4.5 ⭐️

oh gosh, this book ❤️‍🩹

We are talking about a YA coming of age novel where the characters arcs were beautifully written, the rep is *chef's kiss* and the setting could only be described as perfectly on point. Conversations were witty, funny and the friendships were so wholesome from minute one. But this is NOT a retelling. Or at least not a retelling of any well known stories (I am real bad with history, I'm sorry I can't be more precise).

Gwen and Art were a delight to read, their banter going from hate to that sort of friendship where you're like, ugh I hate them but I've grown attached, it was awesome.

Side characters were also a delight to read.
Sydney was funny as hell, fierce protector but also with a no bullshit policy. I wish we got to see more in detail him courting Agnes, that would have been so sweet.

Bridget was the kind of woman I wish more books had. She knew what she wanted, and she took it. She put herself first and foremost, and made sure everyone around her knew it.
Her relationship with Gwen was so sweet, because while Gwen was all gay panicking towards Bridget, she was being all serious but friendly not knowing what to expect out of their encounters.

Also, Gabriel? I love him, he is my baby, protect him at all costs 🥺. Poor boy struggles so much with the idea of being King, and not disappointing anyone and at the same time coping with all of it by spending time buried into books to the point of not sleeping.

The only thing I really wished we could have seen more of is the development of Art and Gabe's relationship. While Art was so sure about himself and his sexuality, por Gabriel struggled real hard with it, and, I know we could attribute the lack of Art's empathy to him having had his heart broken not long ago, but I wished there had been more moments of understanding between them.

It's such a thin line that in part I was like, good for Art for not wanting to meet people where they are because he's already there (as he says, it saves on the commute 😂) but I also hoped for him to be more lenient with Gabe 💔.

At the end of the day this book kind of felt like it lasted forever, because it kind of felt like it wanted to have equal parts romance and story but I never really got the full picture for either of them?
Like, it feels like so many key parts are missing from both the romance and the plot, but if they had been included the book would have lasted even longer.

Let us be honest, I wanted more romance than plot, but that was just my personal craving when I started the book, but it wasn't necessarily bad. The plot twist at the end tho, I really wasn't expecting things to go down the way that they did :')

I don't know what else to say, I really enjoyed my time with this book and laughed real hard while doing so.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to review this ahead of its release! As always all my opinions are my own, no matter the situation.

Thank you St. Martins Press, Wednesday Books for an advance readers copy of this book.

Gwen & Art <b> are not </b> in love. But they <b>are</b> in a mutually beneficial fake engagement. Being sworn to marry each other as babies, Gwen and Art are both distinctly unattracted and uninterested in each other. But after both of our protagonist learns the others secret they realize that this might work after all. Art covers his emotions with self deprecating humor, heavy drinking, and <b>shenanigans galore! </b> Gwen begins to allow herself to understand the feeling she gets every time she sees the only female knight, Bridget Leclair. Together Gwen and Art begin to unravel their truth, and with Gabriel's help, Gwens brother, they unravel the truth of the Knights of the Round Table.

All good things must come to an end and this ending felt almost like a whole other book. In this regard I wish it was longer. The last climax was strong as it stood but it felt a bit off from the rest of the book. We spend so much time in an easy banter (loved that) then when everything got serious I wish we had had more of the court politics and military going ons throughout. Our protagonist were just as magnetic in those moments and I think this was a bit of a weak point.

Rom-com meets historical fiction, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is going to be a huge hit this fall. Gwen, Art, Gabriel, Sidney, and Bridget were an outstanding cast of characters who make you feel like part of the family. You feel all the emotions written in these page and I found myself easily caught up in the story. An easy recommendation for my romance lovers, but I also highly recommend it to my romance shy readers.

<I>An unputdownable debut that will wrap you up in a warm embrace of found family, finding your truth, and self-love. </I>

All I needed to be sold on this book was Camelot, but make it gay. From the day it was announced, I checked on NetGalley every day hoping to get an advance copy, because I could not wait until NOVEMBER to read it.

So it hurts to be disappointed by it. It felt like Lex Croucher did the exact same thing I did: Camelot, but make it gay, and nothing else matters. The plots about Gwen and Bridget & Arthur and Gabe were really fun to read, and I loved watching them all come together. (+10 points for all things Sidney).

But there's a background plot that comes to take over the whole book and it's poorly set up and poorly carried out, and just felt unnecessary. You don't need a larger plot in order to make this story feel Arthurian. Or groups of cultists or those that worship Morgan le Fay (and I say this as someone who has a Morgan le Fay tattoo).

There's a good amount of social commentary, especially about gender, sexuality and class. And there's a cringe-worthy stand in for Christian extremists. These were so obvious and heavy handed that it was more of a disappointment than a good lesson learned.

There's also very awkward use of modern slang/memes, and an extremely confusing world where the characters live. And there's no explanation for why Bridget is interested in Gwen, which at least in the beginning stages, makes no sense. And the second half drags on and on.

I'm ultimately confused about what this book was trying to do. Was it a coming of age love story? Social commentary? A fight over power and family expectation? A court politics fight? It did all of those things a little, leading it to do nothing good enough.

3.5/5

This was a really cute story! I’m gonna be honest, I thought I was going to hate Art because he was annoying but I ended up really loving him. I loved all of of the main characters so much and by the end, I wanted to see all of their happy endings and beyond. My one critique is that I feel like we could have gone deeper into the whole Arthurian history storyline. I felt like the author was leading us to the next King Arthur but then it just never happened. I feel like this story could have been written without anything about Arthur and it wouldn’t have changed much. But I loved it nonetheless!

This was fun. I was thrown off at first by the fact that the characters spoke like completely modern people, and by the lack of parallels to the traditional story. But eventually I surrendered to the fact that I couldn't place the story in any specific time period or find parallels. I enjoyed seeing all the relationships develop and got more into it when the political issues, which had been in the background, came to a head.

This book has everything! So much queerness! Multiple love stories, battles, angst, possibly magic, darkness, actually funny jokes, snappy dialogue, messy characters that grow into better selves, political intrigue, a thrilling ending! Gwen and Art might not be in love with each other, but *I* am in love with all of the main characters. My only complaint is that the pacing dragged in a few places, but the last 30% of the book absolutely flew by. Overall, this was a LOT of fun. <3

“A Knight’s Tale, but make it queer.” If you heard that sentence, knocked over your pint of ale in excitement, and demanded of your trusty companion, “who do I have to joust to read THAT?” then this is the book for you!

Yes, okay, I LOVED it.

(1) The perfect amount of historical (in)accuracy, especially for YA. When people are like “you have to know the rule book before you can throw it out”… well I don’t think that’s necessarily true but I do think you need to know the *history* book before you can throw it out and this author absolutely does. Ngl I saw her previous books and was like “oh god, somebody else writing unrealistic under-researched Regency romance? Just throw ‘em on the pile I guess.” And now I have to go pull ‘em OUT of the metaphorical pile so I can read them because clearly this author knows what she’s doing! And this is the kind of book where you can tell you’re just getting a snapshot - there’s so much more that you just get to see the edges of. Which is WILDly impressive to pull off in this almost theme-park-medieval tone.

(2) I want to say specifically that this book’s plot? Genius. Just… reeling me in like a fish! I NEEDED to know what was going to happen. And it works because there are four main characters and a bunch of others and yet they all feel so sharply drawn, like all the author had to do once she’d figured them out was toss them in the same setting and then take notes as incredibly compelling chaos ensued.

(3) I mean, Gwen & Art & Bridget & Gabriel… lovable, bad decision-making teenagers, all of them! There was a moment maybe two-thirds of the way through where Gwen was the emotionally perceptive one and I literally laughed out loud in astonishment and delight.

Just… Ah! How is this book so GOOD?! Look it starts strong, ends strong, and is also strong in all the parts in the middle. Did I mention the plot??? I was on the edge of my seat needing to know what was going to happen with the cultists and Art’s dad, I just KNEW there was something brewing and I was so stressed and yet somehow it all worked out happily but sadly but perfectly??

Easily 5 stars. I loved this book.

Lex Croucher writes in a way that immediately drags you into the world and the story. The writing had me actually grinning many times, and I had to reread a few lines because they were so clever (most of these lines belonged to Arthur, who turned out to be my favorite). I didn't even know I could love grumpy x sunshine in a friendship but I do wholeheartedly and need more.

This book was sweet, funny, witty, and with just the right amount of pining/angst. I loved the growth of all the characters as they discovered and accepted truths about themselves. Even the "side" characters were fully fleshed out and lovely.

I thought this book was longer than it needed to be, but at the same time I can't think of anything that could've been cut or any scene that I didn't absolutely enjoy. The writing was that good. I'll definitely pick up anything Lex Croucher writes in the future. PLEASE ADD THIS TO YOUR TBR.

“To be truly brave, first you must be afraid—and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.”

Fun fact:
I LOVE historical comedies.
And when I say “historical comedy,” I don’t mean a comedy that was written in times past (although, Pride and Prejudice can GET IT). I mean, hand a classic IP to a queer Zoomer who majored in English Lit and minored in History and tell them to make it funny.

I have no idea if Croucher’s credentials meet those specifications, but either way, it appears she’s up to the task.

H o w e v e r
Side effects of reading this may include:
- Giggling in the dead of night like a deranged schoolgirl
- Sapphic panic
- Long-suffering sighs
- Emotional damage
- Existential dread
No, you didn’t misread those last two. No, I’m not reviewing the wrong book.

For a purportedly wholesome, Arthurian-derived YA… this got quite a bit more grisly and emotionally harrowing than I expected. In fact, the more I read, the more often I had to remind myself that this wasn’t written by Madeline Miller and therefore (probably) wouldn’t end in tragedy and buried gays.
(I wish I could say I’m kidding)

*Content warnings incoming*
Of course, there’s homophobia: internalized, externalized, internalized turned INTO externalized. I wouldn’t say that it was unexpected, given that homophobia is a staple of queer literature, but I will admit to finding it inexplicably heartbreaking here.
Then there’s the whole “we can only ever be each other’s dirty little secret” conflict. Which, again, not unexpected… but still hurt a surprising amount?
There’s also some pretty graphic injury and violence present. Plus multiple major-character death scares. And a coup culminating in several gruesome battle chapters, the death of a parent, and lifelong disability.
*Content warnings concluded*

I wouldn’t say any of it was handled poorly. I wouldn’t even say that it ought to be tempered or taken out.
I just wish I had a little more… I don’t know… warning? Transparency about what I was getting myself into? As much as I prefer cozy fiction, I can handle heavier material. I promise. I just need a chance to prepare myself first.

I’m not quite sure if the problem here is misguided subversive advertising or a lack of self-awareness. Maybe it’s neither. For all I know, the tonal bait-and-switch might’ve impressed some readers. But the only experience I can speak to is my own, and personally, I felt a little blindsided.

That said, I still enjoyed GAAANIL. I wouldn’t have minded more than two short aftermath chapters, but then again, I’m just happy it ended on an optimistic note.

3.75 stars

THIS IS NOT A RETELLING!
You’re going to see the tile and think oh they’ve retold the story of Arthur and Guinevere and I can assure you that’s not what this is.
This is a story about Gwen (Gwendolyn) and Art (Arthur) and it’s about friendship, coming into your own, love, fear and the occasional battle. I really enjoyed this book and all the characters that were introduced. It’s on the longer side but it keeps you coming back for more and the last 10 chapters or so are great.
The cover drew me in and the characters made me stay, I laughed and felt their struggle as the chapters went on. Would love to see what they’re up to now story down the line.

This book is kind of weird. I felt bad for thinking that as I read it, then I read the acknowledgements and in the first paragraph the author says it’s kind of a weird book! So, we would probably get along. It is a delightful weird. I haven’t read a lot of fiction related to Arthurian legends, but this feels like a unique take and that is always appreciated.

The absolute best part of the story is Arthur. Many of us have Arthurs in our lives. They are vastly underappreciated. Poor decision-making skills, but a wealth of love, kindness, and compassion. Improbably wise when it comes to others and yet no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Without them, you yourself would be a much lesser person. The second-best part of the story is Sidney, his personal guard. Suffice it to say, without Arthur and Sidney, there would be no “com” in this rom-com.

Gwen’s personality was a zero for me in the beginning. Towards the end I was cheering her on, so the character development is there. Her friendship with Arthur by the end is absolutely heart-warming. The rest of the characters were flat. Part of the problem is that the world is underdeveloped. There are constant mentions of the city, the country, the past, the kingdom, the king and queen, politics, but nothing is ever fleshed out or elaborated on. It was really jarring and threw me out of the story more than once.

Then, out of nowhere, we have sudden deadly conflict raging all about. So very slow in the beginning with a rushed finish. The end made sense, though, and allowed the characters to realistically address the problems in their lives without referring to magical solutions. Overall, while a lovely story, the mostly lackluster characters and scanty world building makes this a 3/5 for me.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A fun YA historical romance that, as another review promised, is not a retelling. This was a bit denser and longer than I expected, especially for what I thought was a YA rom com--probably because it's trying to swing two romances and some side plots all at once, with the end result that none of the plot lines or relationships was fleshed out quite as much as I would have liked. But this was a fun and enjoyable read overall, and I really loved how the friendship developed between Gwen and Arthur.

Betrothed since birth, Gwen and Arthur have loathed each other from a young age. Now blossoming into young adults, their wedding is on the horizon and they have no choice but to spend the summer with each other in Camelot. But when Gwen catches Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur uncovers Gwen's secret crush on a female knight, they decide on a reluctant truce. Now friends rather than enemies they must pretend to fall in love with each other to hide their secrets from the rest of the world. As Gwen falls harder for her knight and Arthur's eye catches on the Crown Prince, they find themselves increasingly caught up in affairs much bigger than themselves. Will they be doomed to hide their true selves forever or will true love win after all?

Perfect for fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue and So This is Ever After, Gwen and Art Are Not in Love was a hilarious romcom that is hard to put down. The characters were full of life and easy to love. I also really appreciated the platonic dynamic between Gwen and Arthur. Their enemies turned friends relationship amounted to light-hearted teasing that made them a joy to read. I would happily read another book about all the shenanigans those two could get up to. I believe that their relationship was the highlight of the book, which was unfortunate for a book with so many different relationships and dynamics. I found the romances to be a bit lackluster and underdeveloped, amounting to an incredibly rushed ending. The journey was much more satisfying than its ending. However, I would heartily recommend this to any readers looking for a good time. Despite the shortcomings, the book was such a joy to read and would satisfy many, I believe. While it may not change your life, it will certainly make you laugh and smile throughout its duration and sometimes that is enough.

“They think the first sign of civilization was a broken femur…Because it’s a bad break. It doesn’t heal by itself. Other people have to care about you…They have to make sacrifices that make absolutely no logical sense for their own survival. They have to defy all rationality, in the name of love.”

Oh, Arthur, my sweet, sappy, dramatic child. Watching his frenemy relationship with Gwen turn into a real friendship was super endearing. It was cool the way the author subverted the typical fake dating trope by using it as a set up for our main two characters to work through their childhood squabbles and help each other with their actual love interests. That being said, I think there’s a heavier focus on the developing friendship with Art and Gwen, than development of the romance, but it’s nice that characters do acknowledge that they don’t know each other as well as they hope to (No insta-love). Also on the platonic relationship front, Sidney is a character so hilarious that I wish I could pluck him out of this world and drop him into the background of every book I read from here out.

In terms of pacing, the first hundred pages are a little slow going, but still offer a lot of interesting world-building and set up the ending conflict really well. The last half of the book speeds up dramatically, and it’s super exciting to see the Chekhov’s gun (or Chekhov’s letter in this case) that the author planted early on go off so suddenly! One of my favorite parts of the story was actually afterwards, realizing that a lot of the “throwaway” jokes foreshadowed the dramatic turn as well.


My only critique is that there’s a few parts that don’t end up feeling fleshed out—like it’s suggested that Gabriel actually had a crush on Art when they were growing up. Similarly, Gwen had a crush on Bridget before the novel began, but they only brush on this subject in two lines of dialogue with Art and Gabriel, before moving on. Whereas, it was a key point for Gwen’s motivations in the novel from the opening line. Basically I was left with a lot of questions—When did Gabriel realize he was queer? What was his relationship with Art like before this Summer? It’s also mentioned that both Bridget and Art had bad breakups. Gwen and Bridget have a conversation about how this is affecting Bridget’s perspective on their relationship, but Art and Gabriel never share this level of emotional intimacy on the subject. Same issue with Art’s abusive father—while Art opens up with Gwen about his father’s cruelty, we only get a scene with Gabriel asking something to the effect of, “Who made you feel this way about yourself?” He never receives an answer, and it’s never brought up again, likely because it would’ve affected a miscommunication plot later, but still. I think if we were allowed to sit in certain scenes longer before characters were running off or being called away, the romances would feel a bit more fleshed out. Although, I think it speaks to how interesting the characters are that I’m just left wanting to know more about them!

Overall, the novel really does deliver what it promised—a cute, queer medieval romance with a deadly twist. I can only hope that we get more stories in this world!

I loved this book! Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a historical fiction rom-com, which means a few things: one, it’s not a retelling of Arthurian myth, but a story that *could* have happened several hundred years later, when everyone’s pretty sure all the magic stuff was made-up but still feel like they should worship the Arthurian ideal. It pulls a lot from our world’s history: there’s realistic sexism and homophobia, but also realistic diversity. Also, without spoiling anything, people don’t just magically heal from their wounds, which was a choice I liked.

But because it’s a rom-com, it’s not *entirely* realistic, not a super-serious historical drama where they use anything close to Olde English or speak like actors at a ren faire. The dialogue is anachronistic, which will probably bother the people who didn’t like the new Willow TV show, but those people have bad taste anyway (I kid, but also, Willow is great.) Yes, this is a great story about how sometimes history is different than the way people like to tell it, and it’s also a story that makes a Riverdale reference in the first ten pages. Both things can be true!

I think the Heartstopper comparisons are pretty accurate (saying this as someone who’s only watched the show, not read the comics), although honestly I enjoyed this more than Heartstopper. This is a story about 17-19 year olds just sort of figuring everything out, a coming-of-age-story that also happens to involve swords and castles and mysterious plots.

The ending did feel a bit abrupt, but I’m hoping that just means there’s room for a sequel (she says hopefully)?

I definitely would recommend this book—thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read and review this ARC!

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a YA Novel like no other, from funny characters, diverse characters, LGBTQ+ characters, a cat, birds, knights, and references to a gay Arthur and Lancelot; everything you need to experience joy is in this book!
From the start, you have Arthur, who seems somewhat of an asshole. Still, as time went on I ended up loving him because even if he can be stupid and mean sometimes, he truly wants the best for people and has the funniest dialogue, I would recommend reading this book just for his character. Gwen was adorable and seeing her find her confidence and find friends and want friends was amazing to see, also her being cheered by Arthur was one of the most precious things I have read. Bridget was such a fun character and I loved how stoic she was versus Gwen, I also liked how she and Gwen compromised on their relationship and allowed Bridegt to follow her passions and not just remain miserable, also a female knight will always be good, especially against men.
Gabriel's journey was also as endearing seeing him come into himself and learn he can be himself and have good opinions made me ecstatic to see his development, his relationship with Arthur was also very adorable, and happy to see how Gabriel went from reluctant running away to fully being in a relationship with Arthur.
Overall this book was just so adorable and very funny, a joy to read. I would definitely recommend this book if you wanted a cute, funny, LGBTQ+ book to read with characters you can't help but wish the best for.

3.5⭐️
A queer YA Arthurian retelling romcom, sign me up!
I really enjoyed the first 1/3 of the story, the banter between Gwen and Arthur is so fun and is really the highlight of the book. Although they weren’t the romantic focus of the book I really loved watching their relationship flourish from enemies to friends.
I enjoyed both romances, Gwen and Bridget’s story was so fun. The hero knight with the betrothed princes but make it sapphic! Art and Gabriel’s story was more fraught as Gabriel is dealing with the pressure of being a king and becoming comfortable with his sexuality out in the public.
The side characters in this story were great too, it made for a great found family trope. I just wish we could have gotten to know the characters a little more outside their relationship with the main group (maybe a Sidney and Agnes spin off???)
My main issue with the book was that it was a little too long for what it is. It takes a long time to get to the nitty gritty of the story and by the last 1/4 of the book it goes into another direction away from the fun/soft YA romcom it was supposed to be.

Not what I expected at all... I usually love books like this but I could not get into this one for the life of me. Not up my alley at all. . 0 Stars for me, sorry. :/

Thank you NetGalley for an arc in exchange for a free and honest review.

What I disliked (because there’s not much)
the pacing was very slow in the beginning and around the 60%. It felt awkward reading during those times because the character’s banter also became different for whatever reason.
The ending. This ending came so quickly and felt rush. I’m not gonna say much because this is an arc, but the resolution came really fast as well. I think if the author wrote more for the ending, then I would be satisfied
Idk if this is a series or not. The ending felt incomplete, but I still had questions.
(This isn’t being published in the UK until May, so I’m sure this all will be resolved by then)

What I liked
Platonic Relationships. Gwen and Art’s relationship is developed before any of the romantic relationships are. I never see this romance, but when I do it’s very refreshing.
The romance. Gwen and Bridget are adorable. There’s a scene where they spare together. I also enjoy how Bridget keeps her own interest while dating Gwen. Arthur and Gabriel were just as enjoyable. There’s a library scene when Gabriel is telling Arthur about the history of Camelot and Ik I made that sound boring, but it was adorable
Coming of age. I appreciate how Gwen came to terms with being a lesbian, by talking to other LGBT characters (Arthur and Bridget). Gabriel was the same, but with Arthur and Gwen. I simply appreciate it when queer characters come to terms with that with the help of other queer characters.

So this book is being released on November 28th in the US and I would highly recommend it.

Representation: lesbian mc and love interest, gay mc and love interest, Bridget is Thai, and Arthur is half Iranian.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

Heartstopper meets A Knight's Tale is an excellent description of this. The blend of modern and medieval requires some suspension of disbelief to really enjoy what's happening. A younger audience might enjoy this more, but I found Gwen and her brother Gabriel unlikeable and unchanging throughout the book. Art and Sidney are the best part, providing comic relief and the only sane perspective of gender and sexuality. I would rate it higher because the central message is important, but I don't know if I really enjoyed reading it. It's a very slow start with none of the characters really being likable. It does pick up eventually with an exciting ending, but it felt too long without any real character growth except for Art.