Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay by Lex Croucher. I enjoyed the first book, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, and I was honestly a bit surprised to see it got a sequel. The story wrapped up pretty well in the first one, but I was excited to spend more time with these characters, nonetheless. Did I like this sequel as much as its predecessor? Read on to find out!

Return to Camelot in the much anticipated and funny follow-up to the instant New York Times bestselling and YA Book Prize winning Gwen and Art Are Not in Love.

They fell in love. They won a great battle. It should have been happily ever after. But 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 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?

***Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing an advanced copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay nearly as much as its predecessor. It all boiled down to one thing: the couples broke up between the two books. I hated this choice. It felt like it came out of nowhere because it had already happened off the page before the story even started. I understand what the author was going for, with the mental health issues leading to relationship strife, but I think it would’ve been a better story if the partners had navigated the struggles together. Instead, most of the book was plagued by relationship drama rooted in lack of communication that felt like a step backwards for the characters.

As for the mental health issues addressed in Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay, the author did a good job of handling them with care. It made sense for Gabriel and Bridget to have these problems after everything they went through in the first book. Gabriel’s anxiety had spiraled into panic, and he was really struggling with being overwhelmed by his new role as king. I liked his journey and was happy to see him eventually come into his own as king. Bridget’s PTSD was intense and made worse by the fact she was a knight. She basically had to constantly re-enact her worst traumas in every tournament, and her need to be in control of everything in order to feel safe quickly became all-consuming. She and Gabriel both had to learn to open up and depend on others to help them.

The plot of Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay was mostly centered around the group going on a quest to boost Gabriel’s standing with the people. They investigated tales of mythical creatures/items all while trying to earn some goodwill for Gabriel’s progressive reforms. I liked how the different investigations tied into the characters’ growth, and the quests were able to inject some of the whimsy from the first book back into the story. That being said, the quest didn’t feel like it had much in the way of stakes, and the main story was really just the inner journey of psychological healing for Bridget & Gabe.

All in all, Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay was a sequel that really didn’t need to exist. I did enjoy spending time with these characters again, even though it felt like they’d been taken in the wrong direction at times. There was some fun and whimsy to be found, but it was a much more sullen outing than the first book. Therefore, I rate this book 3.25 out of 5 stars.