Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Grimrose Girls

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl

28 reviews

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.

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saltair_andtherust_onyourdoor's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I think the concept was super interesting but it could’ve definitely been executed in a better way. Like i wanted to know the stories of some other characters more. For example

Micalis story would’ve been so fun to read about even with her death it was so interesting

also i feel like some storylines weren’t finished. Hopefully the sequel makes up for its.

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halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I love that Grimrose Girls was a mystery suspense with a dash of humor. Those moments caught me off guard and I love it. I always love prep school settings and love that this place is technically cursed, where its students will die based on a fairytale story. Hopefully the sequel have more magic incorporated. The only con I have is that its hard to differentiate the girls apart. No character really stood out and felt flat.

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dancingwithourhandstied's review

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

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mals_library's review

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dark funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

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nytephoenyx's review

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dark mysterious medium-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

3.75

If I had to choose a character from The Grimrose Girls I most resemble, I’d have to choose Ella, because I spent so much time trying to match up all the characters in the book with their fairytales, I failed to see what was right in front of me.

The Grimrose Girls is the perfect read for folks who like light mysteries entwined with light fantasy, boarding schools, and fairytales come to life. It’s a little dark – it’s a little like Pretty Little Liars. And I’m okay with that! Ella, Rory, Nani, and Yuki are far more likable than the PLL crew. I chose this book because I wanted a dark fairytale retelling, and I got something in that range. It’s not focused on a single fairytale – it’s focused on a little bit of a lot of them. It’s interesting and fun to predict, and the rotating POVs kept things fresh.

I am a little disappointed Pohl focused primarily on commonly known fairytales. I get it – as a writer, it’s important to engage the reader. Internationally familiar fairytales (read: the ones turned into Disney movies) are an easy choice. With the exception of “The Juniper Tree“, all referenced fairytales will be very familiar to a diverse audience. I generally enjoyed Pohl’s writing, but there were certain characters I wished had been more tied to their stories. Some, like Ella, were very close. I would have liked more consistency across the board.

There is a lot of diversity and representation in The Grimrose Girls and I’m undecided how I feel about it. Typically I’m very excited for a breadth of diversity and I still am… but it also felt a bit contrived. Each character had a different race and a different sexuality. So, on the one hand, there is a lot of representation. On the other, I’m just cautious about the intense variety of it. There were a couple other little things that bugged me as well, including the whole “scholarships for employee’s children” angle that got Nani into the school in the first place. Some things lined up a little too perfectly without sensible in-world explanations.

As a whole, I really liked the book. Despite my uncertainty about the wealth of representation, I do want to nod to Pohl for taking the time to let Nani express frustration about Hawaii’s colonialism. It was a brief moment, but it stood out to me.

This was a good nighttime read, a good “what’s next” and “whodunnit” read. I’m a big fan of books that keep me analyzing and thinking – The Grimrose Girls did an amazing job of that.

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morevna's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.75

Awful Asian rep, godawful aroace rep

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anniereads221's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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sammymilfort's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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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bookedandbusy's review

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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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