Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Adventure, Cosy Fantasy, Romantasy, Gay Characters, Non-Binary Characters, Sapphic Characters, Transgender Characters, LGBTQIA+ Authors, Non-Binary Authors, LGBTQIA+ Romance, Outlaw Characters, Robin Hood, Plus Size Characters
My Rating:
Published on: 26th November 2024
Pages: 400
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Forbidden Planet / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones
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From New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher comes a queer historical YA romance, with all the swoons, laughs, and heart-pounding moments you'd expect from a story about the granddaughter of Robin Hood and the girl she's accidentally kidnapped.
‘You aren’t merry,’ Clem said to her captor. ‘And you aren’t all men. So there’s been some marketing confusion somewhere along the line.’
Mariel, a newly blooded and perpetually grumpy captain of the Merry Men, is desperate to live up to the legacy of her grandfather, the legendary Robin Hood. Clem, a too-perky backwoods healer known for her new-fangled cures, just wants to help people.
When Mariel's ramshackle band of bandits kidnap Clem as retribution for her guardian helping the Sheriff of Nottingham, all seems to be going (sort of) to plan ... until Jack Hartley, Mariel’s father and Commander of the Merry Men, is captured in a deadly ambush. Determined to prove herself, Mariel sets out to get him back – with her annoyingly cheerful kidnappee in tow.
But the wood is at war. Many believe the Merry Men are no longer on the right side of history. Watching Clem tend the party’s wounds and crack relentlessly terrible jokes, Mariel begins to doubt the noble cause to which she has devoted her life. As the two of them grow closer, forced by circumstances to share a single horse and bed, one thing is clear. They must prepare to fight for their lives and for those of everyone they’ve sworn to protect.
Lex Croucher's Not for the Faint of Heart is a thrilling adventure full of hijinks, found family, and romance destined to change the lives of the inhabitants of the Greenwood Forest forever.
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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Not for the Faint of Heart Book Review
Lex Croucher’s previous book, Gwen and Art Are Not In Love, was one of my favourite books of last year. When I heard about Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher, a similar book taking on the Robin Hood myth, a personal favourite of mine, I had to read it! How did this book compare?
Clem is minding her own business one day when a group of Merry Men kidnap her as retaliation for her guardian healing one of the Sheriff of Nottingham’s men. It’s part of Mariel’s plan to impress the Commander of the Merry Men; her father. That plan goes to hell when an ambush leads to her father and several other high-ranking Merry Men being kidnapped.
If Mariel can bring her father back, no one can argue that she isn’t worthy. Clem ends up along for the ride, first as their captive and then as their healer, growing fond of the group through her commitment to keeping them alive. Mariel can’t argue that Clem’s skills are useful, she only wishes she wasn’t so annoyingly cheerful as she helped them.
As the group gets closer to finding where the Commander is being held, hard truths emerge as plans go awry.
Not for the Faint of Heart by Lex Croucher retells the Robin Hood myth through the grandchildren of the legendary characters. I liked how Croucher continued the legend and made it their own, as they did with the King Arthur mythos in Gwen and Art Are Not In Love. The characters were interesting, and I especially enjoyed seeing a healer as a main character. While I grew fond of them, I felt that the overall plot of this one let it down.
The focus is consistently on Mariel impressing her father, and while we learn about the lives of the Merry Men, it feels like a very brief glance. While this was a fun read, I was disappointed that it didn’t live up to my expectations.
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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