I really thought I would love a queer retelling of a fairy tale, but unfortunately the retelling suffers the same problem as the original: the main character (Lena) has no personality. In such a short book, the author focuses heavily on the plot, but without being able to know a character or a world well enough to root for them to survive, the plot was boring instead of enthralling.

This book was good. It wasn't the phenomenal experience I was expecting based on friends' responses to it BUT I definitely think it will resonate with it's ideal audience. Overall a good read.

I was completely immersed in Briar Girls from start to finish. Not only did I love the magic - this idea of a mysterious forest that seems to consume those who enter - but also the heroine. I loved how Wells features a magic world building system which blossoms in front of you. We think, like Lena that we know about the world. But it turns out that the world is so much larger than we think. Not to mention that a magic that prevents contact with someone is one of my favorite types of magic.

Because it so beautifully examines this line between blessing and curse. One which Wells expertly develops as Lena wonders if there is power in what she always viewed as a curse. Wondering if her desire to be 'free' is more than she ever thought. Intellectually, this was such a joyful book for me to read as Lena explores this theme. But Lena navigates this power and takes us on a journey of escapism to questioning.

While I mostly enjoyed this book, I ended up with somewhat mixed feelings that have more to do with my tastes as a reader than the quality of the book. I really liked the plot and world building of this book, it gave me all the fairytale vibes. If you enjoyed Sweet and Bitter Magic, I would highly recommend this. That said, I'm personally more of a character driven reader than a plot driven reader, and I missed character depth in the main character. Because of that, I didn't really connect with her and I didn't really feel the chemistry between her and the love interest either.

I'm not a big fan of fairytale retellings unless the end result is very far removed from the original and feels like a fresh new story. In this case, I was intrigued by the idea of a sentient forest and the whole "main character kills anyone she touches" trope. While I did get those things - along with a mysterious raven fellow and some other magical creatures - I guess I feel like I didn't get *enough* of them. Most of the characters didn't hold my interest, and the only one I was eager to learn more about didn't have as much of a presence in the story as I was hoping for. This made it hard for me to care much about what was going on plot-wise, and it made it challenging for me to understand why the main character was drawn to their love interest. The last quarter of the book picked up a bit action-wise, which kept me intrigued until the end, but I still felt like I wanted more meat, more character exploration, and more world building. I've read some other reviews that feel there was *too much* world building, so this seems to be a case of personal preference. It's a fine story, just maybe not wholly for me.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

Just what I needed on a cold autumn day. Wonderful world building an amazing characters.

I DNFed this book around 30%. I tried my best to get into it but I felt no connection to the characters or the dilemmas they faced.

Briar Girls, for all the promise of the blurb, for all our excitement of it, was a bit of a disappointment. Overall bland and more than a little boring, it was a drag to read, and ultimately one we had to chalk up to not the right fit for us as readers.

In general, the issue was that everything felt a little flat and underdeveloped, a little bland. This was evident in the worldbuilding, the characters, and particularly the romances.

Starting with the worldbuilding, it felt more like a bunch of generic fantasy elements thrown together into a generic fantasy world, with no thought to making it interesting. If asked to recall anything of it, all we'd be able to offer is the following: ravens, witches, an attempt at a Sleeping Beauty retelling, and a curse. None of which makes for a compelling world.

Then there were the characters. Firstly, the main character—whose name doesn't spring to mind and shall henceforth be the MC instead—is singularly unremarkable. We cannot even think of a character trait she has besides being cursed, if that actually counts as one. On top of that, we were promised an antiheroine, and the closest she actually comes to MAYBE being called one is killing some bad guys, and not feeling remorse for it. That, in our book, is NOT an antiheroine. That's nowhere near one.

And if the MC was bland, the love interests were hardly better. Alaric was boring (and also another 100-year-old creep of a love interest), and she inexplicably trusted him within minutes of meeting him, while being unable to muster the same trust of Miranda, the second love interest, who was hardly MORE suspicious. None of the emotional beats between the characters hit because they'd all JUST MET, and none of the requisite emotions were developed or bled onto the page.

Speaking of development, this was a big issue we had with the relationships between the MC and her LIs too. Partly because they were all so characterless, partly because of said failure to hit emotional beats, and also because there was no groundwork for any of the relationships. None of it was telegraphed, or worked towards in the text. At one point, the MC and Alaric started having sex and it just did not make sense as a scene where it happened. I get you want to show a character is bi, by having two love interests of different genders, but it was so badly done here they barely felt like potential endgames.

Simply put, we did not enjoy this one.

Curses, a touch which kills, deceit, hidden magic, and a girl, who needs to figure everything out...this one promises everything to make an amazing adventure.

Lena is on the run with her father again, thanks to the curse a witch cast on her when she was born. Everyone she touches dies a horrifying death. Their new hiding spot sits on the edge of a forsaken land, the Silence. The mysterious forest calls to those who draw too close and makes them go insane if they don't give in and enter the deadly realm. Lena feels drawn, too, but not in the way others seem to be. When an injured girl crawls out of the forest, Lena learns that her father has been keeping the truth from her, and that her history isn't what it seems. In hope of finding a way to break her curse, she follows the girl into the forest. But deceit lies thick with those who seek power.

The writing in this book is very well done and drew me into the world from the very first page. In some ways, the atmosphere reminded me of Shadow & Bone by Bardugo with it's dark tones, a girl who is more than she appears, a dangerous barrier, and those who lie and want to use her for their own power, but in a way mixed between true feelings and selfish interests. There is tons of potential in these pages and the tale does lure in. Combine that with the well-done world building of shadows and unexpected secrets, and it is a lovely read.

While this has so many aspects to make it a wonderful read, there were simply things which distract...and I think that much of this is due to the problem of trying to pack so much into one book. This could have made an awesome series. While we get to know Lena during the first chapters and gain sympathy for her situation, other characters are introduced a bit too superficially. Character depth and even the necessary depth to ground and explain many of the Lena's decisions is lacking. Several scenes come in and disappear again too quickly, leaving the sense that something more is missed and me wondering why they even happened in the first place.

Lena's scars, thanks to the lack of physical contact, are well done and especially came across in one aspect of the romance. This also explained some of her over-willingness to find a friend in the beginning, but the deceit and betrayal should have impacted her more as the tale went on, and made her much more wary. This also caused issues with Lena's decisions concerning her final choice on the romance end.

I definitely enjoyed this author's writing style and did find many wonderful moments in these pages, which made it, despite the problems, more than an enjoyable read.
I received an ARC and am giving this one 3.5 stars, while rounding up.

This book reminds me of Shatter Me, but darker. Lena's cursed to kill anyone she touches. When a stranger offers to help her break the curse, she's willing to do whatever it takes to break free! WOW. THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD!

This book started out great, the world was cool and the characters were interesting. The pacing of this book definitely fell short though. The ending was super rushed and I felt like it needed more for what happened between the characters. The love triangle in this book felt unnecessary,

2/5 stars ⭐️⭐️
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Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for giving me a copy of this book! This is my honest review, all views are my own.
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Briar Girls is about the journey of Lena, a girl who is cursed with a touch that kills. When a mysterious girl emerges from the magical forest claiming that Lena’s entire life is a lie, she decides to trust the stranger and travel into the forest—the Silence—to find out the truth.
Here’s the deal… I liked the writing. I thought the concept was interesting. But the plot is not great, the characters are not written well, and the retelling aspect is extremely weak. The story is all over the place, with confusing plot points and strange pacing. I was looking at the page number every dozen pages, just waiting for it to end. While the concept (a cursed girl journeys to discover the truth about her curse and wake the sleeping princess to save the forest) is interesting, the execution is lacking. With the exception of the obvious sleeping princess, there is little to no connection to Sleeping Beauty, and instead the characters are sent to wander around the forest for… I don’t know, random plot reasons. As for the characters themselves: they are extremely two-dimensional. Lena’s personality traits include being angry, trusting everyone, distrusting everyone, and having some self-preservation… and that’s it. Miranda has little motivation, the parents don’t have good reasoning or personality, the evil villains aren’t shown being extremely villainous for more than two scenes. I would say that Alaric is the most well rounded, and even then, he’s very shallow. The one thing I will mention that I enjoyed was when Lena and Alaric had a moment of intimacy fueled purely by the fact that Lena is touch starved, and then she realizes that she wants Miranda for more reasons than being touch-starved—she likes her as a person. Even then, this is weak to me because their only interactions have been wrought with distrust and betrayal. It felt ingenuine, to say the least.
I was really disappointed with this book, to be frank. It failed to connect with me, and it just felt very unpolished from a plot and character perspective. I did enjoy the writing style—the descriptions were good, and the dialogue was okay—but that’s the highest praise I can give the book. 2 stars.

3.5 Stars

I honestly have no idea how I feel about this book. I was super excited to start reading it because of its summary and comp titles and that beautiful cover! But for some reason, I just could not for the life of me get into this book. This isn't to say that this book was at all bad, because it would definitely appeal to the right reader, but there was nothing in this book that drew me in and kept me wanting to read more.

Briar Girls is a young adult fantasy that is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Lena's skin can kill anyone who touches it, and she has lived with this curse for her entire life. When she and her father are forced to flee into the SIlence, they meet a strange girl named Miranda who needs their help as much as they need hers.

I think my main complaint about the book is that it was just overwhelming. This can totally just be the fault of my sky-high expectations, but it felt very safe. There was no risk taken with this book that set it apart from any other standards young adult fantasy novel. I really loved the queer representation in this book, and the romance was one of my favorite parts of this novel. However, I feel like everything could have just given more. I loved the atmosphere of the book and it had good pacing, but I just felt like I wasn't satisfied with this book. I will definitely check out this author in the future, and I would still recommend this book.

I wanted to like this one but it fell flat and dull for me. I just could not get into the story and felt that the cover is not reminiscent to what the story is. I felt no sense of gothic mystery, but instead a rather drab and monotonous drama.

This is a bit more fantasy-y than is my usual cup of tea. I did immediately connect with Lena and her Rogue-from-X-men-like tragedy, but I got a little in the weeds with the worldbuilding stuff personally. BUT I know a lot of readers look for that. I also enjoyed the rush of feelings connected with learning the workaround to Lena's no-touch curse and I liked that she was able to separate out "love" from "finally able to have sex without killing anyone" and I think that distinction is good to make and that teen readers will connect with those big horny emotions, and it's nice to have bi representation in this kind of fantasy story. That said, I didn't like...fully buy in to either romantic option? But I suppose it is a fairy tale retelling so some level of love at first-ish sight is to be expected.

Anyway, not toootally my cup of tea but definitely something I could see being beloved by the right reader.

Briar Girls is an adventurous, fast paced retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
Lena is cursed to kill everyone she touches. When she meets a girl with magic, she ventures into The Silence to try to break the curse. She encounters a talking forest, dragons, mermaids, magic, and more.
There is lots going on, which kept me turning the pages, but it was too fast at times. I enjoyed all of the characters, and the relationships forged. But they definitely needed more time. All of the romance felt very rushed and therefore, unbelievable.
Overall, this was a fun read with lots of unique elements.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy for review.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

This tale captures your interest in the first page. You'll be filled with either awe or dread. Keep reading. This is Lena's story.

A girl cursed by a witch and caught within a mystical power struggle between warring factions. It's also a coming of age story and coming into one's own strength. This might become a cult classic. Fingers crossed for a film.

This is a cute adventure book with curses and blood magic.

The themes of friendship and the magic system were what saved the book for me. I really appreciated the way they all came together at the end of the book.

However, the book is quite short and I think the story could do with more explanation at times. For example, the main character, Lena, is thrust into a world of magic (only knowing of the curse placed on her) and yet at times she understands how this world works in ways that she probably shouldn’t.

There is also a love triangle in the book, which is not personally my favorite trope. I think it works if you enjoy them though!

Overall, I’d give this book 3.5 stars.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.