There is a lot to like about this book. I read it in one sitting, and it goes quickly from the very first page. It has the familiar feel of many old fairy tales, but is also new and original. The characters are all very likable, in some ways, even the villain. The "damsel" saves herself, with the help of some of her friends, and there are LGBTQIA+ characters without that being the focus of the story, just a nice inclusion in the plot and character development.There have been a lot of fairy tale retellings on the market lately, but I think this one is well worth the read.

Honestly, when I first saw this gorgeous cover I didn’t really even care what the book was about. I knew I had to read it! ⁣
After staring at the cover for a while, I realized the book is a YA fantasy novel. I rarely read books of this genre, but the synopsis was so captivating.⁣
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Girl, Serpent, Thorn took me to a magical place. Based on Persian mythology and folklore, this story is filled with adventure, mystery, and romance. I loved the many strong females in this book and applaud Melissa Bashardoust for including a bisexual character, an identity we see far too little of in most genres. ⁣
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This book is progressive and captivating. I highly recommend it!

✨Arc Review✨ Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust. Flatiron Books. Publication date: July 7, 2020. ⠀
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🥀Cursed to be poisonous to the touch, she has lived her life in hiding. Things are bout to change. 🥀⠀
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🥀Sometimes the Princess is the monster. 🥀⠀
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🥀Fairytales. Good. Evil. Betrayal. Secrets.🥀⠀
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🥀We all have moments when we feel untouchable, poisonous. We struggle to understand ourselves. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It invoked every emotion, with amazing Persian history throughout. 🥀⠀
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🥀You are who you choose to be🥀⠀
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🥀There was and there was not🥀⠀
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#netgalley #girlserpentthorn #melissabashardoust #flatironbooks #bookstagram #books #yabooks #ya #fantasy #yafantasy #bookshelf

I am sorry to say that I was bored by this book. It didn’t catch me and I didn’t feel invested in the characters. It had its interesting points but overall it doesn’t stand out.

Here was another book I requested based mostly on cover lust. But the description itself, particularly the original fairytale-ness of it all, was another sure a attraction. It's also yet another book that seems to feature siblings, though this one is only from Soraya's POV, which is a nice change of pace in my reading lately. The story took a few twists and turns that I wasn't expecting, but most of them turned out for the good, and I enjoyed this read!

Soraya is a forgotten princess. With a power that kills at her touch, she's spent her life sequestered in shadows, separated from her family, friends, and people. She's spent her life watching her brother pass all of the milestones that she herself has missed out on. And now it is coming to a head with his marriage to a lost friend from Soraya's childhood. In unexpected places she begins to find new allies and new pathways, opening doors that she never dreamed possible. Some of them lead into the light, and some further into the dark. Which will she choose?

I ended up really enjoying this book. It was an original fairytale, something I always love, and it took a few unexpected twists and turns as it was told. On top of all of that, it's a standalone novel. One small criticims there, however, was the story did feel like it had to distinctive arcs that may have been better suited to their own books, making the story into a duology. But even typing that feels wrong as I love standalone books so much and they're hard to find! It's kind of a mixed bag thing, here, I guess. The two storylines work well enough, and I don't feel like either was truly lacking much. Just that as a complete work, it did feel oddly balanced with the first half telling one tale and the second another.

I really liked Soraya herself. She had a great narrative voice, and she was easy to become immediately invested in. This was important as the book took a twist down an antihero path that I hadn't seen coming from the book description. Looking back now, yeah, it's kind of there. But it was another nice surprise for me when going through this book. It's always tough to sell a true antihero story, as often your main character is doing some pretty questionable things and walking a very narrow line. This made the likablity of Soraya's character incredibly important. It was easy to understand her struggles and even some of her more questionable decisions, especially in the context of the life she had lived prior to this story.

Another surprise for me was that Soraya was a bisexual and the main romance ends up being a f/f one. For the book itself and its story, I really enjoyed this romance. I've read a bunch of f/f/ stories recently, and really liked them! Just last week, I reviewed a book by Django Wexler who is known for almost always giving his heroine a female love interest. My problem with it being a surprise here isn't the book's fault. It's the marketing.

Looking over the book description, it's clear that it's intentionally deflecting away from using gendered pronouns in places, and then goes out of its way to place interest on the male love interest. The male love interest is a thing, so that's fine. But there should be mention, clearly, of the female option. I really dislike these type of marketing techniques. It seems clear that its done out of mistrust of one's audience, and that's never going to work. Either your reader is game for a f/f romance, in which case readers like me would like to know ahead of time what to expect without having to delve into Goodreads reviews to get basic information like this. Or your reader is not down and once it becomes clear that you tried to hoodwink them with your marketing, they'll put the book down. It's bad faith marketing, and we need to get past this.

Overall, I really liked this book. If you're looking for an original fairytale story with a morally grey main character, this is definitely the book for you!

Rating 8: A great standalone fantasy novel featuring an interesting anti-heroine!

(Link will go live July 15)

It’s such a feat finding a good, well rounded, stand alone fantasy story, but I’m happy to say Melissa Bashardoust delivered just that. She also managed to weave in a LGBT romance! This is the story of Soraya, a girl cursed with a poisonous touch. She leads a lonely existence away from her family, basically kept a secret. All she longs for is a normal life and to be accepted. This is a story of growth and change and I really enjoyed seeing her mature and learn from her mistakes. It’s a great take on a fairytale retelling, instead of the princess waiting to be saved she’s doing anything to save herself. So much happens in this one book, so many twists and turns, it made the story feel like it flew by.
I’m going to continue to keep an eye out for whatever she puts out, she hasn’t let me down yet.

Rated a 3.5 but rounded up to 4!

I really like the idea of this story and I was so excited to read it. However the first part of the book was a little slow to me and I felt like there was a lot that could have been taken out.

Otherwise, I liked the retelling of Sleeping Beauty. The characters themselves were very complex and had a lot of story build to them which was helpful. I liked all the intricate details of the book that wove together to tell the bigger picture - such as the beginning where it talked about “she was and she was not”. Soraya made mistakes but overall I think she is a likeable character. Even the villain in the story had likeable parts, such as showing kindness.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read this ARC. Overall it was a good read and I’m happy to have been able to give input on it!

I was delighted to include this in the 2020 Modern Mrs Darcy Summer Reading Guide:

From the author of Girls Made of Snow and Glass, a brilliantly imagined fairy tale featuring dangerous demons, poisonous girls, and a kingdom in peril, inspired by the Persian epic the Shahnameh. The cursed princess Soraya has been living inside her family’s palace walls—touching no one—for eighteen years. As her twin brother’s wedding day approaches, the palace guards capture a demon who may be able to tell her how to break the curse and gain her freedom. But the answers she seeks plunge her into personal crisis and political intrigue, and Soraya is soon forced to question everything she thought she knew about herself—while facing choices that may endanger not just her own fate, but that of the entire kingdom. An enthralling fantasy with broad appeal, with lyrical prose and incredible worldbuilding.

A sign of a compelling book is the inability to look away from the page. When reading Melissa Bashardoust’s “Girl, Serpent, Thorn,” my nose stayed glued to the e-book screen. Despite the questionable pacing and unfulfilled storylines, I chugged her book down like a gloriously cold bottle of water on a scorching summer day.

I was immersed in Melissa Bashardoust’s fictionalized Persian empire. Her mythic world documents sprawling palaces, dangerous ladies and looming demonic forces. In that vast world, a young princess, Soraya, is isolated from the rest of the population. Her poisonous touch makes her a threat to the kingdom. While her twin brother rules the realm, she is touch-starved and relegated to her bedroom, and can only travel through the palace’s secret passageways. To change her fate, she is tempted by the mythic demons whose power she has been gifted. That temptation leads her and her kingdom to their destruction and ultimate resolution.

Soraya stands for every reader unaware of their potential and power. She is a poster child for internalized self-loathing but lacks the vocabulary to identify her insecurities. She’s lonely and afraid of her own abilities. She wants friends but fears for their safety. She fundamentally wants some permanence in a world determined to obscure and deny her existence. Very few novels represent internalized self-loathing and confusion as clearly as Bashardoust’s.

Bashardoust’s ancient Persian setting functions more as a vague aesthetic stage for magical plot devices than as an immersive world. Bashardoust’s primary focus is her character-driven drama. There is very little within the novel grounded in history. Furthermore, the broader war between Soraya’s civilization and the demonic forces that plague them goes unexplored and unquestioned. The greater in-world conflict is a watery backdrop for Soraya’s struggle to identify her wants within a cacophony of conflicting opinions and expectations.

Though “Girl, Serpent, Thorn” is not compelling in setting, its strengths lie in its willingness to focus on individual autonomy. In many respects, Bashardoust’s protagonist is atypical. Soraya’s backstory and actions code her as an antihero but while she questions morality, her greatest sin is out of her power. She’s too powerful and influential to make childish mistakes. Soraya does not mean harm but all her actions have consequences. While confused and hurting, Soraya cripples her kingdom’s defenses, allowing a hoard of demons to overtake the land. Soraya’s mistakes and selfish desire sets her apart from others in the YA literary canon. Bashardoust allows Soraya to impart devastating destruction on those around her, then forces her to clean up her mess. But despite her selfishness, you can’t help but empathize with her character. Soraya has not only been deprived of human company but also the ability to make mistakes. That tragedy drives Soraya’s desire for restitution and foretells her kingdom’s doom.

Soraya’s atypical character construction is one example of how Bashardoust’s novel plays Russian roulette with expectations. Veteran YA readers are trained to pick up on genre tropes and plotlines. Soraya has two love interests. Early hints flag each character as a contender for her heart. But unlike other YA novels, ultimately neither love interest is fighting for Soraya’s heart. They are vying to influence her worldview and self-perception. Through minute framing differences, Bashardoust flaunts romantic expectations while never straying beyond the bounds of YA convention. Her novel features the YA hallmarks, such as: The powerful magic woman who doesn’t know she’s special, dark and mysterious boys and looming existential threats. However, the novel does not attempt to subvert the genre conventions. Instead, Bashardoust rearranges the tropes by compressing the novel’s timeline. Common YA tropes act as temporary red herrings for seasoned readers. They mentally chart out the novel’s events, assuming a three-book format. Thus, reading “Girl, Serpent, Thorn” as a YA veteran is a vexing experience.

“Girl, Serpent, Thorn” could have benefited from a higher page count. Soraya’s romances and internal conflict were underserved by the length of the book. The novel’s pacing and structure hinders emotional realizations: Her attraction to her love interests and motivations to make decisions were at worst unconvincing, at best rushed. The story needed more room to breathe and convince the audience of Soraya’s anguish and rationalizations. By the end of the novel, several plotlines and characters are left unresolved.

“Girl, Serpent, Thorn” recognizes that where lies and violence are easy, internal truths are harder to confront, sift through and refine. Though her sense of structure lags, Bashardoust’s “Girl, Serpent, Thorn” begs to be aggressively and enthusiastically read.

The royal family progresses from city to city as the seasons change so Soraya knows that in the spring she will be briefly reunited with her mother and her twin brother Sorush, who is the shah. Cursed with since birth to cause death to anything living that touches her, Soraya is hidden away in the palace, increasingly lonely and vulnerable, so when soldier Azad seeks her out, she is intrigued by his bravery and steely determination. Azad helps Soraya meet a captive div who Soraya believes will help end her curse, but events spiral out of control and Soraya’s choices pull her deeper and deeper into Azad’s wicked plan to overthrow Soraya’s family.

Strong world building introduces the reader to Persian mythology, while Soraya is an intriguing character who wrestles with meekness versus power and her attraction to Azad versus the feelings sparked in her by the captive div and her sister-demons.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn follows Soraya, the shah’s reclusive sister, whose touch is deadly because of a div, or demon, curse. Hidden away, the only refuge the roses she meticulously curates, Soraya resembles one of the heroines in the fairy tales she is so fond of. Unfortunately, she sees herself as the monster in her stories.

When she meets Azar, everything changes. He makes her feel alive. Instead of the disappointment and resentment that plague her, especially when she thinks about her ever-distant family, Azar offers her hope. And when she learns of an imprisoned div that might know about breaking her curse, Soraya, with Azar’s encouragement, starts down a path that she soon regrets. Regretful of her impulsivity, Soraya works to fix what she broke no matter the cost.

It’s fitting that the original title for this story was She Was and She Was Not, since much of Girl, Serpent, Thorn focuses on dualities, especially concerning the characters. There are times in the story where you question who is good and who is bad. I liked the characters that I wanted to hate, and I disliked others who were considered honorable and good. And then, in an instant, my views on everyone changed. I love the depth and complexity of the characters. All are flawed, all have made mistakes, and all show instances of kindness. The story blurs the lines between right and wrong as well as truth and lies and suggests a moral grayness that is fascinating to explore.

Everyone in the story has an agenda, and not all of their motives are sincere. Lies, betrayal, and secrets permeate the story and create a complex web of characters and events. The surprise twists and unraveling of secrets added to the suspense and the complexity of the characters.

Soraya, for example, epitomizes the “she was and she was not” duality. She is a hero and a monster, selfish, and selfless. She is flawed and human, and she needs to learn to love herself, flaws and all. This proves difficult, as she’s felt rejected and abandoned for most of her life and still lives in isolation and fear.

Soraya also has difficulty realizing people’s true motives. Unsure about everything, including herself, her feelings, and her place in the world, Soraya must look within before she can solve the problems she created. This is a coming-of-age story that skillfully explores the impact of abandonment as well as the power and gratification of self-acceptance.

The love story is also fantastic. Soraya has never had a romantic relationship, but she craves connection. The slow-building bond that she develops with her love interest is sweet and true. It’s an interesting juxtaposition – the relationship that starts with unfounded trust ends disastrously, and the one that begins with complete distrust continues beautifully.

The world-building is as dynamically developed as the characters. A magical kingdom filled with divs, powers, curses, and more, it is vivid and fascinating without being overbearing in its descriptions. Stylistically, the writing is strong and feels almost poetic, alluring and flowing in a way that immerses the reader into the story. With a blend of fairy tale, Persian folklore, and complete originality, Girl, Serpent, Thorn is absolutely enchanting. Thanks so much to Netgalley and Flatiron Books for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

This novel covers a lot of ground in 336 pages. We follow Soraya, a princess cursed with a poison touch, kept apart from the rest of the world for the danger she poses to them is deadly. As her twin has become the shah and is set to marry their childhood best friend, Soraya sees the life that she will never have, and she mourns it. Shroud in loneliness, a stranger to her makes her acquaintance, and for better or for worse changes her life.

The good:
-The book is inspired by / uses a lot of Persian mythology, which I have never read or experienced before. It was very immersive and I find myself wanting more.
-Azad is bae. Sure, he bad bae - but he is bae.
-Slow descent into villainy that will get your toes curling.
-a bi MC that is done RIGHT

The bad:
-This was a LOT in 336 pages. A LOT. Easily could have been pulled out and done better over multiple books- this is not to say I didn't enjoy the format. What I am really trying to say is that I want MORE.
-The narration of the book can be repetitive.
-Soraya is not my favorite character in this book. Which maybe is just testament to how well the side characters were fleshed out.
-I kinda wanted to push Sorush out a window.

The ugly:
-The title?
-The cover?
^I feel like this was sent to the ~Stereotypical Fantasy Cover Factory~ and was fit with a ~Stereotypical Fantasy Title~, I read that it had previously been titled 'There was and There was Not' which fits WAY better with the story and highlights that it is a storytelling kinda novel.

Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this. I look forward for more from this author in the future. I am actively looking for more Persian inspired fantasy because this was bomb.

*Thank you Flatiron Books + NetGalley for the digital ACR in exchange for review!*

There was and there was not, a princess who was hidden away from the world. Girl, Serpent, Thorn tells the tale of Soraya: a girl cursed to poison and kill anyone she touches. When an enemy is captured, Soraya tries to discover how she can break her curse and why she was cursed to begin with. In her search for answers, Soraya is forced to decide how far she will go for freedom and must face the consequence of her choices. This book features Persian mythology, F/F romance, a descent-into-villany arc, and the storytelling was simply gorgeous.

I absolutely loved this book!! It is one of my new favorites; I was so eager to unravel the intricate plot that I literally couldn’t put this book down. However, I had to stop and marvel at the craft that went into shaping a sentence, the perfectly expressed sentiment, and the way a line of prose would resonate deeply. Girl, Serpent, Thorn is inspired by elements from Persian mythology and Sleeping Beauty, but remains original and inventive. It is refreshingly free of overused romantic cliches and homophobia. The story contains plenty of plot twists, heartfelt dialogue, and morally grey characters. The fierce and magical women who fill these pages are such fantastic characters!

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is for anyone who seeks imaginative retellings, smart heroines, excellent romance, and complex storytelling. This book hauntingly explores what it truly means to be a monster and how the choices we make determine whether we are cast as the villain or heroine in our stories. I felt utterly spell-bound as Soraya journeys to discover who she truly is and grows to understand the power she holds: thorns and all.

I highly recommend this book and encourage everyone to pick it up when it releases on July 7, 2020! Thank you so much to Melissa Bashardoust, Flatiron Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It has been a while since I have read this book but I am still torn about it. While there were parts I really enjoyed there were moments I sat there thinking that everything was moving far too fast. It starts slow and then snowballs into where it feels like every other page something new is happening. I really would have loved to see this as being two books instead of one. That way everything would have felt complete instead of just a race to the end.

Other than the pace I did the main character. She got on my nerve every now and then, but I soon came to enjoy her voice. Both the plot and setting were interesting and I would really love to know more about this world.

Again, I would have really loved it if this were two books instead of one.

Positive here - its a world that is under represented in America fiction. Yes it's a fictional location, but it definitely has a middle eastern feel. And I like, too, that the morality is complex. The ideas of what is right and wrong are more of degree than of absolutes. Even the villain has moments of kindness, of goodness. And various characters cycle through classifications. One s we see as "bad' at the start show themselves to be only fearful or narrow-minded. Even the idea of being cursed is more complex than initially portrayed. What we end up with is a group of characters and events that cannot be viewed through a simple lens. They're multifaceted.
I did feel like the pacing was a bit slow and some of those major plot twists obvious. The foreshadowing was a bit heavy handed.'If you're patient, though, its a reasonable read.

I am so impressed by the blending of fairy tales, lore, and original ideas in this wildly imaginative YA retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I knew nothing about it going in except that I should read it, and the prologue reminded me of Rogue from X-Men. That alone sold me, but it’s a retelling with elements of folklore from many cultures and a queer main character only added to my enjoyment.

Soraya poisons all she touches, and for this, she has been hidden away her whole life. As her brother’s wedding approaches, she begins to wonder if she should venture out. There is a demon held captive in below the dungeon that may hold keys to her past and her future freedom, but she must trust her, and forsake all she knows and loves. It’s hard to discern who is telling the truth, and freedom will mean some hard decisions and seemingly impossible tasks, and when Soraya starts to trust the demon, it makes things even more complicated.

I enjoyed this book so much! It’s got all of my favorite elements and moves quickly. I didn’t get bogged down in the worldbuilding and I was 100% with Soraya through all of her life’s twists and turns. There’s enough romance to balance out relationships, but it doesn’t detract from the intrigue and action of the story. It’s obvious the folklore is well researched and reworked into something original, and I appreciate that attention to detail without going all Nathaniel Hawthorne on us.

It’s out in July, so if you’re planning a social distancing vacation and need to take along a book, or if you’re planning a staycation on your couch, this one will keep you interested as you take a break from our own weird world for a bit.

I received an advanced copy of Girl, Serpent, Thorn from Netgalley, so I could share my review with you!

There was and there was not a girl cursed to be poisonous to the touch, destined to never know companionship free from fear. In Soraya’s homeland, all stories begin with the phrase, “There was and there was not.” Unfortunately, there most definitely is a girl with poisonous touch, given that Soraya is her. She spends her days sequestered in her rooms, only leaving to wander the secret passages of the palace, where she can be sure that no one will be harmed by her touch. Soraya worries that she will spend her whole life isolated from the world, but things begin to change when a mysterious soldier brings a captured Div into the palace. Soraya begins to hope that perhaps the Div may know how to reverse her poisoned blood. She won’t be able to do it alone, but with the aid of those near her, Soraya just might be able to find the truth of her story.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is anticipated to be released on July 7th from Flatiron Books!

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is easily my favorite fantasy novel of the summer so far! Melissa Bashardoust’s writing style was so enticing and illustrative, that I felt fully immersed in the story. I was constantly surprised by the many twists of the tale, which felt every bit as memorable as the fairy tales of old! Each of the characters was very well-developed, and I couldn’t wait to find out how their stories would end. I especially appreciated Bashardoust’s inclusion of a bisexual main character!

My Recommendation-
If you have been looking for an immersive fantasy world full of magic and secrets, Girl, Serpent, Thorn should definitely be on your list! If you loved Girls of Paper and Fire, We Hunt the Flame, or The Grishaverse, this book would be a perfect pick for your next read!

I like the idea of this book better than I liked the book itself. I loved her previous novel and find the premise of this book completely captivating. The setting is lush and the characters are generally well drawn, but I felt like I ended up reading two somewhat disjointed halves of a whole instead of a seamless story. The book is relatively short, so perhaps some additional time to build up to the changes and more gradually reveal some background would have helped? I still deeply enjoyed what I read, but it didn't flow well to me.

A fun adventure with lots of clever allusions to fairytales. The plot was very twisty, and I think young people will like that. I would have liked it if the characters had been developed a bit more, but I think more attention was paid to plot. The most compelling part of the story is the idea that no one is all good or all evil. Even our "heroine" makes some questionable decisions, but she ends up growing into herself. Those looking for a love story will be surprised by what happens here. I won't give spoilers, but I am glad that it ended up the way that it did. The right characters ended up together even if it was initially a surprise. I appreciated the break in trope. The world is well-developed if a little bit complicated with all of the factions and different names for people and places. Overall, I liked it, and would be interested in reading a sequel.

This definitely wasn't my type of book and because I am a mood reader, I am going to try to be as objective as I can. I can honestly say that it was a lovely story and was written extremely well. I truly believe this book is going to be a big hit and I can't wait to re-read it when I am in this kind of mood. I found Soraya to be such a wonderful protagonist and the story flowed so well. The only truly confusing this is the names but I think that's also what made it so nice.