Gwen & Art Are Not in Love

A Novel

By: Lex Croucher

Narrated by: Alex Singh, Sarah Ovens

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

"A total, rollicking delight. Gwen & Art gave me the same cheeky, swoony, giddy, irresistible high of the first time I saw A Knight’s Tale. Lex Croucher is one of my favorite romcom authors, and they should be yours, too." - Casey McQuiston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Kissed Shara Wheeler

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 listeners fall in love.

"In this frivolous medieval romp of a queer rom-com, Lex Croucher toys with Arthurian legend to delightful effect." - Entertainment Weekly

“Fun and genuinely funny, with lovely friendships and first-rate dialogue. Gwen and Art may not be in love, but I fell for both of them.” - Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Simon Snow trilogy

“Gwen & Art Are Not in Love was exactly what I needed right now—a delightful, heart-warming, hilarious historical romp, overflowing with queer panic and terrible jokes. I loved it.” - Alice Oseman, New York Times bestselling author of the Heartstopper series

A Macmillan Audio production from Wednesday Books.

©2023 Lex Croucher (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

Epic Reads, "LGBTQ+ Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2023"

Goodreads, "2023's Most Anticipated Young Adult Books" and "45 Great New YA Historical Fiction Novels to Read in 2023"

The Nerd Daily, "11 Mythology Inspired Book Releases To Look Forward To In 2023"

"In this frivolous medieval romp of a queer rom-com, Lex Croucher toys with Arthurian legend to delightful effect."—Entertainment Weekly

"A wonderful expansion of the YA romance genre...Frankly a delight."—Kirkus

"Swoonworthy, hilarious and full of witty repartee, this gorgeous historical romance will sweep readers off their feet."―The Bookseller Teen & YA Editor's Choice

Feel Good and Easy Read

I want to start out by saying that I really did enjoy this book. It was fun. The queer representation was excellent. I really liked Gwen’s sections. The narrator got Art bothered me sometimes. For the actual story, There were some plot elements that I think could have been more fully developed.

Fantastic read!!

I thoroughly loved this book! It had witty charm, dark humor, and characters that were reminiscent of The Locked Tomb series but it wasn’t too lofty and tied the story up nicely in one go.

Not gonna lie, the double narrator was kind of annoying at first. I found myself wishing it was just one or the other because the voices for characters would change somewhat (however, it seems they did try to match each other) depending on which narrator was speaking. But, as I got into the story the double narrator grew on me and I was okay with it by the end. I think I’d still rather just one, but it was interesting to listen to a book this way.

I want to read everything by this author now!!!

This book is unlike any other teen queer romance I’ve read (and I’ve read a lot of them as a teen librarian), it’s full of heart, well developed characters and a fictional take on the post-Arthurian world that is fresh and new.

Witty & full of humor

The equivalent of Bridgerton if it was gay/sapphic. My favorite character has to be Arthur. I loved the humor and banter and PG 13 scenes. The character growth was very apparent and although I felt the end was a bitch rushed I would definitely pick this historic rom com up again!

I really enjoyed this!

I was very excited the whole way through, the ending was totally unexpected but I enjoyed it all the same ☺️ it’s well written and performed.

If only...

What a wonderful read and beautiful glimpse at if only England had had a Prince and Princess like Gabriel and Gwen with a band of loyal friends among them. Several times I doubled over in laughter all while pondering how different the course of history and the world might have been in a select fee in power had been brave!

GREAT BOOK. Questionable narrator.

Wonderful book. I feel bad writing this as I would usually never critique a narrator’s performance, but I did feel that the male narrator was putting on an annoyingly affected voice for Arthur which made serious moments goofy. It improved over the course of the book, but especially in the beginning, he was doing like a super arrogant, campy prince voice & it took me out of the action. But the book was GREAT!!! And Gwen’s narrator was great as well.

No gays buried here!

We love a love story with a happy ending. So rare for us queers. The gays to take a beating but none of it is because they’re gay!! Refreshing and delightful.

So fun, so good

This was such a fun listen! I wish we got to see more of the love aspects, but overall it was great—the pining, the secrecy, and the laughs. It was amazing to say the least.

Cute easy read

If you're looking for an easy read with cute queer romance, this is a good one to go to. loved it!