I have always enjoyed the medieval tales especially Arthur and his knights.
The characters in this are so fun and really well written. They are also so relatable, which makes the book and storylines even better. The inter This book was good but it did take a moment to catch my interest. The plot is about a heist but the book mainly focuses on relationships and friendships. There was a twist ending which I wasn’t expecting and was so refreshing. The point of view was split three ways, which is not typically something I enjoy!- but for the premise of the story it worked really well! The Internalized homophobia was heartbreaking and again well tackled for a fun book like this. Honestly this has everything that you would expect from a medieval book from sword fights to magic all with representation. I don’t have a bad thing to say about this book!

Cute medieval YA rom com. Fun cast of characters you can’t help but root for, witty banter, enemies to friends, some first loves, and a lot of self discovery. Enjoyed the story - though it’s less about the plot and more about getting to know the characters and them figuring out who they are and what they want.

Thanks to Net Galley for the audiobook.

𝐆𝐰𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 (PUB 11.28) is billed as "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." That's pretty spot on.

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃: Concurrently in print and on audio.

It was a fun, historical romp about love and friendship. The characters were endearing and relatable. I loved lady knight Bridget Leclair (Brienne of Tarth vibe) but Arthur really stole the show. I appreciated the new twist on a well-known medieval
tale.

I'm not sure if it was the timing or me as a reader, but I found myself bored off and on throughout. At nearly 400 pages it was just too long. I kept waiting for a bigger hook that never materialized.

I enjoyed this one but the pacing was so slow that I kept drifting away. Gwen and Arthur (who are both annoyed by their names) have been betrothed to one another since they were children. They never really got off on the right foot and have been antagonistic toward the other for years. Now, Arthur is brought to be a guest in their kingdom and a date is set for their wedding.

But.

Arthur is really more interested in Gwen's brother Gabriel. Gwen has her eyes on a lady knight named Bridget Leclair.

I thought the end of the book was so action packed that it felt like a different book. I wish it had kept that energy all the way through. I liked all of the characters and thought they were all very interesting but thought they could have been running around so much more to solve the mysteries of what was happening around the castle than everything being a surprise in the end.

I'm not familiar with these narrators Alex Singh and Sarah Ovens. I thought Sarah was excellent at portraying a completely exasperated woman who is going to get things done whether she has permission to or not. Alex was a perfect Arthur who was a good time guy who was going to do whatever he wanted and hope for the best.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gwen and Art start out as some of the most unlikeable characters I’ve ever encountered. Truly, they were both just awful- and most of the others were too! But the pair of them were so insanely self centered and self absorbed I had a brief moment of panic that this book wasn’t going to be for me. Thankfully, they begin to grow quickly, and become absolutely love able. This book was a (mostly) cute reimagining of medieval Arthurian legend and how that might’ve played out in an alternative timeline. There were some rather dark and heavy elements so please be sure to check any TW- namely for death, abuse, injury, war, homophobia, self harm (emotional), and forced compliance. Overall this was a good read and I enjoyed the story.

I received both a digital and audio copy of this book.

I’ve always been fascinated by Camelot and King Arthur retellings. So when you say Camelot but make it gay, I’m 100% in. This story didn’t disappoint. The portrayal of internalized homophobia was very well done. The deception by some of the court officials was very shocking to me. I also loved the portrayal of gender roles, the weakness of women, and women only being welcome for producing heirs; watching our main cast of friends crush a lot of these expectations was wonderful. Finally, the audio narration was wonderful. I loved that we had a narration for each POV.

As a long time lover of all things Arthurian, this was such a treasure!

While it certainly had a comedic element, the stakes were HIGH and the characters had real risks even though they were young. It had a little something for everyone- Romance, battle, humor, and dynamic LGBTQ+ representation.

I think it was a refreshing new take on old English historical fiction that was both relevant and true to form

I found this queer tale of love and friendship set in medieval Camelot to be hilariously irreverent, absolutely delightful, and rather insightful. Hundreds of years after King Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere’s time, the current king of England is trying to keep the peace between the cultists and Catholics by reigning from Camelot. It’s summer; the annual tournament is underway (picture A Knight’s Tale or the jousts at a Renaissance festival); and this is the year the king’s daughter, Gwendoline, is set to marry her longtime betrothed, Arthur. But, well, Arthur and Gwen do not so much like each other, you see. Gwen and Art are not in love.

As the two are forced to spend time together, they realize that in some ways they have more in common than expected, and they come to care for each other as friends. Gwen has fallen in love with the lone female knight in the competition, Bridget Leclair, and Arthur? He has eyes for Gwen’s brother, the king-to-be, Gabriel.

So, while this is a love story, it has a major focus on friendships and the importance of acceptance. Arthur, despite his cheekiness, antics, and merrymaking, turns out to be quite perceptive when it comes to Gwen and what she is going through. I ended up finding Arthur and his man, Sidney, to be endearing. There are some fun animals friends full of personality. And this is a time of political unrest, so expect to see some scheming and clashing of swords along the way as well.

The Dual POV audiobook is performed by two narrators. Alex Singh and Sarah Ovens kept me grinning throughout the story. The audiobook is especially fun.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

This was a fun romp through a scantily imagined medieval England where a group of queer teenagers discover themselves and fall in love against the backdrop of veiled political turbulence. This book is really split into two parts for me, and I'm not sure the parts work well together. The first 70-80% of the book is very slow-paced, light-hearted, very YA, super witty, and extremely light on plot-- it's really a story of a trio of cute romantic entanglements. The last 20-30% of the book is suddenly violent and rushed, and it felt awkwardly heavy after the silly nature of the rest of the book. The violence that got us to the outcome felt borne of convenience-- like the author simply couldn't see another way to give our characters the happy ending they were clearly going to get from the beginning, and it left me feeling off. I read much darker and more violent books than this, but it just felt jarring and out of place at the end of this story, and I don't think it was handled realistically or with the weight some of the events deserved.

Things that worked for me: Arthur's wit is unstoppable, and I would have likely DNFed this without him. His personality feels so well-realized, and it made my heart hurt when he used jokes and fake confidence to mask his trauma. Art and his loyal sidekick Sidney are genuinely fantastic characters, and their messarounds were the highlight of the book. This left me craving more of their silly antics and their unspoken loyalty to one another, and I would gladly read a whole book about their skulduggery.

Things that didn't work for me: Gwen and Gabe were dull dull dull, and it made their romances feel empty despite Arthur and Bridget being much more likable characters. Speaking of their relationships, they simply weren't given nearly enough page time to grow or feel as deep as the characters acted like the were-- they were simply not convincing. I wasn't even sure that any of them LIKED each other (aside from Gwen clearly being infatuated with Bridget). I also think trying to manage three new relationships in one relatively short book may have been too ambitious and left each of them lacking.

Overall, if you're looking for queer rep, genuinely fun banter, and don't mind interrupting your YA romance with a bit of serious violence, this is probably a good fit. If you're looking for strong world-building, big feelings, convincing relationships, or a fully light-hearted read, this may not be for you.

The narrator was delightful.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this audiobook ARC.

I loved this! I will admit that I did not enjoy Infamous, so I was really hoping that this story would be as good as the description, and it absolutely was. Alex Singh and Sarah Ovens are both great narrators but Alex hits the perfect tone for Arthur as a lovable twat. This was everything I wanted and I grew to love all the characters and the little found family that emerged. I will absolutely try to get everyone I can to read this one! Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

*Content warning for death of a family member*

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

Arthur Pendragon, descendant of the famous King, and Princess Gwendoline have known that they are betrothed for as long as they can remember, but have hated each other for just as long. They are very much not in love, but go along with the time they are forced to spend together each summer, during the Tourney Season, to save the peace. But this year is different. They are told that their marriage will take place at the end of the summer, just when both are starting to develop feelings. But not for each other. No, Gwen is drawn to the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair, and Arthur finds himself thinking about Gwen's brother, Prince Gabriel. No, Gwen and Art are not in love, but that doesn't mean they can't be happy, right?

I was drawn to this book by the title and synopsis, so requested it as soon as I saw there was a UK publisher. Then I realised that I had read the author's adult debut, and hated it, so was a little apprehensive about reading their YA novel. So, I put off reading Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, for a while, but in a way I'm glad I did, as I found myself enjoying it much more than I expected. Firstly, this is not a book for people who want historical accuracy. In the years following King Arthur's reign, England has been split into cultists and non-cultists, and after fighting the Vikings (I think this book is set around the time of the real Norman invasion), Gwendoline's father is proclaimed king, and decamps the royal court to the ageing Camelot. I liked seeing the way that world building was interwoven in this book, with some real aspects standing side by side with fantasy. All of the main characters were great, though Art got a little grating at times with how blasé he could be. Even so, the camaraderie between them all was great, especially once the drama and action increased. I found myself needing to devour the last third of the book in one sitting, because it became too exciting and fraught with danger and intrigue, that I needed to see if our heroes managed to make it out alive. Definitely a fun read, though one you need to go into expecting it to be more fantasy than historical.

4.5*s

I really enjoyed this book, which isn't particularly surprising as I've enjoyed everything I've read by Lex Croucher so far. Their style is so charming- clever and a little goofy. Gwen's crush was super cute and sweet. The relationship between Gwen and Art was also a high point for me. We love a betrothed-against-their-will to co-conspirators to {spoiler} arc.

The readers of the audiobook added immensely to my enjoyment. Alex Singh and Sarah Ovens conveyed the humor so well and tbh I just really liked listening to their voices.

This is a good pick if you like: queer found family, clever teen romance, lady knights, and gentle boys who tend to baby birds. Pretty light on the Arthurian legend bit, but that wasn't why I was interested in the book.

Very grateful to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the early copy.

Gwen and Art are Not In Love by Lex Croucher - Releasing November 28, 2023 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

I’m loving my YA picks recently! This book is full of the best things—self discovery, betrayal, jousts, and queer romance—but it particularly shines in its depiction of friendship. I absolutely loved the dynamics among the characters, and Gwen’s birthday scene was one of my absolute favorites.

Gwen and Art (subtly named for King Arthur and Guinevere) have been destined to marry since childhood. The only problem? They hate each other. Things change when Gwen catches Art kissing a boy who works in the castle, and Art finds out about Gwen’s crush on a lady-knight. Reluctantly, they decide to work together to cover for each other, and shenanigans ensue.

The audiobook was SUCH a good time! I will say, I felt the narration of Arthur’s character, while hilarious, made him seem a bit more juvenile than he really was. Beyond the bravado and tone, Arthur has real depth.

For my language friends—this one is full of out-of-place modern turns of phrase, so if that annoys you, consider this a heads up. Honestly, though, the overall tone is so lighthearted and fun that it didn’t bother me at all. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Camelot!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

"To be truly brave, first you must be afraid - and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose"

My goodness I loved this book! I'll take a queer retelling basically any day of the week but this was delightful - Gwen and Art are betrothed from a young age and spend their summers together...but they don't like each other very much. In fact, one of their summers is so disastrous that they are separated for a few years. Until Arthur's father decides to send him back to Camelot because it's time for Gwen and Art to finally get married. Through their time spent together, they become friends though have 0 romantic inclinations towards each other. Gwen has had a crush on female knight, Bridget, for years. And Art finds himself drawn to Gwen's brother, Gabriel.

I will say there is definitely a bit of a tone change in the last 30% of this book - very much turned to a coup/battle situation which contrasts with the rest of the book but I think in a way that really worked! We needed those higher stakes at the end so we could believe in the HEA. The beginning of this book is very soft as we get to know the characters and their motivations.

I loved the dual narration and thought it brought a lot to the story. Both narrators had distinct voices - the male narrator did speak a bit quicker than the female narrator which was initially a struggle for me at my typical 2.5x listening speed, but I slowed it down to 2x and it worked well.

I actually think where this book shines most is in it's platonic relationships - particularly the relationships between Art and Sidney and Gwen and Agnes. Both relationships are incredibly supportive and have just as much weight for me here as the romantic relationships (which I also loved!).

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Like with all Lex's work, this book is remarkable and touching - both hilarious and made me openly weep. Her work is flawless and I loved the narrator for Gwen, but the narrator for Art absolutely sounded like he was reading it to a child and during the gory scenes it was a bit discordant.

I absolutely adored this audiobook. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in this kind of fun historical fiction and anybody who wants fun queer representation.

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

Gwen & Art are not 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.

The audiobook was an emersive expereince that stayed true to the characters. After reading the book physically, getting to listen to the audiobook was such a great way to reread the book. I felt fully emersed in the story and the narration added more emotion to the story then I had first interpreted. A great way to consume the story!

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

This is the second Lex Croucher I've read, and this was just as enjoyable as the last! While I grew out of most young adult books, I enjoyed Gwen & Art Are Not in Love. Croucher has a way of writing historical fiction that feels rooted in the time yet modern in sensibilities. I felt so attached to these characters and wish I had more time with them.

Destined to be wed almost since birth, Gwen and Art barely speak to each other, don't get along, and they're definitely not in love. Since Gwen likes girls and Art likes boys, they will NEVER be in love. Told in Gwen & Art's alternating perspectives, this YA medieval romcom explores falling in love, unexpected alliances, and the weight of feeling like your whole life has been planned without your consent. Through the course of a summer, Gwen and Art build an unlikely and unusual friendship. As they deal with the burden of their upcoming wedding, they each toy with the possibility of being themselves and loving who they want to love. Humorous and heartwarming, readers will without a doubt swoon for the characters and fall in love with debut author Lex Croucher. Excellent and captivating narration.

This was almost nothing like what I expected, but that's not a bad thing.

I went into this expecting basically a romcom where Gwen and Arthur barely interacted except to realize "oh, I'm gay" and then to hate each other. I wasn't expecting their platonic relationship and Arthur's platonic relationship with Sidney to be at the forefront of the book. In fact, I think that romance was ultimately just a side plot to self-discovery, friendship, politics, and fun medieval stories.

I had also completely forgotten that these are not the Gwen and Arthur of old... even if they are in Camelot and all somewhat distantly related to King Arthur. It made for fun comedy bits that I really appreciated.

All of the characters had pretty well developed personalities, the plot was good, and there was enough action to give it just a little extra something. The audiobook narrators were great, and brought a lot of humor to Art and Gwen, which I really appreciated.

A little cheesy? Sure! But also very cute and a well-developed standalone.