finished reading

I thoroughly enjoyed this fairytale retelling with a twist.  I loved Toadling and Halim.  It's not my usual genre but it was easy to keep track of what the world was like.  Toadling, a kind-hearted toad-shaped heroine, is tasked by the fae to bless a newborn child in the human world. However, her blessing goes awry, turning into a curse. Toadling spends centuries guarding a tower surrounded by a wall of thorns to protect the changeling child, Fayette, who has become violent and unpredictable. When a gentle knight named Halim arrives, believing he is there to rescue a princess, he discovers the truth about Toadling's mission and the real nature of the curse. Together, they navigate the challenges and unravel the mysteries surrounding the tower and its inhabitants.

From the publisher:

Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.

There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He's heard there's a curse here that needs breaking, but it's a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…