3.5 stars.

Fast-paced, with a fascinating world, and a really great premise, I tore through this book. There were some characters that I couldn’t get enough of - especially with the vivid and fascinating cast of secondary & tertiary characters. I enjoyed this a lot, and am really hoping for some more depth and world building in the next one!

I do not provide literary reviews but I create "fiction food" inspired by the book. I was given a Netgalley copy of the book by the publicist/author/ magazine publisher to create fiction food (photo + recipes) for use in marketing.

A fantasy with fantastic world building and characters who defy the odds.

http://fictionfood.com/entries/ya-fiction/a-meal-from-girls-of-paper-and-fire-

A fascinating addition to the fantasy young adult world! Great world-building, fantastic characters, and wonderful writing. There are some difficult subjects dealt with in this book, but they are handled well.

This was not the story I was expecting. I wanted strong female characters, a passionate ff romance, an action packed assassination attempt and rebel fights, a betrayal so deep the King never would have expected it, and overall just an interesting story.

What I got was a selfish and childish MC, a romance that was just there, action only during the last 20 pages (and not a good action scene either), supposedly extravagant balls and hints at the teaching Paper Girls go through (no rebel fights or Lei getting closer to the King for information and trust to break), and a pretty boring execution for the story.

Most of this book was about Lei constantly complaining, always accusing her lover of keeping secrets even though Lei doesn't seem all too forthcoming either, and her supposed bravery for not wanting to sleep with the King. She literally ruined so many carefully laid out plans and yet she is still called brave and strong and mature.

I honestly don't think Lei changed at all. I also didn't like her.

*please keep in mind that I read my 2 year old ARC for this so it is possible the finished copy is better. But I doubt it.*

Nice worldbuilding, definitely need more LGBTQ representation in YA literature, still could've used a little more heft. Or maybe it's just because there are already a bunch of other YA novels that use the same plot points/pacing.

I really loved the story, very relatable. It has all the great making of a coming of age story. Forbidden love, kingdoms, and hard life situations. I recommend all young ladies should read.

Girls of Paper and Fire is another turn down the diverse fantasy road that is both well done and very necessary. Readers of all kinds need to be able to see themselves in these worlds and Ngan does not disappoint. Though the power of the narrative sometimes falters, a good base is here and good things are likely to follow in sequels.

Trigger Warning: This book contains scenes of violence, cruelty, and sexual assault and abuse.

I picked this book up not knowing too much about it, the cover is gorgeous and the tagline for the book had been popping up and it was enough to make me want to read it.

The tagline:
We might be Paper Girls, easily torn and written upon. The very title we're given suggests that we are blank, waiting to be filled. But what the Demon King and his court do not understand is that paper is flammable. And there is a fire catching among us.

After reading the book, I had mixed emotions. This book was a lot... I knew going in that there would be violence and I also knew about the sexual assault aspect, however I was very surprised to find a F/F relationship. I am perfectly ok with it being there but it was so hidden, and that makes me a bit sad. There was no mention of it in the synopsis. Other feelings about this book, was that it was very intense, all the way through. There is a kidnapping and then the slavery of these girls and their job to please the king, it you don't like intensity in this way, this book will not be for you.

I enjoyed the book, but I feel weird saying that since it had so many violent aspects, but the plot was pieced together enough for it to all come together pretty well. I was not completely in love with it though and I had trouble understanding the world. In the first few chapters it seemed like we were going to get this vibrant exploration of this new world with humans and animal human hybrids and then once the girls arrive at the palace, all of that pretty much fell off. There were no more details about the overall world, and while this may be a symbolic way of making the reader fell like the girls who are imprisoned, I still wanted more as a reader. There is a war coming and I feel like I don't know enough to want to pick up the next book in the series.

The characters were interesting and only a few fell flat for me, but they were not so strong that I need to be in their lives. I am interested to see where the romance leads though and so again it is sad that that aspect was left out of the overall synopsis. If I were looking for a book like this, I would have to find it via the words of others, there is no stumbling upon it (unless you have a wonderful librarian or bookstore helper to add it to an LGBTQ end cap because they happen to know).

So if you are looking for this kind of drama and intensity, this may be for you. If these themes already seem too strong, do not pick this one up, it is very violent in all aspects.

I love the female female romance in this book, it makes it more original than it could have been. There a lot of trigger warnings throughout the book though so I would recommend it to older teens.

Girls of Paper and Fire completely took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting this book to be so powerful or to handle difficult topics so well and in such a sensitive manner. Natasha Ngan does a brilliant job of exploring the societal and individual factors that support the culture of abuse represented in this book. I also love how both of her main characters are survivors, women who piece themselves back together while also finding their power in the process. They're wonderfully multi-dimensional and I love how they grow throughout the course of the novel. Plus the romance was so well done, it felt incredibly natural and precious. I would note that there are a number of trigger warnings in this book, however the author has a list of them at the front of the book (which I loved, I wish more books would do that!).

I'm very much looking forward to seeing where Ngan takes this story next. Girls of Paper and Fire was a brilliant start to a new series. This book was fresh, timely, and very well-written.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

First of all, let’s just get this out of the way. There are really graphic rape and attempted rape scenes, and it was upsetting. I felt sick after and needed to go have a chat with my bestie because I was so upset. Do not read this if you don’t like graphic violence, or can be triggered by violence and sexual assault scenes in books. I’m sure it was written this way to really show how horrific sexual assault is, but I found it unnecessary and harmful.

What I did like? The writing style which was very descriptive and magical. It made it easy to picture the setting and the characters. I also really enjoyed the f/f romance. Like, I loved that part so deeply. It was passionate, curious, sexy, and sweet. THAT was well-written. I was rooting for them, and I loved seeing them find happiness in each other.

The novel highlights how women have been and continue to be valued only for the pleasure their bodies can give men. It also covers the topic of consent and how that can look different for every woman. But, and here’s where the book goes wrong, it seems to say that Lei is better than the other Paper Girls because she physically fights back against the king when he tries to have sex with her. This is wrong on so many levels, one of which being that it contradicts itself and its message. She is not stronger for fighting back. All of the girls were terrified of the king and suffered PTSD. They felt like they were given no voice and no choice, raised as they were to be groomed for the potential “honour” of being the king’s concubines. Lei was not raised with the knowledge that she’d potentially be a Paper Girl, so she has a different experience, yes. She was far removed from the court and was not from a noble family. But the other girls in no way want to be concubines.

After everything the girls are put through - and we readers are put through - I had hope the ending would be powerful. But the epilogue undoes that feeling and made me angry. Why did we read this upsetting tale if the powerful ending was going to be ripped away?

What an enthralling and well-crafted story! The social commentary was on point and Ngan's world-building was beautiful. She handles issues of rape, sexual violence, and trauma with sensitivity. I can't wait to read more by this author.

Wow! I mean first of all, look at how gorgeous that cover is! I’ve been swooning over it since the reveal, long before it was due to come out.

This book was just absolutely stunning. It was so unique in how it was told and set up overall and I loved the world-building.

The idea of these “paper girls” being sent to a demon king as his concubines and everything that unfolds. It was unique in its own heartbreaking way.

I loved the fantasy aspects of this book as much as I loved the LGBT+ representation and how real it was. (My biggest pet peeve is when authors attempt to just shove any possible LGBT+ relationships)

I’m so excited to have read this, especially since I ended up receiving a hardback copy and can now read it all over again.

Girls of Paper and Fire is the first installment in author Natasha Ngan's Girls of Paper and Fire series. In Ikhara, where 17-year old Lei lives, there are three castes: Moon, the reigning caste that is entirely demon; Steel, who are endowed with both demon and human elements; and Paper, the downtrodden caste that is wholly human. Every year, the Moon caste’s king selects eight Paper Girls as his concubines. This year, there will be a ninth chosen.

It has been 8 years since Lei's mother was dragged away and disappeared without Lei knowing what happened to her, or if she is even still alive. So, when soldiers once again invade her quiet part of the world, Lei, who has unusual liquid gold eyes, is dragged from her small village to be a Paper Girl. Lei's only salvation is hope in finding word about what happened to her mother, while at the same time, fighting off a ruler who uses the Paper girls as sex objects.

The 8 chosen girls will spend an entire year in the palace, living somewhat in the life a luxury, waiting to see if the King will call one of them to his chamber. Paper Girls are trained in obedience as well as seduction. Some of the girls are more eager to please the King than others like Lei who does everything in her power not to be forced into doing something she doesn't want to do. Things become even more confusing when Lie finds herself drawn to another Paper Girl named Wren who has a few surprises and secrets to be revealed.

I don't normally post trigger warnings, but one might consider that this book involves deep, dark sexual situations, including the apparent use of rape to put a character in her place after she rebuffs him the first time she is called to have sex with the Demon King. It is fair to say that Lei finds herself in a dark place and does everything she can to keep her father and others from being hurt or killed.

Even though being a Paper Girl brings wealth and prosperity to the families of those who are chosen, there's no way not to say that these concubines are well dressed, well educated, and well fed prostitutes. One of the curious storylines is Lei and Wren's romance knowing that at any time one of the other Paper Girls will betray them, and they will be severely punished for their transgressions. But, then, love grows from the most unlikely of places and from the most dire circumstances.

The ending obviously leaves questions and more storylines for another book. I will be eager to see what the author comes up with next, and whether she can top what she did in this book.

“We might be Paper Girls, easily torn and written upon. The very title we're given suggests that we are blank, waiting to be filled. But what the Demon King and his court do not understand is that paper is flammable. And there is a fire catching among us.”

I aboslutely love, and adore everything about this book! For those who liked Memoirs of A Geisha, but want something a little less intense, this will be a good read for your, also if you enjoyed "Empress Of All Seasons" you are going to love this one!

Such great world building, and character development, and I love the love story! So happy I finally picked this one up! Thank you Jimmy Patterson Books for gifting me a copy!

Fiery and bold! A totally engrossing read. The world building is really good, Lei is believable, and the societal issues that she faces are enraging and relatable - and of, course, there's the sweet romance between two girls. While I thought some plot threads were picked up and put down kind of haphazardly and some of the language was too florid, I highly enjoyed this one

This was a tough one for me. On the one hand, I loved the idea of the world, I loved the lesbian representation/Lei's romance with Wren, and I loved that it was written by an own voices author, but I think it was the wrong time for me to read this book. Coming off a number of other YA novels, this was just so formulaic. It's not fair, because a lot of YA these days are so similar/borrow from each other that you could take a YA Fantasy and change some names and have the same story, but I came to this one after a slew of them, so it was so predictable as to be boring. Lei's personality, the chosen girl, the girl willing to rebuff the demon king, just was not enough.for me to enjoy this book. That said, I know plenty of teens that come to the library that would love this book, and I won't hesitate to recommend it to them for all the positive reasons I stated.

GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE is an immersive and enjoyable read. However, readers should be aware that, because of the subject matter, the story does feature non-graphic rape and violence. Young women are placed into an impossible situation and make the most of it.

GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE has intriguing world building involving a caste system where humans are at the bottom. Most side characters are given time to develop and become more than one-dimensional. Ngan handles serious topics with a deft hand, developing a story about breaking traditions and claiming your power in a world run by men who wield fear as a weapon.

I enjoyed the slow-burn romance between Lei and Wren, though Lei was often the least interesting character despite being the POV. I would devour a book from Wren's POV. I was also unaware this book wasn't a standalone until I read the tacked on epilogue, which destroys the momentum of the original ending. But I highly enjoyed GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE and look forward to more novels from Ngan.

I am a mood reader and my mood this year has led me to read WAY WAY WAY more contemporary novels than fantasy novels, even though there was once a time when I would avoid contemporary novels like the plague. I dove into Girls of Paper and Fire because it sounded great but also came highly recommended from a friend. The first time around, I got to about 10% and then stopped reading because I just didn’t have the energy for a fantasy but then, I picked it up again and got completely sucked in. Girls of Paper and Fire was so refreshing not just because it’s so wholly different from the contemporaries I have been reading lately but also because it takes some common fantasy tropes and puts its own, unique twist on them (please note that I love tropes and tropes are my fav.)

Lei is forcibly taken from her home to serve as a paper girl for the Demon King – the highest honor for any girl belonging to the paper caste. Of course, Lei isn’t honored. I think, the fact that Lei already stands out from the rest of the girls because of her gold eyes could easily allow her to be one of those characters who is ‘not like the other girls’ but that was just not the case here. Lei, is, of course, a badass and I love that she works so hard to stay true to herself but more than that, I love the paper girls as a group. I love that even though not all the paper girls are friendly, they do understand each other. They are there for each other (FOR THE MOST PART) and realize almost all of them would rather be somewhere else. I think the most powerful part of this novel is seeing this group of girls navigate their extremely unequal society and finding strength & inspiration in one another.

The world is also so fascinating! I always love a good fantasy world and even though, in this book, we are mostly restricted to the palace and don’t get to experience much of the physical world of Ikhara, the social world is very well developed. We get an entire backlog of history and culture and I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE more of this world. I KNOW WE HAVE GREAT ADVENTURES AHEAD OF ME.

Also. Like. Okay. So. WOW I AM SO GOOD WITH WORDS. But I am trying to transition into talking about the romance and its hard because I LOVE THESE BABIES SO MUCH. So, if you read my reviews/know me. You know I am a slow burn kinda gal and question when people declare their ILYS much too quickly. But honestly, the chemistry & romance between Lei and Wren is SO WELL WRITTEN everything just felt natural. Also I loved that it was a little angsty too… (HAHAHA.)

Everyone and their dog has heard of Girls of Paper and Fire at this point but if you haven’t, this book needs to be on your tbr. The hype doesn’t disappoint and even though the ending will leave you screeching in agony, sacrificing your emotions to the greater good of having this novel will be worth it.

I included this title as part of a speculative fiction roundup on my blog. Details provided directly to the publisher in the next part of this process.