Gwen & Art might not be in love, but I’m in love with them and with Gabriel, Bridget, and above all Sidney! F.T. Lukens’ vibrancy and banter meets Alexis Hall’s wit and drama.

I have a soft spot for sadder and darker stories, but I’m also a sucker for stories full of delightful dialogues and sharp humor that pull the corners of my mouth up and make lights dance in my eyes. As soon as I read the first page, I knew this would be a five-star read. It’s funny. It’s heartfelt. It’s uplifting. It’s serious at times. Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a marvelous book that embraced me wholeheartedly and melted my heart.

I cheered Bridget on when she jumped into a fight to save someone, and I said aww, when Gabriel took care of a wounded baby crow. I laughed out loud when Sidney told Art that he probably wanted to be held like a baby crow too, and Gwen and Art, well, they just captured my heart. Gwen, who needed to be a bit braver to color outside the lines, and Art, who hid his self-hatred behind a wild and playful mask.

Gwen and Gabriel are royalty, siblings, and best friends, that have one big secret in common that they don't talk about. Gwen is engaged to Arthur, a human disaster and supposed descendant of King Arthur, whether she wants to be or not. When Art and his bodyguard, Sidney, come to town Gwen's secret becomes a whole lot less secret. Sharing less-than straight thoughts, Gwen and Art make a pact to pretend to date in public, leading to a rocky but mutually beneficial friendship between the two. Hijinks and fun ensue, and soon Gwen's crush on a certain knight, Bridget Lecair, has Gwen questioning what her future is going to look like.

Not an Arthurian retelling, but rather an homage to Arthurian tales, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, is easily one of my favorite new books. There's tiktok/gen Z humor, friendship, and a subtle nod to checked privilege. There's a certain part where Gwen and Art are talking and Art makes a joke, that I have not stopped thinking about since I read it. I told all of my coworkers about it and have continued to giggle every time I think about it. 10/10 this is a book I will buy and read again and again anytime I need a pick me up of sunshine feelings.

Well this was fun! It did take me a little bit to get into the rhythm of Croucher's writing style and to connect with the characters, but once I did I was hooked. Gwen's not going to be happy with me, but it was Arthur that did it.

GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE has a spunky redhead, a witty rogue, it's got fake dating and enemies-to-friends. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.

This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley.

I have two different ratings for this book depending on why I or anyone else would be picking it up.

As an alternative history Romance, it's a 5/5. There's a cute Sapphic romance with a princess and a knight (I love that) and another romance that's M/M between a prince and a lord. The dynamics between Gabriel and Gwen, Gwen and Arthur, and Gwen and Bridget all felt real and interesting. Arthur and Gwen's initial dynamic actually reads very Swan Princess 'This is My Idea', which made me love both characters almost instantly.

In terms of picking it up for Arthurian lore or a courtly love story, it's a 3/5. It's not a retelling but more of a reimagining/what/if scenario. I want more Queer Arthurian books because Arthurian lore can be very Queer, but this didn't give me what I'm looking for when I'm looking for books exploring Camelot or Arthur or the Knights of the Round Table. There wasn't the hallmarks of courtly love that I personally look for, either, and I was disappointed not to get them in a Sapphic love story featuring a princess and a knight. The prose is also a bit too meme-y for my taste when it comes to Arthurian lore books.

I loved the characters and I liked a lot of the ideas presented, I'm just of two minds on it depending on the mood I'm in or why I'm picking it up.

this was so... wow. i've always toed around the line of historical books, because sometimes i like them, and sometimes i don't, so this was an absolute treat for me. i devoured this in a few hours, that's how good this was.

all of our characters were easy to enjoy (to no one's surprise, my favorite was gwen.) and their relationships were easy to root for. this placed a heavy emphasis on accepting yourself, rather than focusing on everyone else's expectations and standards, and it makes me really, really happy to see themes like this in books for queer youth! especially with this being a romcom, i think the heavier themes and topics were handled incredibly well and in a way that wasn't too "light", yet didn't weigh the book down either.

all in all, completely lived up to my expectations. the writing style was light and easy to follow, the characters were lovable, and the story had me hooked from start to finish.

5 stars!

Thank you so much to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

I absolutely adored this book. It brought me the same joy that I felt reading Red, White & Royal Blue for the first time. Queer romance during Arthurian times? Absolutely sign me up. Alex Croucher if you see this, I am at your beck and call with anything else you have written.

If you’re hearing mysterious excited squee-ing at the moment and you can’t figure out where it’s coming from, have no fear–your house is not haunted. That is just me, thinking about how much I loved Gwen and Art Are Not in Love.

So we begin our review with a hearty thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for giving me early access to this absolute gem of a book. And, now, onto the good stuff!

This book was a romp. For one, I love that it’s not actually an Arthurian retelling, despite the fact that the title makes it seem like you’re getting an Arthurian retelling. Setting this in the somewhat-near future from King Arthur was a really fun choice. Now, is it a wonderful, historically accurate representation of this time period? Well, no. But I’ll be honest–I don’t really care. Sometimes a modern turn-of-phrase or odd costuming detail would annoy me in a piece of historical fiction, but I think one of the reasons I didn’t have that problem with Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is that it isn’t trying to paint itself as a perfectly, historically accurate representation, the way some historical fiction books seem to do. And sometimes, those anachronistic word choices had a way of making the story even more fun, rather than being jarring or off-putting. (Though, there were a couple of moments that bugged me, but they’re slight enough that I think we can just bypass them entirely!)

The true joy of the book, though, wasn’t its setting–it was the characters. People who’ve read my reviews for a while know that I’m a big fan of a good character, and Gwen and Art Are Not in Love gives you four of them. Gwen, Art, Bridget, and Gabriel are all such wonderfully nuanced characters, and watching them interact with each other at their different levels of relationship is so compelling. The dialogue between them is also so very well done; it feels very real and meaningful to the characters, while also doing the job of carrying the plot along, not just being dialogue for the sake of dialogue. (They also have loads of fun banter that I got an absolute kick out of.)

Overall, this was such a joyful book to read, and I already have it in my library’s shopping cart and my personal collection’s shopping cart as well. Fans of historical romance, queer romance, enemies/rivals to friends storylines, and Arthurian legend are sure to enjoy this book as well.

First, thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday books for a e-arc of this book for my honest reviews!
My main issue with the book is the pacing. It was kind of hard to get into. I really enjoyed the humor and banter between the characters in this book and loved that a character had my name lol!
Overall it was a very fun read with some minor pacing issues, but if you’re looking for a cutesy fantasy element read with some awesome queer rep I highly recommend this one!

This book is outside of my normal genres as I don't typically read/enjoy historical fiction, but when I read the description of this novel, I just knew I needed to read it. I'm so glad I tried to push myself into a new genre because this book was just phenomenal. It took me a bit to really get into it and the beginning felt very slow (hence my 4.5 star rating), but once I hit the 40% mark, I couldn't put it down! I loved all of our main characters and really felt their joys and their lows. In the end, I am happy to have read this book and hope to read more by the author.

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher was decent YA historical fantasy LGBT+ story, but it didn't quite work out for me as much as I was hoping. It's been compared to both A Knight's Tale and Heartstopper which are a couple of my favorite things, but this just didn't reach those kinds of heights for me. Plus, it's too long - it doesn't need to be over 400 pages. Of the characters, Bridget was easily my favorite. Finally, I also want to mention that if you're a fan of BBC's Merlin, you also might want to give it a try.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for access to this incredible eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Gwen and Art are named after the Guinevere and Arthur of old, but they are nothing like them. For one thing, they are both gay and definitely not in love with each other. For another thing, they both hate that they were named after such important people. And finally, they do not want to marry each other. But what can they do when Gwen’s father, the king, and Art’s father, an important ally to the kingdom are counting on them to solidify this alliance with their marriage?

They can pretend to go along with it while secretly pining over other people. That obviously can only go well for them. Or can it? Find out by reading Lex Croucher’s hilarious novel, Gwen and Art Are Not in Love!

This book is a lot of fun. The friendships and romances that take place are well built and there’s a lot of good character development around them. I didn’t expect all the twists and turns. The beginning was a little slow for me, but once the book got going, I was all in.

4 out of 5 stars

Just when you start to think that the trend of historical retelling books needs to stop, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love come along to show us that there is still so much potential for those types of story. With an engaging cast of characters, this book is a real page-turner that will make you smile and swoon plenty of times. This will cleary be on many lists of must-read queer books for years to come.

sapphic medieval rom com? say less.
this book was so so so fun. the main characters were delightful and it was a perfect light fun read

“Gwen and Art are Not in Love” was a cheesy adorable rewrite of. Classic tale incorporating LGBTQ+ characters into classic literature. At points, the language felt modern, which took me out of the medieval time period of the text.

As a high school teacher, I teach King Arthur and the knights of the round table as part of my curriculum. Using this as a paired text would show how the tales could be mixed or manipulated depending on the author’s purpose.

A special thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy, in exchange for a honest review!

If you like Merlin the show, or really any Arthur Pendragon / Merlin / Morgana themed stuff, you haaaave to pick up this book. This one was equal parts fun and vulnerability, and there were quite a few honest discussions on coming out as queer and living like that in a time period where that is considered treasonous - some of the discussions are downright therapeutic.

The plot twists at the ending, the war - I wasn't expecting it at all, but it did add a dramatic flourish to the book and made it even more complete.

TWs - homophobia (internal and external), misogyny, war, death, near-death

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I absolutely adored this story. It was so much fun to read. I'm going to be recommending it to all my friends and library patrons. I've already requested my library order this for our collection. I love that it wasn't an exact retelling of King Authur's love story, but wove lots of tidbits from that story into this one to make it a great historical queer romantic tale.

lverall, this author just created an amazing story that will be comforting to many of us, and that's exactly what our community needs.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

It was a fun, interesting take on the King Arthur legend but I found myself skimming the last 30-40% of the book.

This book had banter, witty sarcasm, LGBTQIA reps, and all around fun plot. The world building was different from anything I’ve really experienced recently. It was fun with the banter and the constant growth of the story as had you gripping onto something new. The dual POV was great as you had two stories in one and it was enjoyable to see two different romances but one evoking friendship. It was a slow start but the book was great!

This was so good! I went into this knowing nothing beyond it being a sapphic king Arthur retelling romance, and everything I learned as I read was amazing. Dual POV (Gwen and Art) and two romances in one book? Yes, please. The characters were amazing and so lovable, and I immediately fell in love with them and the story. I was hooked from the first chapter and did not want to put it down til I finished. Having both Gwen's and Art's POVs in this book also added so much to the story and the characters and it made it such a fun and heartwarming story. For example, seeing both Gwen's and Art's romances from their own perspectives, and seeing Gwen and Art's friendship evolve over the course of the book. I feel like a lot of the time, friendships are pushed aside in romance books, (which makes sense since the plot is romance, but still..) so one of my favorite parts of this book was how important Gwen and Art's friendship was to the story and to each of them. It's been a couple weeks since I read this book as I'm writing this review, and I am still thinking about it at least every other day. Highly, highly recommend to anyone looking for a fun, absolutely heartwarming LGBTQIA+ story about family, friends, love, duty, and taking risks.