The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway

 The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway by Amy Schumacher, 320 pages. 

Madeline Hathaway hasn't been doing very well since her mom died. The renaissance festival circuit she grew up on hasn't been the same, she and her dad aren't really communicating, and she is compulsively tracking almost every aspect of her life as part of her grieving process. She's been nervous to arrive at her mom's favorite festival, and when she get there she hardly recognizes it. The festival is under new management, and the new owners' son is determined to pull her into the action. He also won't stop calling her Gwen. 

Arthur is determined to be her friend, which includes roping her into playing the princess and going on road trip adventures during the week. And despite the fact that Madeline is determined not to let herself care about anyone else she could one day lose, she finds herself caring about him anyway. 

This was a pretty cute young adult novel. Both Madeline and Arthur are determined that nobody could actually find them attractive, and I found that added an interesting dynamic to their relationship. It also fed into the biggest problem I had with the book, which is that a lot of characters made a lot of wildly unfounded assumptions, usually based on nothing, and acted as if they were inarguable fact. It was sweet however, and a pretty good portrayal of grief for younger audiences.