I didn't really like the audio for this book. The narrator's voice I found annoying and hard to keep up with the story while I listened.

Beautifully performed retelling of fairy tales. Emotional, heartbreaking and human in character scope and feeling.

5 out of 5 stars.

This book was soooo good! I was especially excited by the sapphic romance! I asked for this cause I wanted to hear about some awesome ladies and was surprised the story was loosely based on fairy tales. I like how no one was perfect in this but everyone learned and grew from their experiences. The narrator was amazing.

I'm sorry I didn't review when given the chance!
So thank you for the chance :)
Luckily I've bought them!


This was so beautifully written, so heartbreaking. The story itself was incredible.
I really enjoyed the flawless, lyrical writing of the author. It was really beautiful, told like a very old fairytale.
The main character was very flawed, but that’s part of why I liked her so much. She made a ton of mistakes, but in the end, she learned and grew because of them
One of my favorite books to date!

I'm honestly not sure I can do this book justice. I deeply loved this author's previous book, Girls Made of Snow and Glass, but that didn't in any way prepare me for how amazing this book was. The writing is lyrical without being cloying or confusing. The story hit all my fantasy buttons, with just enough predictability to make you comfortable and just enough twists to keep you from getting bored. I would recommend it to fans of Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko and vice versa.

Beautiful fantasy novel based on fairytales. Loved the cultural elements and the character development.

GIRL, SERPENT, THORN is not the book I thought I was getting. I expected the standard fairytale with a twist here and there. The concept of being good or evil, devil or saint, princess or monster is not new. However, what I got was a unique story filled with eloquence to make the story even richer. Bashardoust delivered quite the tale.

This was a quick and easy book for me! I liked the storyline and found it easy to follow with a very intriguing plot.

I did enjoy the narrator for this audiobook too, which is good because I'm quite picky when it comes to book narrators

I had such high expectations for this one. Sadly it just did not deliver. The cover and the description pulled me in, but the story itself seemed very similar to other books. I was able to guess certain plot points, and while sometimes that’s okay, this just let me down.

This book was phenomenal.

That’s all. Carry on.


Omg but seriously, I loved this book so much. One of my favorite reads of 2020. This book tells a story of a girl, Soraya, who was cursed as an infant with being poisoned to the touch. Anyone that touches her will die.

She meets a sweet romantic guard, Azad, who might have the answer she’s looking for, and of course she falls for him. However, Azad may have some ulterior motives to establishing a relationship with Soraya. Can he be trusted?

I feel like if I gave anymore away, then this would be a spoiler-filled review and I don’t want that. I want you to go buy this book because it’s that good.

What I loved most about this novel is the research and history put into the story. The details the author uses may be embellished, but still hold true to the root of the culture she explores.

I also loved Soraya as a main character. One of my favorite heroines to date, I must say. She was someone that knew what she wanted, but wasn’t afraid to learn and improve upon her mistakes.

The relationships in this book are also admirable. I think the genuine friendship (maybe more, you’ll have to see) between Soraya and Parveneh definitely grabbed me by the heartstrings and refused to let go. I freaking loved how Soraya was caught between Azad and Parvenah. Not your typical love triangle, but had the emotional kick of one. I appreciated that both Azad and Parvenah weren’t the “good guys,” so Soraya was stuck loving a “baddie” either way.

There were so many twists in this book, so it’s definitely one that you need to pay attention to very closely or you’ll miss something. You really never know who to trust, with the exception of Soraya. The ideas of trust and betrayal were heavily explored and this, in the end, made Soraya a stronger, more independent person.

The themes of acceptance and being authentic were extremely powerful. The writing allowed me, as the reader, to pick up on what Soraya was experiencing with her own troubles of identity and self-love. I felt that. I could related to Soraya so much.

Finally, I love the narrator. She did such a superb job. I can’t wait to read more of this author’s work. Bring on the movie or tv show or whatever, because it needs to happen.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this free audiobook in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions stated are entirely my own. Unfortunately, I felt that this story was very boring and slow. I thought the concept was very interesting but the story was too dragged out. The narrator of the audiobook was good, her voices for the characters were nice and her voice was soothing but not too slow talking.

I would have enjoyed Girl, Serpent, Thorn more if it was stretched out into a duology. The plot felt rushed IMO. There was too much story crammed into too few pages. The world is my favorite part but it needed more.

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

Absolutely love this book! It was very well written. The narrator was fantastic.

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

Delightful story, heavy with self-recrimination but with a great embrace-yourself ending. Royalty, demons, curses, unexpected enemies, unexpected friends. [Audiobook version: very well preformed!]

Soraya is a royal princess cursed to never feel another's touch due to the poison running through her veins. In an effort to lift her curse, Soraya risks not just the end of her family's reign but the deaths of those she loves.

When is a curse really a blessing? And how can one see through short-term gain to the broader happiness that awaits?

This story was captivating from the first chapter and the narrator had a stunning reading voice that captured the emotion of the story. I would recommend this audio book over the physical copy to readers just because the narrator did such a good job.

So for the first time ever, I was extremely interested in an audiobook. I was mad at myself that I had to wait to finish it because I procrastinated. Girl, Serpent, Thorn is fantasy on steroids.

It's captivating and wonderful.

The narrator did such a good job. She wasn't even that cringey when she lowered her voice for the male characters.

The LGBTQIA+ aspect was almost front and center. Just an all around great book. I found myself rooting for them all by the end of it.

I get there was good character development in this book, however struggled a bit to actually connect to any of the characters. The setting was atmospheric and never found myself being pulled out of this world. I thought she was a bit too moral in the end... the romance didn’t do anything for me, but I don’t really need a lot of romance in books anyway. The story was overall captivating and I’m glad I read it. The narrator did a good job. The more I don’t notice the narrator, the better. I feel like it just enhanced the experience.

I have fallen in love with audiobooks over the past few years. The one thing that can make or break them for me is the way a book is narrated and this book was phenomenal. I would highly recommend it.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a sapphic Persian fantasy based off of Persian mythology and inspired by fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty. The writing is atmospheric and flowery and feels like you are reading a fairytale from the beginning. The main character is cursed with a poison touch and cannot touch others and eventually ends up befriending (sort of) some demons/gods.

While, I truly believe this book was set up to be EVERYTHING I ever wanted in a novel, I had a hard time initially getting into the story. I found the first half to be a little slower and difficult to get used to. The second half, however, was action-packed and full of the sapphic romance we were all promised, although it was a very slow-burn.

The narrator was amazing, but I think I really needed the book as a companion to really get the understanding of the world and flowy writing.

Overall, I will not be rating as I don’t feel like I had the same enjoyment with the audio as I would have had with a physical copy. I think fans of City of Brass might enjoy this, as well as fans of Shatter Me which are coincidentally also written by Persian authors (I believe).