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vaguely_pink's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was real cute. I'm not the biggest historical fiction reader, but this queer Arthurian reimagining with just the most delightful cast of characters had just enough magic and fantasy vibes to keep me hooked start to finish. The whole ensemble cast is wonderfully written. The banter? Amazing. I loved them all from the jump. Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a masterclass in how to write all the kinds of representation. (The scene where
Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Medical content, and Mental illness
Minor: Bullying, Gore, Chronic illness, Vomit, War, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Body horror, Cursing, Grief, and Violence
emily_mh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Violence, Murder, Medical content, Alcohol, War, Homophobia, and Vomit
Minor: Sexual content, Sexism, Excrement, Ableism, Chronic illness, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Incest, Animal death, and Infidelity
Moderate: internalised homophobia Minor: gambling, menstruation, faintingkrisalexcole's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: War, Death, Medical content, Sexism, Chronic illness, Gore, Death of parent, Hate crime, Murder, Blood, and Homophobia
Minor: Self harm, Cursing, Grief, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
_teoeo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
But the story was really slow and sometimes dragged on, so it was a little hard for me to get through the book.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Suicidal thoughts, War, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Minor: Incest
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
- “The path to love never did run straight.”
- “I like some risk now and again, if what’s at stake is worth having."
- “How am I supposed to know what I want?” Gabriel said quietly. “There’s only ever been room for what I’m . . . destined to have.”
- “𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘳 𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘦.”
“𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘳 𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?”
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺—𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.” - “Looking at her felt a lot like wanting something.”
- '"Cheers," Arthur said despondently. "To a long and happy life together."
"Don't say that," Gwen said, wincing and taking a sip of her own tea. "I'm already depressed enough as it is."' - '"...plus I'm a fantastic kisser. If you'd kissed me, you'd be singing a different tune.'
'That's not a tune,' Gwen said. 'That's the sound of retching.'" - "'Off to bed then?' he said, for lack of anything else.
'Actually, I-I'll probably go to the library.'
'In the middle of the night?'
'In the middle of the night.'
'Oh,' said Arthur. 'That's...admirable, I suppose.'
'Is it?'
'Well, somebody's got to do it.'" - “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.”
- 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, and I think that, given some time, you’ll realize that it isn’t what you want either.”
- To be truly brave, first you must be afraid—and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.”
- “I don’t think doing a difficult thing and being happy are mutually exclusive, Gabriel. I think you could both have some of the things you want, if you’re brave enough to ask for them.”
- “If you think about it, some variety of magic turns up in the story of every country and kingdom in the world. It goes by different names, but it’s always there. Other religions have their own magic words—their own rituals. It seems unlikely that magic never existed, and yet everybody came to the same conclusion of their own volition.”
- They have a cat named Merlin
- Gwen loves embroidery as a hobby
- Since we spend a lot of time insides castles and around princesses and princes, there is a LOT of velvet and gold mentioned, along with ornate, ornamental, regal, delicate designs -- it's very easy to imagine this world
- Flowers mentioned: bluebells, roses
- Scents mentioned: orange, sandalwood, grapefruit, ginger, cinnamon
Graphic: War, Homophobia, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail