⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 stars! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
This was such a cute story! I love Arthurian tales, and this one has such a unique feel to it. I loved seeing not only the romantic relationships develop, but also the friendships between the characters. Also, the endometriosis representation!!! I have never felt so seen as a menstruating person! (It doesn’t give the characters diagnosis outright, but dealing with the symptoms most of my life it’s very easy to tell what the character is suffering from with the context clues)
I loved seeing the allyship from the side characters. Understanding and discovering your sexuality is a very complex and trying time, and I think this book did a great job of showing the different sides of that, from denial, to confusion, self-depricating humor, and finally coming to accept who you are. It took me a little bit to get through, but that may just be my attention span.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but by the end I was so deeply invested in the characters and their wellbeing they have become a part of my fictional family. I loved this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is an absolute kick your feet and giggle type of delight! It is the queer medieval rom-com none of us knew we needed, but trust me, we all do. Gwen and Art are betrothed, but mostly hate each other, and are definitely not attracted to one another. Art moves into her family's castle for the summer and of course chaos, hijinks, and falling in love (though not necessarily with each other) ensues. This is a funny and heartwarming story of friendship, family, and loving one another and oneself well. I will absolutely be purchasing a copy for my classroom library!

This story was wonderful, simply put. There was such gorgeous pining that I could hardly stand it. Gwen is in love with Lady Bridget, a knight competing in the summer tournament her father (the king) is hosting. Arthur is betrothed to Gwen and has been since birth… but he’s unfortunately messily recovering from a bad breakup with his former boyfriend. Messy because he’s also maybe starting to fall in love with Gwen’s brother Gabriel. Queer love and Arthurian legends at their finest! Plus girl power and treachery and battle and cult followings and oh it’s so good!!

I loved this!!

Even though it’s fiction, I love reading queer stories set in earlier times because it reminds me that we’ve always been here :’) Wowee. I love us.

The banter and found family in this story is what made me fall in love with it. Queer found family will ALWAYS get me. The banter in this was so great because it felt like listening to best friends talk to each other. This is how friend groups talk with little digs and inside jokes. It feels so warm and fuzzy to be on the inside of that with these characters and feel like part of the gang. And they were *actually* witty and funny. I love them :’)

*LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD*

The plot was fun but I was so focused on loving the characters that they could have done just about anything and I would have been along for the ride. The relationships were so cute. The romantic relationships were so fun. Thank you for the Brienne of Tarth fantasy every queer deserves in the form of Bridget and Gwen. & Art and Gabriel gave me Alex and Henry (Red White & Royal Blue) vibes which is ALWAYS the best compliment.

What a lovely heckin’ queer time. Highly recommend.

I first became introduced to Lex Croucher with her novels Infamous and Reputation, which are both regency style romances. Since Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is her YA debut, I was excited to see her branch out into a new genre. In this story, King Arthur’s descendant, a future Lord named Arthur (Art), is betrothed to a princess of England, Gwendoline (Gwen). The two of them are spending the summer together at Camelot when Gwen soon discovers Art kissing another man and Art discovers Gwen’s diary that discovers her crush on a woman knight named Bridget Leclair. This story was a fun twist on enemies to lovers as the two main characters do begin as enemies, but they become lovers with other characters.

The writing goes between Gwen and Art’s sides of the story. Gwen and Bridget get to know each other while Art and his love interest Gabriel do the same. The plot is character-driven as the romances develop. As the chapters alternate between the characters, the writing reads a glimpse into diary entries without being actual entries. While this is a YA book, it read nicely in the middle where I can see audiences of all ages enjoying it. The characters are all over the place with their personalities, but it worked in this story given their individual circumstances. All the characters, whether they are primary or secondary, do go through some growth. I think Croucher has a talent for historical novels, and I love this introduction into her YA style. I look forward to reading more from her in the future!

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Wednesday Books, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

I have been seeing this book talked about alot lately so I am glad I was able to get an arc of this from netgalley. This book did not disappoint and when I was finished I ordered a copy for myself asap. Every character was well written and I really enjoyed each and every one. I wished I got to see more of certain characters like Gabriel or Bridget. I really enjoyed Gabriel's character and wished I got to know more about him and his struggles. The plot was a refreshing change and I loved the growing friendship between Gwen and Arthur. Its a fun medieval romance with adults struggling with communication and I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me giggling and kicking my lil feet the whole way through. Three budding romances, snarky dialogue and shenanigans. This is not an Arthurian retelling!

We follow Gwen, who is a bit uptight and keeps to herself, who is betrothed to Arthur, a jester/goofball-type, and like the titles says: these two are not in love. Having known each other since they were young, playing pranks and breaking wrists, these two have a pretty bad taste in their mouths about the other. Whether they want to be or not, they’re in this mess together.

I don’t know how Lex Croucher managed to get so much relationship building into this 400-ish page book but it flowed so well and felt so real and honest. The banter and the back and forth between the characters really had me believe the bonds between them and had me really care about them growing as people and getting their happy endings.

The ending of this book takes a bit of a turn and some of the background conflict comes to the forefront. I see it was likely necessary to give some characters the push they needed to enact some necessary change and I really really love how it all came together in the end. I’m so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to read this book early I had so much fun with it. I will be making a point to read more from Lex Croucher. I don’t anticipate I’ll be shutting up about this book for a while!

Included as a top pick in weekly November New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

I was so excited for Gwen and Art Are Not in Love. A queer love story set in an Arthurian world (this is not a retelling). Yes, please! Gwen and Art had all the makings of an incredible book. However, the execution fell flat. I think the author tried to do too much. I was never really invested in the characters or the plot.

The first 2/3rds is a meandering tale of four young adults discovering their sexuality while finding their place in the world. It almost felt like a slice-of-life romance set against the backdrop of castles, knights, ladies, and lords. A slow-paced book usually doesn't ruin a story for me. However, here I found myself struggling to push forward. Then the back 1/3 felt like an entirely different book. It was fast-paced and action-packed, but by this point, I didn't care what was happening anymore.

So many of my friends loved this book. They loved the characters and the story. This may be a case of it wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free eARC. This is my honest opinion.

Gwen and Arthur ARE NOT their ancestors (or rather his ancestors), and they are very definitely NOT in love with each other. In fact this is very much enemies to reluctant betrotheds, to being actual friends.

I love the found family aspect, the discovering of queerness, the mystery, becoming friends, and the dealing with expectations (both internal and external).

Can't recommend enough, I spent a great deal of time laughing at everyone and with everyone.
5 out of 5 stars, this is young adult and while there is a great deal of language, alcohol, and messy relationships, it stays YA.

this is such a fun book. i keep recommending it to everyone as a queer Knight's Tale or Merlin. it really gave me just the warm fuzzies in the best way possible. funny, engaging. Lex Croucher writes such great books and this one is no exception. 10 out of 10

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Gwen & Art Are Not in Love to review!
This adorable love story that takes place in medieval England follows Gwen who is the princess of England and Arthur who is her betrothed. The two cannot stand each other from the start and within 24 hours of Arthur arriving in Camelot Gwen catches Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur catches Gwen pining after a girl. Gwen and Art decide to pretend to be in love for the sake of their families and the kingdom while pursing their separate romantic entanglements behind closed doors. This queer rom-com will hook you from the start with its great banter and lovable characters.
I've had this book on my shelf for so long I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it! I didn't read the blurb before picking it up so I was slightly surprised by the medieval setting but it was actually a really easy setting to become adjusted to. My best way of describing this novel is funny to the point of slight ridiculousness. I adored this about the book but some parts of the book were just so over the top that it became unbelievable. Nevertheless, I love reading about all the different characters and all their separate love stories. Even though you could somewhat predict what was going to happen in the book off of the first two chapters I still enjoyed every minute of reading this. I thought Gwen and Arthur's amicable friendship was so sweet and I felt like the book took a surprisingly dark turn with Arthur's head injury. This was the only plot point that felt completely unpredictable and I was genuinely concerned for Arthur because the medicine is medieval times is notoriously NOT GREAT. But he prevailed just to almost be killed in battle. I have literally never read a book where I liked reading about the King Arthur legend, (I always find it painfully boring) and this book was no exception, but I felt like the plot and the characters really carried this book and the King Arthur legend could for the most part be ignored. I wish there was slightly more conclusion after the big battle scene at the end of the book but overall I really enjoyed this story. I haven't read a fun YA novel like this in a long time and it was refreshing and enjoyable to read.

This is my first read from Lex and won't be my last. An absolutely fun ride! It has a bit of a YA romance character-focused plot, but there was still just enough worldbuilding around it to make it all come together. I honestly adored the entire cast immediately and really loved the initial evolving dynamics between Gwen and Art, and of course, the end game couples. Gabe frustrated me at times, but I could still relate to him with the pressures he had. The messages here were really nice, and I really had a lot of fun with the alternating scenes for the two couples. Sidney and Agnes were a fantastic side couple! I also really enjoyed most of the character growth here too.

Honestly, my only major complaint is that we don't get to see a little further development with all of the couples. You might be left with some questions by the end, but at least you'll know the characters are happy. 🤣 I'll just have to imagine how things played out in my own head, and I'm fine with that.😂 I found that the Gwen/Bridget couple felt a teeny tiny bit more developed than Art/Gabe, but it makes sense with what was going on with the latter couple. Just a really nice and quick-paced read and I can't wait to try out more of Lex's books!

This book was so surprising to me. I thought I knew where the plot was going and then it pulled on my heartstrings and then it made me mad. It really made me feel a lot of things. I’m glad to have read the ARC and I am listening to the audiobook now for another experience. Thanks to Lex Croucher, Wednesday Books/ St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. I received an advance review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Princess Gwendoline and Lord Arthur are betrothed in medieval England. They’re enemies until they discover they are both hiding the same secret: they’re both queer. What follows is their journey to friendship while they fall in love with two separate people.

Right, so. This was really cute until the ending and then I was like wut. The climax was not necessarily out of the blue as the book had been working towards it, it’s just that the ending’s tone didn’t match the book as a whole. The ending also left me feeling a lot to be desired. Did it really tie up my loose ends? Not to the degree I would say I want.

This premise was adorable but the execution just didn’t do it for me.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Spice: None
POV: Dual 3rd

Gwen has been betrothed to Art since toddlerhood with one problem - Gwen and Art hate one another. Sent to spend the summer with Gwen to get to know her better, Art finds himself being blackmailed with a big secret, only to find out that Gwen has a similar secret. While covering for each other’s sexual orientations, Gwen and Art become the closest of friends who fall in love, just not with each other.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
🌶️ 0/5

Tropes:
Enemies to Best Friends
Unrequited Love
Forced Marriage

Triggers:
Homophobia
Hate Crime
Sword Violence

My Thoughts:
This is such a sweet story about two would-be friends living in the world of King Arthur, who are forced to cover up for each other’s sexual orientations. Through this these two enemies become a formidable pair, supporting each other while finding themselves. I do hope there is a second book to further tell the story about Art’s new relationship (not going to spoil with who)!

What a fun book! Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is the medieval romantic comedy I didn’t know I needed. Full of humor, banter, friendship, and romance, this book has it all! Plus, it’s inspired by Arthurian legend. What more could you ask for?

Arthur and Gwen have been engaged their entire lives. With their wedding on the horizon, Gwen and Arthur are forced to spend time together at Camelot–it gave me The Swan Princess vibes when Odette and Derek were forced to hang out every summer against their will. Soon, they both realize they could help each other out. You see, Gwen caught Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur read her journal and discovered Gwen had a crush on the kingdom’s only lady knight. As you can probably imagine, they decided to cover for each other while pursuing their real love interests.

I can’t describe this book any other way than fun. It’s light-hearted; you’ll find yourself smiling and squealing. These characters will steal their way into your heart.

Pick up Gwen & Art Are Not in Love if you’re looking for a sweet, funny, romantic YA book.

I am currently boycotting St. Martin's Press and its imprints for its lack of taking a stand against its racist, harmful employee who spoke lies against Palestinians being murdered by Israel. Therefore, I will not be posting a review at this time. The star rating is simply a placeholder.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for giving me advanced reader access. This title published yesterday, November 28, 2023.

Gwen and Art are decidedly NOT in love - in fact they've despised each other since they were children, and the feelings have not warmed with time nor distance. However, when they uncover secrets about each other, they decide to cover for each other and become reluctant allies.

This one wasn't for me right now and I DNF. I will definitely be revisiting it at another time because it seems like something that I would normally love. My library has purchased a copy and we will use it in RA.