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My Review:Title: The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway
Author: Ashley Schumacher
Published by: Wednesday Books
Release Date: March 14, 2023
Format: eARC
Pages: 308
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 1, Lenoreo's 2023 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:
Blurb:Since her mother’s death, Madeline “Gwen” Hathaway has been determined that nothing in her life will change ever again. That’s why she keeps extensive lists in journals, has had only one friend since childhood, and looks forward to the monotony of working the ren faire circuit with her father. Until she arrives at her mother’s favourite end-of-tour stop to find the faire is under new management and completely changed.
Meeting Arthur, the son of the new owners and an actual lute-playing bard, messes up Maddie’s plans even more. For some reason, he wants to be her friend - and ropes her into becoming Princess of the Faire. Now Maddie is overseeing a faire dramatically changed from what her mother loved and going on road trips vastly different from the routine she used to rely on. Worst of all, she’s kind of having fun.
Ashley Schumacher's The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway is filled with a wise old magician who sells potion bottles, gallant knights who are afraid of horses and ride camels instead, kings with a fondness for theatrics, a lazy river castle moat with inflatable crocodile floaties, and a plus-sized heroine with a wide-open heart... if only she just admits it.
I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
4 stars — This was a solid YA contemporary, dealing with grief, body image issues, new relationships, and just the basics of being a teenager and all the normal angst that inspires.
I really enjoyed Maddie, and she felt very real in so many ways. It was so hard to read about the way she had convinced herself to hold people at bay to avoid caring for them, and thus avoid losing someone else she loved. The flaws in the plan are so basic, but I do understand how humans young and old can get trapped in their coping mechanisms. I was really worried that she would end up hurting Arthur more than she did, but he’s kind of a special soul. It was interesting to watch her try to navigate all these changes at a kind of pivotal point of her life. I thought she grew and made missteps in a totally realistic way. She definitely frustrated me from time to time, but I did understand why she was making the choices she was making.
With both Maddie and Arthur we get to see how hard it is to be outside the mold of society’s ideal. And I loved the push and pull we had on that, how both were blind to what the other saw as their own failings. It really illuminated how we don’t see others the same way we see ourselves.
Arthur was pretty adorable right from the start, even if he was frustrating in his own way. I loved his sunshine to Maddie’s grumpy, I loved that he persisted. I loved how he brought such fun to everything even as he struggled himself.
While the story is mostly Maddie and some Arthur focused, there were some fun background characters that brought their own bits of wisdom to the story and helped Maddie grow and deal.
All in all a solid YA, and one of those YAs that actually feels really relevant to *teenagers*…you know, the target audience.
COYER Community: I buddy read this book with Lillian, and we both easily fell in love with Arthur and thought it was a great book for teens. She also gave it 4 stars, see her review here.
I’ve been seeing this book around, so it was fun to read your review. I don’t know that it’s one I would pick up, but I love that its marketed to the right crowd as it should be.