This book was a bit of a flop for me. But I realize that I am not necessarily the target audience. If I was, I most likely would love it

The synopsis of this book really captures my attention? Witches and their assassins? Count me in!

The story started strong, with our teenage girl out on her hit, but it quickly devolved from there. I honestly still don't understand the world of the City of Eyes, nor do I know how the magic works.

I spent most of the book confused, following the bland characters as they just blunder through the world, not sure how they are going to reach their goal. And the unnecessary amnesia interlude almost had me DNF.

The writing style is pretty, but was not clear describing the action, or sequence of events. Unfortunately, I am not interested in continuing to the next book.

This book started out so strong for me, but then fell flat about halfway through. I love the idea of the heroin and the world building, but there just was not enough here.

Girls of Hawthorn and Glass was an okay book. The premise was interesting, it just didn't hit home for me.

Eli is a fascinating character.  Having been cobbled together by pieces of this and that by a witch, she feels like she's never her own person.  She's always being forced to do the bidding of someone else lest she be unmade - aka murdered.  When she meets Tav and Cam in the City of Ghosts, she begins to change and become more defiant as time goes by.  Her character grows and becomes more defined as the story progresses.  

Her partners in crime, Cam and Tav, equally as remarkable.  Tav is non-binary and goes by the pronouns they/them, which is amazing, if a bit confusing for the reader at first.  Or, possibly, it was just me.  But I love the inclusion of LGBT characters, especially in novels geared towards young adults.  Tav is actually my favorite character throughout as their bravery and persistence keep them all moving forward.  Cam is the best friend we all need in our lives.  He is considerate and compassionate no matter what's going on or how badly confused he might be.  

The problem, however, is with the world building.  You are given only the vaguest idea of what the worlds are like.  The City of Ghosts is the human world, so I didn't need a lot of information there, but the Labrinth and other areas outside of the human world aren't given much description or explanation.  

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass has an amazing and interesting premise, awesome characters, but falls short in the area of world building.  If you're the kind of person that goes into the book for the characters, this would likely be a good choice for you. However, if you're the kind of reader who loves rich settings to go along with your intriguing characters, this might be a miss for you.  Either way, I'll definitely look into the sequel to see where our heroes go next.

Have not had a chance to read this yet, but will keep it on my list for a rainy day! Appreciate being offered the reading copy!

⇾ an interesting set up of a made-and-manipulated assassin realigning her motives and the true purpose of a coven that has created her to tear down the world of ghosts.
⇾ a dissatisfying execution of this idea that has immense potential due to overlapping plot lines and a rushed pacing, not allowing the readers to connect with the characters at any level.
⇾ an attempt at the found family trope but lack of time given to build the bonds lets the reader down.
⇾ appreciable inclusion of sexual diversity through the different LGBTQ+ characters, but unfortunately the only good thing that stood out.

This book is almost fairy witch tale like. I love how deep the character is even for her age. I love how spooky the book was too. It was a beautiful written tale and I would love to read more by this author

In all honesty, I was hoping for more. I was hoping for something lush and magical, and otherwordly. Instead, I got a pretty weak worldbuilding and a boring plot. Unfortunately, the characters don't save it either, and rather are quite bland and unremarkable.

There's a cool concept hidden here, but personally I think it needed more work.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass has such a great premise, I enjoyed reading the book but I didn't love it. I don't like writing negative reviews so I will keep this short. Overall I feel like Adan had a good vision for the story, but feel that it was lacking in development and growth. However, I would recommend to some of my bookish friends as I feel that it will be enjoyed by YA fantasy fans.

DNF at 37%
I was unable to get into the story. There was a large amount of build up, but hardly any action. There was also limited explanation of the world and the magic system.

I had to DNF this one. I could not connect with the characters or get into the storyline at all. There was just a lot lacking in this one.

This book was okay.

I wanted so badly to really like it, and I pushed through to try to, but I couldn’t. I struggled to finish it and don’t know why it didn’t click with me.

1.5/5

THE GIRL OF HAWTHORN AND GLASS by Adan Jerreat-Poole follows Eli, a made-thing and deadly assassin the witches created to hunt down ghosts in the human world. But when an assignment goes wrong, Eli starts to question everything she was taught about both worlds, the Coven, and her tyrannical witch-mother. With the help of a group of human and witch renegades, Eli embarks on an epic journey to get answers and earn her freedom.

First of all, as a queer reader, I loved seeing the LGBTQ representation in this novel’s characters. Moreover, I loved seeing these queer characters woven together in the found family trope, highlighting their resilience and power through their individual and collective experiences of trauma.

As far as the world, I would liken this to Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, with its whimsical setting and characters that interact so intimately with their surroundings. I would’ve loved to read more about the magic system, but I feel like following Eli through the world through this adventure built a strong framework for the next book in the series, THE BOI OF FEATHER AND STEEL, to expand upon this even more.

3.5 Stars bumped because I just don't get all the hating on this novel.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass is the debut novel of Adan Jerreat-Poole, is an English Literature PhD (McMaster University), now in postdoctoral studies at Ryerson University in Canada where they study disability issues. This novel is a dark fantasy with elements of sci-fi (other galaxies). It follows the story of Eli, a witch-made girl, composed of hawthorn, glass, and other scary things. Eli is made to be an assassin and is trained in the witch world, called The City of Eyes, to penetrate the human world, The City of Ghosts, to kill ghosts that pose a threat to both worlds. Eli, when we meet her, has been an extremely successful tool for her mother witch, Circenae. Yet, when the Coven sends her on an assignment and she wields one of her seven blades to kill a purported witch, she is horrified to find that she has killed a human instead. Why, if the witches say killing ghosts is to protect the human world as well as their own, have they decided to kill a human? Eli, who lives in fear of being unmade and her parts scattered, tries to cover up this fact. She returns to the City of Eyes only to be turned around and sent on another mission, with little recovering time. This time she finds the ghost she's been sent to slay has long been dead and gone. What, exactly, is going on? As Eli searches for answers and tries to figure out how to satisfy the terms of her impossible mission, she meets Tav, a colorful non-binary character, and Cam, an Uber driver with mysterious links to the witch world. Together they will cross back and forth between the two cities. Eli will discover things about her childhood friends Kite and Clytemnestra, the Coven and its workings, and the damning lack of balance between the two worlds.

The "tool" narrative, where one is created for a purpose and balks at that purpose, has been explored quite a lot, including recently in Jordan Ifueko's Raybearer, but as a trope, it is one with rich opportunities for exploration of personal aegis, the subjugation of personal will, and vulnerability to compulsions. The propulsive action in this novel doesn't allow for a great deal of exploration of some of these issues (we see both Eli and Kite, in particular, are trapped in the webs of their respective roles) and the worldbuilding feels at times like a rough sketch in the beginning. This is a duology, though, and some of the choices made by characters leave open pathways for a deeper exploration of what powers the witch world possesses (we see clear indications in this first book) and the battle between the young and old witches of the Coven. At times the plot felt scattered and some of the characters I wanted to know more about (the young witches Kite and Clytemnestra,and the Hedgewitch in the City of Ghosts) didn't get as much time on the page as I'd like. The abruptness of Eli's encountering first Tav, then Cam, felt a little jarring since this obviously was very out of character for a loner like Eli to suddenly start working with others whose purposes are inscrutable, yet she seems so thrown off her stride by her two disastrous missions at the start of the book that her acceptance of what she hopes is assistance is plausible. In spite of these issues, the novel reads like an imaginative queer fever dream and I enjoyed it. I don't understand the very negative reviews on this book. I look forward to seeing where the story goes in the forthcoming The Boi of Feather and Steel .

I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me about 40% into it. The characters weren't really grabbing me and the story wasnt really established.

This book was…interesting. An intriguing blend of fantasy, and maybe even a little sci-fi? This book was difficult to categorize. Let’s get into it.
The beginning of this book was fantastic. There was action right from the get go, I was intrigued by the storyline, and the protagonist was interesting. The book features I diverse cast of characters, so yay! I appreciated that. The writing itself was beautiful- the author’s descriptions were long and detailed, which at first was quite enjoyable.
Once the characters left Earth, things got a little complicated. I was constantly confused. At any given time I wasn’t really sure where the characters were, or what exactly they were doing. It’s hard to explain, but everything became really abstract, to the point where I wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. I think that the world-building was really ambitious, and maybe it just didn’t translate well enough for me. Sometimes it worked, but at other points it didn’t.
For the parts where I did understand what was happening, the book was good! If you decide to pick it up, just be prepared to be confused.

To be clear, I DNF'd this about halfway through.
The book started off well enough. The premise of a ghost hunter/assassin who serves witches and can travel between worlds was super cool. At first, I wondered about the low ratings but now I get it. The book starts off well, but there is no world-building and very little coherency in the plot. This had potential, but it falls flat as the book goes on.

This book was a pretty good read. I was really intrigued by the synopsis, and I was excited to read this book. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to that potential. It's hard to say why, but what I've come up with is a mixture of the writing mixed with the worldbuilding-it would mention something, and I'd be, what the heck is that? Things just weren't explained half the time, so I didn't fully understand what was going on. So it's something that could be improved for the sequel, but I'm apprehensive bout it.

I read this book when I did because I got lowest rated. And I can get why it is lowest rated, I didn't enjoy it as much as I usually enjoy books. And it's such a shame, because I only rarely rate books 4 stars or less on Goodreads. Like, less than 20 books in the 9 years on Goodreads.

I was really intrigued by the concept, and I did enjoy watching it all play out, watching Eli find out that she's been lied to, meet the humans who help her on her journey, and all that. I enjoyed reading about Eli, the witch-made creature that she is!

That ending though! I'm not sure what to believe, like, did the one betrayer actually switch sides or what? They did give that one hint...I'm interested to see where things go from here. Especially with that epilogue, that's a game changer!

This book was a pretty good book, if flawed, and I'm interested in reading the sequel!

ARC Review: Received for free via Netgalley for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Thank you for letting me review this title.

The plot was nice in this book, but the reading dragged a bit for me.