This book was hilarious!
I loved how there was a good balance between being serious and funny, it meshed so well with the story I finished it in one night.
I highly highly recommend to anyone, it's YA but I feel like everyone would enjoy it!

4.5!!

Just when I thought I was losing interest in/outgrowing YA, I was proven so very wrong. I should’ve known. Lex Croucher excels in these hilarious and adventurous YA novels. They know how to send you on a romp!! With a knack for drawing you into their carefully crafted, action-packed worlds with loads of humor and irresistibly charming characters to boot (I’m pretty sure I’ve used the word “charming” in all of my reviews of Croucher’s books, but what can I say? They know how to charm me.)

Here, a cheery, amiable healer, Clem, (who takes rather well to being kidnapped) embraces a group of the Merry Men (her kidnapees), captained by Mariel, Robin Hood’s granddaughter. Mariel’s band of “Men” ranges from a tiny, prickly curmudgeon to the hulking embodiment of sunshine. This ragtag group finds themselves in a bit over their heads when missions go haywire but vows to embody everything they know the Merry Men to be. Though the mission statement seems to have faltered recently, Mariel is doggedly determined to abide by the new rules set by her father, the Merry Men’s leader. Their group has to decide whether they’ll follow these new commands or their own hearts and instincts. The found family aspect is wonderful and made even better by the fact that ~everyone~ is queer.

I think it could have been even better with a bit different pacing and more development/buildup for the main relationship but overall, I was thoroughly entertained. The humor and loveable characters are the stars of the show for me.

In short: it’s good!! I’m not the least bit surprised. Lex Croucher, you will always be famous.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect. A perfect book. Everything you could possibly want from queer fantasy, queer romance, YA, and a story set in the Robin Hood universe. (Not a retelling!) This is Lex Croucher at her absolute best. Everything wonderful about Infamous AND Gwen & Art Are Not in Love — and also, just, more. It's got all the classic Croucher Queer Found Family feelings. It's a swoony, pining romance with one prickly heroine and her counterpart who gives just as good as she gets, even though she's the sunshine half of the pairing. Deeply engaging voice, sparkling dialogue, so much hilarity. There's villains you're not expecting, heroes you wouldn't guess, and none of them are pure evil or squeaky clean. I have loved so many 0f Croucher's queer characters over the years, but Clem is my hands-down favorite. She's so competent and confident and sweet, even though she's got major PTSD. She's so funny. And, wow, so many lovable gay idiots! Also, Lex Croucher is three for three on making me yell out loud at her heroines at least once per book. I'm gonna turn right around and read this again. I've been waiting for this novel since I saw Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves at a middle school sleepover and all my friends wanted to be Maid Marian so Kevin Costner would fall in love with them, and I wanted to be Kevin Costner so Marian would fall in love with me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.

The Merry Men are not so merry anymore. Robin Hood and Will Scarlet are grandfathers and have retired to France. Robin’s son-in-law, Jack Hartley, took over as commander of the Merry Men. He formed them into companies and appointed captains. They are more efficient fighters, but they have lost what made them beloved by the people, focused more on securing territory and battling the sheriff’s men than helping the poor and downtrodden. They rally villagers to fight beside them against the sheriff’s tyranny but when they move on, there is no one to protect the villagers from the sheriff’s retribution.

Mariel Hartley-Hood, the daughter of Regan Hood and Jack Hartley, is a captain and has her own company of Merry Men (and women). However, she is only a teenager and does not have the respect of some of the other captains. She also has a personal vendetta with Frederic, the sheriff’s son, which annoys some of the other captains, who believe her vendetta clouds her judgment. More problematic for Mariel is that what she most wants are respect and admiration from her father, which she cannot obtain; her achievements are never good enough and her mistakes are magnified. Her mother has parted ways with the Merry Men; she still visits at times, but she and Jack disagreed about how the Merry Men should operate.

Clemence (Clem) is an apprentice healer, and has been experimenting, with some success, with new and better ways of treating illnesses and injuries. When the Merry Men show up to kidnap Rosie, the village healer and Clem’s mentor, Clem offers to take her place. She is surprised and dismayed that the Merry Men are not like the old stories, and even more disappointed when she learns that their interest in Rosie, and now in her, has little to do with healing skills.

However, Clem has an optimistic outlook on life, and decides to make the best of her situation. She utilizes her healing skills on members of Mariel’s company and eventually Mariel herself. Clem annoys Mariel but manages to develop friendships with the other members of the group. Eventually she will even manage to crack Mariel’s tough exterior. In the process, Mariel will have to try to rescue her father, who was captured in an ambush, defend her friend and company member Morgan from accusations of being a mole, and deal with revelations about her father and mother which call into question what she believes about the Merry Men and their mission.

The story contains multiple LGBT characters and relationships. There is also a great cast of major characters generally— Clem, Mariel, Morgan, Baxter, Kit, Josie, etc.

Mariel, the granddaughter of Robin Hood, kidnaps Clem, a healer, as retribution for her guardian helping the Sherriff of Nottingham. Unfortunately, Mariel's father got captured too and Mariel is desperate to save him.

An interesting queer take on the next generation of Robin Hood. Love the humour and the sassy banter. Love how Mariel has to grow in the shadow of her father. A fun read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Lex Croucher is hands down an auto-buy author for me now. After I read Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, I went back and read her backlist titles and loved all of them. When I got my hands on this ARC I actually screamed.

Not for the Faint of Heart is a sapphic romance set in the world of Robin Hood and centered around his granddaughter. Despite being Robin Hood’s granddaughter, Mariel is not allowed to cut any corners. Even though her dad is the Commander of the Merry Men, Mariel is not a high ranking position. She’s the Captain of a small company of rejects, the Hufflepuffs of the Merry Men, if you will.

When she is assigned to kidnap a healer who healed one of the Sheriff’s people, Mariel encounters Clem, the healer’s apprentice who begs to be taken instead. Clem has lofty ideas of what the Merry Men are which are soon dissolved upon her kidnapping.

What follows is my new favorite grumpy x sunshine romance complete with a found family riddled with other queer people and set against the background of a twisty and action-filled plot. This is hands down one of my favorite found families ever.

Each character in the little cast has their own virtues and faults and unique motivations and I love them all. Except Mariel’s parents. They suck.

The dynamic between the love interests is unmatched. They are simply soulmates, your honor. Also one bed trope my beloved. Guess who usually has nightmares but doesn’t when they are with their gf….???

I absolutely devoured this book and loved every second of it. If you are a fan of romance, rom coms, Lex Croucher, or joy you need to read this.

I love Lex Croucher and their work and was excited to review this book because I loved the last one, however, I will be withholding a review due to the #SpeakupSMP boycott occurring. This is not a reflection of my feelings for the author or their work and I will release my review when SMP speaks up and is held accountable to their actions.

This has everything you would expect from a new release from Lex Croucher: Good humour, snappy writing and good characters. There is a lot to love in this Robin Hood setting: sapphic annoyances to lovers, found family and a big sprinkle of grumpy vs sunshine.
I love Lex Croucher more than life itself.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Lex Croucher for this eArc!

In this book, Croucher transforms the classic Merry Men/Robin Hood tales into a young adult diverse and queer story filled with both laugh-out-loud moments and deep moments of self-realization and growth. This book follows Clem, a quirky and upbeat healer, and the Merry Men (though many are not merry nor men) that kidnap her as they travel through the Greenwood Forest in a quest for revenge. Clem quickly gets sucked into the escapades of this subsect of the Merry Men to the chagrin of their leader, Captain Mariel Hartley-Hood, who feels the pressure to live up to both of her surnames. Additionally, Mariel must figure out what it really means to be a member of the Merry Men given how the group has changed since the time of Robin Hood. Craziness ensues.

While the setting of the Greenwood with Merry Men on one side against the Sheriff on the other may not appear to be relatable, Croucher infuses all that happens with real characters and situations that easily translate to real life. The goals, decisions, and regrets that all characters make are relatable. Because of this and the diversity of the characters, everyone will be able to see themselves in this book. Although this book has its deep moments, it is also lighthearted and romantic, balancing the hardships of growing up.

Overall, the vibes of this book are immaculate and I only wish that there was more action or perhaps the inclusion of the perspective from the other Merry Men. Because all the characters are so well-rounded, I wanted more of them! If you love found family, adventure, and a touch of romance then please read this book!

This book got me out of a reading slump. I read it over the course of a day (maybe two?) and I was hooked. Lex Croucher has done it again! They make historical romances accessible for not only teens, but adults who struggle when older language is used. I did want the romance to be a bit more developed rather than being a sub sub plot, but I was still totally obsessed.

It was a fun adventure, entertaining throughout. Each character, even the background characters were highlighted and likeable. I do wish there was a little but more tension built up between Mariel and Clem, maybe an almost kiss for the first encounter, not just get right into it without much build up. I like waiting for the love interests to get together until much closer to the end especially in an enemy to lovers type trope. If you take out all romance there is still a really solid plot and good story. I enjoyed how the story didn't rely on romance.

sapphic granddaughter of robin hood x the healer she kidnapped.

SO. MUCH. FUN.

i loved this <<3 of the thirteen arcs i’ve read so far this year, not for the faint of heart is only the second i’ve given five stars to because how could i not? this was funny and wonderful and featured a found family (my favourite trope), so what’s not to love?

the humour in this book was my fave, and the slowburn romance was so cUTE! i really loved clem as a main character and seeing her breaking into the rest of the group and then breaking down mariel’s walls was everything.

i laughed loads and i cried as well and i cannot wait to own this physically when it comes out <<3

“Not for the Faint of Heart” by Lex Croucher is a historical YA romance. This historical romance contains a lot of tropes such as: grumpy x sunshine, slow burn, found family, dislike-to-lovers, and one bed.

This book is based in the world of Robin Hood and follows his granddaughter, Mariel. She kidnaps a healer, Clemence, and they end up working together to find Mariels recently captured father. They travel together with a group of merry men and Mariel works to prove herself to her father, as Clemence begins to become a part of the team.

This is a fast paced story with themes of loyalty, and honestly, and will keep you engaged the entire time. The cast of the story is widely diverse and it is a sapphic romance! This story kept me engaged the entire time I was reading it!

This review is left voluntarily, and thank you to Wednesday Books and netgalley for an ARC of this book.

This has everything you would expect from a new release from Lex Croucher: Good humour, snappy writing and good characters. There is a lot to love in this Robin Hood setting: sapphic annoyances to lovers, found family and a big sprinkle of grumpy vs sunshine.

Despite all those clear wins, there is a distinct pacing problem in the 1st half of the novel. You meet many characters in quick succession and I had to push myself to reach the half point (where things pick up and the pacing improves).

I will admit that the Camelot/Arthurian setting interests me a lot more than Robin Hood but overall, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love felt like a much tighter book than this one. I would still recommend this one for any fan of Sapphic romance (remember that the 1st half is worth pushing through).

An immensely enjoyable YA sapphic dislike-to-lovers romcom adventure, complete with found family, multiple queer side characters, and exciting action scenes. The language is very modern and the novel has A Knight's Tale feel, much like Gwen and Art Are Not In Love, so don't expect historical accuracy (ex: the Merry Men is a giant queernormative band of families and friends, which is way more fun to read about than a more historically likely homophobic militia group). This novel is more of a lighthearted historical fiction fantasy, although there are touching moments and scenes of loss as well. It's thankfully still full of the classic Lex Croucher entertaining banter and I found myself giggling through most of this. Clem in particular had some great lines. I love it when the comic relief is one of the main POV characters!

I do love the found family trope, but I think there were a bit too many side characters here to fully flesh out (I thought we'd get more about Morgan's past, or Kit's family, or at least meet Josey's sisters). The plot did get a little dark at times, but nothing like the mood switch to WAR AND DEATH that Gwen and Art Are Not In Love had in the climactic scene. There is Character Death though, as a semi spoiler, and it did make me sad.

This novel didn’t capture quite the same magic as Lex's previous YA outing, but it was close, and I'm happy to report that no parents are murdered at the end of this one. I just love happy gay historical fantasy

An immensely enjoyable YA sapphic dislike-to-lovers romcom adventure, complete with found family, multiple queer side characters, and exciting action scenes. The language is very modern and the novel has A Knight's Tale feel, much like Gwen and Art Are Not In Love, so don't expect historical accuracy (ex: the Merry Men is a giant queernormative band of families and friends, which is way more fun to read about than a more historically likely homophobic militia group). This novel is more of a lighthearted historical fiction fantasy, although there are touching moments and scenes of loss as well. It's thankfully still full of the classic Lex Croucher entertaining banter and I found myself giggling through most of this. Clem in particular had some great lines. I love it when the comic relief is one of the main POV characters!

I do love the found family trope, but I think there were a bit too many side characters here to fully flesh out (I thought we'd get more about Morgan's past, or Kit's family, or at least meet Josey's sisters). The plot did get a little dark at times, but nothing like the mood switch to WAR AND DEATH that Gwen and Art Are Not In Love had in the climactic scene. There is Character Death though, as a semi spoiler, and it did make me sad.

This novel didn’t capture quite the same magic as Lex's previous YA outing, but it was close, and I'm happy to report that no parents are murdered at the end of this one. I just love happy gay historical fantasy!

This was very fun! I liked the writing voice the best, especially in Clem's POV (it fit her personality well) - it's matter of fact, clever, and a little bit silly. Clem was also my favorite of the two POVs, probably in part because of the enjoyable writing style. I wasn't super convinced by Clem and Mariel's romance. However, I loved their little crew and am so mad about Baxter (I understand why it happened, but I'm cross about it because I love the group as a group). I do think platonic relationships are Lex Croucher's strength (above the romances), just going off this book and Gwen and Art Are Not in Love (which I adore).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
I love love love Croucher’s work and this latest work does not miss. The same winning combination of humor and heart had me sucked in from the get go.

Lex Croucher does not miss. Ever. With each release, they reaffirm why they deserve a large readership and all of the recognition they've received. Fun, emotional, romantic without being suffocating. This ripped my heart out and remade me. Croucher does so well at weaving together heavy emotions and humor, and it's such a delight to see that here.

⭐️ 4.5

Once again Lex Croucher knocks it out of the park with an exciting, heartfelt, and hilarious adventure that’s impossible not to love. Their writing is so immersive, I was immediately sucked in and couldn’t put the book down.

I love this beautifully queer group of kids, and following them through the forest as they worked through some tough emotional situations was amazing. This is a great diverse read that I can see so many teenagers getting lost in.

I don’t think I can ever forgive the heartache this gave me, and I know it’ll hurt for a good while 🥲