Gwen and Art Are Not in Love: ‘An outrageously entertaining take on the fake dating trope’

Product Information

arthur and his swagger and sarcasm - “needing to be constantly entertained” as a front for his pain; gwen’s snarky, anxious mouth as she navigates the world and her heart; gabriel with his ink-stained fingertips and messy hair, struggling with his destiny; the dreamboat knight, lady bridget, filled with so much ambition, courageous and confident— to quote gwen, “god, i hope she stabs me.” All the characters are so well-written. They are a bunch of lovable idiots who sometimes find themselves in the most ridiculous situations. I can't even choose who my favourite was or whose relationship I loved the most. Fun and genuinely funny, with lovely friendships and first-rate dialogue. Gwen and Art may not be in love, but I fell for both of them.” - Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Simon Snow trilogy a divinely soft and alternately heart-wrenching tale of awkwardly coming into one’s own, i will cherish gwen & art are not in love with every particle of my being. An utter delight. Croucher conjures a fresh new Camelot, full of jousts, hijinks and exuberantly queer characters that will make you swoon. This is the gay Camelot I always wanted! - C S Pacat

GWEN AND ART is exactly what I need right now – a delightful, heartwarming, hilarious historical romp, overflowing with queer panic and terrible jokes. I loved it. While this lifelong betrothal is (slightly) better than an unexpected marriage to someone far older to ensure a political alliance, Gwen considers Art to be the devil incarnate. He tormented her relentlessly as a child and their years apart (after a ‘prank’ resulted in a broken wrist) has not softened Gwen’s view of him. but i didn’t say no to you, gwen. i said no to giving up my whole life to wait around for moments with you, whenever you could spare them. that’s not who i am, and it’s not what i want.” It had me laughing out loud, especially with Arthur who is truly a wonderful character (but then I have a penchant for messy characters who can't help themselves). If you don't like sarcastic, self-deprecating lordlings, never fear because there are strapping lady-knights to sweep you off your feet, beautiful princesses, and sensitive book nerds. A really sweet, queer YA novel about Gwen, a princess who likes girls and is engaged to Art - who likes boys. Very entertaining and funny at points, an engaging read.

LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Kurt Vonnegut once famously said that true terror is waking up one morning to discover your high school classmates running the country. I'll raise him a millennial variation: true terror is reading a book that you can tell was written by someone who used Tumblr at the same time you did.

look, this review is gonna be a mess cos i can barely form thoughts about my love for this book but let’s try & get something coherent on the grid shall we? Congrats to Gwen and Arthur on their permanent acquisition of my ENTIRE heart. Suffice it to say that I loved this book to a degree that's slightly ridiculous But love stories are hardly straight-forward, and Gwen and Art find themselves in various bouts of trouble during the annual royal tournament. Gwen’s royal Parents are ushering her toward her nuptials at an alarming rate when all she wants is to cling to Bridget’s side and protect her through battles and stolen moments. Arthur is taking bookish Gabriel’s dismissals of how far their growing feelings could go to heart, despite encouragement from his best friend and sort-of wing-man, Sidney. And all the meanwhile, Camelot is in increasing danger from an enemy creeping close within. Even with rivals Gwen and Art throwing their shields down and actually growing on each other, it’s not enough to prepare for war—and just how much they’ve got that will be lost in the battle. 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.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. Gwen and Arthur may have been very unlikable characters at the start - not only to each other, but to me, as well - but what was very gratifying to watch was how their mixed and multiple experiences actually brought them closer together. Once their secrets were outed to each other, they shared a sense of camaraderie and kinship that actually made them appreciate one another. Arthur was VERY annoying at the start - I really could not stand him or anything that he was spouting from his mouth - believe me, I TRIED. 😥 But, as you learn more about him, get to see his real side, he became a better person in my eyes - but only a little bit. With Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, I felt that Lex Croucher was attempting to 'kill two birds with one stone' - trying to write a book that successfully portrayed a romance of two different pairings. It's a big feat to pull off - sometimes it's a hit, sometimes a miss. After reading it, though, I have to say that it was definitely the latter, for me.

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. Nobody else is ever going to care as much as you do about the things that you want, Gwendoline. So it’s up to you – you can put them aside forever, if you can live with that, or you can put on your big-girl girdle and demand more for yourself.’ gwen and art are not in love’ is the queer, medieval ya rom-com you didn’t know you needed in your life. told through the dual-pov of the fiery princess gwendoline & her betrothed, arthur (who is actively avoiding living up to his namesake), we find ourselves on the brink of the annual royal tournament. only after a night of revealed secrets, the begrudged pair find they have more in common than they thought and decide to become allies instead. Unconventional royal romances are a lot more fun that I give them credit for. This one was an all-around good time with easy banter between protagonists, and several heartwarming moments between both couples. Art and his bodyguard were too funny for their own good, while Gwen and her brother tugged at my heartstrings all throughout this story. I flew through this book in a day, which is a commendable achievement considering how slowly I’ve been reading because of school. Cats: I just couldn't connect with it. The book had a few good points, but none that I like in a book.September 2023 reread: if it's possible I think I might have had even more fun during my reread than the first time I read this :)

Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments 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. I lived for the cultural references in this book, which I know isn't for everybody, but they really made me fall in love with this book. don’t even get me started on sidney!! i love all of my children equally but sidney fitzgilbert‼️ i would be proud to have sid by my side 🥹Gwen and Arthur were often pretty insufferable and bratty, but I absolutely loved their banter, as well as the banter between Arthur and Sid. Sid is such an amazing and loyal friend, I loved his friendship with Arthur so much. Gabe, Bridget and Agnes were just as wonderful and the romance part of the story was really sweet. Hundreds of years after the time of Arthur Pendragon, his descendent Arthur Delacey is betrothed to Gwen, the princess of England. If only she wasn't more interested in the only female knight in the realm; if only he wasn't more interested in her brother... overall, this was a really good (slight slowburn) romance. the only reason it isn't the full five stars, is because the politics kind of just hit me! of course, it makes sense later on, but the book wasn't engaged in the conflict enough for it to make sense until the climax. unrealistic, but cute ending, as well. ok, the end isn't like cute-cute because of obvious reasons, but i mean the veryy end. I must say, despite being extremely excited for this book, I was quite worried. I couldn’t get into some of Croucher’s previous work but this one called out to me. Any time there’s sapphics, I’ll be there. And my God, it did not disappoint.