I received a free copy for an honest review.

The book had a good premise and such beautiful cover but I couldn't quite connect with the story. The pace was slow, which it was a trouble for me. Also I felt like nothing really happened at all.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to read this properly as I missed the download date, however from the excerpt I think i would have loved it! The author writes in a fairly modern tone but with the essence of an old fairytale. Will be purchasing this when it is released!

Felt let down by this book. It seemed like it would be a great story but I felt that it never really got off the ground. Every time I thought that a situation would build into something exciting it just sort of flopped. I did like Eli, Cam and Tav but still felt that they were not explored and fleshed out enough to fall in love with them. Unfortunately I don’t have much more to say as it was a real struggle just getting to the end.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange of an honest review

I loved the premise and the gorgeous cover when I looked at it the first time, unfortunately this book is not for me. I am kind of disappointed because I have been eagerly awaiting to read all about witches and curses. However the book fell flat for me because of poor execution and lack of cohesiveness. I was not able to finish the book

I'll start by being honest in that I generally do not like urban fantasy. It's not my thing, and I didn't realise that's what this book was going to be. That being said, sometimes I am surprised and enjoy it, but a book has to be extraordinary in order for urban fantasy to work for me. Unfortunately, this book did not prove to be an exception. I finally DNF'd it at 25% when I remembered life is too short to be reading books you don't enjoy. I'll still be reviewing what I did read, but a disclosure that I didn't even finish the book felt necessary.

I think the biggest fault this book suffers from is that the author simply bit off more than they could chew. For a debut author, I'm not entirely sure that a massive high-stakes fantasy setting is the place to start. There was a severe lack of world-building that made it difficult to picture the book at all, not to mention the fact that somehow, it made me feel guilty for not being able to follow along? I'm not entirely sure how that is supposed to work. Anyway, I felt thrust in with no warning, trying to piece things together along the way that just didn't seem to make sense. I was not a huge fan of the main character, Eli, although again part of that stems from the fact that I hardly know enough about her. There's the basics, such as she was built piece by piece by a witch to become an assassin, she's got complicated parental issues in that she doesn't really have any, and also she's started to kill humans by accident. All of that information is pretty much in the summary, so I would have expected it to go a bit more in depth in the actual book. The relationships between the various characters also seem like they have a complicated background, because from each scene to the next they always appear to be acting differently around one another. Eli herself is so tense, I couldn't tell if she was angsty or worried or scared or what, but she always jumped to defend herself when no one was accusing her of anything. For two chapters in a row when she met new characters, right away she was ready to fight and bite back during normal conversations, offering up personal information that just didn't seem necessary. The poor Uber driver just wanted to make sure she had a ride home.

As far as the writing goes, it wasn't half bad, although the number of incomplete sentences could have a serious review. I have pretty high standards for accuracy and good sentence structure, and I understand that the world no longer speaks like it's 1842. Yet you still have to write well in order for anyone to take you seriously. There was one point where Eli had a knife pressed against a man's neck, but then also somehow managed to run to the diner counter and bring back napkins to clean up the blood. Unless I'm mistaken (but I did read it three times), Eli can clearly detach her arm and reattach later. Or, it was just weak writing and editing.

The world itself, despite the lack of world-building, does seem interesting. The snippets of information I did get made me want to know more, hence why I'm disappointed we didn't get it. First there's the fact that Eli was literally pieced together from excess human parts like a robot, and her worst fear seems to be becoming unmade, which is suggested to be much worse than death, which I got the impression you could recover from. Particularly when she is always referred to as a tool for completing a job, rather than a being with a consciousness. I liked the fact that there was a human world and a witch world, and that the witch world was located just above the human one, but that humans couldn't see it. It's a cool concept that I definitely would want to know more about (I suspect that is one thing that would be explored more later on, so this isn't really a critique).

One of the better things in the book is the LGBT representation. At the point where I left off, we had already met one non-binary character and I got the impression it would be a common theme. I just found it weird that instead of having a moment where Eli learns that said person uses they/them, she already knew, which is weird considering she had never met them before. Much like Tav automatically knew that Eli used she/her, without even asking. Maybe I'm just not getting it but I thought the whole point is that you just don't know what pronouns someone uses, so asking is the best way to avoid awkwardness for everyone. (Anyway, I was into the relationship at first, before Eli stole Tav's motorcycle out of the blue.)

There were of course a few things that I did really like. Despite my critiques on the writing, there were a few sentences here and there that struck me as poetic and genius. On Eli's becoming: "Eventually she would turn back into the parts the witch had used to make her - a girl stitched together out of beetle shells and cranberries and a witch's greed." I also really liked the phrase "morsels of stolen freedoms", although it didn't really fit into the sentence it was supposed to be a part of. I'm sure there would be more. The book overall is clearly a debut, but there's great potential in the writing and story and after some experience, it could have been written very well and I'd probably be convinced to read it. It's unfortunate that it will never get that opportunity to become a better story. I obviously won't be reading the second one, but I hope this book will find readers with less of a critical eye who can enjoy it for what it is.

This is a new YA fantasy novel. Eli is a witch assassin who is sent by the Coven to the human world to kill ghosts. Witches in this world live in a parallel reality of sorts - it was never precisely explained where their realm is, but getting there is complicated and includes going through some sort of vortex. One day, Eli follows the mark but something goes horribly wrong and she realizes that instead of a ghost, she killed a human. The story takes off from there. Eli makes new friends in the human world and begins unraveling the secrets of her own reality.

This book definitely had a lot of potential. However, my main problem with it was the writing. I felt like the author never fleshed out the world or the characters. Lots of things remained vague throughout the book which was super-confusing and distracting. It gave the impression of being a rough draft rather than a finished novel. Perhaps it's just the author's style, but I don't think it is for me. It is a fairly short book though so I ended up just powering through the last 40% or so. Had it been longer, I would have definitely DNF'ed it. I gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars. An interesting premise, poor execution. I will not be reading the sequel.

This book has a lot of mixed reviews and when I first started reading I didn't understand the negativity at all. The prose was absolutely beautiful and I was comfortable with the fever dream-like quality of storytelling. I raced through the first half of the story and then I struggled. Nothing happened to move the story forward and the prose became tiresome and I just couldn't do it anymore. I RARELY DNF but I decided to give up on this one at the 79% mark. I just couldn't move any further because I realized I didn't really care anymore. And I feel bad because the writing was so poetic, but the storyline was just so weak.

Besides the beautiful writing this book has good qualities. There are non-binary characters and gay characters and gay relationships. This needs to exist in literature more often and I am glad the author made these elements important parts of the story.

The quality of the writing was so beautiful and I know this was a debut, so I would be interested to read further works by Jerreat-Poole.

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC for an honest review.

This book is weird, y'all. It wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't really great either. The plot and story were a little hard to follow at times and I even questioned what was even going on at some points. I don't think I've read a "stream of consciousness" book, but this one kind of felt like that when you read it. Some plots and themes seemed to repeat themselves throughout the book also. But honestly, as weird as it was, I kinda want to know what else is going to happen in this world. That's what bumped it to 3 stars. It left me wanting that little bit of more.

Eli isn’t just a teenage girl, she is a weapon created by a witch, an assassin used to do the bidding of those in power in an ongoing war between creatures of myth and legend. When an assignment goes wrong, Eli takes refuge with human and witch renegades and begins to question her whole life, what it means, and who she really is.

I loved the worldbuilding and the characters. I’m a sucker for escapism into fantasy worlds, particularly those of witches and monsters. Eli is such an interesting character, and the battle between human and weapon is an excellent exploration. There is some solid queer rep, and is ongoing proof that it isn’t hard to use the pronoun “they.” It makes me happy.

It took me a good while to get to this one, because Rona life, but I’m so glad I finally did. I just finished it about an hour ago and learned that its sequel, The Boi of Feather and Steel will be out next year, and I can’t wait.

I received an ARC from Netgalley, that doesn’t affect my opinion of the book, all my thoughts are my own and honest.

Eli isn’t just a teenage girl — she’s a made-thing that the witches created to hunt down ghosts in the human world. Trained to kill with her seven magical blades, Eli is a flawless machine, a deadly assassin.

When a mission goes wrong, Eli has to question her whole upbringing. She accompanies a few humans on a journey to help save their world. There she will question whether she is indeed a flawless killing machine.

The book follows three main characters, Cam a taxi driver who makes playlists. He was very funny and kind of a cinnamon roll. Tav the purple-haired motorcycle riding teen, they were very badass in difficult situations. Then there was Eli the assassin. I honestly felt sorry for Eli, she was created to be the perfect weapon and is looked at like she is a monster, but she’s not. She’s just confused about whether there is a way she doesn’t have to be a monster.

I really liked the premise but there were parts of the execution that let this book down. I liked the characters well enough, they all had very different personalities and their banter was fun to read. You didn’t know who to trust, whether everyone had their own motives and were just using Eli.

The main problem with the book was I found it extremely hard to imagine what the author was trying to envision, which made it very hard for me to enjoy the book. I like to imagine the book in my mind as I read it. If I can't do this I then find it difficult to immerse my self in the story.

Overall it wasn’t the best, but the reasons why I didn’t like the book, could come down to this being the author’s debut. I would like to see if the issues I had with the book improves with the next one in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Adan Jerreat-Poole and the publishers for approving me a copy.

Summary: Eli was made to kill, an assassin created by the witch coven of the City of Eyes for one purpose and one purpose only—to rid the human world of ghosts. With her arsenal of deadly daggers, she is near unstoppable, that is until a hunt goes wrong, and everything she thought she knew about herself and where she came from is questioned. No longer able to go home, she is forced into an uneasy alliance with two humans, Eli and Cam, and a clan of witch defectors. In order to prove herself, Eli and her unlikely companions must travel back to the City of Eyes to face her witch-mother and recover the Heart of the Coven, a task that will put every ounce of her skills to the test.

There is little doubt that The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass is an ambitious novel, and that Adan Jerreat-Poole has managed to put together, from a grab-bag of YA fantasy tropes, something that flirts with originality. But, while the innovation is worthy of praise, this approach has backfired more often than not, leaving behind a busy, hodge-podge of a novel that is more convoluted than it is complex, and often too much of a chore to even follow. On a grander scale, stretched over many more books, much of this universe could have really taken shape, but so much information is revealed at such an accelerated rate that much of it gets lost, leaving behind a world crumbled under the weight of too many trivial elements. The writing is there, poetic and sharp, but that alone cannot give direction to a novel that seems to have lost its way in the early pages.

While the world and its rules might have been lost in the shuffle, there is still some success to be found, most notably in Eli, the girl of hawthorn and glass herself, and her two unlikely companions—Cam, the lovably bumbling comic relief, and Tav, the mysterious, non-binary James Dean whose motorcycle-cool manages to shine despite it all. Not only is it refreshing to see queer characters of color on the shelf, but they really come alive with their dialogue and interactions, even despite a very busy backdrop. The effort at character development is hard to miss in this story, and there is no doubt that there is room for these three to shine as the series progresses—which it is already scheduled to do—but, for all the good these characters have to offer, it is still difficult to carry all the weight on their shoulders without stumbling.

Verdict:

With The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass, Adan Jerreat-Poole might have bitten off much more than they can chew, creating a tangled universe that forces too many elements far too quickly for the reader to ever really get a chance to settle in for the ride. But, while this introduction to the series has fallen somewhat short, the cast of characters has managed to shine, providing hope that the next book will embrace their potential and give them the story they really deserve.

This book compares itself to Nevernight by Jay Kristoff, but I think it is more like Lifelike by Jay Kristoff. It is set in an interesting world, but I would have liked to see more in depth world building especially in the beginning. I adored the character Kite and didn’t mine Eli. One of the characters is vigilantly like and I personally cannot stand that type of character. I also wish the character building was more in depth as they seemed a bit superficial. For some all you really for was they were LGBTQ.I expected more blood and gore for an assassin book. For me the latter half was much better. The first half was a 2.5 star and the second half more like a 3.5 star. I do feel like some of the important events were a little rushed. I am going with 3 stars for this book and I do plan on reading the sequel to find out what happens next.

This is a beautifully written fantasy book that was not for me. I believe that I requested an e ARC of this book (thanks, NetGalley!) because I saw that Seanan McGuire mentioned liking it on Twitter. I’m usually in synch with her taste but not always. Adam Jerreat-Poole has written a lyrical fantasy about a witch’s assassin whose job it is to travel from the witch’s realm to the human world to kill ghosts. They have an amazing skill and artistry in word choice and lovingly descriptive sentences. The first chapter was amazing, but once the protagonist Eli left the human world for the witchy one, I had a hard time keeping up and maintaining interest. I couldn’t muster the energy to break down the poetry of the author’s language to really get into the story. I loved the human characters Tav and Cam. The story ends with them all having breakfast in an apartment together, and that’s the book I want to read - the non fantasy where those three interesting people wake up late, have brunch, go to a coffeeshop, and live their lives. I will definitely look for other books by Jerreat-Poole in the future, but maybe not in this series.

DNF @ 15%

Unfortunately the writing style in this one didn't click with me personally! May give the audiobook a try as it's on Scribd and the plot and world building had super interesting potential.

Wow! I’m sad I didn’t love this book! I thought I might be different from the majority of my friends and really love it.

I love the idea of this book. I loved the main character and a few others. I loved that this was a weird book. I love that it made me feel like it could have been a crazy teen version of Bladerunner in its own weird way. I never go by what any synopsis says a book is like; comparing it to other books. I find, in my opinion, that is generally crap and nothing like any other book. This book has its own uniqueness, but there was something missing. And I might give this book another shot someday just to make sure it’s not my mood.

I would love for people to give this book a chance as it could be your jam as it was right on the edge for me.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book.

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

I really enjoyed The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass. It was a quick and engrossing read and had me struggling to put it down all the way through. Great representation with dynamic and complex characters made it even better. The story felt new and exciting and was a great introduction to a new world. I will be anxiously awaiting the next book in the series!

*Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with this E-Arc*

I had really high hopes for this book. I wanted to be sucked in but I wasn't. The story didn't reflect the synopsis - which is what drew me to it, and the fact that it is by a The world-building wasn't all that good - it really lacked in description. A lot of the metaphors, similes etc. were a bit too creative to the point where they made no sense what so ever. What I did like was the LGBTQ+ representation within the book, something there is a cry for more authors to write and readers to read.

This story has potential, and I hope that the next book is better.

This is a fantasy for a non-fantasy reader. Don't go into this book expecting any good world building or well explained magic system. The author has written their own feelings and experiences into this book which was great but I feel like it would've worked better and would've been more powerful if it was written into a contemporary setting. As a fantasy, this book is not good. Even though there is so much good in this story, it's being overlooked because readers go into this book expecting more details about magic and world, and there is just not enough of either. Author's focus was not to write a well crafted fantasy, their focus was to write a story about the anger and pain they went through. Pick it up if you're looking for a book with own voices non-binary queer rep, but don't expect a good fantasy.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole - DNF

Trigger Warnings: Violence, Death, Murder

I received a free copy of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this story was not for me.

I really struggled with the writing of this novel. The concept of a girl created by witches to become an assassin was really interesting to me. However, the style of the writing was really difficult for me. It's very flowery and experimental, which is perfect for some people. For me, I kept getting lost and had to reread paragraphs over and over and over again because I couldn't comprehend what was happening. There was a lot of magic introduced very quickly with little to no explanation and I couldn't follow along, unfortunately.

I liked the book in the beginning. However, it dragged at times. I think that it could have been condensed. I liked the characters, especially Eli. The writing style was also good as well. But in the end, it won't stick with me.