Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

38 reviews

melist6's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcohol, Mental illness, Violence, Alcoholism, Grief, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia

emilywemily6's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This was a funny, queer, YA romance set in post-Medieval England. I laughed out loud a lot at these characters and the anachronisms kept things lighthearted and relateable. The energy is very queer, though things are pretty tame because it is a YA romance. Some of the things that moved the main plot of the book (beyond the romances) felt contrived/like the author was trying too hard, and the main plot twists were predictable. But overall this was a really enjoyable palate cleanser of a read and I could see how a younger person who is exploring their sexuality can gain a lot from reading a book like this, though in a lighthearted and not deep way.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, War, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Classism, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Grief and Sexual content

savreads28's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Death of parent, Blood, Medical content, War, Alcohol, Violence, Lesbophobia, Murder, and Misogyny

cassielaj's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

Easy 5 stars. Love love love this book. The story is new and exciting with enough references to Arthurian legend to make it somewhat familiar. It’s queer and lovely and wonderful, full of hilarious banter and mysterious court intrigue and the most delightful cast of central characters. I laughed. I cried. I was on the edge of my seat. I want to read it again. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Death, Alcohol, Murder, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Grief and Homophobia

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• 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

**Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review eARC**

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

Gwen sticks up for Bridget when her pelvic pain is dismissed by the royal physician

??? My heart is healed even if my uterus isn't.) While I agree with many of the reviews that the latter 30ish% is a major tone shift and a bit jarring, it didn't impact my enjoyment of this book, especially since I'm much more of a fantasy reader than a romcom reader. Highly recommend!

---

Content Warnings

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

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Thanks to Macmillan for the free copy of this book.

 - GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE is everything I hoped it would be. Queerness and silliness and strong personalities and deep emotions, what else could you want?
- I loved that both Arthur and Gwen got to have unlikable characteristics but were still granted full humanity by the others.
- For all the shenanigans in this book, there is still a layer of darkness as well. The crown weighs heavy on all of them in different ways, and each character needs to figure out how they will approach the life they've been dealt. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Cursing

Moderate: Homophobia

ezwolf's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I love all things Arthurian legend so this title grabbed my attention right away. I wasn't fully sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it immensely. This book fully embraced the potential for queer jokes which I found hilarious and relatable as well. 

Gwen was incredibly relatable for me and her and Bridget's relationship was my favorite in the book, but I enjoyed Arthur point of view and his relationship with Gabriel too. Gwen and Gabriel's sibling relationship was also great, I liked how much they were there for each other. 

This is the third or fourth book I've read this year that's included periods and it's such a little thing but I can't really remember reading any books growing up that normalized periods in any regard, let alone in a historical (fantasy-ish?) kind of book. 

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: War, Misogyny, and Outing

Minor: Misogyny, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

shaipanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• 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

5.0

I absolutely loved this and desperately need to read the other books in Lex Croucher's backlist. The characters and story were incredibly well crafted, the character development was really well done and I felt the chemistry between the characters. As I go into more in the spoiler section, the only issue I had with this book was that there were some plot threads that didn't seem to really come to fruition which was a bit frustrating but overall this was an amazing read and definitely still a 5 star read for me :)

The only issue I had with this book is that there were a few details that were mentioned (especially regarding Merlin and Morgana which were never explained or really brought into the story. With the way they were being written about, I thought they were going to end up being shapeshifters or some significant part of the story but then that never really came to fruition.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Blood, and Sexism

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

refrejarator's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

Aww. I laughed, I cried, I relieved my Merthur shipping days. This is the most beautiful, sweet, and tragically romantic book, and i can't wait to read from this author again!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Biphobia, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Violence, and War

styxx's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, War, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Vomit