Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: British Authors, LGBTQIA+ Authors, Gay Characters, Lesbian Characters, Mental Health Representation, Sapphic Characters, Knight Characters, Royalty Characters, Chronic Illness, Mental Health, Romantasy, Historical Fantasy, Arthurian
Series: The Camelot Disasters #1
My Rating:
Published on: 11th August 2026
Pages: 432
Disability Representation: Anxiety, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Mental Health, Recovering from illness, Trauma
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Forbidden Planet / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones
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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, they 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.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

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At a glance, Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher looks like another Arthurian retelling, and firstly, let’s get that out of the way; it’s not. The Gwen in question (she’s very grateful to be Gwendoline, thank you very much) has been betrothed to Arthur since they were kids, and she hates him with a fiery passion. It’s a feeling that is very much reciprocated by Arthur, who very vividly remembers the time that Gwen broke his wrist and generally acted like a spoiled brat at every chance. Neither of them is happy that the time for their courtship has officially begun now that they’re of age.

That’s until they both realise that neither of them wants this wedding to happen because they’re both very queer. Art more so than Gwen, who is only just beginning to recognise that her teenage crush on the only female knight of the realm, Bridget Leclair, isn’t going away any time soon. Gwen is mortified when Art digs up (quite literally) her childhood diary and holds it over her, but she’s just seen him kissing the stable boy and holds her own. An uneasy alliance forms between the two as they hatch a plan to pretend to be in love, allowing Gwen time to unravel her feelings for Bridget and for Art to party with whoever he wishes…. which he slowly realises might just be Gwen’s quiet brother and heir to the throne, Gabriel.

I loved everything about Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher. I was hooked as soon as I read the synopsis, and the book proved to be even better than I hoped. Croucher has written a brilliantly witty and humorous tale of two young queer people who have been thrown together due to political events long before they were even born. They hate each other until their difference unites them. Neither of them is perfect. Gwen is incredibly self-entitled, sheltered, haughty and ignorant, while Art is self-destructive, arrogant, over-indulgent, smug and tactless. They both learn from each other, and one of the best parts of the book is the dialogue with their poor, long-suffering servants/friends who have to put up with their behaviour. Art’s body-man, Sidney, is one of the best bits of the book and doesn’t take Art seriously at all, giving him as good as he gets as though their relationship is best mates rather than a nobleman and servant. Considering how often they go out on the town to get pissed, that’s probably more accurate.

While Croucher has wrapped the topic of coming out and coming to terms with your own queer identity in humour, this isn’t a book where it is not taken seriously. It very much is, and the darker feelings of struggling with identity are also covered. The whole book, at least to me, felt very realistic. I could easily have been having any number of the conversations with my friends as a teenager, or now as an adult. There’s a moment when Art, thinking he’s being helpful, sets Gwen up with Bridget, and she thinks he’s done it to embarrass her. Stuff like that actually happens, and people do react like that. I facepalmed and giggled so hard while reading Gwen and Art Are Not in Love. It was impossible not to fall in love with these characters!

I like the way that Croucher took the history and myths of King Arthur and included them in their story, but without using them to create their story. As I said, this isn’t a retelling, and while Art is a descendant of King Arthur, it’s made clear that it’s so far back in his family tree that it doesn’t really count. It wouldn’t be mentionable if it were up to him, but his dad is obsessed with it. The idea of expectations is a huge theme in this book, and Croucher uses the history of King Arthur to build on that. Camelot means something to us centuries later, and in Gwen and Art Are Not in Love, Croucher explores what that legacy means to people living in the place that Arthur built. What it means to Gabriel as he’s thinking about what it means to be a king and eventually follow in his father’s footsteps.

There are so many layers to this book, and Croucher has done an excellent job of weaving everything together without making the book feel overloaded. Instead, they have delivered a superb book about queer identity, finding oneself and choosing your own future. I also have to mention the fantastic cat scenes that are very accurate and will be extremely appreciated by anyone who has a feline companion. This has easily been one of my favourite reads of the year so far, and I highly recommend getting your hands on it ASAP!

About Lex Croucher

Lex Croucher grew up in Surrey, reading a lot of books and making friends with strangers on the internet, and now lives in London with an elderly cat. With a background in social media for NGOs, Lex now writes historical-ish rom coms for adults (REPUTATION, INFAMOUS) and historical fantasy rom coms for teenagers. GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE is their YA debut.

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Thank you for reading my review for Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher! It is out on 11th May 2023 in the UK and out in November 2023 in the US. You can pre-order it now from any of the links in this review!

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