I want to start this off by saying I really enjoyed the book and its characters. They were all really lovable and following along Gwens journey and her relationship with Bridget was amazing to read. My one complaint however would be with Arthur. While I absolutely adore his character I dont feel like the ending of the book does him justice. For him it kind of came out of nowhere with everything about him being kind of brushed off. In quite a few conversations he mentioned his troubled relationship with his dad and opens up about his past relationship. He outright says that he thinks hed be better of dead, and that hes worthless, but somehow the siblings immediately turn on him with no afterthought? There is no confrontation whatsoever? I found this already harsh since it happens shortly after he nearly died, (and Gabriel told him he wants nothing to do with him) but that there never seems any remorse for it doesnt help? And with how it progresses afterwards it just really upset me how nothing was ever addressed in the end. There is room given for letters between Bridget and Gwen, they briefly talk about how Gwen realizes she was wrong But arthur is just kinda there? His „meaningful talks“ with Gabriel are never written out and in the end its just all supposed to be happy? Even him asking for a worse sentence for his father who, to my knowledge fully mistreated his son, verbally abused him, had him assaulted, committed treason, and has his son assaulted again somehow gets a „stern glance from gabriel“? In the end it just kinda felt like Arthurs struggles through out the book didnt matter at all, neither to the other characters, nor to arthur, he himself just goes back to normal immediately too. I feel like the book couldve needed at least a chapter more to give a bit more room for his arc to come to a conclusion, instead of what it was.

Sehr schönes Buch. Da wurde jetzt nicht das Rad neu erfunden, aber ich hatte durchweg sehr viel Spaß beim Lesen. Dazu dann die queere romance. Schön. Das einzige womit ich nicht warm geworden bin, ist das Setting. Aber nur so hat die Story funktioniert, also ein „ich Problem“ 😬 Ich glaube, dass der Humor manchen zu viel sein könnte.

YA queer Rom-Com in a Arthurian Historic setting, with modern language and two main couples. While I didn’t connect with either main characters I adored both their love interests. It’s a cute book and I liked the character development but I felt like the plot was too long, the pacing was a bit off and while the first half was lighthearted the second one was rather dark.

“To be truly brave, first you must be afraid - and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bear to lose.” “I don’t think doing a difficult thing and being happy are mutually exclusive.” “Not everyone lives for the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of the little black and white squares.”

I was surprised how much I like it in the end. These characters just got to me, and I have a soft spot for friend groups that have that found family vibe 🥹❤️ The book gave me all emotions from giddy with happiness, to cackling laughter and tears running down my face 😭 I was just missing an epilogue. I wanted a bit more at the end, but other than that, I really have nothing to criticize. Gwen(doline) & Art(hur) are not in love, which is a shame since they are betrothed (since birth). In fact, they do hate each other, and after a childhood full of fighting each other, their parents thought I'd be a good idea to separate them until the wedding. Well, that day finally seems to be on the horizon, and Arthur gets sent to Camelot for the summer to get reacquainted with his financé. They are both not a fan of this idea, but soon realize they have more in common than they thought. Gwen sees Art kissing a boy, and Art notices that Gwen keeps staring at Bridget, the only female knight. So they promise to keep each other's secret and get along to get their parents off their back. Also important to mention: Gwen has a brother, Gabriel, who is the love interest for Art, and another main character. It is set in Camelot, but the speech isn't historically accurate, and therefore easy to read. There is also a lot about the story of King Arthur, cultists and such, which was an interesting "subplot" (more like the plot, but it wasn't the focus). The beginning was a bit slow, but that didn't bother me. It just takes a while until all main characters meet, but once they do (and before that as well), it's great. I just love the characters and their friendship ❤️ The love stories were also nice, but they weren't really the focus. It's more about self-discovery. Finding out who you are and how you want your life to be. Deciding between doing what you think you have to do and what you might want to do while finding parts of yourself you didn't know existed yet. I also really enjoyed the humor. It's been a while since a book got me cackling 😂 The epitome of that was Gwen's birthday. One of the best scenes. Followed by one of the saddest scenes, which I obviously won't spoil here (let's just say it took place in the mud and had me crying). There were a lot of great scenes around the end, which definitely didn't fit the RomCom tag anymore. It was grim but epic, and I hadn't expected some things, but other than the imo missing epilogue, I loved everything about it. A book I can totally recommend and would love to read a sequel about ❤️

"Nobody else is ever going to care as much as you do about what you want, Gwendoline. So it's up to you - you can put them aside forever, if you can life with that, or you can put on your big-girl girdle and demand more for yourself." "To be truly brave, first you must be afraid - and to be afraid, you must have something you cannot bare to lose."

Der Einstieg fiel mir etwas schwer, da ich mich erstmal sowohl an den Schreibstil gewöhnen als auch mit den Charakteren warm werden musste. Dann waren die Protagonisten aber einfach toll. Gwen hat sich meiner Meinung nach sehr gut weiterentwickelt und auch Arthur hat sich verändert. Bridget mochte ich sehr gern, da sie sehr selbstbewusst ist und sich nicht darum schert, was andere über sie denken. Gabriel ist super tierlieb 🐦‍⬛🐈 und ein Bücherwurm und er und Arthur ergänzen sich einfach super gut. Es war sehr schön, die beiden cuten Liebesgeschichte zu verfolgen und auch mitzubekommen, wie sich die Freundschaft zwischen allen aufgebaut hat. 🥰 Die Story war an sich nicht besonders spektakulär, hat mich aber trotzdem immer gut unterhalten und das Ende war dann nochmal sehr spannend. Zudem wurde auch auf viele wichtige Themen aufmerksam gemacht. Insgesamt hat mir die Geschichte sehr gut gefallen und ich hätte die Charaktere jetzt am Ende gern auch noch länger begleitet.💕

Ein Buch, das mir richtig zu Herzen ging. Gwen und Art sind verlobt, können sich aber nicht ausstehen. Als beide jeweils ein großes Geheimnis des anderen erfahren, schmieden sie einen Plan und geben fortan das schwerverliebte Pärchen. Denn was soll schon schief gehen, wenn Gwen eigentlich mehr an Camelots erster Ritterin Bridget interessiert ist und Art langsam aber sicher Gefühle für Gwen Bruder Gabriel entwickelt... Absolut liebenswerte Charakteren und einer zuckersüßen Geschichte rund um die erste Liebe, die von außen, aber auch von sich selbst auferlegten Erwartungen, das Ausbrechen aus Konventionen und dem Beginn für sich, seine Gefühle und die eigene Zukunft einzustehen. Garniert mit viel Humor und einer nicht ganz historisch korrekten Version von Camelot und Arthur Pendragon. Und Excalibur Nummer 9, dass diesmal nicht der Held aus dem Stein zieht. Oder vielleicht doch? Das Buch war für mich ein richtiges Wohlfühlbuch mit großartigen Protagonisten und einem Humor, der mich immer wieder zum Lachen brachte (Ich will nicht wissen, was meine Nachbarn von mir denken, denn ich habe viel auf dem Balkon gelesen :D) und der ganze Geschichte rund um Artus, Morgana, Camelot und Co. einen neuen Twist gibt. Obwohl in Englisch verfasst, empfand ich es nicht als allzu kompliziert und daher sicherlich auch für Lesende geeignet, dich sich langsam an englische Bücher herantasten wollen. Am besten einfach mal in die Leseprobe hineinschnuppern und schauen, ob es passt. Wertung: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fazit: Tolles Buch und durch seine ungewöhnliche Liebesgeschichte mal ein ganz anderes „Artus-Buch“.

Protect the babies!! These 4 are so precious and such cool and diverse characters, I was so happy to follow along their coming of age and storylines! In the beginning I kind of expected there to be more... Things happening? Just more.. In general? But as the story progressed and... Happenings... Happened, it all felt very fitting and natural so I really enjoyed it all! Tldr: yes. Be gay. Do crime. Rebel. ♥️