Publisher: Penguin Teen Canada,  November 28, 2023

Format: ebook

Pages: 416

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Summary (Goodreads):

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.

It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.

They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run-up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen’s childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom’s only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, Gwen and Art make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight, and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen’s royal brother. Lex Croucher’s Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.

My Review:

Read if you like: queer retellings
–
Gwen and Arthur are betrothed to each other, but they are in love with other people. The book explores their development of friendship, relationships, and a search for their identities.
–
Overall, the premise of the book was cute but it took me a while to get into. I felt the beginning quite slow and Gwen and Arthur started as very unlikeable characters, so I struggled to root for these characters. By the end, I was invested enough to want to know the ending, but I wanted to like Gwen and Arthur more.
–
Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for the copy of this book.