This book is for everyone who watched BBC's Merlin and thought Morgana and Gwen should have ended up together.

Lady's Knight is a cozy YA fantasy about knights, dragons, witches, and girls with big plans. The stakes aren't super high, the narration is comedic, and the world has very loose references to Arthurian legend. To be honest, I'm not usually a fan of cozy or low-stakes fantasy, so I think the reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped is because of this. I still highly recommend this book to others; it just didn't particularly stand out to me.
Gwen wants to be a knight, and Isobelle wants to be rescued by one. Once Isobelle finds out that she will be the prize for the next jousting tournament, she and Gwen come up with a plan: Isobelle will help Gwen enter and win the tournament, and in exchange, Isobelle will not be married off to the winning knight. As other reviewers have said, the plot is fairly predictable, and the stakes are relatively low, but I think the comedic nature of the story definitely carries it. Outside of the humor, I didn't find it to be anything particularly new or unique. The pacing also felt a little slow, but again, the narration makes up for that.
This could also be the beginning of a reading slump, but I didn't feel super connected to any of the characters. I really did like the dynamic between Isobelle and Gwen; I think they complemented each other well. I just didn't find them to be super three-dimensional. I did like Isobelle's character arc, and I appreciated Gwen's perspective on the lives of nobles. I struggled a bit to differentiate between all of Isobelle's friends (I just kept picturing the girls from Sofia the First), but I did like the banter between them. Overall, I liked the characters; I just didn't think they were super complex.
Lady's Knight is a fun-spirited YA fantasy - probably fitting for the younger side of YA - that explores the love between a lady and her knight.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!

3.5/5