Review: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

Title: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love

Author: Lex Croucher

Length: 352 Pages

Category: Historical, Teen Fiction

Rating: 5 Stars

At a Glance: Full of charm and clever dialogue, rife with peril and betrayal, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a sweet and sublime book.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: 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.

Review: Gwen and Art are not in love is what’s known as a bit of an understatement. Betrothed in their infancy, it’s more accurate to say they have grown up mortal enemies, have been since they were both old enough to express it—if not verbally, then physically—and Art has the lingering damage to prove it. This is not Gwen and Art’s love story. This is a story about two people who learn to love themselves.

Art and Gwen must each go their own way to discover who they are and, more significantly, who and what they want so they can reconcile knowing themselves and each other a little better. Art is given time and space to prove who he is, apart from his father’s greatest disappointment. Gwen, on the other hand, is in deep infatuation with Lady Bridget Leclair, which has been her deepest secret since she was old enough to know what infatuation was. It’s Gwen’s duty to marry Arthur, though, and finding a peaceful accord isn’t easy.

And then, not-so-suddenly, deliberately and methodically, Gwen and Art aren’t sworn foes anymore, and Lex Croucher pulls off a brilliant feat of storytelling to get them to a place of friendship and found family. But not for lack of villainy and brutality on the part of a dangerous foe, leading to some third act conflict that must play out in its gripping and bloody entirety to be resolved. And to, once and for all, bring Arthur and the shy and unassuming Gabriel, the future king, together.

Full of charm and clever dialogue, rife with peril and betrayal, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is a sweet and sublime book.