Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust is a brilliant fantasy fairytale. It is very well written and full of enchanting characters and beauty.

Be still my heart!
I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t holding out much hope after reading the first chapter as the various titles (satraps, shah, divs etc..) took me awhile to grasp but I’m so happy I continued!
Soraya Is a princess who has lived her life hidden away. Cursed with a poisonous touch as a child she’s lonely and the story begins as her family returns to the palace with news of her twin brothers wedding.
I really enjoyed the writing styles and fell in love with the main characters. I like how the story came together and the ending was perfect 👌
I’d Love a second book!

“There was and there was not”

… a girl who was cursed. Soraya lives her life in the shadows, knowing she is poison to everyone around her, including her mother, Tahmineh, and her twin brother, Sorush, the shah of Atashar.

“She had read enough stories to know that the princess and the monster were never the same. She had been alone long enough to know which one she was.”

Hidden from the world, Soraya spends most of her time in her golestan (a walled rose garden) or navigating the passages hidden within the palace walls. She longs to belong but can only catch distant glimpses of the life that could have been hers. She would do anything to break her curse.

Soraya wasn’t as easy for me to love as Mina and Lynet from ‘Girls Made of Snow and Glass’. This seemed fitting to me as it can sometimes feel like we’re approaching a caged animal when someone is hurting like Soraya is. We tend to push people away when we see ourselves as unloveable, making it difficult to accept (or even recognise) when someone is trying to reach out to us.

When we feel like we exude poison into the world we either burrow deep inside of ourselves or lash out at others, opposites with the same intent. Hurt them before they hurt you. Don’t allow yourself to get too close to them because they’ll leave you in the end anyway. Don’t get your hopes up for someone to love you for who you truly are because, frankly, who in their right mind would?!

“Anger and shame fought for control within her, and so she forced her body into the position of shame, because it was safer.”

As I spent more time with Soraya I began to love her because of, not despite, her pain. The pain of not belonging is amplified when it’s your own family that declares you an outcast, through their actions if not their words. I yearned for Soraya to find acceptance.

I grew to love Parvaneh, a parik, almost as much as I adore her name, which is Persian for “moth or butterfly”. I wish I could have gotten to know the other pariks better and wanted the opportunity to learn more about their history and culture. I also wanted to find out more about the other divs, the drujes and the kastars; I don’t know nearly enough about them.

I loved the way Persian mythology was woven into the story, and I particularly appreciated the ‘Author’s Note’ at the end of the book where the ways various elements in this story line up with and also diverge from their origins were explained.

I’ve seen parts of myself in all of Melissa’s girls so far and I quickly become immersed in the worlds she creates. I can’t wait to see what world she’ll invite me to explore next.

“It’s time for you to become who you were meant to be.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Flatiron Books and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

Book Review: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Genre: Fantasy, Fairytale
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton/ Flatiron Books
Release Date: 7th July, 2020

Yes, the cover of this book is stunning, and I'm happy to say that it suits the story extremely well. The poisonous Princess Soraya is hidden away from the world by her family. She has been cursed with poison running through her veins, therefore everyone she touches dies. We follow her as she discovers the truth about who she is. Is she the hero or the villain?

Opening with a story within a story, Soraya's mother tells her daughter a fairytale, but we find out that it's not just a fairytale; it's Soraya's life. However, that's not the only story within a story we are told, more and more are added to the mix, which starts to become boring. As a lot of readers may not be familiar with the Persian myths that the story is based around, the author has to tell them all. I felt myself starting to gloss over them, hoping to get to the main action of THIS story.

Once we got passed the myths, the story did start to gain it's own momentum. Soraya's journey of self discovery was the most entertaining part for me. Stuck in a battle with herself - she was constantly being pulled in both directions; good or evil?

As I was already struggling to get lost in the book due to the tangents of, 'here's something that happened before that you need to know for this to make sense', when the first love interest was introduced the 'insta love' was even less believable. For someone in her situation Soraya seems far too trusting. The second love interest, however, had a little more to it. I loved the way that Soraya's bi-sexuality was a seamless part of the story; gender was a non-issue and it was the connection she had with the second love interest that was important and drew me in. The relationship was a lot more developed and seemed to grow from something, a single touch, rather than nothing. Also, the fact that the love interest was considered a 'monster' was another non-issue. This was slightly harder to believe given what people in the world thought of the 'divs' (evil creatures).

However, I think by the end of the novel, acceptance was the key theme, and overall it was a unique story of a girl accepting herself for who she was - thorns and all.

Thank you to NetGally, Hodder and Stoughton and Flatiron books for the opportunity to read and review this E-ARC.

I loved this book!

This book tells the story of Soraya, a girl poisonous to the touch. She’s hidden away by her family, feared, isolated and lonely. She finds herself wondering what her life would have been like without the curse inflicted upon her as an infant.. and if the curse can be broken so she can live freely.

This story is a fast paced, captivating Persian inspired fantasy story reminiscent of a fairytale retelling. The premise was extremely appealing to me and I honestly couldn’t put this book down! I was hooked from the beginning. There are so many twists and turns in this story that I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next.

I felt really connected to the main character; I felt she was relatable and likeable. I also thought all of the characters were very distinctive and fleshed out and I enjoyed the exploration of gray morality. The world building was seamlessly woven into the plot and I really liked the writing style from this author. We also have bisexuality representation and a f/f romance which was great. Overall, I highly recommend this young adult fantasy book. It was dark, exciting and fantastical.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for sending me this ARC. Definitely check it out when it comes out in July!

For the first 20% of the book, I really thought it was going to follow a predictable fairytale-type trope and lead us down a well travelled path; how happy I was to be wrong! I thoroughly enjoyed Girl, Serpent, Thorn and will recommend it to my students on a reading list as I know they will love it too.

Soreya is a strong and clever character, who longs to escape the restricted life she has endured. The plot was addictive and engaging, with the author building a detailed world influenced and inspired by Persian folklore. The details of common behaviours, belief systems and hierarchies in place helped to make this story so captivating.

Girl, Serpent,Thorn also held plot twists that I was shocked and delighted by, with the trope I expected being knocked out of the park! Such an enjoyable read with so many emotions and strong characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. I look forward to reading more from the author.

This book was SO MUCH more than what I was expecting, I figured it would be another YA fairy-tale retelling, but I was wrong, and thank God. Girl, Serpent, Thorn is inspired by Persian mythology and the opening story was delightful.
I'll be honest, when I first started reading this book I was struggling to connect with anything as I found it a bit too slow but once it gets going I found it to be a really enjoyable read. Sorry for the cop out but I can't say tooo much without spoiling it! This is definitely a story you can go into without knowing much because whatever your expectations are this book will knock them on their head. 

The world building is incredible, it wasn't overwhelming and easy enough to digest which is always a bonus in my eyes. I struggled with the characters at first but once I gave them a chance they grew on me, I also appreciated the LGBTQ representation. They were intriguing, full of angst and longing. Bashardoust did a really great job of describing loneliness and everything that comes from extreme loneliness.

The twists, the turns, the betrayals, urgh this book has it all. We have morally grey characters, angst, sexual tension, a "meet-cute" in a prison, f/f romance (that has some really sweet moments), a poisonous touch, we even have a MC who uses her power because she wants to even though she knows the consequences of what happens and doesn't immediately shirk away from what shes done. 

If you enjoy fantasy, Persian mythology, morally grey characters, representation, rich world building and a beautiful romance chances are you'll love this story.

Let's just start with the cover, which is exactly what I want from a YA cover and is just beautiful to look at. I will definitely be purchasing this in book format once it is released.

This book was so unexpected. What I was expecting for a fairly typical YA romance along the lines of Rapunzel,
who is cursed to be poisonous to the touch and is locked away from friends and family. While some of this still stands, what we actually get is an incredibly complex heroine who takes command of her own life. Queer representation abounds (bisexuality) in the form of sea monsters. Diversity in its fairy tale inspired by ancient Persian mythology. The writing is phenomenal. Excellent all round.

In this fantasy fairytale, our main character Soraya has been cursed and her touch is poisonous to others. The story follows her journey into trying to find a way to lift the curse and we discover if she is truely good or bad.

I loved that the book is inspired by Persian mythology and liked the summary/extra detail by the author after the book finishes. I also like that we have a bisexual main character. This isn’t a genre I normally read from but did enjoy the book overall. 3/5.

I received an e-copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredible story inspired by Persian mythology. It is the first book I have ever read like this and it was a very interesting and captivating story. I was so impressed to see that at the end of the book the author discusses more the inspiration behind the story and she gives further reading if you want to find out more about the original story. This is an awesome idea and I could see all the work behind the story.

Going back to the story, in the first 10 - 20% of the book I had the feeling there will be a typical romance in the book. I am not such a big fan of romance in general and there are a couple of tropes I am not big fan of, but this book surprised me in a positive way. The twist was so unexpected for me and quite unique. I really enjoyed where the story took me in the end when it comes to the romance.

Soraya, the main character, is a very interesting person. I loved how her internal struggles were presented and how everything felt very real and well thought of. I cannot say she is a good or bad person and I totally enjoyed this. She is just complex and that is an awesome thing. She is also not just your typical hero of the story, which is another thing I enjoyed. She is complex, she is struggling, she feels very real.

I cannot recommend this book enough, it is awesome.

I was provided an e-ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the Persian setting of this book and the author's note that gave me more background to its origin and inspiration was delightful. I found the story immediately gripping with its depiction of the quite literally touch-starved Soraya and how she is a spectator in her own life. It was gut-wrenching and her quest to break free of her bonds was one that could be understood. I enjoyed the pace and exploration of the story until about 30% of it when the THING happens. After which the pace sometimes slackens and then fastens. The relationship of Soraya with two other characters also seemed rushed to me after that point. There were times when I could not understand Soraya's reasoning for doing certain things. I would have loved to explore the setting a bit more. I think a little more background to the characters and their relationship would have done wonders, The story was descriptive in its settings, emotions and action; which I liked a lot. I found the book to be exhilarating, wistfully melancholic and a mesmerising fantasy.

3.5 stars

Thank you very much Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an advanced reading copy. *** all opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.****

"The main female character in this book is cursed to be poisonous to the touch". This is what drew me in the most and was a fascinating premise throughout the book! I also appreciated that the romance section was very minimal in the book so it wasn't a romance book with just a little fantasy, which I've seen a couple times in other books.

However, I did find the fact that reading the summary, one would think that it was a m/f romance. This personally didn't bother me as I found the representation excellent, but there might be some confusion about this.

In conclusion, I found the book a lovely read and hope to read more books from this author!

This book was a brilliant blend of Persian inspired mythology, rich world-building and engaging characters. Soraya's development from the shy, timid girl we meet at the beginning of the book, to the powerhouse we finish with was incredible. Seeing a well-represented bisexual female main character, who enters into a female/female romance, with the added bonus of the villainous love interest was nothing short of brilliant and kept me on my toes throughout the story, constantly waiting to see who would betray who and who would end up with the upper-hand. The beauty of Soraya's battle from seeing herself as this poisonous monster who couldn't risk getting close to anyone, to allowing herself to grow into, acknowledge and accept herself and her power presents and incredibly strong message of self-love and acceptance.

I read Girls Made of Snow and Glass in 2017 and... didn't like it. Seeing all the hype surrounding the author's new book, I really wanted to give her books another chance. And I'm SO glad I did, because this was... absolutely exquisite. I'm honestly thinking I should reread Girls Made of Snow and Glass as well, because I'm starting to doubt my own judgment (or like, sometimes things just hit different when you give them a second chance a few years later).

Like I said, the only word I can really use to describe Girl Serpent Thorn is exquisite. The writing, the morally grey main character that you can't help but love, the setting (which actually had the same sort of feel as Girls Made of Snow and Glass), the slow but steady unraveling of the plot, it was all just perfection.

Even though I don't read them very often, because it can be hard to find good ones, I really love books with morally grey main characters, because it's amazing to see their development. Here, the main character starts off so likeable, and throughout the book I found myself rooting for her despite some of her choices.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who loved Forest of a Thousand Lanterns.

At first, I was a little wary of this book, surely the 'girl with poisonous skin who cannot be touched and is kept hidden away in the palace' had been done to death by this point? We'd had The SinEater's Daughter, there was also A Touch of Gold and probably a few more I have yet to encounter. So what would set this book apart from the 'don't touch me unless you are a hot boy' genre? 

Well, read only the beginning of this book and you might think very little, while Soraya is a solid main character, she does have that 'sheltered YA heroine' thing of falling for the first person who isn't actively horrible to her and the story kind of goes on from there. I was worried I was just reading something awfully generic. 

And then things...changed. 

I don't want to get into the specifics of what happens in this story but I will say that this book definitely surprised me. What could have been an utterly generic story becomes something much richer, with more meat on its bones than I might have initially suspected?

One of the things I loved about this book was the way that different settings were described, from lavish palaces to woodland to underground creepier locations - everything felt incredibly vivid. I love a book where I feel I could step into the setting and know my way around. The writing is lovely and I loved that Bashardoust intentionally draws on her Persian heritage for inspiration - something that I didn't notice in Girls Made of Snow and Glass - though that is due for a re-read. 

I also thought that the way that the characters grew and changed through the book was very well handled. Soraya herself goes through a fair bit of self-discovery in this story and what I liked was that it really didn't feel like she just had one epiphany and then she was fine. The healing that Soraya does is multifaceted and takes place over the course of the book. Add into that some of the things Bashardoust does with some of the relationships that in another story might be tropey and you have something very interesting indeed. 

The main plotline is solid, it's not doing anything particularly new, although I suppose that's kind of in the vein of fairytales? I think if you're desperately seeking some YA fantasy with some 'women loving women' representation this would be a book I would point out, but I wouldn't necessarily give it to someone who was very burned out on YA, or who didn't like YA at all - but that's not too odd I suppose.

This story did kind of lose me towards the end, things got a little bit convoluted and felt just the tiniest bit rushed which did lose me just a tad. That being said, I was in a run of books disappointing me when I got to the end so it's possible I might have ranked this book a little higher were I reading it another time - I'll have to do a re-read to find out!

My rating: 3/5 stars (though thinking about it now probably a 3.5)

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is out July 7th (at the time of writing)

This book was such a nice surprise! I enjoyed it a lot and was hooked from the beginning.
It's based on Persian myth and folklore, which is another plus that made it so interesting.

I loved it and will read from this author again.

Fairytale retelling? Check. Descent to villainy? Check. Sapphic slowburn romance? Check. Monster girlfriend? Double check. Girl, Serpent, Thorn was every bit as magical as I wanted it to be. It has such a wonderful fairytale vibe to it, with picturesque forests and carved out mountains, and I want nothing more than to read f/f villain monster romances forever.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is inspired by Persian mythology, and tells the story of Soruya, a girl poisonous to the touch. To protect her family's reputation, she has been hidden away, alone and untouched, for all her life. When a young man begins to see who she is beyond her poisonous skin, she vows to rid herself of her curse, no matter the cost.

One of my favourite parts of this story was discovering all this mythology. Bashardoust goes into a detailed authors note at the end of the book to speak about her inspiration, but throughout the book, I just loved getting to see more of the Persian mythology. From the creation stories, inspired by Zoroastrianism beliefs, to the divs, demons who want to destroy the world, the world is magical. I would've loved to hear even more about the creation story and the origins of the divs, but that's because I came to this book after The Unspoken Name, a large fantasy book that spends a lot of pages talking about the intricately detailed religion, and hence I'm dying to read some more books like that.

I found Soruya's character particularly well written. There's something so familiar about her. I think we have all felt that edge of resentment, have felt the awful emotions and thoughts it evokes in you, and so I found her incredibly relatable and understandable. Her actions made so much sense. And that made it very easy to root for her (whether you want her to be good, or evil!) My favourite character however was Parvaneh. I have a thing for wings okay. I just loved her energy! She seems at times so mischievous (trying to work up Soruya's anger), but also so full of regrets for her past. Her relationship development with Soruya is brilliant - I loved how both are so hesitant and yet so passionate at the same time. Both have been trapped by their circumstances, but together they're able to explore freedom and just, this is the f/f content we need and we deserve!!! Bear in mind this is VERY slowburn. For the first 50% of the novel I was pretty much that John Travolta gif going where is the f/f I was promised?! What I did love about this though was the opportunity to portray bi/pan (not specified on page) attraction. Bi love triangles are pretty much the only love triangle I am here for these days.

The only real issue I had with this book was the enemy. I found their reveal really obvious from their first moment on page and so I spent half of the novel going are we seriously meant to belief this?! I wish it had been so much less obvious because if it had been a shock, that would have been one of the most epic plot twists off all time. Sadly, because of this, I did feel a bit less enthusiastic about the first half of the novel because I was dying to just get the reveal over with. But after it happens, everything picks up and the story starts speeding forward with lots of drama and action and plenty of naive, foolish plans from Soruya.

Most of all, I loved the change in Soruya and her growth from a girl terrified of hurting someone with her poison, to someone who embraces her differences and learns to see their power. Sapphic goddess win. Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a wonderful YA fantasy, and seriously, I hope Bashardoust writes more monster girlfriends in future, cause this shit is good.

an ARC was kindly sent to me by the publisher through netgalley in exchange of an honest review. this doesn’t affect my thoughts in any way.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a book that slowly guides you into its world; a real, vibrant, beautiful world, with dreamy setting yet realistic characters, and a gripping story.

the author really took the time to craft such a world. from beginning to end, you can see the way persian culture has inspired the world-building in a beautiful way, in a story that starts slow but then strikes you when you least expect it. from that point, the plot thickens more and more, and you’ll find it harder to put down the book as you go on.

while reading this book, the characters got closer and closer to my heart, not because they’re good, it’s because they’re human. good and evil are opposed but in the depths of it all, you find everyone had the same goal, the same purpose, and the same origin. all the characters are flawed, and i loved it very much. their development was wonderful from start to end.

the writing was lush and gorgeous, took the beauty of the story and made it even more beautiful. it swoops you into the world, and you feel like you’re in the story.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn was a book that i had high expectations for, yet took me by surprise. look forward to it on july 7th, 2020, because it’s a gorgeous story that everyone needs to read.

This book... is SO. GOOD. I first saw this floating around book Twitter a month or two ago and initially was like "yes I need this book" purely because of the cover because it is GORGEOUS. And then after looking it up, I was immediately interested in the story. The book tells the story of Soraya, a girl cursed with poison in her veins, unable to touch living things without causing them to die. She's hidden away in a palace, and through a series of events finds herself questioning the story behind her curse and how she could break it and be free.

The story is based off of Persian mythology, something I'm incredibly unfamiliar with, but it is so fascinating and I'm really excited to look for some more Persian mythology stories! I found the storytelling and writing to be absolutely beautiful and I loved every second. There were so many points where my jaw hit the floor from shock, and others where my heart absolutely broke. The struggle between good and evil within Soraya was so interesting to watch play out, as was watching her come to terms with her own power and become accepting of herself. The main character in the book is also bisexual which was refreshing to see in a fantasy for me personally, I haven't read a lot of LGBT+ fantasy, so this was great! The only thing I wished was that we got more of that romance side of things in the book, because I am primarily a romance reader, but I still absolutely adored the relationship explored here.

Overall, I HIGHLY recommend you read this, it was dark, magical, beautiful and just incredible. Thank you so so much to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for sending me this ARC!

My, this was a wild ride. First of, can we just agree that we all needed a badass, fearless and smart Middle Eastern Heroine? Who falls in love with a female demon with wings? Because my friends, my heart is SINGING.

So, our main character, princess Soraya, has only ever been hidden in the castle without any public appearances, casual touches - or not so casual touches. Because she is poisonous and everyone who touches her will die. But she's always dreamt of a world outside of her bedroom, her rose garden and the tiny, dark tunnels that lead her through the castle inside of the walls.

When she has a chance to find out who made her into who she is and how to undo her curse, she takes it but with consequences that are more than she bargained for.

She has to decide between good and evil, her family and her freedom and between being a girl or a monster.

My bookish friends, Girl, Serpent, Thorn was an absolute delight and to be honest, it flew by way to quickly. I was very quickly completely sucked into Soraya's story and felt with her all through this book as she was put through tough decisions and tests and imprisonment.

Bashardoust does a wonderful job building a world which you can easily navigate as a reader but still feel utterly amazed (and horrified) by. The characters are as lovable as their decisions are questionable, which makes them so amazingly human that it's hard to find a character to dislike.

The world of the different demons is amazing and if there was a book where I wish I had a map in there, it is this. But even without I felt taken on journey of self-discovery and the big question of what makes one human and what makes one a monster.

Soraya struggles a lot with the fear of becoming a monster as soon as she let's her curse run free. She's afraid that she will lose herself when she let's go and all this while she experiences betrayal, love and war for the very first time. She feels like a very relatable character and one that I would have loved to spend even more time with.

Without wanting to spoil anything, I thought this book was going into a completely different direction at first. There was the kind of insta love that makes me roll my eyes but then there was a plot twist that had me gasping out loud and I think this book will do that for you, too. I recommend this book for everyone who loves fantasy, fairy tales and who loves character arcs, because this is it, sis.

Lastly, I want to mention that I highly enjoyed the author's explanations of the different tales and fables she borrowed either parts of the story from or the language that is used. All of it can be linked to old Persian fairy tales and books have never made it onto my TBR list this quickly as the ones that are recommended at the end of this book.

What a lovely, lovely story and I cannot wait to see what comes next for Melissa Bashardoust.