Gwen and Art Are Not in Love

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 to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I tell you the amount I times I said to myself “This is SO reminiscent of A Knight's Tale” while reading this book...like it's almost embarrassing but I digress since I spent 70% of the book kicking my feet.

Inspired by an Arthurian legend, we follow Gwen and Arthur who are most definitely NOT in love because one is in love with a hot lady knight and the other is in love with the former's brother. When I say I found these characters incredibly likeable like how can you not?? They're queer and they're in love, how can you not root for them?? This book almost read like a romantic comedy at the beginning because it was very fluffy and there was this loose element of “fake dating” if we can even call it that since Gwen and Arthur are quite literally betrothed to one another but hate the other's guts. However, I felt like that fake dating trope went completely out of the window and it was casted off to the side.

One of the highlights for me is seeing Arthur trying his hardest to be a wingman for Gwen...the comedy is just a running stream throughout this book. I have to say this book has some of the strongest dialogue I have read in a while. It doesn't take itself seriously and again, like in A Knight's Tale, merges modern language in a medieval setting expertly. I found myself audibly laughing out loud, mostly because of Arthur's shenanigans and quibs.

I will say from the romantic side of things, I do wish we got to see more of that with Arthur and Gabriel as I feel like Gwen and Bridget definitely took the spotlight when it came to romance (definitely not mad about that tho!). However, considering the circumstances outlined in the story it makes sense as to why there wasn't as much romance between Arthur and Gabriel but it still made the story feel a bit empty. I wish the book hadn't ended where it did because again, I feel like things were a bit unresolved in the romance department for both couples.

Also I felt as though the ending felt a bit rushed, the last 20% of the book there is this complete shift in tone and mood that I didn't see coming. I don't mind gruesome or gory details but oof! How did we go from “we're queer and we're panicking but we can be cute sometimes” to “blood! swords clanging! more blood”.

I will say though, I really enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it if you want to read a queer historical YA romance set in the medieval period written in a modern tone! If you'll excuse me, I think I need to go rewatch A Knight's Tale now.

I was really excited about this book and I wanted to like it so badly, but by the end I was skimming to finish it. I know other people love this book and I felt kind of bad that I didn't have the same reaction.

In theory, it should have been a perfect match for me because it has all of the tropes I love — but ultimately, there wasn't enough development to the relationships or the characters to make me want to root for the leads or their romances.

To me, the sibling relationship was well developed but that was about it. I think there was a shallowness and rushedness to the romances that made it difficult to buy into the intensity that shows up later on.

The last third(?) of the book felt really rushed and abrupt and I don't think that the plot needed to go in that direction. The book also leaves a lot of things up in the air and I really felt like if it had a bit more development it could have been a 5 stars for me.