Don't get me wrong, I'm very much okay with that, Briar has enough shit to deal with and it's very clearly a conscious choice by the author. But this choice leaves me with a lot of interesting questions to ponder. Briar seems to simultaneously have very genderqueer vibes (West immediately asks for pronouns when they first meet) and still pass as ... a boy, I assume? Boy probably makes more sense because there are less girls at Temple and they face nonstop sexual harassment which Briar doesn't get.

What also stands out to me is that Briar never seems to think about their body and their presentation. It's interesting because I would expect some caution in such a dangerous and conservative environment. But Briar appears to be very confident in themself and their safety (from gender based violence at least). Which has so many interesting implications about their upbringing and teenage years!

Also! Does Bastian even know Briar is nonbinary? To my knowledge, he never refers to Briar with any pronouns (please correct me if I'm wrong) and they never discuss it. Did Briar already go by they/them at ten years old? Possible but seems unlikely to me because of their environment. Would Briar be fine with letting Bastian think of them as their assigned gender at birth? Seems unlikely as well. So what's the deal there?

Publish date: 11 August 2026

Genre: young adult historical romance

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

If you are looking for:

Mental health and disability representation

Second chance romance

Lady knights

Exploration of grief and trauma

But it's also tender and heartfelt and funny??

Newly crowned King Gabriel is having panic attacks in cupboards in-between council meetings. He can't tell Arthur just how not okay he is – so he's set him free, to find love with someone who can get through the day without breaking down.

Bridget has lost her spark for sparring, forfeiting again and again in the lists. When she’s invited to join Gabriel's round table, she hopes it’ll be the change she needs. But trying to navigate the post-happily-ever-after reality of a relationship with Gwen, when Bridget no longer feels like the dashing knight Gwen fell in love with, feels impossible.

With the kingdom still reeling from an attempted uprising, and rumoured sightings of the holy grail, the questing beast and the green knight happening across the country, the gang depart on a PR tour destined for disaster. Can Gabriel be the king his country deserves? Can Bridget get her jousting groove back? And will they find their way back to the courtly love that once seemed fated?

From New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher comes an extraordinary dark academia fantasy about dangerous privilege, corrupted power, and two former best friends caught on opposite sides of the secrets rotting at the heart of Britain’s most prestigious boarding school.

For as long as they can remember, Briar Jones dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy. Behind its looming ornate gates, the elite boarding school—the place that has produced the most CEOs and Prime Ministers in British history—is whispered to be magical.

Briar's best friend, Sebastian Wolfe, never cared about Temple. He just wanted them to stay together forever.

When, at age eleven, Seb gets an acceptance letter and Briar doesn't, their childhood friendship is shattered. Seb vanishes onto Temple's grounds and Briar resigns themself to a mundane life. But they can't completely forget their yearning for Temple, for the extraordinary, to be one of the chosen in the ivory tower.

The sequel to the unforgettable New York Times bestseller Gwen & Art Are Not In Love that invites readers on a quest chock full of wit, undeniable yearning, and second chances. They fell in love. They fought a great battle. And they won. Now, Camelot’s famous couples have fallen apart. Newly crowned King Gabriel is having panic attacks in cupboards in-between council meetings. He can’t tell…