I will follow Lex Croucher wherever she goes - this book was so much fun! I have just never read anything like this, and the comparisons to A Knight's Tale are perfect. It's such a romp from beginning to end. I was so invested in all the characters and I found myself smiling like an idiot reading this on the train. We need more books like this!

This was such a delight! Gwen is a princess at Camelot, years after Arthur Pendragon has turned to myth. Arthur is her betrothed. However, neither is looking forward to their future together because both are queer.

Gwen has spent years falling for the one and only female knight that takes part in the tournament every summer while Art is falling for Gwen's brother. This story is not only romantic but is full of meaningful moments. The dialogues, the banter, is so funny and enjoyable.

The ending completely surprised me. I thought this would never get too serious, but the ending is intense!

Out November 28, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Wonderfully creative rom-com. I’m always a sucker for an Arthurian retelling and this was more that I could have hoped for.

Absolutely delightful — funny, queer, and full of lovable characters. This book was phenomenal.

Princess Gwendoline is engaged to Arthur Delacey, even though she hates him. But in a twist of fate and arthurian legend, Gwen falls for the knight Lady Bridget and Arthur falls for Gwen’s brother, the heir to the throne Gabriel. Aka, this is a story of mlm and wlw solidarity and the cutest found family ever. Both romances were so well done, the perfect amount of swoony and realistic. I was rooting so hard for both of them.

This book was also just so witty! The dialogue between Arthur and Sydney, his best friend and squire, was so hilarious, and I love Arthur’s sarcasm and deadpan nature. Gwen takes a bit of warming up to, but I love her journey of self acceptance and growth into a leader, and how she challenges her friends as well. Every character is just so lovable and funny.

There’s some political side plots about Arthurian cultists and a coup, but it’s so well integrated into the plot that I loved it. Every twist and turn was masterfully explored, and I loved every bit of it. Plus, the medieval setting post-Arthur allows for some really interesting insights into Arthurian legend as well as neurodivergence & queerness in a fictional place in that time period.

Overall this was phenomenal and is definitely one of my new favorites.

I’m not much into Arthurian legends, so I wasn’t sure if this was gonna be my kind of book but the description sounded fun, so I decided to give it a try. And turns out it was much
different than what I expected it to be.

This is more of a coming of age, queer, YA romcom whose setting is hundreds of years after King Arthur and our male protagonist Arthur descends from him. Gwen is the princess and both of them are betrothed even though they despise each other. It was hilarious getting to know more about each of them through the other’s eyes because their grievances felt like petty teenage angst to me, but it’s so much more to them.

Gwen’s crush on the only female knight Bridget was so cute and I loved their little budding relationship, though Bridget’s path to be herself is full of discrimination and she never wavers. Gwen’s brother Gabe knows the weight of his position as Crown Prince and only wants the best for the people but he is also sweet and bookish and just overall such a nice person. They also have an amazing sibling bond which I adored.

On the other side, Arthur (Art) and Sidney are best buddies and it’s a friendship that’s full of loyalty and trust for each other. But their banter is top notch as well and it was impossible not to laugh when they were together. Sid and Agnes’s romance was the best though, coz they had literal heart eyes towards each other and nothing could come between them.

The plot was a breeze to get through for most of it because of its light hearted nature and extremely lovable characters. While they could be typical dramatic teenagers, they were written in a very endearing way and I never got annoyed with them. The plot however does take a dramatic turn towards violence/war in the last quarter and it was a very hard tonal shift, that didn’t feel like it matched the vibe of the rest of the story.

In the end, this was a mostly fun, cute, bantery queer YA story with lovely characters, great friendships and cute romances. While the political plotline towards the end gave me a hard jolt, the characters didn’t let the story become too dark. It also helps that the two audiobook narrators Alex Singh and Sarah Ovens just bring out the teenage drama of it all perfectly in their voice, making the listening experience very entertaining. Definitely check it out if you want something lighthearted, but do keep an eye out for the slightly darker plotline at the end.

Anachronistic post-Arthurian society where it's Catholics vs Arthurians rather than Protestants. We aren't told when this is but since there's modern references everywhere, it doesn't matter. It's Elsetime. (And unlike some other popular author I will not mention, the references sit well in the story rather than jarring.) The descendent of Arthur is betrothed to the king's daughter, and if ever two people hated each other more, I don't know who they are. Still, this is a very different enemies-to-lovers; they are both queer. What's a little mutually assured destruction between the affianced?

This was a fun book. I've never made it through Knight's Tale but the anachronisms don't hit that hard in a queer AU. Also the main characters are both the kind of flawed human beings that you can root for, while absolutely understanding why they grate on each other. Would read more by the author for sure.

I was not entirely sure I would like this novel. Historical fiction so totally unrelated to Jane Austen isn't generally my thing, and knights and medieval political intrigue are of zero interest to me. Would Lex Croucher's incredible writing be able to overcome my innate disinterest in the material?

YES.

Gwen & Art Are Not In Love is sweet and funny and completely absorbing. It's also deeply silly, in a good way - it really commits to the historical, myth-adjacent world of its story while also maintaining the modern sensibility that is the hallmark of Croucher's historical fiction. It has (mostly queer) romance, friendship, and wonderful character development. I loved the themes of standing up for one's beliefs and building the world one wants to live in.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the cheerful tone of the first two-thirds of the book is interrupted by some serious and quite sad events in its final act. I felt as if these were adequately foreshadowed, though, and that the ballast of loss and trouble made the happy ending feel more satisfying as well as making the medieval setting feel a bit more authentic. Unless setting it in Regency England were an option, I wouldn't change a thing.

3.5 stars. I will be withholding my full review until St. Martin's/Wednesday's Books addresses their employee's public anti-Palestinian rhetoric.

This was a delightful book. I loved the twist on Camelot. Arthur was by my favorite character by far. Adored him! This book was funny but also got serious fast. I really liked all the characters so much. I was sad to finish this book because I kind of wanted to stay in that world with those characters.

I know, you might be shocked to see this on my read list as romance is not my cup of tea but I love the cover and it’s very hyped and it’s medieval themed and well, it enticed me enough (just don't tell that to my brutal adult fantasy) So like I said, medieval historical queer romcom. So we have 2 characters who hate eachother and are forced to hangout for the Summer at Camelot. Gwen, the princess to the English throne and arthur her betrothed, who was selected at birth because of his famous ancestor King Arthur. It's funny, cute, sweet, lighthearted and surprised this fantasy loving soul.

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher is a reimagining of the story of Arthur and Guinevere with an LGBTQ+ twist. Described as Heartstopper meets Knight's Tale, this book hit the mark! This book was such a good time. Although Gwen & Art might not be in love, they do form alliances to help each other find the love they deserve. Do yourself a favor and check this one out!!!

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very cute YA love story. I truly adore the fact that so many authors are now writing YA LGBTQ books and this is a book that i would read again and recommend to others.

It was a story of King Arthur not loving Gwen because he is gay and her not loving him because of the same and how that impacts their upcoming marriage.

King Arthur, LBGTQ, Love. Would could go wrong

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a really cute book. I enjoyed the humor and banter. The setting was really interesting as well.

4.25 stars

aww i really liked this!

so i really liked the mix of different characters in this story: gwen, art, sidney, gabe, bridget, and agnes were such a fun cast and the different conversations and interactions between them really was the heart of this novel. shout=out to gwen and art's hate-to-close friends arc; watching them go from haters to close friends was really nice and i thought it a natural progression. the banter in this story was so funny like the conversations would be so unserious sometimes. each character had their own distinctive personality as well which is always a plus.

the plot was interesting as well. i'm gonna be so honest i had NO IDEA what the politics were so that last battle was like...hmm...so that's not...well. like i had no idea who was like beefing with who.

the romances were so sweet like gwen being so giddy over bridget and arthur starting to feel a little more than normal for gabe was cute! i just wish the ending was longer so we could've have more time with the characters truly coupled up.

overall i really enjoyed this! a queer arthurian retelling romcom and it delivered for me. very fun and honestly if the author was like gonna write an adult version of this i would eat that shit up! i liked this a lot.

thank you to netgalley and st martin's press for the arc!

I appreciate being provided an eARC for this delightful book. However, due to the boycott of St. Martin's Press over their marketing employee's disgusting racist, Islamophobic, and queerphobic rhetoric on social media, I will not be sharing reviews for their titles at this time.

The first 70% of this is very fun and I really enjoyed everyone's antics. But the last 30% with the violent attack on Art and then the battle it falls apart especially the romance aspect didn't feel very satisfying

This was such a lovely read! I thought the dialogue and the banter between characters was so charming, and watching them form their little found family was really lovely. A really good blend of humor and romance throughout, so when it was actually emotional at the end I was surprised and impressed! Would definitely recommend to readers looking for tongue-in-cheek historical fiction and romance tropes with really lovable queer characters.

A fresh take on the Arthurian legend, this LGBTQ+ young adult romcom is funny, gripping and was the Arthurian remix I did not even know I needed.

Honestly, I am always drawn to an Arthurian retelling but at first I was put off by the oddness of this book. Once I got over myself, however, I fell in love with all of the characters: Arthur, Gwen, Gabriel, Bridget and Sidney. I could not put this book down. This is a 5 star for me: well written, I laughed, I cried, and frankly it’s what I really needed to read right now.

I adored this book and would love to see a part 2.

Note, I did receive this ARC for free; this review is my honest feedback and is submitted by me voluntarily.


Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s press and Lex Croucher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

3.5⭐️

i like the premise and idea behind this book but it was a bit of a miss for me. however, i liked the writing style and will definitely be checking out lex croucher’s future ya books! i can also see a lot of people loving this one so i would definitely recommend it, specially to those who love ya romance books with queer characters.

more thoughts and ranting can be found on my goodreads🫶

"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, they 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 and Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love."

I am here for this swoony Arthurian tale!