What a powerful and incredible story about girls, empowerment, love, and goddess. So many lessons told beautifully.

“There is nothing to fix. There is nothing broken about you.”

This was an incredibly informative book of poetry, and was beautifully written. Not my usual go to poetry style but I learnt alot and felt like I got to know the author too through her work.

I love this women work, she write like no other. She story is strong and meaning full, every women and girl should read these this author as it will speak to you on so many levels

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of The Girl and The Goddess.

This was a novel written in verse following the life of Paro from childhood to young adulthood facing the challenges of being a woman in India. We move through the book with Paro and learn about the experiences that have shaped her and follow her as she finds herself with the help from gods and goddesses. Trauma, anxiety, race, sexuality, friendship, family and gender are all explored and touched upon in this beautifully atmospheric, emotional tale. Hindu mythology is drawn upon to teach Paro how to navigate life in such a compelling way that it was hard to put this book down.

I really enjoyed this. It was stunning, heartbreaking and empowering.

Beautifully illustrated throughout this is a brilliant novel in verse exploring Hindu mythology in a tale of becoming and examining who we are and where we come from.

TW: Characters in this book persevere through: Anxiety, Bigotry, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Depression, Guilt, Homophobia, Internalised misogyny, Misogyny/ sexism, Poverty, Racism, Sexual assault, Terrorism, Violence, War.

An absolutely beautiful read, set out in verse, it’s very emotive as you read it. The bit about her school days was particularly touching to read, I could completely emphasise (not the same experience for,e but enough that it rang so true with me) stunningly beautiful writing, dealing with a range of issues from bullying to racism,anxiety and depression to body shaming, it touches on many issues. Power reading

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This is a beautiful book and incredibly well written.

I loved the running theme and I loved the every word.

This book is heart-breaking in places, while also filling you with strength and wonder in others.

There were some phrases and poems that made me sit back and think for a while, and I truly love when this happens.

I usually really enjoy Nikita Gill's writing, but I didn't connect with this book as I have done with her work previously.
Based on the title I expected more of a magical realism style book. It actually was more of a biographical book.
Some of Gill's writings about her school days was so heartbreaking, especially when she imagined all of the things she wanted to say to her family about what had happened at school that day - but then just ending up saying 'it was just school'. I have been there! Took me back to my own school days.

Overall the book was pleasant enough, and I enjoyed reading but it wasn't what I was expecting, and I felt the pacing was slightly off in places.

Full review will be live on my blog on October 22.

Rating: 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Trigger warnings, taken from the front of the book: anxiety, bigotry, biphobia, body shaming, bullying, child abuse, depression, guilt, homophobia, internalised misogyny, misogyny/sexism, poverty, racism, sexual assault, terrorism, violence, war.

I honestly have never requested anything so fast. I love Nikita Gill's work so much and I always wait impatiently for the next thing she produces. I saw this one and instantly requested, and the second my review copy came through I abandoned what I was already reading so I could dig in. The Girl and the Goddess is a little different than Nikita's previous work, as it's actually a full novel told in verse. Still I devoured it just as quickly as ever, because Nikita's storytelling is as lyrical and beautiful in a full length novel as it is in instagram snippets and the poetry anthologies.

The Girl and the Goddess is packed with stories within a story. Paro is told the stories of her gods and goddesses throughout her life, the deities appearing to her when she most needs the lesson that they have to offer her. I don't know much at all about Hindu deities and mythology, or, in all honesty, much about the partition of India other than what I've learned this year through a little online reading. While that's not the focus of this book by any means, I found it both accessible and intriguing. I got enough information that I didn't feel lost at all in the story, but I've still finished the book with a strong desire to raid my library for books on Hindu mythology. Each of the deities stories were heartwarming and distinct in tone, and I liked the way that they knitted into Paro's story neatly to show Paro relating to her faith at different times of difficulty in her life. I also liked that the deities addressed inconsistencies in their stories, and how myths can reflect the intentions and biases of the storyteller.

While there's a lot of ways that I obviously can't relate to Paro personally (as an extremely white British reviewer), I felt the queerness and self-discovery in this book vividly. The struggle of a loving, but not understanding, family is one I identify with in a lot of ways and I loved the way that Paro learned to empower herself but was still tied to her family closely. I also got excellent found family vibes from the friendship group, and we all know that I'll do literally anything for a group of queer women supporting each other. Paro's story was wonderful and beautiful, even in the painfully raw parts, and I loved the whole thing fiercely. It has all the magic of Nikita Gill's usual retellings, plus an interesting and vivid story of self-discovery, and I wish I could have had a copy of this in my hands when I was a confused and worried queer teenage girl. The illustrations are particularly gorgeous and I can't wait to see a finished copy of this book so I can see them properly on the page.

The Girl and the Goddess is a novel in (mostly) verse that tells the story of a girl growing up in India, discovering herself, and finding support from gods and goddesses. It tells the story of Paro, a girl who is born in Kashmir, moves with her parents to Delhi, learns how being female changes things when her brother is born, and looks for friends and love as a teenager and into adulthood. Along the way, stories and Hindu mythology teach her how to deal with the light and darkness in her life: trauma, sexuality, and the legacy of colonial rule.

Gill combines poetry, prose, and illustrations to tell Paro's story, and the result is a book that is compulsive and readable, bringing different fragments of Paro's life and also interweaving the stories that inspire and comfort her, as gods and goddesses appear to her. It has a great cast of characters and the format gives you real insight into Paro's thoughts, particularly by having poems that are 'written' by Paro and thinking about what we create and when writing about something isn't easy. The pieces covering her working out her bisexuality and then telling stories from Hindu mythology that show that sexuality and gender aren't as rigid as might seem are particularly powerful, but the whole book is emotional and compelling.

There's a lot of great novels in verse coming out at the moment, and The Girl and the Goddess shows how the form can be used to think about storytelling and mythology whilst also telling a hard hitting coming-of-age tale. I read it as an ebook which worked well, but I imagine the hard copy looks particularly good with the illustrations. I'd heard of Nikita Gill but not read any of her writing before, and from this I'll definitely be reading more.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Survival is ugly. Healing is messy. Self-love is complicated."

I find it difficult just to put into words how brilliant Nikita Gills writing is, and how beautiful and powerful this book was. I had to sit and reflect for a good while after finishing this book.

Although slightly different to her previous works, The Girl and the Goddess is a more chronological story about the life of Paro, a young bisexual woman from Kashmir, told through poetry, Hindu mythology, and some illustrations.

The rich threads of Hindu Mythology that weave themselves into this book, and Paro's identity as she learns to navigate the world is some of the best storytelling I have seen.

Some of this poems felt extremely person to Gill, and some hit home very hard. There is a real sadness in some poems, but this whole book is bursting with love. I think this book will stay with me forever.

This is a fantastic book told in verse and stories. It follows Paro, a bisexual girl who grows up in Kashmir then Delhi before heading off to London to study Illustration at university.

I loved Nikita Gill's Wild Embers and this is just as strong and a different way, as it has a sense of chronological continuity and character development. Paro learns so much about her own privilege along with where others are more privileged than she is. The book covers all sorts of topics including racism, sexism, sexuality, bullying, colonialism and sexual assault.

It is full of rich Hindu mythology influences and I really liked the stories included through Goddesses visiting Paro in her dreams.

This book felt personal to Nikita and she absolutely blew me away with the emotion in it. It has it's happier moments through Paro's friendships and these really made me smile. Overall, this is an excellent collection.

I have read all of Nikita's published works. the first one I read, your soul is a river, made me cry. I remember reading it at a time in my life when I truly needed it. This book was like that experience all over again. But this book wasn't like 'your soul', or 'wild embers', this wasn't like any of her previous works. this gives you mythology of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, It gives you the life of a young woman, Parvo, and her experiences through assault, racism, biphobia. I learnt about Kashmir, about the Partition. this book is everything. it is a guide to young girls everywhere to remember their light, and their power. Thank you Nikita for your words, and net galley for letting me read this egalley early.