Rip-roaringly romantic, fast-paced and funny - discover the brand new Sapphic historical fantasy adventure from the author of Cafe Nero Award shortlisted, YA Book Prize nominated and Books Are My Bag Reader's Award winner, Gwen and Art Are Not in Love
'You aren't merry,' said Clem to her captor. 'And you aren't all men. So there's been some marketing confusion somewhere along the line.'
Mariel, a newly blooded captain of the Merry Men, is desperate to live up to the legacy of her grandfather, the legendary Robin Hood. Clem, a backwoods assistant healer known for her new-fangled cures, just wants to help people.
When Mariel's ramshackle band 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, Mariel begins to doubt the cause to which she has devoted her life. As the two of them grow closer, one thing is clear. They must prepare to fight for their lives - and for the lives of everybody in the greenwood.
'You aren't merry,' said Clem to her captor. 'And you aren't all men. So there's been some marketing confusion somewhere along the line.'
When Mariel finds out that her band of Merry Men have kidnapped the wrong person, she's a whole new level of miffed. They were supposed to be bringing back the regional healer, Old Rosie, who, rumour has it, has been aiding the Sheriff of Nottingham. They were not supposed to kidnap her assistant, Clem - a chatty, freckled, curly-haired whirlwind of a teenage girl who is unnervingly cheerful about being knocked out with horrible-smelling herbs and bundled into the back of a wagon.
As the granddaughter of Robin Hood and a newly blooded captain of the Merry Men, Mariel has a lot to prove, and this mission has gone instantly and massively pear-shaped .
So begins a love story to rival that of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, and an adventure that will change the lives of the inhabitants of the Greenwood for good - not to mention the course of myth and history.
Congrats to Gwen and Arthur on their permanent acquisition of my ENTIRE heart. Suffice it to say that I loved this book to a degree that's slightly ridiculous