The plot of this book really captured my attention, I was really happy when I got accepted for the eARC.
“The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass” is an enjoyable read, but also not the best. I didn’t really meet my expectations, but still a good read.
Overall I think that both the author and the book have a great potential, so I’m interested to know what’s going to happen next!

I really tried. Everything about this book seemed fabulous. But I DNF it @ 75%. It's a whole lot of nonsense, like fantasy on drugs or something. I was sooo confused... I really tried to like it, but all I was was lost. There is a lot of information at the beginning of the story to settle this incredible word-building, but details keep adding up and this whirlwind left me dizzy and confused. Everything is weird. You can love the book if you like reading something that is 500% fantasy (I mean... walls have feelings). I realized I like some realism in mine.

Many thanks to DunDurn Press for the complimentary e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

So I loved the description of this book. An assassin created by witches to hunt down ghosts? Count me in.

Eli was created and trained to hunt down ghosts for her coven. When a job goes sideways she tries to fix her mistake so she doesn't become unmade. She teams up with two humans to try and capture the Heart of the Coven to make up for her mistake.

I enjoyed this book but it wasn't amazing. It had the potential to be great and then the second half in my opinion just fell a little flat and the plot got a little muddled.

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

I felt like this novel was super creative. I loved the premise and the story itself was strong. It was a very interesting take on witches and magic. The characters were strong.

My only complaint was the story was a bit all over the place. It almost felt like the author got a little lost in the world building, but it was still quite a wonderful universe created.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I am interested in seeing where this story goes!

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

Very good, interesting story. I loved the representation in the book. This is one I would read again.


4/5 Stars

I seriously couldn't get into it. I tried really hard but the story and characters weren't speaking to me. I just couldn't get into the characters and I couldn't relate to them. The story wasn't pulling me in. I had such high hopes for this. Makes me sad.

I wanted to love this book, it had everything that I thought I wanted in a book. I mean assassins, tyrannical witch mother, and a Frankenstein like made creature. It had all the makings, the writing was engaging but I just found that I kept putting it down and had a hard time picking it up. I think I was just not in the mood for it at this time, I had been reading a bunch of Christmas romances and was just in a light and fluffy mood. I will be revisiting this book when I'm in the mood for more fantasy and will rate and review it on good reads at a later date when I'm in the mood for it!

I really enjoyed this one!

I was provided an advanced digital copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes, all opinions are my own.

An incredibly inventive new fantasy series from a great new voice in YA fiction.

Created by witches to track down and assassinate ghosts, Eli is little more than a weapon. That's what the witch council thinks anyway. But when her newest target turns out to be human, Eli begins to question her orders. Now, forced to team up with enemies and go against her own, she has to decide who to trust and who she really wants to be, outside of what she was created for.

Loved this take on witches and magic. Loved the characters-- Eli and Tav and sweet, sweet Cam. Loved the pacing. A bit jumpy and confusing at times, but I did read an ARC so it may have gone through some polishing since that version. The book starts off incredibly strong, but does get a bit lost in some of the worldbuilding and magic structure which have so, so much potential but maybe need to be a bit more established throughout. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait for the sequel! Great new read for fall.

Sadly I was not able to connect to this book at all - On the surface, I should have loved it, but it somehow fell flat for me. I'm really stuck with trying to pinpoint where exactly this disconnect happened, but I think part of it is that events kept happening rather than the characters specifically going after personal aims.

This book had a really strong foundation and concept weaved out of several core details and tropes that I love. i think the author shows real promise, especially given that it's a debut, I just feel it got a little messy in the end. It's a sad case of a great concept but loose execution. I would love to see a further and tighter execution of this very interesting writing style. I really loved some of the turns of phrase and world details, I just wish I had a better understanding of some of the changes in the last half. I was really interested in the characters and the premise though so I'd be willing to try another by this author some time down the road. Thank you for chance to read this.

I really enjoyed this book, reading it nearly in one sitting. It is weirdly, wildly imaginative, dark and beautiful, with lyrical prose and complex characters, The world-building was unique, although at times I struggled to visualize elements (like the labyrinth). I loved the characters. (Cam is a favorite). This IS a fantasy novel and parts take place in a wholly imagined world unlike our own, so I was ok with not always being able to picture some elements.

I appreciated the LGBTQ rep as well as how normalized it was - Tav's pronouns were in use without need of an explanation of her character.

While I was left with a few questions at the end, I hope to see them answered in the next book - which I will be looking for. This would be a book that I probably would read again, too, right before the next book comes out, and I'd probably take away more in the details.

This is a story about standing up for yourself, and writing your own story, and about how the monsters aren't always who we're told they are. Sometimes, they are us.

A full review will be available on my blog.

I was provided an advanced digital copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

I was very excited to read this novel because I have recently been reading fantasy novels, and took a chance on this one.

However, I did not enjoy this novel. I felt like the plot was all over the place, and that the story wasn't very linear. Maybe this was the goal of the author, but when describing another world, you need to write it in a way that the reader will also understand. The author clearly has an idea of the two worlds that they were describing, but I felt an extreme disconnect whenever Eli would leave the human world, and go back to the witching world.

This was my first queer fantasy novel, and I did like the fact that the author's characters had variety in this novel. Though all of the characters came from different backgrounds, they all meshed well when they were fighting against the witches.

I liked Cam's character probably the best out of this book, and if this book were to be turned into a series or a movie, I would hope that they would pick some kind of comical figure to play his role since that is what I envisioned while reading this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me the chance to read this ARC and for an honest review.

I really liked this own-voices book! Once you get through the world-building stage of the book, you fly right through! It was such a good read for me. I cannot wait for book 2!

I was really sad to see so many bad reviews on this one cause I genuinely enjoyed. It was not the best book that took me by surprise but a good companion for a lighter read since I am used to reading more adult books that YA: I was a bit confused with the main character at times but I will continuing with the series so I guess that is a good sign! Looking forward for the rest!

Oh and beautiful artwork on the cover, have to say that!

Thank you Netgalley for the eArc in exchange for an honest review!

Disclaimer: NetGalley and the publisher, First Second Books, provided me with an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. Thank you so much to them!
If I'm going to be perfectly honest, when I initially picked this book up, I wasn't obsessed. Then I took a break, and when I picked it up again, I binge-read it over the course of a couple of days. It's such a fun book! I felt like it was a little confusing at the beginning, but once you pass the initial "world-building-is-important-and-there's-lots-of-it" phase, the action picked up!
I have two favorite things about this book. Number one, it's an own-voices because the author doesn't identify with a specific gender and neither does Tav, one of the side characters. I think this representation is so so important and it normalizes using different pronouns. Also, I love Tav. They're great. So is Cam. My second favorite thing about this book is the magic system! I loved how unique it was! I think Adan did a great job. Even the concept for Eli as a character who was literally created out of hawthorn and glass by the witches is something I've never seen before.
This world is a complicated one, but I found it so interesting to learn about it. There are so many hidden gems, like Eli's blades or the witch children, that were so fun to discover along the way! Honestly, you could read this book for the world, and that would be enough to keep going even if you didn't like anything else. I don't see how that could happen, given how beAUTIFUL Adan Jerreat-Poole's writing is. Take this passage, for example: "The Vortex moved, the center becoming darker, as dark as dead eyes and the gap in the leader of a needle. The obscurity strung Eli through the texture between the human city and the witch city.". It's so pretty.
What I wasn't that happy with was the character development. I couldn't bring myself to care for the characters that much. I really liked the commentary that Tav makes when they're talking about life as queer, Black person, but I still think that the characters were lacking in development, sadly.
Overall, I gave this book a 3.5-star rating. If you like complex magic systems or beautiful and unique world-building, you should definitely pick this one up!
P.S. I'm currently action blocked on Instagram, so I can't post about the book there at the moment (I'll post about it as soon as I can)! I will also be posting this review on Goodreads and a few websites where you can purchase books.

Thank you to Netgalley for my eARC of The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass.

The concept of nature being used in magic to create a being isn't a new one and I was looking forward to seeing how the author would give it a new fresh look. We are given our main character, a girl made by her witch mother to be an assassin. She is the latest it appears to have been made for her role and is clearly the best as her sisters for want of a word, have been broken down to the natural parts.

I was drawn to the book due to the beautiful cover, the intriguing story idea and what appeared to be interesting characters.

I wasn't disappointed. My favourite character was one I imagine a lot of readers will also like; Tav. I haven't until now read a story with a non-binary character in (mores the pity as diversity is a must to me) and Tav is skillfully written. I loved how their gender and pronouns are subtly talked about making it so that Tav the person is at the forefront of the tale for how they intrigue Eli and how it is them wing human that distracts our assassin from their reason being on Earth rather than their gender. I can see many readers who identify as non-binary gravitating towards the character and seeing themselves in the fiesty and yet, caring bike-mad Tav.

The author's attention to detail with the characters is wonderful and each one is unique in both their way of being and their way of interacting with one another and their journey to Eli's home world. I think the reader will find themselves easily relating to jokes, or their reactions to situations as our main three (and Kite) are so easy to visualise. I did however find that same attention to detail lacking somewhat in the description of the world Eli comes from, it is of course always relatively easy when the story takes place in a world we know but The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass predominantly takes place elsewhere. I struggled for example to feel as though I were in The Labyrinth with the witch-children. Somewhere that would be innately scary to outsiders but comforting to those lived there. I would have loved some more world-building just to show just how unsettling certain places and events would be for those experiencing them.

I am eager to see if the worlds will be described more in book two - of which there must be after that cliff hanger. (I can still here the 'Noooooo!' in my head as I was left wondering what next can befall our heroes)

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass is a fantastic novel you will really enjoy, the characters are all unique and brilliantly written so you feel you know them. There is an age old battle of good versus evil going on plus a little more - I'm not telling you will find out when you read.

Bring on book two, I have a multitude of questions, theories and hopes I need resolving!

Thank you, Netgalley and Dundurn for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Girl Of Hawthorn And Glass is the debut book from the author Adan Jerreat Poole. This YA fantasy is the first book I completed in October. It was the cover that drew me in, and the synopsis also sounded promising to me. The story is of a young girl Eli who is the daughter of one of the witches. Eli is a trained ghost hunter and comes to earth to hunt the ghosts living among humans. She has lived her whole life with a tyrant witch-mother with the fear of being unmade into her original parts. On of the ghost hunting missions, things go wrong, making her question all the intel her mother had provided. Her knowledge of both the worlds came from her world and the witches. Now she knows differently. With the constant threat of being unmade hanging over her, she decides to join a group of humans and witch renegades to bring down the corrupt coven and steal the Heart Of The Coven. The story is of coming-of-age type of story with a cast of LGBTQIA+ main characters. I was thrilled to dive into this book mainly because of the synopsis. Unfortunately, once I started reading, I realized that the author's writing made it difficult to picture the setting and the world. The places described and the characters were equally hard to make sense of with the puzzling descriptions. The writing style is different, and I found myself not being able to connect as I hoped. The pacing for the book was good. But the world-building and magic system kept changing with the progression of the story. When it comes to representations, the author has done a good job of bringing a couple of characters from the LGBTQIA+ community. This is the first book that I read with a non-binary character in it, and I appreciated the representation. The only downfall when it comes to characters and their backstory is that we do not get enough information to make a connection with them. Overall I had a hard time picturing the world, the setting, and the plot of the book. I am going to be giving a rating of 1 star for this story. This book was not for me. The writing and the setting overall failed, and I am disappointed I didn't enjoy it as I hoped. Do check it out for yourself, as I have seen some readers have enjoyed it.

This had a good start, but that’s the best I can say because shortly after the beginning I just lost all interest, what seemed promising at the first few pages just felt empty and a bit soulless, I didn’t care about the characters, just not for me.

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

"No one is from here. And you can't treat this world like yours. Everything has feelings. You have to treat everything like a lover and an enemy."

This book was very whimsical and magical and seems to have confused a lot of people who read it according to my review of the reviews.
From the inspiration of the book at the foreword this book was written to explain their anxiety, depression, self-identity and grappling of sense of self in a world that doesn't accept.

In that instance this book captures those feelings. I like searching for the under layer of inspiration in stories, the larger metaphor. This journey of a witch in this very fascinating dimension layered on top of the human world that is accessed by keys. This City of Eyes inhabited by witches and tools who are made like our lead character Eli to destroy the ghosts in the human world. But there is more that they don't tell Eli that she is starting to question. The City of Eyes is alive and most of what happens in it is constantly moving and biting back and testing you. It's a death landscape built to test like most internal challenges. I thought it was a mesmerizing liquid feeling through the story like you might melt into it. It's hard following the world building when things change and there is no definite rules to the world explained because the main character was never taught how to survive completely so she had to rely on her maker but it makes it interesting and dangerous. I'm so glad that my dreams can't effect the people around me yikes! I think the set up for Tavs book makes me wants to see how they fix what was broken and what the witches damaged. I like the whole galaxy part of it. I kept thinking of David Bowie's Labrinyth when they were in the junkyard except on speed lol.

There is LGBTQ representation with the main characters being non-binary and gay. I am not sure what Eli identifies as she does not identify as human so I don't think her sexuality would term like ours but maybe more pansexual. I loved Eli and Tavs chemistry. Also Eli and Kite's relationship was ... toxic and I'd say dependent.

Synopsis:
Eli isn’t just a teenage girl — she’s a made-thing the witches created to hunt down ghosts in the human world. Trained to kill with her seven living blades, Eli is a flawless machine, a deadly assassin. But when an assignment goes wrong, Eli starts to question everything she was taught about both worlds, the Coven, and her tyrannical witch-mother.

Terrified that she’ll be unmade for her mistake, Eli seeks refuge with a group of human and witch renegades. To earn her place, she must prove herself by capturing the Heart of the Coven. With the help of two humans, one motorcycle, and a girl who smells like the sea, Eli is going to get answers — and earn her freedom.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you @netgalley and @dundurnpress for the arc copy for my honest review.