shadon 's review for:

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

4.0

adventurous 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

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To be truly brave, first you must be afraid— and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.

Adored this from the very first chapter. A charming, quirky adventure at the pseudo-medieval royal court of English Camelot, holding hands with a colorful cast of characters, just as witty as they are relatable. It's rare that a book considered to be funny and promoted as such will actually make me laugh, but the wonderful blend of absurdity and random hijinks made for quite the hilarity. I never quite knew where we were going, in the best possible way. Lighthearted and hopeful, this royal romp took me to a place of warmth and light, where opening yourself to love and daring to be you is the bravest thing you can do—a heartwarming exploration of the human heart and what it means to want.

Gwendoline and Arthur are not in love, but they are two teenagers trying to find themselves in this Arthurian English retelling, ripe with tournament pageantry and splendor. Their bantering and blustering were genuinely hilarious, and the slow development of their friendship felt like watching the seed of a rose bloom from the soil. Their little found family was easy to love. The castle setting is spectacular, and the characters continuously cracked me up. The humor often hit when you did not expect it, with the dry wit and sarcasm that is exactly my favorite.

Arthur, the little rascal, got on my nerves as much as he made me burst out laughing, all while still managing to be a sympathetic character that I couldn't help but root for. He annoys you with his constant yammering, but then he does something so sweetly endearing, you feel like a proud mother. Gwendoline was very relatable, and her development was perhaps more understated but just as strong, as she slowly burst out of her shell and strayed away from a strict schedule to guide her every waking moment. I found myself nodding along to everything she said or thought. She's me through and through, and her arc was the opposite of Arthur's — learning to embrace the messiness of life. Along with her brother, she was perhaps less fun than Arthur's quippy bravado but just as lovable. 

Nobody else is ever going to care as much as you do about the things that you want, . 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.

The romances were okay, better than I expected, but mostly cookie-cutter. They were both very cute, if a bit blah. They were all well fleshed out, given equal focus, and never felt stale or undercooked. The relationships still did feel lacking at times, which would be my only complaint, because otherwise I liked everything. I loved the diversity in this remade England; it felt authentic and well thought out. There's room for everyone here, because why not? Of course, there are characters from Thailand and Iran!

After all the (mostly) chill vibes of the first half, the last 100 pages of this book take a tense and dangerous turn that truly swept me off my feet. Politics? Scheming? Battle? It was both unexpected and glorious, like a scoop of ice cream next to an already delicious slice of cake. This book really caught me off guard. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. It's a story of hope and young love, of finding your place in a world that seems to have no place for you and challenging the status quo, even in your fear. And love, of course, love is always the answer.

It's a bit cheesy, a bit corny, a bit put-upon, and a bit cringe (subtle memes and meta references that make little sense in the timeframe) but it's wholly authentic. And sometimes that's all you need