Girl, Serpent, Thorn

 Soraya has spent her life in seclusion.  Due to her mother's actions, Soraya was cursed by a div so she is poison to the touch.  She has never touched another living person or even an animal in her life.  She has touched the occasional insect while working in her garden, so she knows the devastating power of her caress.  

Her twin brother is the Shah and hasn't bothered to even check on her in years.  Her mother and brother travel around the country in a yearly cycle, but every spring they return to the palace where Soraya lives alone with her roses and her books.  Now they return with news:  her brother is to be married to the only friend she ever had as a child.  Soraya is happy for them, but the impending wedding only emphasizes her loneliness.

When she meets Azad, his lack of fear mesmerizes her.  He knows the truth, but he still wants to talk to her, to touch a shoulder or an arm through the fabric of her clothing.  Though they've just met, it's like he knows her heart.  She is drawn to the way he seems to want to protect her rather than protect others from her and by his handsome face and graceful form.

Azad is an outsider, too, a commoner raised in station because he saved the Shah's life in a div attack.  That div is imprisoned in the dungeon right now.  Is it possible this div could know the cure for Soraya's curse?  Her mother forbids it, but Soraya can't help herself.  How could she live with herself if she didn't at least try?  

Pavenah is beautiful and enticing, and she holds the promise of knowledge.  But everyone knows divs never tell the complete truth.  Soraya thinks she has nothing left to lose, but she's about to find out how wrong she is.

Melissa Bashardoust's fantasy novel is a blend of epic fantasy and Perian myth.  The writing is beautiful, and the story is engaging.  I just kept getting frustrated with Soraya who has the worst addiction to insta-love I've ever read!  She falls in love with two different characters seemingly at first sight and never doubts either of them until it is too late to do anything about it.  Meanwhile, she's so consumed with her own guilt, she barely has the focus to blame other people for what they've actually done.  It was good but not great.  Recommended for grades 7 and up for violence and gore.