A review by always_reading_rachel
Serpentine Valentine by Giana Darling

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

There's something about going into a book blind and being just so pleasantly surprised that you end up finishing it in less than 24 hours. It's one of my favorite things. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of retellings, but if they were all written like this one was, they would move their way up my list of favorites. This was such a heart breaking, all too relevant, modern, dark academia retelling of Medusa. I really appreciated the way Giana was able to respectfully portray the very real issue that is the suppression of sexual assault survivors on college campuses and in the world at large, and the way she was able to weave that into a Medusa retelling and a wonderful romance was perfect. There are some parts that are tough to get through, Giana does a great job of laying out the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book, but the complete journey from the beginning of Lex's story, through the addition of Luna's story, to both of their conclusions was such a gripping read that I just couldn't put down and would recommend in a heart beat.
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