Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl

23 reviews

scrubsandbooks's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

The premise absolutely drew me in. These characters are basically stand-ins for popular fairytales and find themselves meeting the fates of their stories in some serious dark ways and the main characters have to figure out what is going on, all in the setting of a boarding school. And there are a slew of sapphic storylines. This whole thing read like my own catnip!

Why the rating is so low then? Well for starters, it was possibly the most stereotypical and offensive depiction of "severe OCD" in the main character. The trans character is a stand-in for the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. The ace-aro character is the Asian character who is also dealing with pressures of being perfect academically and personally, and comes off as cold and heartless many times. There was so much potential for this story, but the terrible depictions of representation overshadowed a lot of it. Read at your own risk, I guess. I did end up getting the sequel from Netgalley before I had finished the first book so I will likely read it and see how it fares in comparison to this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, and Transphobia

yvonne_cl's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Minor: Chronic illness, Cursing, Blood, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Abandonment

lorelei05's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Minor: Chronic illness

ammie116's review

medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Suicide, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

dancingwithourhandstied's review

Just wasn’t paced right for me, got dull. Would love to finish at sometime though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness and Mental illness

emilia_mb's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

anniereads221's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, and Abandonment

drowning

eviecate's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I loved this book! The characters were very compelling and I am so excited to see where this series goes. This book is for the kids who read Ever After High as a child and are looking for something a bit darker. I liked the writing as well although it was a little rough at the beginning. The only drawback for me is the mystery. It was very predictable and I guessed who the killer was from the beginning. It was very slow passed but I am hoping that it pays off in the sequel. If I read this book 3 years ago I would have been OBSESSED. The diversity was refreshing, both in LGBT and POC representation. I appreciate that Pohl is unafraid to label her characters on the page. I love fairytale retellings and this series is such an interesting take on it. I can't wait to see how it develops!

Notes after 24 hours: While i initially loved everything about this book there are a few problematic elements that I can't look past. I have knocked this book down a star because of the implications of the problematic representation. A lot of the representation is rooted in stereotypes. The worst of which being (MINOR SPOILERS) the Belle character from Beauty and the Beast's love interest is a trans woman. This character is also tied to the Ugly Duckling fairytale. This implication makes me feel very upset as I did love Svenja's character in the book, I just hate the portrayal of her as "beastly" or "ugly." Other stereotypes include: mean lesbians, the asian main character's arc revolves around parental pressure to be perfect, one character's mental illness being introduced by another character asking her if "she's taken her meds, yet." While i feel like this is still a good book despite stereotyping, I wish the author had put more thought into portraying identities other than her own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, and Acephobia/Arophobia

Minor: Eating disorder

bookedandbusy's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

This book was incredible! I loved that the more I read the more I was able to see the fairy tale aspect. And I love how elements of the classic fairy tales were combined with the darker side of the classics. I can’t wait for the next book!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism and Suicide

Minor: Deadnaming

Also has graphic mentions of drowning,

ehmannky's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Truly mad that this did not come out when I was in like, 9th grade, because I would have adored this series as a teen. It was a fun, fast read with a lot of fun, fractured fairy tale elements to it. I personally don't feel a need to read what comes next, but I had fun reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide and Violence

Minor: Homophobia and Racism