""In the dungeon, I used to like making you angry,” Parvaneh said. She reached down to scoop up one of the moths and held it up to her face, brushing its wing against her cheek with a tenderness that only worsened the fluttering in Soraya’s stomach. Parvaneh let the moth fly away and looked Soraya in the eye. “But I think I like making you laugh even more.""

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⭐⭐⭐ / 3 stars

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a sweet fairytale-esque story with a beautiful Middle Eastern setting about self discovery and acceptance as well as love. While it is a cute little story perfect for a spring day, it lacks depth and character development to really make an impact.

Princess Soraya is cursed to be poisonous to the touch and thus lives an isolated and lonely life. Just before her brother's wedding day, a new appointed guard makes Soraya feel like she's more than her curse for the first time in her life. At the same time, a newly captured demon may hold all the answers to Soraya’s questions and may even relieve her of her deadly powers. Yet no one will know until it's too late what kind of consequences will follow the unfolding of all her family's secrets.

Firstly, I liked the setting of this story a lot. It takes place in an ancient kingdom-esque in the Middle East, I think Iran to be more specific. I haven't read many books having an environment like that, so it was a welcome addition. Also the Persian mythology interwoven in the story is very interesting like the djinns and Shahnameh. Bashardoust provides at the end of the book in an author's note more information concerning the mythology if you're interested.

Secondly, I think the characters this book were lacklustre and I didn't feel any connection with any of them. The main character Soraya is pretty dumb at times and makes illogical decisions. A lot of the plot revolves around learning the truth about Soraya’s curse and why her mother isn't telling her the truth about it. All Soraya needs to do is ASK HER MOTHER THE TRUTH, but she doesn’t because that would be disobedient? It just doesn't make any sense to me. The same is true for the main villain of the story. He trust people blindly even though they have proven time and time again that they're not to be trusted. How is he getting anything done really? It truly removes any impact he might have and I wasn't afraid of him. Also, because the characters were so illogical and lacklustre, for me, the whole plot around self-acceptance fell flat.

Lastly, the romance is one of the reasons I kept reading. It's sapphic, sweet and just a delight. It is a little more juvenile than I would've liked, but that is okay because it fits the story.

In conclusion, Girl, Serpent, Thorn was a fine story and I'm glad I read it because I had been anticipating it for a long time. While it wasn't exactly what I had been wishing for and I left the story a little dissatisfied, it is a fine book overall.

would've been 3 stars if the sapphic romance made more sense and was built up better

I loved the plot and characters! This was such a fun read and I loved the sapphic romance and many plot twists! Such a beautiful book

Pour un roman de 300 pages, l'univers est bien construit, bien décrit. On s'attache à Soraya, l'héroïne qui grandit et doit apprendre à s'accepter. C'est un petit sucre qui mérite rien de ce qui lui arrive, mais qui doit en passer par là.
En tout cas, le roman se dévore très facilement, après un début un peu difficile.

DNF

A very interesting take on a fairytale inspired by Persian mythology. It’s always fun to read a fantasy that isn’t set in some kind of medieval Europe, and many of the themes here (such as coming to terms with the negative emotions we aren’t supposed to have but inevitably do) are thought-provoking. Pick this up if you like fairytales with a twist.

I received an ARC on Goodreads from the publisher! :) Yes you can win the giveaways!

I marathoned this book in two days, because once the story picked up (after the "plot twist"), the book's true romance was SUPER cute, and I LOVED the depiction of the different div in the world at a certain point.

Only docked one star for some tropey YA stuff, but 4 solid stars for a really fun "Poison Rapunzel" story. :) A great story of acceptance, learning to accept that your journey may not line up with the norm, and that's okay.

Longer review to come!