This was such a delight!

Gwen & Art features characters that are lovable, relatable, and hilarious throughout. The juxtaposition of witty, modern dialogue and the medieval setting make for a surprising and unanticipatedly tender queer romance.

I will only be sharing my official review when St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books acknowledges the situation with Palestine.

This was a delightful medieval YA romcom that managed to cater to and completely subvert my expectations at different times! I loved Gwen and Art and their supporting cast, and can't wait to see what Croucher writes next.

I love anything to do with the Arthurian times. Add a gay romance or two in there with a splash of found family and you’ve got my ideal book.

The character dynamics were absolutely wonderful and the drama, humor, and plot were PERFECTION.

All in all a wonderful book and I need to get my grubby little hands on a physical copy as soon as possible.

This book was a real mixed bag for me, frankly.

Things I absolutely loved was the friendship between Sid and Arthur, the slow burn friendship between Gwen and Arthur, and the overall atmosphere of the world that Croucher created in this book. But what I struggled with the most was connecting to the relationships in the book because we don't get nearly enough time watching them develop. Both Bridget and Gabriel feel like they are more side characters than fully formed, which was sad because I liked both of them as they were set up! Bridget is an awesome lady knight with a fun dry wit, and a real highlight was her dealing with medieval PMS, but we never really get to know her beyond "wow she's cool." The same problem exists with Gabriel, because he's mostly just known as the future king who is a bit nerdy.

I really wanted to see more of each of the relationships, especially once the last third of the book kicks into overdrive and things start to go downhill. I never really felt the pain of that because it felt like so much still needed to be developed.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Full of humor and heart, Gwen & Art are easily one of my top reads of the year. I got 4% into my read and knew I would be rating this five stars. Everything just clicked.

The wit and humor in this is next level- Arthur is a pissy little brat with a soft heart and I ate every one of his one liners up! Gwen is fierce and brave even though she doesn't realize it and I knew she would be a force to be reckoned with. And the love interests? A mess and completely genuine. Gabriel broke my heart several times, and the way his journey ended was pure perfection. Lady Leclair is everything to me and I would let her defend my honor in battle any day.

I don't know how Croucher went from making me cackle with laughter to tearing up in just a few passages, but they did and I couldn't put the book down. A perfect example of a messy, beautiful, queer romcom.

Please pick this one up. You won't regret it.

I enjoyed this. It made me think of my younger years, and the characters were so relatable, yet frustrating at times with their decisions. I will definitely check out more books by this author, the writing was wonderful and heart - warming and I would love to see a sequel as well.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read an eARC of Gwen and Art are not in Love by Lex Croucher. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martins Press.

This book tells the story of the people who are descendants of King Arthur a few generations down the line. Long enough that Gwen and Arthur are promised by their parents to each other. Only problem? They hate each other. Of course, that doesn’t stop their parents from planned to marry them off together by the end of summer and the tournament that is taking place. One night, they realize the other one is gay, and then on the promise of blackmail, they decide to pretend they are getting along together and act decently to each other.

This is an interesting story in a very predictable sort of sense. A book that felt comfortable to read and didn’t push any boundaries of this sort of story. A comfort read. It has pining. Self-discovery, and a dash of adventure.

give me all the arthurian shenanigans and i am in!!!

lex croucher is officially an author i cannot believe i waited so long to finally read. honestly, i was particularly terrified of historical fiction as a genre, but this year has really truly been one that i’ve used, discovering and enjoying it. and this story was no exception. the writing, the humor, it all feels so modern.

i mean, hell, we have a riverdale reference in the first couple chapters of the book. and from that line on, i was hooked. this story uses so many of those cliche tropes: “oh. oh.”, “i let go of a breath (sword) i didn’t realize i was holding”, and so on. but all satirically, all flipped on its head. genuinely, it was so laugh out loud, and i really can’t say that often about books in humor. but i was giggling and kicking my feet like an idiot the whole book. basically, if you liked the humor in any of casey mcquiston’s books, you will adore croucher’s humor.

now on to the actual story. well, really the characters. because that’s what we’re all hear for. i absolutely adored gwen and art. the two of them have the friendship of friendships. they help each other through their tough times, and love to pick on each other. their sibling dynamic is just so fun. it’s so wholesome and i want to be their friends. i loved being able to follow both of them through these events.

gabriel, the poor tortured soul, i love you so damn much. adding you to the list of characters i want to give the biggest hug too. seriously, who hurt you so much to make you think you have to be one thing and nothing less than your truest self.

bridget. god, you are so hot. teach me your ways!!! that is all.

one thing that's important to note is that this book isn't a retelling of king arthur's story. i know that's what i first thought, hearing the title. but rather it's a story set in an england, where king arthur isn't a myth but a true man. gwen (kind of) and art were named after their predecessors. and a lot of the politics and world building are built around these myth's being fact/legend in this world. and honestly, i think it was an interesting twist on the story.

genuinely, i am begging croucher to write a follow up book for each of the couples. i will devour it all in a heartbeat.

This was wonderful in the end! It was slow going for about the first half, and this is not a short book so you have to settle in and be okay with the slow start. I fell in love with Arthur and his man, Sidney and our lovely lady knight, Bridget. They were just wonderful and of course, they're the heroes of the story! This is fun, sweet, dramatic and has a very satisfying end. I think if I had read this when I fit into the YA age category, I would have loved it even more and probably would have read again and again.

Historical queerness is my jam. The cover is so beautiful and the story was so fun. I cared so much about where the plot was going and how the character's relationships were developing. The found family was so beautiful and I will be recommending it to all my friends.

Instant 5 star - I knew from chapter one that I was going to love this book. Gwen and Art are some of the funniest characters I have read in a long time (honestly, maybe ever). Their banter is *perfection* and then you throw in the best side characters. Sydney, Agne, and Gabe are the perfect additions to an already funny storyline.
I truly think Arthur is the best male character I have ever read. He is funny, honest, and a breath of fresh air. He supports his friends and has avoided turning into an asshole like his father.
Now the writing *bows down* to Lex Croucher. I was immediately impressed with her writing style. You have created an instant fan! The way she wrote and navigated LGBTQ relationships in medieval England was clever and important!
Feel free to send me every copy of this book in existence because it's my new favorite!

I love Lex’s Infamous series so when I was sent this book I was excited.. and it didn’t disappear. Lex has a way with writing and it is humorous just like her other books.

King Arthur’s descendant, also Arthur, is betrothed to Lady Gwendolyn. You know history and repeating itself, except Gwendolyn isn’t really into Arthur. No she’s more into her closet knight and Arthur is interested in Gwendolyn’s brother. They’re forced to spend the summer together so they make a pact to become allies than enemies.

Take the story of Camelot and twist it on it’s head and you’ve got this book. That is make Arthur gay and not up to the social norms they expect for him. The characters were comical, especially the side friends involved. but sometimes I found Gwen and Arthur to be a bit annoying in the way they bickered.

All in all, this was quite comical and such a fluffy read. Like a pallet cleanser that I needed. I definitely can’t wait for Alex’s next books!

THOUGHTS

This book is delightful! Despite the impression that the title may give, it is not a retelling of Arthurian legend. It is instead a medieval romcom with particularly modern sensibilities. While I don't usually like historical romances where contemporary values weigh too heavily on the plot, this book was particularly unserious--in a way that made it good fun instead of historically irritating. Could it ever happen? Absolutely not. But that's not why we're reading it.


PROS
Great Atmosphere: This book might not be strictly historically accurate, but it does a good job of rendering a pseudo-medieval environment anyhow. There are boiling tensions between Arthurian cultists and Catholic forces. There are brothers and cousins and uncles all vying for power. And there is plenty of jousting and witty banter and meta-jokes. This book isn't meant to be the peak of historical accuracy. Instead, it's just a whole lot of fun.

Lavender Romance: The main couple, for reasons that become immediately obvious, just aren't going to work out. But a classic sort of fake dating scheme is comprised, one that nods to quite a bit of queer history. They're each other's shields, each other's alibis, and it's nice to have that twist on a generic romance trope. There's a reason to fake date here, and they're not falling for each other in the end (at least not in that way).

In It Together: All of these characters are so different from each other, and the constraints of their lives, their slice of history, their particular personalities are all so acute that you really can't help rooting for them. What happily ever after looks like in this particular setting might be hard to say, but you can't help wanting that for them. All of them.


CONS
Neat Ending: I know I wanted happily ever after for these characters... but the ending just felt a bit too neat for me. Or, I guess, "neat" might not be exactly the right word. It felt too hopeful and optimistic. I know we're not dealing with real history (and I'm not going to spoil exactly how everything wraps up), but it just didn't quite feel real enough to have the payoff I wanted from this story, even if it's a romcom.

Drunkards: I really enjoyed Arthur and his man Sidney as characters, but I don't particularly enjoy drunkenness being played up in a book for laughs. I know this is more of a personal nitpick, and I overall didn't mind. But a few times, this particular element rubbed me the wrong way.

Predictable Romances: Gwen and Art might not be in love... but you immediately know in this book who the end-game romances are. Or at least I did. Maybe I'm just jaded. Maybe I'm too familiar with writing tropes and the clues authors weave throughout a story. But the ultimate couples weren't really a surprise to me, even though sometimes it felt like the characters were being played up as though these pairings were meant to be surprising.


Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
9/10
Fans of Erin Cotter's Shakespearean adventure By Any Other Name will like this new queer twist on English history. Those who enjoyed Sophie Gonalez's Perfect on Paper will like this plot full of mismatched meet-cutes and a bit of romantic scheming.

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love was such a fun book. Set in medieval times during the conflict between Catholicism and King Arthur occultists, we follow along as Gwen & Art go from enemies to reluctant allies to genuine friendships. There's found family! Everyone is gay! It's saccharine in the best way but balanced with some high stakes to keep you invested and hoping for that happy ending.

This was silly and fun and so very earnest. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, 4.5⭐️

For anyone who's ever though that Arthur Pendragon and Lancelot were probably more than just really good pals.

i was really excited to read this one as the synopsis sounded so promising. The pacing on this was really off for me, it moved entirely too slow especially for the amount of action that happened at the end. I think that this story would have benefited from having a lot more energy pumped into it the entire way. I did enjoy the characters and thought that they all held their own within the plot. i would have enjoyed more of the mystery to be central to the story. All in all i did enjoy it and thought that the representation was done very well.

This book is a DELIGHT. A quick, fun medieval read that is both very funny and heart-warming. The representation in this is absolutely fabulous and I devoured it within hours.

This book was so fun and sweet and joyful! It had such a great ensemble cast and unique queer representation. Reading it was an absolute delight, and I would recommend it over and over again to both young readers and adults.

I absolutely loved this and desperately need to read the other books in Lex Croucher's backlist. The characters and story were incredibly well crafted, the character development was really well done and I felt the chemistry between the characters. There were a few plot threads that never really seemed to fully be explained or go anywhere which was my only complaint but overall I had an amazing time reading this and still is definitely a 5 star read for me!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday for an ALC of this!

In this enchanting medieval YA rom-com, Gwen and Arthur, destined to marry but loathe each other, are thrown together for a summer at Camelot. As secrets emerge - Arthur's kiss with a boy and Gwen's diary confessions about a lady knight - they form an unexpected alliance. Amidst sword-fighting, newfound friendships, and romantic entanglements, this tale promises laughter, love, and a twist on the classic Arthur-Gwen tragedy.

I cannot explain to you how much I loved this one. I inhaled the whole audiobook in one sitting, cried, and begged the universe for more.

It was everything I needed at the time. I love all the growth the characters went through, the tension, the love, the romance, the twists and turns. I enjoyed every single second of it.

Queer King Arthur Retellings continue being absolutely top notch. More please.

CW: death, homophobia, lesbophobia, alcoholism, abuse, mental illness