Melissa Bashardoust received her degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, where she rediscovered her love for creative writing, children's literature, and fairy tales and their retellings. She currently lives in Southern California with a cat named Alice and more copies of Jane Eyre than she probably needs. Melissa is the author of Girls Made of Snow and Glass and Girl, Serpent, Thorn.
Monstrously beautiful and enchanting, Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a fairytale for anyone who has ever feared the poison in their own heart. I loved this queer, subversive, lyrical and deeply affirming book * Tasha Suri, author of Empire of Sand * Gorgeously written and quietly powerful, Bashardoust's latest is an enthralling tale of family, monsters, and the things we do for love * S. A. Chakraborty, author of City of Brass * Every passage is a fine cut gem, each facet brilliantly rendered to create a stunningly crafted fairytale about a girl and monsters and a girl who is also a monster. I truly loved this book. * Emily Duncan, author of Wicked Saints * This is a gorgeously written book set in a beautiful and dangerous world. I loved the vividness of the story, and the way Bashardoust makes stories matter in this book. I was captivated from the beginning, and absolutely thrilled with the end. Watching Soraya come into her own as a character was a delight * Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Magicians * Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a tale a rose might tell, lushly perfumed and lined with thorns in all the right places. With complex women, Persian demons, a gorgeously twisting narrative, and the age-old question of what it means to be a monster, it had me eagerly flipping pages until the very end. I only wish there were more! * Shveta Thakrar, author of Star Daughter * Like a jeweled fairy tale, Girl, Serpent, Thorn glitters with twisty revelations, curses and dangerous transformations, magic and monsters and love - and at its heart, a girl who can kill with a touch. A thrilling, moving story of what it means to come into one's own power, this book is utterly captivating * Gita Trelease, author of Enchantée * A deliciously lush fairy tale of a novel. I was swept away by Bashardoust's prose . . . At its heart, it's a book about a girl who may be monstrous claiming her own power, filled with twists and a fascinating queer romance that stole my own heart. * Patrice Caldwell, editor of A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope * Truly unforgettable. You'll definitely want to have a copy of this on your shelf . . . I loved this story * The Nerd Daily * Brilliantly imagined . . . An enthralling fantasy with broad appeal, lyrical prose and incredible worldbuilding * Modern Mrs Darcy * Girl, Serpent, Thorn balances a raw, human core of emotion with a fast-moving, intriguing plot that draws fresh inspiration from Iranian culture past and present * Tor.com * Girl, Serpent, Thorn takes your expectations of a fairy tale and turns them on their head, creating an elaborate, unconventional and fascinating story, complete with heroes who are morally questionable and villains who you'll fall in love with * SciFinow * Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a fairy tale for those readers looking for a story that is simultaneously respectful of the genre's central tenets and also reaching for something new, exciting and equitable. This one's a solid read that should attract the eyes of young adults and older readers alike * Hollywood Soapbox * A twisty, fascinating, well-paced novel that builds to a conclusion that is more than well-earned * Locus * A fantasy novel inspired by Persian myth and culture, this is an enemies to resigned partners to friends(?) back to enemies and finally to lovers. A story about loneliness, legacy, and the right to choose your own future * Hotpress.com *