Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Grimrose Girls

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl

56 reviews

sammymilfort's review

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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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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cball2428's review

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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)

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ehmannky's review

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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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cammiem8's review

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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.

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foreverinastory's review against another edition

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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.

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tashepherd's review

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mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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bakinglizbet's review

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adventurous dark lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

5.0

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hckilgour's review

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adventurous dark 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

3.5

So this really felt like a pretty little liars dark academia retelling. I really enjoyed the story, but there were some pitfalls.

It was really great to see all the diversity in the book from bipoc characters to trans and ace characters as well. But then it became kind of like “when everyone is special, no one is special”. Almost all of the characters were LGBTQ+, which on its own is great, but felt unrealistic overall when all of them were put in such close proximity.

Penelope… ugh I saw her coming from the get go. She was just very… obvious. And you could tell there was a weird ulterior motive.

The pacing of the book was… well interesting. The first half was drudgery it was so slow. So much time was spent characterizing the girls that nothing happened; much of this could’ve been parred down. Especially because much of the characterization going on was repeated in each introspective chapter. And the romance for Rory and Nani were infuriating because it was constantly like oh oh we’re gonna admit our feelings… ooh close miss. And it got a little annoying. But the ending. Holy cow.

I’m not sure how to feel about Yuki. By her name I take her to be of Japanese origin. Yet by her description she’s tall, dark hair, very pale, and has large brown eyes. Because of how pale she’s supposed to be, I feel like her Asiatic heritage gets a little lost.

Nani’s storyline also was a little lost in the weeds. Like figuring out what fairy tale she was supposed to be from was impossible until she made the connection right at the end.

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