Edit: after reviewing, I realized that Wednesday Books is an imprint of St. Martin's Press. I support the current boycott of SMP and will be withholding my written review until:
1. They address and denounce the Islamophobia/racism from their employee
2. They offer tangible steps for how they're going to mitigate the harm this employee caused
3. They address how, moving forward, they will support and protect their Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab readers, influencers, and authors, as well as their BIPOC readers and influencers.

Gwen and Art Are Not In Love was my first read by this author. I was really excited at the idea of this book; I think the world needs more fake dating and more lady knights. The first 2/3 of the book were enjoyable, but felt a bit fluffy. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the author was quietly making me fall in love with the entire cast of characters before unceremoniously tilting their world upside down and throwing them into a situation I didn’t see coming. The final 25% of the book was expertly written, fast paced, emotional, impactful, and even made me cry at least once. I couldn’t put it down and finished the last quarter in one sitting, glued to the pages and desperately needing to know how it would end.

I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of queer stories, Arthurian tales, coming of age romances, and anyone who likes a good mood shift.


4/5 stars, I’ll definitely be reading more by Alex Croucher.

This novel is not a retelling. I loved that this story was entirely its own, with references to Arthurian mythology that assisted with the world building but wasn’t a focal point of the story. The characters themselves took me a bit of time to enjoy, especially Gwen-she is annoyingly quick to judge, but once I understood each characters motivations I grew to appreciate them all and loved seeing the growth they had from beginning to end. The story itself was engaging, the relationships being built between the characters felt realistic and the ending was surprisingly action-packed, which was unexpected but not unwelcome. Overall I think this novel was great and I’m thankful I had the opportunity to read it.

Gewn & Art Are Not in Love was such a delight to read! It was a fun and witty YA novel, and once I was invested in the story, I did not want to put it down. I was a bit annoyed by some of the characters (mainly Art) at the beginning and nearly stopped reading. However, as more was revealed, I started to sympathize with the characters and understood their actions.

Overall, I loved the story, representation, and lovable characters. This novel was an absolute joy to read. I am looking forward to picking up more from this author!

This is not the Arthur/Gwen story we are used to and what a fun twist it is. In this one we get the lore of Camelot with a coming of age queer story! What a fun one!
Thank you #wednesday and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

This was cute! I love the setup, and all of the characters are so lovable. Bonus points because I love homoerotic swordfights.

I fell so in love with these characters! I adore re-tellings and this one is so fun and sweet and totally unique.

DNF pg 90 (27%)

I really wanted to love this book, and I'm sad I didn't. I've heard so many good things about it from several accounts I have similar tastes in books with, so I had insanely high expectations. However, it did not meet those expectations. I didn't really like Gwen or Art that much as individual characters, although I did like the general premise of the story.

I am participating in the St. Martin's Press boycott. I will not be publicly reviewing this title until St. Martin's Press addresses reader concerns.

I will read and review this title once the demands of the Booktok SMP press/Wednesday Books boycott are met.

I love EVERYTHING Lex Croucher writes! To be fair this took me a bit longer to get into, I'm not one for a scheme-based romance but oh my god did I love this. Arthur?? That character is just me in a man from medieval England. Please continue writing this was such a gem.

Gwen and Art are Not in Love is a fun and adventurous YA romance set in medieval England with King and Queen, Princes and Princesses, and Knights and Magic with a queer twist. Gwen and Arthur have been betrothed for marriage since birth and have the names to prove it but neither particularly likes the other. When Gwen catches Art kissing a boy and Art finds out that Gwen has a crush on the only female knight Bridget, they end up working together to keep each other's secret. Gwen's brother, Prince Gabriel, finds out about their pact, Art develops feelings for Gabe. Can this group work out their crushes as well as save the kingdom? This is a lighthearted and fun queer tale that will have you rooting for love, the kingdom, and our young heroes.

- GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE is everything I hoped it would be. Queerness and silliness and strong personalities and deep emotions, what else could you want?
- I loved that both Arthur and Gwen got to have unlikable characteristics but were still granted full humanity by the others.
- For all the shenanigans in this book, there is still a layer of darkness as well. The crown weighs heavy on all of them in different ways, and each character needs to figure out how they will approach the life they've been dealt.

This book felt like they were giving all your favorite side characters main story arcs in a VERY good way, with the court jester's love story taking center stage. I also feel like it's a truth universally acknowledged that the older the story you're retelling, the funnier it should be.
This was excellent. Although I feel like it should have ended with Gwen on the throne because her brother's aspirations clearly lay elsewhere while hers did not, I'm happy with it.

rep: sapphic, achillean, Thai lesbian love interest, two gay men, queer FMC

spice: none

tw: attempted coup, regicide, injury resulting in an amputation, death of a parent, homophobic attack

A funny and endearing romance using iconography of Arthurian legend.

I quite enjoyed this read. Lex Croucher has a way of injecting humor in a way that does not detract from the plot. It is also genuinely funny as opposed to some authors who are trying to be funny and just make an awkward read. I found myself audibly laughing several times while reading this book.

I think my favorite part of the book was the banter between Gwen and Art. At the beginning of the book, it was quite frustrating but when they become more friends as opposed to frenemies, the banter really started to thrive.

I feel like the friendships between the core group and the sibling relationship between Gwen and Gabriel were the strongest part of the book. I liked the respective romantic relationships, but I definitely think they felt not quite as fleshed out. Gabriel and Arthur at least knew each from childhood so there was a bit of a background in their relationship, but Gwen and Bridget really do not know each other well when Gwen is asking Bridget to essentially give up her love of tourneys to stay with her. I did not like how it did not feel like they built much of a relationship before becoming romantic, but I liked them together despite this so I will let it slide.

I was not expecting the climax of this book to be an actual battle and some of the descriptions were quite violent. It felt juxtaposed to the rest of the book.

Regardless of my complaints, I loved this and will read anything that Lex Croucher publishes.

2.5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for the e-arc of this! Everything stated below is my fully honest opinion.

I think this book would’ve been a big hit with me when I was a teenager. It would’ve felt fresh and different and fun. Unfortunately, as an adult, I didn’t feel quite as impressed. It was incredibly too long and I began to get quite bored, even at the end when all the action ramped up. There was a lot of world building mentioned, just for none of it to ever come up again or be important. For instance, I have no idea why this book had to include all of the King Arthur stuff because it really didn’t seem to make a difference in the story. You could have had the same book without all of it. I didn’t really feel the chemistry of the relationships, which given that the book focused so much on them felt unfulfilling. The banter was great though, and I liked the characters a lot, individually. I just had higher hopes and this didn’t really meet them. Still, if you know some teens or you are a teen looking for a light fantasy (?) with LGBT+ characters and romances, I’d still recommend giving this a try!

TW: Homophobia, abusive parent, war (light gore/death)

Love this LGBTQ YA romance it such and sweet story and a fun retelling. I have always loved a good King Arthur retelling and this did not disappoint, the adventures and mishaps a teen age love story just went so perfectly and had me feeling all the feels. I started recommending this to my friends before I fully finished. I can't wait to get a physical copy of this book and read it again.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for the e-galley.

I am immediately ordering this for my library’s YA section. This is refreshing and such an amazing twist on King Arthur. I loved everything about this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC of this novel. I have really enjoyed Croucher's work in the past and this was not an exception. I made a mistake not re-reading the blurb before I started and was a bit lost at first of why this was not actually Arthur and Guinevere. Once I got myself straight, I was back into it. The characters were annoying at times but as we got more backstory, actions made more sense and I did enjoy where everyone ended up at the end. I enjoy other works of Croucher's more but this was a good way to pass some time. 3 stars.

I absolutely loved this rendition of the Arthurian tale.it was a perfect mesh of the old lore with fantastic LGBTQ+ representation. Gwen & Art are not In love was good because it represented not only A sapphic story, but a gay story too. I thought it had a really unique take on the tale of Arthur that we all know and honestly have read in hundreds of itetstions.
If you like the medieval side of Arthurian tales more than the magic side this book is for you. This did not have a magic system and it was firmly in the romance category versus romantasy. Although, I will say that's actually why I liked this book. I liked following Gwen as she came into her own ,rather than all of the magic included in the legend. So o if you like mlm, wlw, court politics, political intrigue, you will love this one.