This book takes a cute spin on the traditional forced marriage (forced betrothal?) + fake dating premise. Gwen and Art are betrothed, but they’re very much not in love. Such a set-up usually promises an enemies-to-lovers romance, but in this case, both main characters are gay, and so they actually do find their happily-ever-afters with other people. Gwen harbours a years-long crush on Bridget, a badass knight and only female knight in the kingdom; Arthur starts off kissing a stable boy, but eventually develops feelings for Gwen’s studious brother Gabriel. When both main characters find out about each other’s romantic secrets, they agree to fake-date to get their parents off their backs.

It’s a cute premise, and one I’d expect to love. Unfortunately, the book started off slooooooow for me. The first couple of chapters failed to hook me at all, mostly because it took so long for the main characters to win me over and make me care about them. Gwen just seemed like a miserable person to spend time with, and while I can kinda see why she wouldn’t want to marry someone as irresponsible and unreliable as Arthur, the specific incidents she complained about just made her seem bratty and petulant.

Arthur won me over more quickly, partly because his struggles with alcoholism and a power hungry father made him a more nuanced and textured character from the get-go. But what really made Arthur’s scenes shine almost from the start is his side kick (body guard? man servant?), Sidney. To me, Sidney stole the show. I found him witty and compelling, and I would totally read a whole book about his misadventures and his eventual romance with Gwen’s maid.

In fact, Gwen and Arthur owe a lot to the secondary characters. Despite Gwen and Arthur eventually going through full character arcs (Gwen needs to learn to get over her cowardice, and Arthur needs to learn to step up to his responsibilities), it’s the secondary characters, specifically Sidney and Bridget, who drive the momentum of most of the plot. It isn’t until later in the book that Gwen and Arthur actually start taking matters into their own hands. When they do, the story definitely picks up, but it takes a while to get there.

The final third or so takes a sharp turn from lighthearted romance to inter-kingdom politics and battle. The seeds were planted throughout, and the climactic battle is certainly a powerful section. Both Gwen and Arthur have their respective moments to shine, and demonstrate their character growth.

But the eventual happy ending does come at a cost, and a rather surprising tonal shift that unfortunately felt rushed. And while the denouement makes sense, it also feels oddly flat. Not quite rushed and not quite perfunctory, but not quite satisfying either. There’s a rather momentous point in the battle that adds so many layers of complexity to what comes next, yet it feels like the ending glosses over all that and focuses only on the happily-ever-afters of the central romances. Don’t get me wrong: I love genre romance and I love happily-ever-afters. Yet in this case, it doesn’t quite hit its emotional mark.

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Thank you to Raincoast Books for an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.