A review by thekibbs101
Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

sad tense
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I thought it sounded so good when it said it’s full of sword fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans. That is not what the book is full of if those things barely happen. How can you just exaggerate what a book is about and basically mislead the readers? I don’t understand why so many publishers are doing this. Maybe I’m being nit picky but to me those things barely happened in the book so that just leaves me feeling frustrated by the false expectations. I did enjoy the book aside from that, but I wasn’t a fan of the slow beginning and rushed ending. I would recommend this if you like supportive characters that slowly become friends, and I mean SLOWLY. And a fantasy setting following a princess and a party boy. 

The first 100 pages are very slow and repetitive, It’s not enjoyable at all because Gwen & Art are always arguing. I thought once they found out each others secret’s that they would bond over that but instead Art just holds it over her head and is still mean to her. It’s also annoying that they’re called Gwen & Art in the title but they are rarely called that in the book, they are mostly called by their full names. I’m just tired of books that take over 100 pages to become more interesting or more fast paced. We have to wait so long to get to the good parts. We got bread crumbs of Gwen with Bridget and I was interested in that but we barely get anything in the first 100 pages. It does start getting more interesting soon after when Gwen wants to go out to a party and then starts training with Bridget. It’s nice that Gwen decides she wants to start making friends and I feel for her when she doesn’t immediately achieve that and she feels jealous of the others that have friends. I always like training to fight in books so it was nice Gwen wanted to learn that from Bridget. “I wasn’t going to back down just because somebody told me no.” I loved that quote from Bridget. I still didn’t like Arthur halfway through the book, he had only done one nice thing for Gwen and other than that had just argued with her. And then she tells him that Gabriel didn’t support her and he doesn’t even tell her that he kissed Gabriel and that he let him. I wished they would just bond and that he would tell her that instead of leaving her to be in pain about it. They kind of do finally begin to bond but that’s not until page 216. I liked Art after that but I wish it hadn’t taken so long for him to be nice. I don’t understand how this book could say it has found family when that hasn’t even happened yet over hallway through the book. I just really hate when books market themselves wrong, and it keeps happening all the time. I did start enjoying the book but I can’t overlook the expectations that the description of the book gave me. 

I like how Arthur goes to Gabriel right after and talks to him about Gwen and how he should be nicer to her. And getting to finally know more about Gabe when he says he wants to educate people. I just wish that Gwen & Art had been able to bond and get along and be friends way sooner because that would have made the book more enjoyable. Since they are the main characters it was just weird that they didn’t get along and then when they’re in their seperate chapters with other people, the other people just feel like side characters. I wish that the side characters would be more prominent. I just realized recently after reading two books where it switched between 5 different characters that I really liked that because they all felt like the main characters because they all got focused on equally. And I guess I like getting to know all of the characters rather than just mainly knowing one or two and then the other ones you barely get to know them. I did eventually start to like Art because of how he helped Gwen get closer to Bridget. And the story did start getting more enjoyable. I understand that it takes time to build up a story but it just sucks when it takes of over half of the book for me to start enjoying it because by then there’s not much of the book left. And then right after it gets more fun on Gwen’s birthday it immediately goes back to the book just being tense. I just think this book is marketed as like a fun and amusing story but that is not what it feels like, most of the time it felt tense. I don’t think it should be mainly marketed by the things that are minor in the story. There was only one scene with a sword fight between Bridget and Gwen and then that just never happened again or was even mentioned that she kept training, what was the point of having her start train and just completely forget about it? The found family doesn’t happen, and there were some amusing lines but the book itself doesn’t feel like a comedy. The main tone of the book to me was tense for the first half, and then it became more lighthearted but still was tense. Art is dealing with a drinking problem and seems to be possibly depressed, Gabe won’t admit that he likes boys and is always so serious and tense about that, and I like Gwen but she is also tense most of the time. I think this book had a great premise and it just needed better execution if what the author was going for was a rom com, then I shouldn’t be feeling like the most interesting and healthy relationship is the one between the side characters Agnes and Sidney. Every time we got a glimpse of them they seemed so happy and I almost wish the book had been about them. Art doesn’t really have a relationship with Gabe, them being attracted to each other was a very minor part of the plot because not much time was spent on it. The main romance that’s focused on is Gwen & Bridget but they get together very fast and then apparently all they do is kiss and not spend actual time together after that. Also I find it weird that the characters don’t actually fall in love they are actually just like oh I’m attracted to them; and then they kiss. So again, misleading because this is not romantic, the characters don’t seem to be in love, it even says that Gwen realizes that all her and Bridget do is kiss. 

I empathized with Gwen when she is so hurt and feels like what they had meant more to her than it did to Bridget and I completely understand and am on her side because I have been on her side so many times. The rest of the book is tense and sad. I hate the random battle at the end of the book, and how Gwen just shuts Art out without even talking to him and assuming the worst of him. How Bridget completely shuts out Gwen so Gwen is just sad and everything is tense. I really had started to like the book but it just goes downhill after Arthur gets better and Gwen shuts him out. I thought the end of the book would be more enjoyable and where the found family would finally be focused on but instead there’s a battle?? That was just so random and just continued to make the last 100 pages tense and bad. I just hated the way this ended. I don’t understand why a battle took up so much of the ending and by the time it was over there were only 15 pages left. I just hate when something unexpected happens and takes up all of the rest of the book making the ending extremely short. In any book I want more than 15 pages of an ending. After reading an entire book I think as readers we deserve more than 15 pages after the conflict gets resolved. The last 15 pages were good, but why did we pause the plot of the book for a battle and then just end the book out of nowhere? I like that Gabe decided he would be true to himself and to send the letters to the library. I like that Bridget and Gwen stayed together, so I liked the last 15 pages but they were just so rushed. The endings of books to me are just never fully enjoyable when they are quick and rushed because it makes me want a longer ending. I did like the last few pages, they made me smile. And I guess you could say the found family is forming at the very end. 
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