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blackbookishbabe89's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
rogueblackwood's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Author: Diverse? Yes! Female, Brazilian, and Gay. She/her
Characters: Super Queer! trans, ace, aromantic, demi, pan/bi, and lesbian main characters. And a variety of races, home countries, and skin tones!
Subjective rating: 5/5
Writing: 4/5 (it's YA for sure but was well done!)
Plot: 5/5, the pacing was really well done. You could tell it was well planned and that you had clues that were available but not glaring.
Characters: 5/5, each character felt real, and each character had a distinct voice and motivation
Themes: 5/5, found family on point!
Narrators: Multi, Each chapter goes back and forth between the main 4 girls. Rory, Yuki, Ella, and Nani
POV: Multi 3rd person
Genre: YA Paranormal Mystery, with light Romance side plot. YA LGBTQ
Type: Series, Book 1 of ? from Grimrose Girls, no date for sequel yet
Content Warnings: death (on and off-page not too graphic), betrayal, child abuse (light and off-page), talk of suicide, chronic illness
So this is more of what I wanted from Malice but didn't really get. It is a unique retelling in every way, it plays into the tropes I love without being predictable fully. You see the parallels but nothing is completely as it seems.
As far as rep, can you get better than this? I don't know if there are straight characters lol! We have trans, ace, demi, pan/bi, and lesbian characters all of whom are very flushed out and none play into harmful stereotypes. You also have a character with chronic illness in this which I found so amazing. Rory has fibromyalgia that she battles with but doesn't allow to control her life.
I felt like the little side romances felt genuine especially for teens, the first flutters, and how everything is life and death at that age. None of them felt forced and you saw the attraction.
Characters: Super Queer! trans, ace, aromantic, demi, pan/bi, and lesbian main characters. And a variety of races, home countries, and skin tones!
Subjective rating: 5/5
Writing: 4/5 (it's YA for sure but was well done!)
Plot: 5/5, the pacing was really well done. You could tell it was well planned and that you had clues that were available but not glaring.
Characters: 5/5, each character felt real, and each character had a distinct voice and motivation
Themes: 5/5, found family on point!
Narrators: Multi, Each chapter goes back and forth between the main 4 girls. Rory, Yuki, Ella, and Nani
POV: Multi 3rd person
Genre: YA Paranormal Mystery, with light Romance side plot. YA LGBTQ
Type: Series, Book 1 of ? from Grimrose Girls, no date for sequel yet
Content Warnings: death (on and off-page not too graphic), betrayal, child abuse (light and off-page), talk of suicide, chronic illness
So this is more of what I wanted from Malice but didn't really get. It is a unique retelling in every way, it plays into the tropes I love without being predictable fully. You see the parallels but nothing is completely as it seems.
As far as rep, can you get better than this? I don't know if there are straight characters lol! We have trans, ace, demi, pan/bi, and lesbian characters all of whom are very flushed out and none play into harmful stereotypes. You also have a character with chronic illness in this which I found so amazing. Rory has fibromyalgia that she battles with but doesn't allow to control her life.
I felt like the little side romances felt genuine especially for teens, the first flutters, and how everything is life and death at that age. None of them felt forced and you saw the attraction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Blood and Child abuse
melaniereadsbooks's review
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
4.25
Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an arc of this book.
At Grimrose Academie, accidents happen. A girl might die every once in a while, but that's just normal, right? When best friends Ella, Yuki, and Rory lose their friend Ari, they know something more is going on. Together with their new roommate, Nani, they find clues that Ari left behind and uncover the dark fairy tale secrets hiding at Grimrose.
Dark Academia, Fairy Tale Retellings, Queer Squad Goals, and a Gorgeous Cover! This book has everything I wanted. I loved these dark fairy tale retellings and picking up on the breadcrumb trail (pun intended) that the author left for us to follow!
I've been trying to decide who my favorite character is, but I just can't seem to figure it out. I think that's a good sign: I love all of them. They are messy, and imperfect, and refuse to be pushed into the boxes that the world wants to push them into, and I just love that so much. And a trans love interest!
There were a few times in this book where the writing felt a little clunky and certain scenes didn't feel super well-developed, but I think that might just be because I had an advanced version! I look forward to reading the final version and probably loving it even more!
Pub date: October 26, 2021
At Grimrose Academie, accidents happen. A girl might die every once in a while, but that's just normal, right? When best friends Ella, Yuki, and Rory lose their friend Ari, they know something more is going on. Together with their new roommate, Nani, they find clues that Ari left behind and uncover the dark fairy tale secrets hiding at Grimrose.
Dark Academia, Fairy Tale Retellings, Queer Squad Goals, and a Gorgeous Cover! This book has everything I wanted. I loved these dark fairy tale retellings and picking up on the breadcrumb trail (pun intended) that the author left for us to follow!
I've been trying to decide who my favorite character is, but I just can't seem to figure it out. I think that's a good sign: I love all of them. They are messy, and imperfect, and refuse to be pushed into the boxes that the world wants to push them into, and I just love that so much. And a trans love interest!
There were a few times in this book where the writing felt a little clunky and certain scenes didn't feel super well-developed, but I think that might just be because I had an advanced version! I look forward to reading the final version and probably loving it even more!
Pub date: October 26, 2021
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Gore, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Grief
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Transphobia
booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
THE GRIMROSE GIRLS depicts three girls wrestling with grief and piecing together the ragged edges of their lives after their friend dies and a newcomer is placed with them.
I love remixes and retellings, and this fairy tale boarding school uses the more tragic iterations of the various tales simultaneously as plot and motivation. It was fun to try and figure out who the various characters were and what that might mean for the story. I appreciate that this emphasized the archetypal nature of these stories, where tales like Cinderella have parallels under other names around the world.
I like the worldbuilding and the cast of characters. I was wondering how the story was going to square the girls' in-universe understanding of fairy tales with the parallels they were noticing, but I like how it's handled. Where this really shines is in its portrayal of the complex dynamics between the remaining three girls and their new fourth after Ari dies. The rotating perspectives kept the story moving and showed the very different ways the four main characters think about past and current events, including their differing understandings of who Ari was and what she meant to them individually and to the group as a whole.
The main plot gets wrapped up but the overarching investigation/mystery has a lot more room for the series to continue. It's a good narrative balance since I have closure on the most important things while also having an idea of what they need to figure out next.
Minor spoilers to follow. There's a character who seems to straddle roles across several stories, two for sure and a third by my best guess. I like the feeling this generates, but I wish it happened more clearly for other characters as well. Part of why it feels strange is that when the canonically transgender character is given the story roles of Beast to another character's Belle and also names herself Swan in a purposeful reference to the Ugly Duckling, it made that portrayal feel strange, like she could only exist in context with perceived monstrosity. It definitely seems like it's trying to be a good or respectful portrayal of a trans character, and I think it mostly succeeded (especially with how her side role as Beast plays out). My main issue with it is that it used her so much in story beats that relied on her transness or her past experiences of transphobia that I don't have much of a sense of her beyond the coy and slightly abrasive trans girl. I like her and I'm glad she's there, but this definitely wasn't her time to shine.
A great remix of some classic tales, I'm excited to see what the sequel brings!
I love remixes and retellings, and this fairy tale boarding school uses the more tragic iterations of the various tales simultaneously as plot and motivation. It was fun to try and figure out who the various characters were and what that might mean for the story. I appreciate that this emphasized the archetypal nature of these stories, where tales like Cinderella have parallels under other names around the world.
I like the worldbuilding and the cast of characters. I was wondering how the story was going to square the girls' in-universe understanding of fairy tales with the parallels they were noticing, but I like how it's handled. Where this really shines is in its portrayal of the complex dynamics between the remaining three girls and their new fourth after Ari dies. The rotating perspectives kept the story moving and showed the very different ways the four main characters think about past and current events, including their differing understandings of who Ari was and what she meant to them individually and to the group as a whole.
The main plot gets wrapped up but the overarching investigation/mystery has a lot more room for the series to continue. It's a good narrative balance since I have closure on the most important things while also having an idea of what they need to figure out next.
Minor spoilers to follow. There's a character who seems to straddle roles across several stories, two for sure and a third by my best guess. I like the feeling this generates, but I wish it happened more clearly for other characters as well. Part of why it feels strange is that when the canonically transgender character is given the story roles of Beast to another character's Belle and also names herself Swan in a purposeful reference to the Ugly Duckling, it made that portrayal feel strange, like she could only exist in context with perceived monstrosity. It definitely seems like it's trying to be a good or respectful portrayal of a trans character, and I think it mostly succeeded (especially with how her side role as Beast plays out). My main issue with it is that it used her so much in story beats that relied on her transness or her past experiences of transphobia that I don't have much of a sense of her beyond the coy and slightly abrasive trans girl. I like her and I'm glad she's there, but this definitely wasn't her time to shine.
A great remix of some classic tales, I'm excited to see what the sequel brings!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Child death
Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gore
Minor: Suicide, Death, Death of parent, and Transphobia
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