Reviews with content warning for Biphobia - Serpentine Valentine

Serpentine Valentine was poetry in prose. Words strung together that paint pictures in your mind and dance around in your soul. Captivating. Alluring. It will take you on a journey through the whole range of human emotions. It will rip your heart out, smash it to pieces, and string it back together. Broken. Bruised. Changed. Just like the characters on the pages. I have so many highlights in my ebook - sometimes entire paragraphs! I devoured this book, just like the twin snakes in the ouroboros devouring themselves.

This story wrenched itself in my heart and gave me words for feelings I hadn’t yet been able to name for myself. And Lex and Luna’s bond - the way the light and darkness in them commingled and pulled pieces of themselves out that might have otherwise remained hidden in the shadows of darkness or been blinded by the light of other’s expectations. Their story was tragic and beautiful and raw. And I found bits of myself in each of them. But especially Lex as she struggled to see anything good as real, instead waiting for the ticking time bomb to explode in her face. As she grappled with the darkness inside her and what it meant about who she was and her worthiness for love. As she clawed her way out of that darkness and slowly let the light that was Luna seep into her weary soul.

This was a narrative about feminism, and female empowerment. But also female rage. And the lengths women identified people must go to in order to be heard and seen and taken seriously. About why silence is so often the answer in a world that vilifies victims and parades them around as pariahs, while the real monsters wander free- their crimes covered, their reputations protected. It was powerful and heart wrenching and it will burn the fires of rage within your soul. Because the truth is…this might be a fictional story, but it is rife with truth and there are far too many real stories like this in our world.

I wanted to be able to give this book 5 stars. But there were just some parts that were problematic for me. The Harry Potter references for one. I would be engrossed in some part of the story and then an HP reference would jar me and pull me out of my reverie. They just weren’t needed, and I wish people (especially writers of queer books) would stop referencing the works of a blatant transphobe. The other big one was the whole premise of Lex using Luna as a pawn in her revenge while simultaneously claiming to be protecting women. It was contradictory to everything she stood for. I think the story could have been just as powerful if that part of the story had been written differently. There were some other cringy things but they were minor and didn’t impact my feelings on the book as a whole in the same way these two things did.

TRIGGER WARNINGS! Please read the trigger warnings. This book is a Medusa retelling and as such involves rape and sexual assault. There are some on page (not a lot of graphic details) and some off page accounts, but it is also an overarching theme of the whole book. Read with caution and check the other trigger warnings as well.

🏳️‍🌈Rep: Lesbian FMC, Bi FMC, queer and POC SCs

📝Tropes/Themes: Dark Academia, Medusa Retelling, Revenge, Found Family, Coming Out, Sapphic Romance, Feminism, Female Empowerment

Content Warnings

booksplussky's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

While I really enjoyed parts of this story, overall it fell a little short for me and there were parts I just couldn't get behind. This is a sapphic Medusa retelling. Assault is a major plot point in this story and is what drives much of what the main character goes through and experiences. While I loved the lyrical writing that comes with any Giana Darling book, there were parts of the story I found completely unnecessary and almost harmful. Some of the dialogue felt unnatural and stereotypical. I also firmly believe that when authors are writing outside of what they know, they do not need to include slurs in any way even if it is to further the characterization of an antagonist. For example, a lot of the antagonists in this story use slurs towards LGBTQ people that are written out in their entirety, and they were very jarring to read. I think the same point could have been made if the author simply said "they called us slurs" vs using the actual slurs. I also think referencing Harry Potter in a story like this was unnecessary and harmful in it's own way.

I enjoyed the revenge plot and this felt similar to Mindf*ck, which is one of my favorite books of all time. I do think the parts of this story that I disliked could be taken out and it would better the story overall. I do not know if there were sensitivity readers for this book but it felt like more were needed.

Overall, I love Giana's writing style and always will. I liked what she was trying to do with this book but the harm in it outweighed anything else for me.

Thank you Valentine PR for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

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