Not for the Faint of Heart
A Novel
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- USD 11.99
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- USD 11.99
Descripción editorial
From New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher comes a queer historical YA romance, with all the swoons, laughs, and heart-pounding moments you'd expect from a story about the granddaughter of Robin Hood and the girl she's accidentally kidnapped.
‘You aren’t merry,’ Clem said to her captor. ‘And you aren’t all men. So there’s been some marketing confusion somewhere along the line.’
Mariel, a newly blooded and perpetually grumpy captain of the Merry Men, is desperate to live up to the legacy of her grandfather, the legendary Robin Hood. Clem, a too-perky backwoods healer known for her new-fangled cures, just wants to help people.
When Mariel's ramshackle band of bandits kidnap Clem as retribution for her guardian helping the Sheriff of Nottingham, all seems to be going (sort of) to plan … until Jack Hartley, Mariel’s father and Commander of the Merry Men, is captured in a deadly ambush. Determined to prove herself, Mariel sets out to get him back – with her annoyingly cheerful kidnappee in tow.
But the wood is at war. Many believe the Merry Men are no longer on the right side of history. Watching Clem tend the party’s wounds and crack relentlessly terrible jokes, Mariel begins to doubt the noble cause to which she has devoted her life. As the two of them grow closer, forced by circumstances to share a single horse and bed, one thing is clear. They must prepare to fight for their lives and for those of everyone they’ve sworn to protect.
Lex Croucher's Not for the Faint of Heart is a thrilling adventure full of hijinks, found family, and romance destined to change the lives of the inhabitants of the Greenwood Forest forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Croucher (Gwen and Art are Not in Love) presents a queer reimagining of the Robin Hood legend through the eyes of his granddaughter. As the daughter of the leader of the Merry Men, Mariel Hartley-Hood has a lot to prove when her father takes over following her grandfather Robin Hood's retirement. After a hostage situation goes sideways and her father is captured, Mariel gears up for a daring rescue—provided that her increasingly complicated feelings for her cheery, chatty hostage Clemence "Clem" Causey don't get in the way. Anachronistic humor (Clem calls herself a "five-star abduction" and jokingly refers to her kidnappers as an "all-star line-up") and the modern cadence of the dialogue prevent this hijinks-filled historical romance from feeling fully rooted in the medieval setting. Depictions of Robin Hood's anarchist mutual aid collective of Merry Men juxtaposed with Mariel's father's leadership adds teeth to this lighthearted rom-com adventure, which features explosively described fight sequences and a wealth of fun and campy tropes, including a slow-burning enemies-to-lovers romance. Mariel and Clem are white and queer; supporting characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 13–up.