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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
asipofcozy's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to love this so bad.
An Arthurian re-telling with queer characters and lots of representation, I thought YES sign me up! What I got instead was two characters hating each other for 70% of the book, making a pact to save-face, and the rest of the book was them having a horrible time dealing with their feelings on their crushes. It was the last 10 pages of the book that only made me happy.
Where was the medieval rom-com I was promised? I felt like this book was angst and anger.
An Arthurian re-telling with queer characters and lots of representation, I thought YES sign me up! What I got instead was two characters hating each other for 70% of the book, making a pact to save-face, and the rest of the book was them having a horrible time dealing with their feelings on their crushes. It was the last 10 pages of the book that only made me happy.
Where was the medieval rom-com I was promised? I felt like this book was angst and anger.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, War, Vomit, Violence, and Death of parent
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
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.
- 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!
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
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
albon's review against another edition
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? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, and Homophobia
emily_mh's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- 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
For a romance book this was just not very…romantic. It seemed like Arthur only got a crush on Gabe because of proximity, meanwhile we never find out why Gabe likes Arthur at all. I didn’t like how Gabe got to have a D+M about his challenges, but they didn’t have a similar conversation about Arthur’s, as this left their connection feeling shallow. They just didn’t seem to be into each other very much (and no, I’m not referring to Gabe’s personal obstacle and how it impacted their relationship), and their ending was only really an HFN. The situation with Gwen and Bridget was similar. It appears that Gwen gets a crush on Bridget because of proximity, and we never know why Bridget likes her back. Their connection seem to be purely physical, and their ending was barely an HFN. The dual HFNs were rendered even worse as the author tried to establish them in the light of a tragic event which happens with like, 20 pages to go. I was just so disappointed in how lacklustre the romance was. I wanted to be swept away in a whirlwind of romance, historical pining and soulmate-level bonding, but all I got was a small gust of air.
The characters themselves were similarly disappointing. I’ll begin with the MCs, Gwen and Arthur, whose perspectives we read from. Honestly, Gwen’s storyline was about getting her hand held by those less privileged than her as she realises that maybe she should use her power to help others. There was development in this area, which was something, but overall I found it exasperating.
There was so much potential with Arthur’s character, but it was squandered. Arthur is suffering domestic abuse and (let’s be real) with alcoholism, yet neither of these factors are given the weight they deserve. I feel like no one talked to him properly about his home life; he never got that chat and chance for support and connection regarding it. Arthur also has an alcohol problem which he decides won’t be a problem anymore and then miraculously it’s gone. Also, his trust issues, which are set up in the beginning, aren’t actually a thing? When situations crop up that would trigger them, they don’t. Instead his character is reduced to someone who exists to support Gwen and Gabe. This is a poor way to treat any character, but is especially concerning in light of the fact that Arthur is Iranian, and Gabe and Gwen are white. (Please let me know if I’m stepping out of my lane here, or have read the situation wrong.)
Bridget, Gwen’s love interest, is similarly poorly developed. We never get a sense of her as a person. Granted, we know what she likes, what she is good at and wants to do, but Croucher gives her no depth. For example, what is her history? Was she born in England or did she move? Where are her parents, who are so important to her? Also, we don’t see her just talk, just be, we only really see her framed by Gwen’s physical attraction. Like Arthur, she ends up existing only to handhold Gwen. This is again a poor way to write a character, even more so considering Bridget is Thai while Gwen is white. (Again, please let me know if I’m stepping out of my lane here, or have read the situation wrong.) Furthermore, Bridget has endo but this rep felt tokenised. If you’re going to give your character a chronic illness, then you need to show it as a consistent part of their character, not as something that shows up once. Bridget’s symptoms only make the page once when she is on her period (this book takes place over several months, by the way, and endometriosis symptoms are not limited to times of menstruation).
On a more positive note, Gabe was the most interesting and dynamic character to me, and we didn’t even get his POV! I was so engaged by how he was torn between duty and himself, being so focussed on serving others that he didn’t even know what he wanted for himself, let alone allow himself to voice and seek those wants. I was struck by the ways in which Gabe set impossible standards for himself, and the lengths he would go to to meet them, including suppressing an essential part of who he was. He felt like an actual person with real and understandable reactions to the impossible situation he found himself in.
In terms of plot, it was meandering at times with repetitive moments, especially between Arthur and Gabe. I wish there had been a little more direction with fewer random time jumps. With the writing style, I wasn’t a fan of the attempts at humour. I think authors think the type of dialogue employed here is unique when nowadays it’s very much not, and so makes characters seem generic. Also, it was just overdone in this specific instance.
So given all the negatives I’ve recorded here, why the 2.5 stars? Firstly, because I found the book to be a comforting space to be in, in terms of the nostalgic European fantasy vibes. The political element was compelling. Also, I genuinely was enjoying it for a while, because I was expecting it to go places. It didn’t.
Rep: sapphic MC, gay biracial English-Iranian MC, Thai sapphic LI with endometriosis, gay LI
Content Warnings
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, faintingjanneke2302's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
This was a great book. I loved the romances in it, but my favorite parts were the friendship that grew between Gwen and Art. I also really like the humor in this book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Homophobia
Moderate: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Murder, Islamophobia, and Racism
krisalexcole's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
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