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onmalsshelf's review
I was enjoying this, but then as the story started developing some things weren't feeling right to me. So this is kind of a fantasy retelling. We have a Cinderella (Ella), an Aurora (Rory), and a Beauty (Nani).
We also have a Beast, which in this situation, the author chose to make a trans character the Beast and that doesn't sit right with me at all.
The author also chose to lean into racist stereotypes and gave Nani, a half Black/half Native Hawaiian character, a father that is never around.
She then also decided to give a character a anxiety disorder, but then was not consistent with treatment or signs of the disorder.
We also have a Beast, which in this situation, the author chose to make a trans character the Beast and that doesn't sit right with me at all.
The author also chose to lean into racist stereotypes and gave Nani, a half Black/half Native Hawaiian character, a father that is never around.
She then also decided to give a character a anxiety disorder, but then was not consistent with treatment or signs of the disorder.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism and Transphobia
jekisah's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
There were some typos but overall it is a great story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
sinaprst's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I didn't have to high expectations going into this, but I really enjoyed this. Sure there were things that probably could've been handled better and the ending was kinda predictable, but overall I liked pretty much all of the characters and especially the four narrators.
I also now crush on all of the characters love interests, because I have a problem.
The book is written from four perspectives and all of the chapters are fairly short. I saw some people on here criticizing that, which I somewhat get, but still disagree with. I don't really know why but short chapters especially and also switching povs are things that I at least look for in a book, because long chapters scare me, but that's a me thing I guess, so everyone is different in that regard.
The whole vibe of the book gave pretty much dark academia which I loved and it also very much reminds me of pretty little liars (which I also love, even though it gets more and more unhinged from season to season), so this was right up my alley.
I have to say though the magic came kind of out of the blue for me and I hope it gets established more in the next book. Also I was kind if disappointed that there were mostly European fairytales in there, that even though, that they were darker then the Disney versions, felt kind of Disney-ish, I kind of hoped to have each of the girls have the faith of a fairytale from their country/culture, especially because the whole boarding has students from all over the world.
Lastly, I also wished it was even darker and especially creepier, but maybe that will come in the next one, now that the girls know what's going on.
Regarding the villain of this book, I really liked her, but then again I'm biased because I always have a thing for bad girls. You could kind of see it coming though, who was supposed to be the bad guy. But I'm very much intrigued to see, who will be the big bad guy now, after she died, because obviously there is still more to everything than we as the reader know right now.
Overall, this was far from perfect, but enjoyable nonetheless and I will definitely pick up the next book in this series, because I desperately need answers.
I also now crush on all of the characters love interests, because I have a problem.
The book is written from four perspectives and all of the chapters are fairly short. I saw some people on here criticizing that, which I somewhat get, but still disagree with. I don't really know why but short chapters especially and also switching povs are things that I at least look for in a book, because long chapters scare me, but that's a me thing I guess, so everyone is different in that regard.
The whole vibe of the book gave pretty much dark academia which I loved and it also very much reminds me of pretty little liars (which I also love, even though it gets more and more unhinged from season to season), so this was right up my alley.
I have to say though the magic came kind of out of the blue for me and I hope it gets established more in the next book. Also I was kind if disappointed that there were mostly European fairytales in there, that even though, that they were darker then the Disney versions, felt kind of Disney-ish, I kind of hoped to have each of the girls have the faith of a fairytale from their country/culture, especially because the whole boarding has students from all over the world.
Lastly, I also wished it was even darker and especially creepier, but maybe that will come in the next one, now that the girls know what's going on.
Regarding the villain of this book, I really liked her, but then again I'm biased because I always have a thing for bad girls. You could kind of see it coming though, who was supposed to be the bad guy. But I'm very much intrigued to see, who will be the big bad guy now, after she died, because obviously there is still more to everything than we as the reader know right now.
Overall, this was far from perfect, but enjoyable nonetheless and I will definitely pick up the next book in this series, because I desperately need answers.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Transphobia, and Death of parent
maev_e's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Suicide, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Classism
Very stereotypical Asian and aro-ace rep, some lesbian stereotypes, annoying & random pop/ internet culture referencesanniereads221's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
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
cball2428's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
an absolutely thrilling story about 4 girls who despite the odds band together and create a bond so strong. also incredibly sapphic and amazing character development i would like rory’s gender ok
disability representation! rory has fibromyalgia
mental illness/neurodivergency representation! ella has diagnosed OCD and anxiety
transgender representation! svenja is a trans woman (minor character but still important)
disability representation!
mental illness/neurodivergency representation!
transgender representation!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Deadnaming, Racism, and Acephobia/Arophobia
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide and Violence
Minor: Homophobia and Racism
cammiem8's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.75
I gobbled this book up on an airplane and was really intrigued by the story, but I didn’t quite feel connected to the characters and was disappointed to find out the book isn’t a stand alone. I’ll likely read the next book when it comes out, but I wish this one felt like more of a complete story on its own and not just a setup for subsequent books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, and Vomit
foreverinastory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Now that I've read this I can certify that this book is just as wonderful as I thought it would be. queer fairytale characters in a dark academia setting. Like, how perfect is this for me!?
The Grimrose Girls follows four main characters: Yuki, Rory, Ella and Nani. The first three have been going to Grimrose Académie for a year. They're coming back for a new year after losing their best friend Ari, whose death was ruled a suicide. But when Nani uncovers a fairytale grimoire in Ari's old closet, the girls are sure there was foul play involved in Ari's death. As the four begin to investigate, they find that Grimrose has hidden a string of murders at its campus.
Y'all this book was soooo good. I just wanna yell about how much I loved it. Throughout the book we get clues onto the students fairytale fates. I've so far figured out everyone except Nani. So I'm like super curious to find out more.
I loved the murder mystery in this! I had no idea how it would come together, but I absolutely loved it. Seeing how things worked on, I'm sure there are still MANY secrets to be revealed. I can't wait for the sequel. I also loved all the relationships in this book. The friendships, the romances, ugh YES. I'm here for it all. I love that our four main girls also don't pursue romantic relationships with each other. I really loved that we got to see the friendship between these 4. Loved it sooo much.
After reading this, I'm for sure adding Laura to my auto-read list.
Rep: Aroace Japanese MC, white lesbian female MC with fibromyalgia, white biromantic demisexual female MC with anxiety and OCD, fat Black-Hawaiian lesbian female MC. Black sapphic female side character, white sapphic female side character.
CWs: Abadonment, blood, chronic illness, death, grief, injury/injury detail, mental illness (anxiety & OCD), murder. Moderate: Gore, racism.
____________________________________________________________
I just finished The Last 8 and was curious to see what else the author had written and came across this book coming out November 2021!! AND LOOK AT THIS REP STATEMENT:
The Grimrose Girls has 4 main protagonists: 2 are lesbians (on page), 1 of them is a biromantic demisexual (doesn't use these labels on page, only mentions having no preference of gender as long as she feels a connection), and the fourth is aromantic asexual (written on the page).
AND
It has:
🌟4 fairytale retellings
❤️f/f romance
🍰an aroace protagonist
🏰boarding school shenanigans
⚔️swords
📚magic and murder mystery
Content warnings include: suicide mention, depiction of anxiety and OCD, parental physical/emotional abuse, mention of parental death, light gore.
I feel like Laura Pohl has answered my sapphic fairytale dreams.
The Grimrose Girls follows four main characters: Yuki, Rory, Ella and Nani. The first three have been going to Grimrose Académie for a year. They're coming back for a new year after losing their best friend Ari, whose death was ruled a suicide. But when Nani uncovers a fairytale grimoire in Ari's old closet, the girls are sure there was foul play involved in Ari's death. As the four begin to investigate, they find that Grimrose has hidden a string of murders at its campus.
Y'all this book was soooo good. I just wanna yell about how much I loved it. Throughout the book we get clues onto the students fairytale fates. I've so far figured out everyone except Nani. So I'm like super curious to find out more.
I loved the murder mystery in this! I had no idea how it would come together, but I absolutely loved it. Seeing how things worked on, I'm sure there are still MANY secrets to be revealed. I can't wait for the sequel. I also loved all the relationships in this book. The friendships, the romances, ugh YES. I'm here for it all. I love that our four main girls also don't pursue romantic relationships with each other. I really loved that we got to see the friendship between these 4. Loved it sooo much.
After reading this, I'm for sure adding Laura to my auto-read list.
Rep: Aroace Japanese MC, white lesbian female MC with fibromyalgia, white biromantic demisexual female MC with anxiety and OCD, fat Black-Hawaiian lesbian female MC. Black sapphic female side character, white sapphic female side character.
CWs: Abadonment, blood, chronic illness, death, grief, injury/injury detail, mental illness (anxiety & OCD), murder. Moderate: Gore, racism.
____________________________________________________________
I just finished The Last 8 and was curious to see what else the author had written and came across this book coming out November 2021!! AND LOOK AT THIS REP STATEMENT:
The Grimrose Girls has 4 main protagonists: 2 are lesbians (on page), 1 of them is a biromantic demisexual (doesn't use these labels on page, only mentions having no preference of gender as long as she feels a connection), and the fourth is aromantic asexual (written on the page).
AND
It has:
🌟4 fairytale retellings
❤️f/f romance
🍰an aroace protagonist
🏰boarding school shenanigans
⚔️swords
📚magic and murder mystery
Content warnings include: suicide mention, depiction of anxiety and OCD, parental physical/emotional abuse, mention of parental death, light gore.
I feel like Laura Pohl has answered my sapphic fairytale dreams.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore and Racism
rey_therese07's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Deadnaming, Racism, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Abandonment