The premise of this book is excellent: a retelling of a folktale from Moldova, set in the medieval era, centering women and a sapphic romance. However, underdevelopment plagued this book.

I would've appreciated id the original folktale was stated in the intro of the book, on the author's note. 
I appreciate the themes brought forth during the story, many plot points touching on sexism and how it was/is propelled by religious zeal. However, the underdevelopment of many aspects, particularly the romance (the central plot) and the pacing, made it hard to keep me engaged during the first half of the book. The second half picked up my interest, and the ending was cute. 
The most interesting character has to be Rozalia, the wise woman/healer of the village, and I would've loved to know even more about her. Generally, the characters could've been a bit more developed, which I think would've given a lot more gravitas to the events of the story. This goes for the romance too, where the characters were dramatically in love after two interactions with not much meat to them (I know there was a famine but come'on).
I don't have much to say on this book really. Good premise, lacked execution. 

Pls see TW.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.