his own as well. This is a beautiful coming of age read, I couldn’t put the book down. Totally worth the read.

I received this eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

It's fine, but basic. Although the Renaissance Faire is a unique setting, everything felt conventional and formulaic in this coming of age story. There was a touching and sweet reveal at the end and there will be an audience for this earnest story.

A great feel good read no matter the age!

Grumpy-Sunshine (It’s not often that the grumpy one is the girl.)
Supportive family

Maddie and Dad are doing their best after losing Mom. Madeline has a difficult time at the next Renaissance faire. Not only is she reminded of her mom, Maddie is not comfortable in her own body. Then, comes Arthur. He calls her “Princess”, but she does not feel like one. Arthur has two dads. Both teens are self-conscious. Arthur is just the friend to help Madeline experience the joys of life.

“Change can be hard, but it is also the only way we move forward in life.”

(I received an advanced reader copy. I'm leaving an honest review.)

Cute and fun summer romance! The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway by Ashley Schumacher is a YA contemporary romance set on the summer Ren Faire circuit. The book opens on Maddie and her dad arriving at Stormsworth, her mom’s favorite faire stop. However, this year is different. Her mom is gone, and the new owners of the faire completely renovated so it no longer looks as she remembers. Maddie was looking forward to routine ahead of the anniversary of her mom’s death, but instead she’s getting thrown out of it by a cute bard who insists they will be friends.

I adored this book. It is so well written. Schumacher addresses grief, depression, and therapy with a skilled hand balancing it with the everyday trials of being a teenager. What I loved most about Maddie’s story is how real and relevant it felt. A lot of YA’s are written for the adults who read them, yet this one is written for teens. Schumacher weaves a story that is relatable to today’s teenagers, and I believe it will resonate with anyone who reads it.

Maddie is wonderfully flawed. It’s almost been a year since she lost her mom to cancer, and she’s still learning to cope with her grief. She keeps a book of “noticings,” things that she wants to remember with tally marks when she sees/experiences them. This is almost a burden to her, but the routine is what she needs. On the first night of faire, she is mourning all that her mother is missing with the changes that have come when a boy her age dressed as a bard declares her princess of the faire and is determined they will be friends. “Fate” he says.

Arthur is so much fun. He can be a bit…much 😂 and Maddie just barely tolerates him. I loved how he recognizes and sees Maddie for what is inside. He sees and acknowledges her grief in a way that most adults lack. He’s careful with her, thoughtful, and empathetic. I fell in love with him pretty immediately despite his over the top dramatics. It takes a while for Maddie to warm up to him though.

The setting of the faire adds to the fun of the novel. I loved seeing it through Maddie’s eyes. She’s grown up on the circuit, both her parents working it full time. It’s really all she knows. BUT Arthur forces her to slow down and take it all in this summer. It offers a new perspective and allows Maddie to grieve.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway. Highly recommend for fans of YA contemporary romance or if you are looking for a sweet read that is guaranteed to leave you smiling.

I'm a HUGE fan of Schumacher's novels! Her ability to create heartwarming stories with characters we come to love is astounding. The emotional connection to the characters leaves me often gutted but hopeful.

Arthur was just so darn adorable in The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway too. I've never attended a Ren Faire, but I felt I could picture the setting from the moat, the castle to the camels. This YA keeps is in line with the author's previous stories as it dealt with grief, insecurity and self-loathing but this one is not quite as heavy.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for the advance reader copy.

Well Met for angsty teens - that's it, that's the summary of the book.

This book hit different than her first two, but that doesn't make it any less beautiful. I love the way Schumacher writes young women.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday, and the author for the eARC in exchange for my review.

Can Ashley Schumacher do wrong? I think not.

Ever book I've had the pleasure of reading has been unique and perfectly enchanting. Schumacher delivers a fun novel that doesn't shy away from very real, relatable, and tragic situations.

In The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway we meet Madeline, yeah, not Gwen, Madeline. Maddie is still reeling from the loss of her mother. She and her father have continued to do the Ren Faire route which has been certainly different, her mother's absence almost feels phsyical. Maddie does talk to a therapist to work through her grief; but whether or not she's coping is probably debatable. Especially when you learn about her journal of noticings.

Maddie is determined to pay attention to all the small details of the important people in her life. How many breakfasts do her and her father have together. How many phone calls do her and her best friend Fatima have a week? Does she do her nightly routine correctly? Most importantly, she cannot, CAN NOT, add more people to care about and notice about. Her brain just doesn't have the capacity, it's exhausting enough with just these two people to be concerned with.

And then Maddie runs into Art. A bard at the renaissance faire who walks a fine line between friendly and annoying. Art also refuses to call her Maddie, instead calling her Gwen. And Art doesn't really care that Maddie insists they aren't friends. He's determined that Maddie will have a summer full of fun and random experiences with him.

The unfolding of this relationship is a joy to watch. Schumacher doesn't make light of Maddie's grief, nor her OR Art's body image struggles. She manages to stick with the feel-good, YA-romance feelings while giving validation to other very real feelings young adults experience regularly.