Reviews with content warning for Infertility - The Lost Apothecary

Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

234 reviews

an_a_list_alias's review against another edition

hopeful fast-paced

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

3.0

Interesting premise and easy read, could be a tad faster at times. I believe the POV of the twelve year old could have been written better, too much telling (I.e 'in my TWELVE years of life...') instead of showing (acting or thinking like someone of that age).

Content Warnings

julbel's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

This book was very good at intrigue; when the POVs changed, I usually wanted to know what happened next. However, I wasn’t as connected to the main characters as I wanted. Caroline was my favorite, but I didn’t like that

she threw the vial back in the river (so stupid, it could have been important evidence for her research; I get protecting Eliza’s story, but still; also, isn’t the point of the register that their stories are usually forgotten or erased from history, and she just did that? I get protecting this secret, but currently a bit on the fence whether I agree with it)

. I also didn’t like

the part of the pregnancy, for Caroline and the emphasis on motherhood in general in the book. It’s just not for me. Also, if she took James back, I would have been SO ANGRY. Thankfully, she didn’t, though.

Nella was all right to follow, though not written as the most interesting character, despite her premise being the most interesting. It often came off to me as the person keeping the plot together, which is unfortunate. Eliza, though sweet, was my least favorite perspective to read in. I personally am not a fan of reading about that sort of youthful naïveté.

However, her not understanding periods and thinking it a ghost, resulting in a bunch of drama??? This felt very silly, a bit enduring at first, but quickly turned into frustrating.

For the ending, I was happy for all of the characters, but the slight twist it added at the end felt a bit out of place. I know the author probably wanted it to come off as whimsical, and it sort of did, but the tone just didn’t match the rest of the book, so I didn’t like it very much.

I mean, out of nowhere magic is real? With no display of it for more than 90% of the book? There are 3 scenes with it display (more like 2.5): the bookshop boy telling Eliza about being a stillborn and a potion reviving him, the reveal that Eliza survives the jump with the potion she made, and the ending scene. Making Eliza sort of right is just weird and doesn’t fit the rest of the book. Real magic and ghosts? Really? Kind of a ridiculous ending, if you ask me. Those things didn’t need to be included. If she added just the two women walking along the river and disappearing when Caroline throws there vial in the river and Eliza surviving (though not implying with MAGIC), then that would have been okay, not precisely ideal, but fine. But everything? Not for me. I would have preferred no implication at all that ghosts and magic were real in this world. It makes more sense for the story, as well as the story’s tone. Eliza was supposed to come off as a naive child for a reason (because she is), not for a twist at the end that she was right!

Overall, an enjoyable read, but not one I’ll be gushing about.

Content Warnings

paigecrichards's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

anannachi's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

anna_hepworth's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

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

3.0

This is an interesting book, and I can see why some of the plot points happened the way they did, but I didn't enjoy the way that the story came together. What did work was the alternating time points with the historical story of the apothecary, and then the modern day search. And I'm sure for some people the echoing and mirroring of details between the two will be an important part of reading, but it did rather start to feel forced

I did like the characters--even the shitty husband--in terms of writing and plausibility, and even their stupid decisions made sense. I didn't necessarily think that the majority were people I would have wanted to have anything to do with.

In general, the writing shows great promise, and if the unevenness of the plot is something that this debut author works out, their future books will be fantastic.

Content Warnings

abigailhaagen's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This book felt like it couldn't decide what tone it wanted to go with, so it threw in a bit of everything. Sad, dark, lighthearted, contemporary, historical... and the characters didn't seem particularly fleshed out either. I didn't root for anyone except Eliza. And nobody had a strong moral code in this book; characters seemed to switch between being ok with crime and not ok with it, without any particular reason. The writing was also mid; lots of telling instead of showing. And I don't think this book is particularly historically accurate, based on other readings about the 18th century I've done. But it wasn't awful to read, and I liked the premise of the poisonous apothecary. So not a bad book, but not a great one either.

Content Warnings

miss_manda_maguire's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

ahoijules's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious slow-paced

2.0

Eine gute Idee, die leider nicht gut umgesetzt wurde.

Ich empfand das Buch als furchtbar langatmig mit vielen Beschreibungen und Erklärungen, die nicht nötig gewesen wären, um das Buch zu verstehen. Ich hatte Probleme mit den Protagonistinnen warm zu werden und fand keine so richtig spannend. Auch dauerte es bis gut zwei Drittel des Buchs bis die Handlung langsam an Fahrt aufgenommen hat.

Das Ende fand ich furchtbar kitschig, die letzten 25 Minuten des Hörbuchs habe ich auf 1,5-facher Geschwindigkeit gehört, damit es endlich zu einem Ende kommt. Es stört mich außerdem wahnsinnig, dass so getan wird, als könnte man sich mal ganz easy in Cambridge immatrikulieren 😂 ich bin außerdem ziemlich sicher, dass die Masterarbeit thematisch nicht in die Anglistik gehört 😅

Content Warnings

squirrel66's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Ich habe das Hörbuch gehört. Ich fand die Sprecherin gut und die Idee hinter dem Plot hat mich sehr angesprochen. Ich kam irgendwann auch rein und wollte dann weiterhören, aber hab schon etwas gebraucht um reinzukommen. Auf mich wirkte die Handlung auch etwas in die Länge gezogen, ich hätte es gerne in einem schnelleren Tempo erzählt bekommen. Vielleicht lag das aber auch daran, dass ich nicht komplett in die Geschichte(n) gesogen wurde.
Mir hat der historische Handlungsstrang besser gefallen. Carolines Entwicklungsbogen war für mich etwas niedrig angesetzt und vorhersehbar. Obwohl 200 Jahre in der Zukunft, lag sie in ihrer Emanzipation einfach hinter Nella. Durch ihre m.M.n. naiven und offensichtlich schlechten bisherigen Lebensentscheidungen war klar was für sie passieren musste und würde. Ich hätte mir noch den einen oder anderen Twist gewünscht, der sich in zwei parallelen Handlungssträngen ja anbietet. Und dass bei beiden Frauen ihr Muttersein so ein zentraler Punkt war, wurde mir auch irgendwann etwas viel. Aber mag sein dass es dafür ein dankbareres Publikum gibt.

Insgesamt war ich angenehm unterhalten, meine Empfehlung ginge aber auch darüber hinaus das Hörbuch zu hören, wenn man es kostenlos streamen kann.

Content Warnings

More...