Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass (The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass, #1)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass

(The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass #1)

Adan Jerreat-Poole (Goodreads Author)

2.82 · Rating details · 461 ratings · 328 reviews

Even teenage assassins have dreams.

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 magical 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 wit ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 320 pages

Published October 6th 2020 by Dundurn

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

2020 Queer Sci-Fi Fantasy

162 books — 280 voters

Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

2020 YA Books with LGBT Themes

214 books — 653 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 2.82 ·

Rating details

· 461 ratings · 328 reviews

Sort order

Start your review of The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass (The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass, #1)

Jun 20, 2020 Miranda Reads rated it liked it

Shelves: published2020, received-to-review

Ahh! I've been *dying* to get my greedy hands on this one...and now it's all mine!

(PS. check out this week's BookTube Video to see why I'm psyched about this one and the other fabulous books I picked up!)

Annnd here's the video update!

New Month, New Tierlist BookTube Video is up - click the link to check out my August Reading Vlog!

The Written Review

"Eventually she would turn back into the parts that the witch had used to make her - a girl stitched together out of beetle shells and cr

...more

flag 156 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2020 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-all

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 boo ...more

flag 91 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2020 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it it was ok

Nope. Sorry. The fantasy book I was hoping to read cannot be found at this moment. Please try again later. Bippp!

I pushed myself too hard to like this book but it was exhausting and tormenting experience. I was so hopeful after seeing the fantastic artsy, beautiful cover and promising plot about teenage assassin chasing the ghosts in the human world. But… yes… I try to be soft grader when it comes to debut novels. I tried to be patient that at some part, the story will turn into something meani ...more

flag 77 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2020 NAT.orious reads ☾ added it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, cover-porn

2 STARS at best ★★✩✩✩

This book is for you if… you fall in love first and foremost with the characters. It wasn't for me but I feel this might be exactly what some readers might need.

⤐ Overall.
Ugh. What is going ONNNNah.

You know when you didn't enjoy a book and don't care although you feel like you should? Well, I didn't really enjoy this book but am honestly livid that I don't. I had high hopes, fueled by the cover and the powerful preface Adan gave their readers.

I really, really, reall ...more

flag 38 likes · Like · see review

Aug 01, 2020 Schizanthus Nerd rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley, kindle-food

Eli is a girl of hawthorn and glass. Literally. Her body consists of other substances as well but she’s a made-thing. She’s the perfect assassin, created by a witch to kill ghosts.

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.

Eli and her seven blades have never failed before but something goes wrong this time in the City of Ghosts, and she’s terrified of being unmade.

Seanan McGu Eli is a girl of hawthorn and glass. Literally. Her body consists of other substances as well but she’s a made-thing. She’s the perfect assassin, created by a witch to kill ghosts.

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.

Eli and her seven blades have never failed before but something goes wrong this time in the City of Ghosts, and she’s terrified of being unmade.

Seanan McGuire says The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass is a “unique, gripping, engaging book by a voice that the genre has been waiting for.” Anyone who knows me knows Seanan is my favourite author so if they enjoyed it, then logic says I will as well. I loved the concept and this series has so much potential. Amongst other goodies, there’s magic, witches and a labyrinth.

“What’s the magic word?”
“I was trained to kill?”
“Good enough for me.”

You know those photomosaic jigsaw puzzles where each piece is its own tiny picture, but when you finish the puzzle you see the big picture? That’s the image I get when I think about the world building in this book, except the big picture isn’t complete. It’s like I was given a bunch of beautiful, strange little pictures, some that read like poetry. However, I didn’t get enough of them to form an overall picture.

I can see part of the Labyrinth, part of the library and the door of Circinae’s house but I can’t imagine the City of Eyes as a whole. I also couldn’t get a clear picture of what Kite looked like.

I wanted to delve deeper into the history of the City of Eyes. Eli, as a made-thing, wasn’t privy to that information herself so it made sense for the reader to go in blind. We learn a small amount of background information when Eli does. If I’d either been given a history lesson earlier or had the opportunity to interact with more of the Coven, I‘m certain I would have been more invested in the story.

As it was, for most of the book, the Coven’s motivation was unknown. Other than some limited interaction with Circinae, the adult inhabitants of this world remained fairly mysterious. Not an alluring kind of mysterious, though. It was more of an ‘I don’t know who these characters are’ mystery. There were also some scenes where I still don’t really know what happened.

I’m pretty sure I stumbled into a couple of plot holes although, to be fair, there is a forthcoming sequel that could fill them. I’d be interested to see how the story concludes in The Boi of Feather and Steel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com ...more

flag 18 likes · Like · see review

Aug 14, 2020 Joshita ❤ rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, arc-and-review-copies, series

*Thankyou Netgalley and Dundurn Press for providing me with the arc in exchange for a review*

My rating: 2...which translates to~it was OK.
"Your glory is my glory. My victory is your victory. I am a tool and I have value. The coven will honour us for our services."
If I were to describe this book in a sentence it would be: It had potential!

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass is a story of Eli, who a made-thing build by the witches. She is a tool used to eradicate the world of ghosts. She is an assassin ...more

flag 33 likes · Like · see review

Mar 27, 2020 Melanie (mells_view) rated it liked it

Magic is meant to be chaos. Chaos is beautiful!

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole caught my eye with that simple yet beautiful cover, and reeled me in with the promise of an intriguing Frankenstein’s monster-esqe teenage assassin main character, and the busting down the Coven’s tyrannical reign over the City of Ghosts and the City of Eyes plot line. I feel like this author has a very lyrical writing style mixed with a young vibe. The City of Eyes gave me a Labyrinth type visual ...more

flag 15 likes · Like · see review

Mar 11, 2020 Fanna rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-paranormal, 2020-releases, read-an-early-version, review-copy-arc-provided, lgbtqia

September 22, 2020: ❋ one of the most disappointing reads of the year ❋

⇾ 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 th ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

May 19, 2020 Alaina rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, 2020-ng, 2020-arcs, fiction, young-adult

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass was an okay book. Not going to lie, I was really excited to dive into this because so many people were reading this on GR. Plus, I've had some friends say they like it or dislike it so I really wanted to form my opinion.

Okay, so, this book started off slow for me. Really really slow. I wont even say it picks up because the entire book just dragged for me. Which, again.. honestly, disappoints t ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2020 Angela Staudt rated it did not like it

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars.

I don’t really know what I just read. So many aspects didn’t make sense, and the story was just kind of all over the place. From the synopsis I thought this was going to be an incredible story about this assassin who was made by witches to go into the human world and kill ghosts. It wasn’t really that, but I couldn’t tell you what it was either.

I love fantasy books because of the world building and descriptions. This b ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2020 Alexia | Right Writing Words rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2020, arc, gorgeous-cover, fantasy, netgalley, disappointing, debut

The description of this book made me so excited for it, not to mention that the cover is beautiful.

One of the strangest things about this book for me is the fact that the title is literal. There is literally a girl made partly of hawthorn and glass. The girl was literally built by using things such as hawthorn, glass, and other stuff. So, this is the first time I’ve read a book where the title is literal.

This story and world have the potential to be amazing. It’s weird, it’s different, it’s fant ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Mar 31, 2020 Miranda rated it it was ok

Shelves: arcs

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole immediately caught my eye because of its cover. However, it is also described as a book fans of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert would enjoy, so I was drawn to it even more. I went in only knowing that the book was set in a fantasy world with witches and assassins.

The novel follows Eli, a teenaged assassin that was created by witches in the City of Eyes to hunt ghosts. She acc I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole immediately caught my eye because of its cover. However, it is also described as a book fans of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert would enjoy, so I was drawn to it even more. I went in only knowing that the book was set in a fantasy world with witches and assassins.

The novel follows Eli, a teenaged assassin that was created by witches in the City of Eyes to hunt ghosts. She accepts her fate as a “made-thing” and obediently does as she is told. She becomes a machine, traveling to and from the City of Ghosts, or the human world, using her trusted blades to do the bidding of others. However, Eli begins to question herself and her duties when a mission goes wrong.

While in the human world, Eli meets and later befriends Cam and Tav. They introduce her to humans and witch renegades who are working against the powerful witch Coven. They plan to harness magic to help save the Earth by stealing the Heart of the Coven. For Eli, this serves as a way to find answers and her own freedom.

I really liked Eli’s character, and I found myself even more intrigued to see how she changed as she developed a closer relationship to Cam and Tav. I appreciated that all three helped each other grow, so I became invested in their stories. I also thought it was great that the author incorporated a lot of representation and LGBTQ+ characters - Eli seems to be queer, Cam is gay, and Tav is non-binary.

While I enjoyed some aspects, this book did not completely work for me. It seemed like a very unique story at first, but it lacked proper world-building. I wished for more detail about the City of Eyes and its magic. Plus, the writing style and language were not my favorite at times. I also felt like there was a lot happening, but some of it did not seem purposeful. The plot branches off in so many directions, but in this case, less is more. A few things seemed distracting or irrelevant because of everything else that was happening, so I felt as though the book was not following a central idea or story anymore.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass is entertaining, and I can see why people would enjoy it. Adan Jerreat-Poole creates an intriguing story with wonderful characters, but it did not quite live up to my expectations. However, I would still be tempted to check out this book’s sequel solely because of the characters.

Thank you to the publisher, Dundurn, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this novel before its release. ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Mar 23, 2020 Kelly rated it did not like it

Shelves: lgbtq-read, 2020-arcs

1.5 stars

I'm sorry. I wanted to like this book but while this book has a great cover and a lot of LGBTQ+ representation, sadly, it failed to deliver a good fantasy plot (in my opinion). The world-building was lacking if non-existent. The idea of having a world of witches above our own with a vortex to go from one to the other was interesting but it wasn't enough for me. I needed to know more and things happened but it felt weird and not a lot were explained.

About the characters : Eli is a girl ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2020 Patty (IheartYA311) rated it it was ok

Shelves: won-net-galley

The cover art and premise are amazing, but unfortunately the story itself fell short due to lack of substance and heart. It felt like the plot was having an identity crisis, trifled by misdirection and confusion. For the most part the writing style was interesting and original. Character development and world building were very close to being finely polished. Due to the storyline having an excruciating flawed execution, I had to give this 2 stars.

Thank you to netgalley for providing a copy for r ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Mar 15, 2020 Courtney rated it it was ok

Shelves: advanced-reader-copy

On the struggle bus with this one.

I feel like this reading this book was like eating a half baked cake. The ingredients are there but the author did not stir the batter long enough and lumpy bits were left throughout. I liked the premise of the two worlds but time was not taken in the development of the City of Eyes World. At times, I was left thoroughly confused. Additionally, characters seemed to appear one minute and are gone the next. Overall, I felt like some more ironing out was needed.

AR ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2020 Aly rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020, romance, netgalley, ya, fantasy, lgbtqa, march-2020

Huge shout out to this book for having great LGBTQ representation! Non-binary, gay, and queer main characters really added to the story and made me personally happy.
The plot has a lot of potential and I like the idea of it. A girl made out of objects and brought to life by a witch's magic to be an assassin is a cool concept. I felt like the story stayed on the surface and things went by so quickly. I would love to see this dive deeper into the City of Eyes, the Coven, and the Children. Get more ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Mar 09, 2020 Taylor Knight rated it it was ok

I was so excited for this book, I wanted to like it, I gave it so many chances. But this book, in my opinion, is not even close to be ready to be published. This reads like a first draft. I like the overall concept, which is why I gave it two stars, but everything else needs work. The plot is confusing, not completely thought out, lacks any kind of direction. Even after finishing this book, I don't know what actually happened. I couldn’t explain the storyline at all.
I really appreciated the non ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

May 14, 2020 Julia rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley

I received The Girl of Hawthorn a Glass as an eARC, so thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review it.

I was excited at the concept of the story - a girl who wasn’t totally human, created by her witch ‘mother’ from granite and blood and hawthorn and glass and human bones, as a weapon essentially, an assassin who can travel between worlds, and also between the creases in each world. Along the way she finds a soul and a conscience and makes some human (or maybe ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Sep 13, 2020 Caidyn (he/him/his) marked it as dnf

Shelves: fantasy, queer-reads, arc, from-publisher-or-author, young-adult-fiction

I received an ARC through Netgalley and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 18%

I tried with this one, but it didn't work for me. I love the premise, but the execution lacks. The writing felt unpolished and amateurish, as if it was a first or second draft rather than a book about to be published. I was so excited for a queer assassin hunting ghosts story, but it didn't deliver for me. And, reading through other reviews, it seems that my thoughts are echoed. Hopefully this finds its ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

May 05, 2020 Evelyn rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, 2020-releases, 2020

Really liked this one! Interesting world and characters, felt like a very original story :)

Full review on my blog! ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2020 Nen & Jen added it

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass had so much potential to it. The synopsis immediately hooked us in and requesting a chance to read the full novel. Unfortunately, we did not enjoy the reading experience. Eli did not really seem consistent throughout the story and was very hard to connect with as a reader. Additionally, the level of violence in this story felt unnecessary and only used as a means of increasing the impactful events within the story rather than being true to the plot and as a means f ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2020 Claire Tacon rated it it was amazing

Highly recommend! Eli, a witch's assassin, is such a compelling character that I had trouble putting the book down. The stakes are high right from the start, the world building is super-imaginative and the setting is richly described ("The Vortex shifted, the core growing darker, as black as dead eyes and the hole in the head of a needle. The darkness threaded Eli through the fabric between the human city and the witch city.").

This is a wonderful novel that walks the line between fantasy and ho ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

May 21, 2020 Sheena ☆ Oh, the Sheenanigans! rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: dropped, grammer-police, witches-or-warlocks, the-struggle-is-real, this-was-a-joke-right, standalone, snoozefest, romance, fantasy, death

Wow. And that’s not even a good wow.

This was a literal hot mess and I don’t even know where to start.

The plot had real potential but it was all over the place and too confusing for me to follow through. The world-building was non-existent, LGBTQA representation was great but there wasn't much else to rave about, and the writing style wasn’t to my liking. I can literally go on and on but I’m sure you got the gist with all the other low ratings for this novel.

Nevertheless ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 23, 2020 Francisca Pinto rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalleyarcs

I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is really amazing! I really like it buuuuut... that end it feels like just ok.
Eli is a pet witch who was created to be a ghost assasin, she can't think, talk without permisson or even think in a independent life, she is only an "object". But one day everything change when she failed in one of her missions and then she can't return, or she is going to be dissarmed.

The first 50% of the book was awesome! I really love El ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 25, 2020 Becky rated it it was ok

This was alright. I definitely wouldn't say it was a bad book, but it wasn't a great one either. A solid 2.5 stars.

I was super interested going into this book; the premise sounded incredible, and I did enjoy it to an extent. Unfortunately the plot just didn't work for me. It started out pretty slow, and it never fully picked up. We got snippets of excitement and parts that had me reading intently, but they never lasted long enough to turn around the overall pacing of the book.

The characters were ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 29, 2020 Tamera rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, lgbtq, paranormal, netgalley, arc, magic, cover-porn, series, queer-representation, 2020-read

I was incredibly excited to be selected to receive an ARC of The Girl of Hawthorne and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole- queer inclusive fantasy with a strong female lead and lots of magic? Yes,. please. Sign me up! And this book certainly did not disappoint when it comes to inclusivity, gayness, strong women, or magic. Those boxes were all checked and wrapped in some of the best prose I have read in quite some time.

While I really enjoyed the book and storytelling as a whole, there were times when I I was incredibly excited to be selected to receive an ARC of The Girl of Hawthorne and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole- queer inclusive fantasy with a strong female lead and lots of magic? Yes,. please. Sign me up! And this book certainly did not disappoint when it comes to inclusivity, gayness, strong women, or magic. Those boxes were all checked and wrapped in some of the best prose I have read in quite some time.

While I really enjoyed the book and storytelling as a whole, there were times when I felt like I was missing something and had to back pedal a few pages to make sure I hadn't glazed over an important detail. Sometimes the story was very clear and precise, making sure you picked up what it put down, though usually with minor character details (like hair)... but other times it was just vague enough to be frustrating. I wanted the world to be built out more, particularly The City of Eyes. I wanted to understand better, have a clear picture. I sat on writing this review for nearly a week for that reason- I couldn't decide on a rating. I just wanted more. But my rating ultimately is in place because I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the characters (I just want to understand the motivation behind everyone except the main). It's not perfect, but it was enjoyable. And it was weird.I like weird.

Eli is a made thing, a witch's daughter, a witch's creation. She was made with a purpose, to serve the Coven without question. She is their assassin, and the Coven expects perfection from their assassin. Creations that don't serve their purpose are unmade, and while Eli may have been created of hawthorn and glass (and a few other things), she is very much alive and would rather keep it that way. I love the thought behind the character creation, not just for Eli, but for all the characters. They're unique and colorful and.... alive.

The witches and their Coven reside in a magic realm that is entered through seams between our human world and theirs. These are the seams Eli uses to travel and carry out the assassinations entrusted to her by the Coven. She kills ghosts. Not the bed sheet kind, not ghosts like we may think of them. Threats. Ghosts that consume life. But when one of her missions is very much not what she expected it to be, Eli finds out that she cannot simply return to the Coven. Failure is not an option.

Enter Cam and Tav, bringing some wonderful diversity and a whole lot of much needed queerness into the world of fantasy reading. I really loved both of these characters but I want to understand more about what drives them. Because they're interesting, they play off each other in a wonderful way, and I want to see where their stories go. Cam is a gay boy with a deep appreciation for quality coffee, a quality that I can really get behind. And Tav is a non-binary person of color with spiked purple hair that rides a motorcycle that gave me some character-crush moments. They interested me. Especially as their story played out.

Eli, Cam, and Tav's become entangled in multiple ways that lead them on an adventure through the magical world that tests hearts, motivations, and the bonds they're forming. The City of Eyes and the realm in which it dwells could not be farther from the pastel and glitter coated fairy realms of popular fantasy. Danger lies everywhere, in every object, in every stone of this living and breathing world and the witches? Well, they're not exactly Glenda the Good.

I am looking forward to seeing where this story goes. I really WANT this book to succeed. The writing is beautifully done and our fantasy worlds need to be filled with more than just white, conventionally attractive, able bodied, straight characters.

Side note: The Children and the maze were awesome and I need to know everything about them.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because of a truly original story and unique characters.

Major thanks to Dundurn, Adan Jerreat-Poole, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. My opinions (as always) are my own. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 07, 2020 Melissa rated it did not like it

Shelves: z-2020, dnf, arc-bk-netgalley, ebk-kindle

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... ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 29, 2020 Bex rated it liked it

Shelves: reviews, arc-s

Eli is an assassin, designed at the moment of her making to be able to peel back the veil between the human world and that of the witches who created her. Her primary role, as with any assassin, is to murder her mark but this is tricky since her marks are already dead. When Eli fails to kill a ghost in the human world, she is trapped there by her vicious mother until she is able to complete her task, and almost accidentally seeks refuge with a group of renegades.

The plot is quite broken up, but Eli is an assassin, designed at the moment of her making to be able to peel back the veil between the human world and that of the witches who created her. Her primary role, as with any assassin, is to murder her mark but this is tricky since her marks are already dead. When Eli fails to kill a ghost in the human world, she is trapped there by her vicious mother until she is able to complete her task, and almost accidentally seeks refuge with a group of renegades.

The plot is quite broken up, but should be appreciated more as an exploration of self. Eli has spent almost all of her life following orders, almost blind to the reason for her existence otherwise, and shedding her true form to blend in to the human world. I really loved how the author captured what that feels like - hiding behind a body, whereby a body really has no meaning anymore; Eli comes to take control of who she is and wants to be, taking ownership of herself and re-appropriating that meaning to her body, and I thought that was probably the largest success of this book.

The characters are each quite interesting, with many varying representations throughout; I think the characterisation is really strong overall actually. Diverse representation isn't discussed much, which was great; rather, these preferences just simply "are", without description or explanation. I wish more authors included their diverse characters in this way, without the deliberate intention to be waving a flag to say they've included them; it feels like a box ticking exercise which completely misses the point of seamlessly including diverse representation in the first place. That's not the case here at all, non-binary characters, for example, are not introduced with a label, they just automatically are, "they". This author just gets it.

I didn't really enjoy the plot that much. I think there's a really good foundation here for an interesting magic-based world, but I couldn't really connect with it. I think the narrative voice is great, and the author has a dry humour throughout which I really liked, but the concept wasn't really developed enough or big enough for me to become invested in it even though I liked all of the characters.

This did detract from my enjoyment of the book, but I really appreciate some of the things that are within The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass which show so much potential and are things which we don't get to see handled so expertly very often. I will definitely read future work by this author, set in a different world perhaps, to see what they create next!

ARC provided from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 09, 2020 Ruth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: on-my-bookshelf

Thank you to Dundurn and NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I should also note that I have a personal connection with the author.

I really enjoyed The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass and flew through it in less than 24 hours. (I even read it standing on the subway!) I found Jerreat-Poole’s writing unique in the way they captivated my senses with their use of rich smells, colours and elemental ‘ingredients’ like the hawthorn and glass, obs ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2020 Adrianne rated it did not like it

Shelves: netgalley

What a shame, I really wanted to enjoy this story, but if anyone asked me what this was about I would have nothing to say! The story was chaotic and I could not get into it at all. The only thing I liked was the fact there were non-binary characters within the story, which was a first for me. The premise was quite exciting, and the reason why I picked it up in the first place.
However, at some point I found myself confused to the point that I did not know if I was reading about something from th ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review