This was a truly unique story. I really enjoy reading books that explore mythologies of various cultures. Between the world building and the writing style, I was all for this story.

Soraya is one of the most relatable characters I've read about in a while. She was very much human, she struggled with her emotions and we can all relate to what she was feeling. I love how the reasons behind her curse unfolded over time. The villain of the story was a beautiful example of how human beings can slowly over time grow into monsters. Extremely impressed by the author's examination of what makes a monster.

I’ve read Melissa Bashardoust’s previous novel Girls Made of Snow and Glass and while I didn’t love everything about it, it showed a lot of potential and made me want to seek out whatever book came next. If I hadn’t known before, I would have thought this was her first novel and Girls Made of Snow and Glass her second one because so many first novel problems were present in Girl, Serpent, Thorn.

This is the story of Soraya, sister to the shah, and cursed with poison running through her veins. Everything she touches dies, so her family keep her locked away and nobody can touch her. Soraya fills her time with stories and gardening. Until her brother the shah returns home with a div prisoner who might know more about Soraya’s curse. I’m sure most people will agree that this is a pretty cool premise. The implications of a young girl, isolated from other people, unable to touch anyone without killing them – that alone already makes for a highly interesting story. What would such a girl’s life be like? How would she deal with being so alone, especially at an age when her one friend is falling in love?
Unfortunately, I may have gone into this book with very wrong expectations. This is not a character exploration, nor even a particularly well done F/F romance. It’s about an unbearably stupid girl fighting an unbearably stupid villain. And all because every single character in this book is too dumb to just communicate and talk normally with each other. Seriously, the entire plot hinges on forced misunderstandings, characters making illogical decisions that no sane person would make, and a romance that exists because the author tells us, not because the characters actually get to grow close to each other.

The writing in Bashardoust’s first novel was competent and the characters were interesting and not easily classified as good or evil. Somehow, in this second book of hers, the writing got way worse. Everything lacks a certain subtlety. Pauses in the characters’ speech, for example, are always explained. Actually, everything is always explained. There are moments that would have had much more impact if Bashardoust had let the readers understand them for themselves. And I’m not talking about super difficult-to-interpret things either. Everything is fairly obvious, but I was all the more annoyed at having everything spelled out even though there’s really no reason for it. If you don’t trust your readers to be intelligent enough to get it, that’s just not very flattering.

Let’s talk romance. This is marketed as an F/F romance but apparently, the love triangle is also making a comeback. Because this starts with not quite insta-love (but sort of) and only some of it can be explained. Soraya has been lonely for a long time, so it’s only natural and understandable that she yearns for human contact and that she’d seek out the attention of a handsome young man. Why said young man is immediately infatuated with her, however, is unclear and should at least raise some alarm bells for Soraya!
And while her attraction can be understood, the immediate exclamations of deep emotions cannot. Sure, spill all your lifelong secrets to the guy you just met, even though you’ve been keeping them your entire life… How am I supposed to root for a heroine who behaves that stupidly and puts her trust in a complete stranger just because he tells her she’s pretty? Maybe I’m just too old for this kind of story but I just kept shaking my head and rolling my eyes for the entire first half of the book.

And it’s not just Soraya either. The villain – who has a great back story and could be so incredibly interesting! – is just as gullible and idiotic as Soraya. I also never understood why he’s evil. There’s no shades of grey here, he just does bad stuff because reasons. It’s just not fun to root for a dumb protagonist who’s fighting against an equally dumb villain, although at least the odds are somewhat evened out by the fact they neither of them seems to be using their brain. I won’t tell you exactly what happens because I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone, but let me give you a few vague examples.
Soraya immediately puts all her trust (something she hasn’t done ever!) in the guy she just met because he deeply loves her and thus is obviously trustworthy. Not only does she tell him about her curse but she also spills some other family secrets that are vital to keep her family safe!
Later in the book, Soraya tries to trick the villain by agreeing with him. It’s the most obvious, unbelievable trick in the universe and any villain worth his salt would not fall for it. Except here, he does.
And let’s not forget Soraya’s most glorious moment of stupidity when she accidentally lets someone know another secret by misspeaking. Girl, take half a second to think before you speak!! Seriously!

If the characters had otherwise been interesting, I might have overlooked those glaring problems. But they are all flat. Cardboard flat. Everyone gets one characteristic, one problem they’re dealing with and that’s it. The characters’ emotional response to anything that happens is just way overdone. Soraya holds back angry tears when telling a story that she’s heard and told over and over for many years? If we’re supposed to understand that she’s angry about it, make it less melodramatic, please. The same goes for the romantic moments. Everything felt just sooooo over the top. One smouldering look and Soraya’s skin prickles, it just felt completely ridiculous. There were several of these instances and I kept getting the feeling that this is the author trying to make her readers emotional. It doesn’t work that way! You make us like and care about your characters and then bad or romantic or exciting things happen to them and we feel things. Don’t just tell us Soraya cried and expect us to feel sad along with her when we have no basis to understand her.

I admit I started reading this book when I was also reading Deeplight by Frances Hardinge and the difference in writing style and sheer skill became all the more apparent. I don’t know if I would have liked this better if I hadn’t been reading one of the best YA books ever at the same time but I’m pretty sure my reaction to the writing would have been mostly the same. I don’t like stupid characters without any nuance to them, no matter how interesting the setting may be.

Ah, let’s take a moment to discuss setting and world-building. There has been a high demand for fantasy set outside the tropey medieval Europe stuff that used to be everywhere, and I am more than happy that publishing is doing pretty great when it comes to that. We get all sorts of stories set in places all over the world – real and fictional – inspired by underrepresented mythologies, fairy tales, histories, and people. So of course I was excited to read a Persian-inspired fairy tale retelling. But it takes more to build a fictional place than just throwing in some fancy words or making your characters wear certain clothes. That’s only skin-deep and I have come to expect more of YA!
At no point did I really feel like I was in a specific setting. The palace may go by a Persion-inspired name but the way it’s described, it could have been any old castle. Other than that, we get a mountain and a forest setting. So fine, if the actual place and the climate don’t feature in the book very much, that’s okay. Then at least show us where we are through politics. Again, Soraya’s brother Sorush may have been called shah instead of king but essentially, that’s how he is presented. Politics are never even really mentioned and while that wasn’t super necessary for Soraya’s personal story, there are hints of div politics. The divs are just described as this supernatural species of beings who attack and kill humans. We don’t know exactly why humans and divs are at war. We do learn that divs aren’t all alike, that there are factions among them and they they don’t necessarily get along. Which would have been a cool addition to a really thin plot. But by the end of the book, we know exactly as much as we do at the beginning. So definitely don’t expect anything like City of Brass level political intrigue.

I don’t know the reasons behind the choices made with this novel. Is it a misguided belief that deeper world-building will put off readers? Do authors and/or publishers think kids wouldn’t get it? Was it just laziness because for an immersive world that feels real, you’d have to do a lot of research, hire sensitivity readers (especially when writing about a culture not your own), and put in a lot of work? From the afterwork I gathered that the author did some research but other than names, we don’t get to see the fruit of that labor. In the end, I honestly don’t care why the world building is so thin. If the end product remains shallow, that’s the version the publisher decided was going to go out into the world and that’s all we readers get. And I’m not particularly happy with what I got here.

Now that the most glaring problems are out of the way, let’s look at the actual story. Because, boy, does it have problems of its own. The first half of the book – and I’m pretty sure it’s almost exactly in the middle – reads like a first draft. The entire first half is basically the set up for the real plot. And I don’t mean the part that you read in the synopsis – that’s the set up for the set up. Soraya’s skin is poisonous and anything she touches, she kills. So her royal family has hidden her away. She moves through secret corridors, rarely interacts with humans other than her mother, and yearns for friendship and love and human touch. So far, so intriguing. Then that whole insta-love-but-not-really-thing happens followed by a series of super dumb decisions,and bad writing.
In the second half of the book, however, the story finally finds its footing and becomes interesting. I’m not saying it’s great but at least by that point, I actually wanted to get back to the book to see what would happen next. Until Soraya’s next act of supreme stupidity at least.

I’ve already ranted about the characters but I want to say that they are not all bad. The most interesting ones just aren’t the protagonist. Soraya’s mother, for example, would have made one hell of a heroine. Parvaneh, the imprisoned parik (a type of div) Soraya wants to question about her curse, also turns out to be more than first meets the eye. It’s a shame that Soraya herself is so flat. Her only defining quality is that she’s cursed, wants to get uncursed and thinks of herself as a monster. It’s a good premise. I like characters who are torn, who have to find their place in the world, but if that’s their only thing and they behave stupidly most of the time, then that’s just not enough.

You will not be surprised that I didn’t really like this book. During the second half, we at least get some interesting scenes and a few moments of excitement. Although that is quenched pretty quickly by Soraya being dumb, the villain being dumb, or the plot being super convenient. The ending left me feeling annoyed and asking myself what the hell I’d been reading and WHY. If the whole point of the story is for Soraya to accept her otherness and to live with who she is, that’s great but please wrap it in a good story.
I spent almost all of the time reading this book rolling my eyes, waiting for something thrilling to happen, and asking myself when the actual romance part would start. Sadly, this was super disappointing. For the little spark of good ideas (villain backstory, hinted at div politics, great mother character) I’m giving this book a few brownie points. But if this hadn’t been a review copy, I would have DNFd it long before the 50% mark.

This book was not what I expected going into it, and it was a pleasant surprise. I was anticipating something like Frozen or Rapunzel, but the story was much darker and the heroine takes it upon herself to save herself. I also liked that the main character was a strong bisexual main character who teeters on the edge of villainy. The world-building was really good, the story was highly suspenseful and the characters were highly engaging.
Beautiful cover art also!

I had a lot of trouble getting into this one. It took more than 1/4 of the book to see any real conflict, instead relying so much on Soraya's constant inner monologue of "I'm a monster oh no no one loves me"

Another issue I had was that our three main characters are all essentially the same person who made a different decision when given the same problem. It felt like a way to get out of actual character development when they're all so similar. Plus, by isolating them from other characters, you never get to see balance or reaction apart from how they view reach other.

Also the whole book was basically: inner monologue; X betrays Y, inner monologue, Y learns that Z betrayed X and therefore Y can no longer trust Z, inner monologue, Y tricks Z, X lies to Y, inner monologue, Y betrays X. When there are only three players who like to lie to each other, it starts to feel repetitive.

I always love the theme of a girl who becomes a monster, but Soraya was so pitiable throughout the book that it just didn't ring true to me. But one spoke of the love triangle was a f/f relationship, so that pretty much kept me going.

Wow, this book was quite something. First off, I loved that the characters and plot were based off Persian mythology. I love reading fantasy books that mix in mythology from various cultures, it is so fascinating, and I absolutely loved learning about divs, and the differences between the Creator and Destroyer. I enjoyed the first half of the book pretty thoroughly with the touches of magic, learning the background of Soraya, and the fairytale elements. The moral dilemma that Soraya constantly had to face between good and evil was also so interesting to watch unfold and see her battle. I think that made her a relatable and human character. There were some moments that I questioned her judgement, but I’m sure it was so that the story could play out as it did. The second half of the book was still interesting and I did like it enough, but was leaning towards the lackluster side. I wish the author had done a better job evoking more feeling because even though I did find the plot intriguing, I wanted the characters to be more memorable. I feel that over time this book is something that will be forgettable. Overall, I still do recommend this book because of the angle at which it approached the mixture of fairytales and mythology. Hopefully you guys will enjoy it as well when it comes out in July, so keep an eye out for it!

Writing: 7/10
Characters: 7/10
Plot: 7/10
Ending: 6/10
Originality: 10/10
Overall: 37/50
Cover: 7/10

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.