Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay by Lex Croucher (2026)
Once again, author Lex Croucher cleverly confirms what we always suspected......that the mythical, mystical world of Arthurian England and Camelot was actually populated by YA characters steeped in simmering hormones, romantic angst and the ability to fire off snappy, snarky remarks at any given moment.
Well, after the fun of 'Gwen and Art Are Not In Love", our favorite Camelot cosplay gang is back. But, sorry to say, not with quite as much of those laugh-out-loud moments we all enjoyed in the first book. The aftermath of battle has left two major queer romances on rocky paths strewn with hurt feelings, miscommunications, PTSD, and severe identity crisis. King Gabriel, given to panic attacks and almost zero self confidence, painfully pines for knight Sir Arthur. HIs sister Princess Gwendoline deals with similar anxiety over her love gone awry for the fierce girl warrior Bridget, who's afraid she's lost her courageous jousting bravado.
There's only one way for these crazy kids to resolve their issues....... summon the Knights, create the Round Table and hit the road in search of the Questing Beast, the Green Knight, the Lady in the Lake and the Holy Grail. Not to mention rev up some favorable P..R. for Gabriel's progressive, groundbreaking new dictates for the kingdom, like legalizing same sex relationships and getting kids off the farm and into schools.
The book does have some real sly witty fun with the various quests, some of which come to resemble the Monty Python misadventures. But the focus here remains on the two young queer couples struggling to rekindle those burning fires between them that never really went out.....only tamped down by cruel circumstance and their own misunderstandings of each other. And with their long questing exploits almost at an end,, the stakes are suddenly raised higher than all four of them ever anticipated.
The adroit bending and warping of Arthurian legends remains captivating and you most definitely won't want to stop reading until you're satisfied that Bridget and Gwen and Art and Gabe are way more than okay.
Well, after the fun of 'Gwen and Art Are Not In Love", our favorite Camelot cosplay gang is back. But, sorry to say, not with quite as much of those laugh-out-loud moments we all enjoyed in the first book. The aftermath of battle has left two major queer romances on rocky paths strewn with hurt feelings, miscommunications, PTSD, and severe identity crisis. King Gabriel, given to panic attacks and almost zero self confidence, painfully pines for knight Sir Arthur. HIs sister Princess Gwendoline deals with similar anxiety over her love gone awry for the fierce girl warrior Bridget, who's afraid she's lost her courageous jousting bravado.
There's only one way for these crazy kids to resolve their issues....... summon the Knights, create the Round Table and hit the road in search of the Questing Beast, the Green Knight, the Lady in the Lake and the Holy Grail. Not to mention rev up some favorable P..R. for Gabriel's progressive, groundbreaking new dictates for the kingdom, like legalizing same sex relationships and getting kids off the farm and into schools.
The book does have some real sly witty fun with the various quests, some of which come to resemble the Monty Python misadventures. But the focus here remains on the two young queer couples struggling to rekindle those burning fires between them that never really went out.....only tamped down by cruel circumstance and their own misunderstandings of each other. And with their long questing exploits almost at an end,, the stakes are suddenly raised higher than all four of them ever anticipated.
The adroit bending and warping of Arthurian legends remains captivating and you most definitely won't want to stop reading until you're satisfied that Bridget and Gwen and Art and Gabe are way more than okay.
4 stars (****).
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