Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - The Grimrose Girls

I don’t have words for this book and honestly it’s not even the writing style that I dislike the most. There were parts I enjoyed, but ultimately this book has two things a load of queerbaiting and a plot that could have been great if it was constructed more and given depth. I loved the fairytale aspect and the physical disability rep was ok! There was one part that had super ableist undertones in my opinion when Rory was in the coffee shop and I did not like that. This book had so many things going for it I was sure I was going to rate it a 3 or 3.5 but then I got to the last 20% and all I felt was anger.

I could make a whole video about my problems with this book

1. I really dislike Yuki’s character and even her arc and place in the story felt out of place. She had really mean moments and I get she’s a teenager but like the way of how she was so possessive about her friends I could not stand. I petition to make Yuki the villain in the next book please, at least that might make things interesting. If I was Ella I would not forgive her so easily and it made me so upset when she did!! But it’s true to her character so…

I liked Nani and Ella

Does anyone know if Ella is demisexual because I love! I know Rory is demiromantic

Might read the sequel, might not

ALSO THE FACT THAT THE STRAIGHT RELATIONSHIP GOT THE MOST DEVELOPMENT OUT OF ALL THE QUEER PARINGS MADE ME SO MAD AND IT WAS SURFACE LEVEL DEVELOPED AT BEST.

TW: Queerbaiting, Emotional Manipulation and Abuse, Neglect, Murder

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criticalbooks's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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rey_therese07's review against another edition

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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? No

3.0

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olivialandryxo's review

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dark emotional 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? No

5.0

I’ve been excited to read this book ever since I found out about it a few months ago, and it didn’t disappoint. Pohl’s story is the perfect blend of fairytale magic and thrilling dark academia, a combination I didn’t know I needed in my life. I formed all sorts of theories as I read and trusted hardly anyone, yet I was still surprised as pieces of the puzzle fell into place. The intrigue never stopped, and I didn’t want to stop reading.

I loved all four of the protagonists from the beginning. Ella, Yuki, Rory and Nani were amazing, complex and well-written characters, and there were some equally well-written side characters. It was surprisingly fun to try to connect people and events to different fairytales as I read.

I also loved Ella, Yuki and Rory’s friendship, and seeing Nani slowly become a part of their group. The dynamic among the girls was brilliant, as were the two slow-burn, friends to lovers romantic subplots. I say subplot because, while both involved a member of the main squad, the romance was definitely not a focus of the story. Emphasis was instead placed on the girls themselves and the mystery of Grimrose, which I think was the right choice. Be that as it may, what bits of romance we did get were adorable, and I’m hoping there’ll be more in the sequel. There’s one relationship I think could turn romantic, and I’m hoping that it does. Fingers crossed! (What can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic at heart.)

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by just how great this book was. It pulled me in immediately and I was hooked from cover to cover; now that I’m done, I’m wondering just long the wait will be for the sequel. (Probably a year or so, since this just came out.) I’ll definitely have to check out Pohl’s other books in the meantime. And if it wasn’t already clear, I love and highly recommend The Grimrose Girls!!

Representation

biromantic demisexual protagonist with anxiety and OCD
Japanese aromantic asexual protagonist
lesbian protagonist with fibromyalgia
Black-Hawaiian fat lesbian protagonist
queer trans girl side character
Black side character

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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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!

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beforeviolets's review

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

A thrilling retelling of classic fairytales filled with twists, magic, and just the right amount of darkness. Think Disney Princesses turned dark academia.

The first two-thirds of this book really struggled with the pacing. It dragged SO MUCH and I don't know if it was an attempt to counteract the feeling of over-exposition or in order to build tension, but either way it made it hard to read and made me almost DNF this read a few times.

HOWEVER, the last third of this book was SO MUCH FUN! It was riveting, properly gorey and spooky and magical in the way I was expecting this entire book to be. It just sucked that I had to get through so much of the text before I was able to experience it.

This book was promised with a lot of diversity, however, there was quite a bit of problematic representation which I will explain below.

(Minor spoilers ahead)
The Asian character struggles with parental pressure to be the very best and have perfect grades and be the perfect daughter.
There is a character who is very clearly the "mean masc lesbian" type.
The half-Native, half-Black character's entire plot line is that she has an absent Black father who abandoned her. She is also stereotyped as a "mean lesbian."
One character has OCD and it is introduced by one of the other characters questioning if she had taken her meds. Her opinions and experiences were also constantly doubted or questioned due to her OCD.
The character that is meant to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast has a trans girl as a love interest (insinuating that the trans woman is a beast).
On that note, the trans girl's fairytale retelling is that she is The Ugly Duckling, explicitly stating that as a trans girl, she has become a swan.

Especially seeing a book written by a queer author, it was sad to see the lack of care put into the quality of the diversity.

My lovely friend Jess also discusses the representation, so I would suggest viewing their review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4268785942?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

TW:

mentions of suicide, parental physical and emotional abuse, self-harm, and parental death. depictions of anxiety, OCD, blood, and gore.

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