Gwen and Art Are Not in Love: ‘An outrageously entertaining take on the fake dating trope’

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As rumbles of uprisings from those who follow the old Arthurian legends abound, they are forced to decide who they can really trust and what sacrifices must be made for both their own happiness and the future of the kingdom. This book does a flirty tango with the Arthurian legends while also sticking a KICK ME sign on their back: it contains enough sword fights and banter to keep the pages flying, but it's also a sharp and compassionate look at the terrifying wonder of being a queer young person coming to terms with yourself. Perhaps it was intentional to be as ambiguous as possible about the world-building, but it just left room for me to contemplate that I might in fact be reading a story set in modern times, acting as if they were living in the past. Now it would be easy to focus on the romantic relationships in the book (there are plenty) but what really stuck out to me was the character development.

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is an engaging read that will appeal to fans of Rainbow Rowell and Alice Oseman who are looking to stretch their reading tastes into the realms of historical fiction.This contemporary romance lover was completely enthralled by the medieval landscape, each chapter and laugh-inducing line winning me over. Art and Gabriel were never really together, with Gabriel fully embracing who they were until the very last chapter. Hundreds of years after the time of Arthur Pendragon, his descendent Arthur Delacey is betrothed to Gwen, the princess of England.

I also really liked Bridget's character--I thought she was a strong figure to have alongside Gwen, and loved that she often subverted expectations. If you enjoyed that movie from yester-year, The Knight's Tale, then I'm sure the writing would definitely be to your liking. 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. sidney was so loyal, and you could feel his utmost love for art, who he stayed by the entire book and didn't once falter on his loyalty. this placed a heavy emphasis on accepting yourself, rather than focusing on everyone else's expectations and standards, and it makes me really, really happy to see themes like this in books for queer youth!

One of the characters gets brutally attacked, off-page but there are extensive descriptions of his injuries, and there is a battle towards the end that was more violent than I would have expected.