Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

32 reviews

bellebooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Nice job in representing the society of the 1700s, as well as a more positive spin on apothecaries as helpful medicine rather than evil spells, as was the custom at the time.  However, I wish there was a little more showing rather than telling; I wanted more imagery and descriptions of emotions rather than being told (e.g. descriptions of hair being pulled back, rummaging through notes with a furrowed brow vs. "Caroline got serious.")  But that's a stylistic choice rather than a story element.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Drug use

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

mrsdarcylynn's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was super readable. I plowed through this in an afternoon. However, the modern day perspective (Caroline) makes almost no sense. She discovers a vial and decides…to solve a murder mystery she doesn’t know about? The logic is pretty thin for her story line (but I think we can all agree, fuck James). Nella and Eliza were far more interesting (but, again, some stretches of logic for how tight nella and Eliza become over the course of three days). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Forced Abortion by Partner

annieliz's review against another edition

mysterious 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Abortion, Body horror, Blood, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Vomit

sennaje's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Vomit

Moderate: Abortion and Incest

foreverinastory's review against another edition

mysterious tense 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

4.0

Rep: Disabled female MC with chronic pain, disabled female side character with tremors of some sort.

CWs: Graphic: Abortion/forced miscarriage (against characters consent), alcohol consumption, death, drug use, gaslighting, grief, infidelity, misogyny, murder, sexism, suicidal thoughts, toxic relationship. Moderate: Blood, child abuse, pedophilia, pregnancy, rape, sexual assault, vomit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

mdelcol's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Abortion, and Emotional abuse

bookhoarder93's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? No

3.0

A little slow for me, but picked up by the halfway mark. After I eventually got about halfway through, I had a much harder time putting the book down. The writing/subject matter was, at times, cringey and forced. However, I enjoyed the mystery, setting, characters, style of chapters, and how the end played out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Murder and Suicide

Minor: Rape

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Grief, Infertility, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Pedophilia, Abortion, Blood, and Emotional abuse

forsan's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

2.0

I was definitely drawn into this book by the cover and the blurb--a female apothecary in eighteenth-century London dispenses poisons to female customers, in order to kill men in their lives. The book is dual-timeline, jumping back and forth between the late 1700s and the present day.

Unfortunately, while I still think that the premise is really intriguing, this book really didn't work for me. I think that there were a few main reasons for this. For one, the writing didn't really click with me--I think I went in expecting a bit more atmospheric of writing than I felt like the book ended up having. The jumps between the different timelines were also very short, and I felt like I could have benefited from having longer between jumps.

Secondly, I really don't think that the present-day story added much of anything to the story. I mean, I see how the author was trying to contrast the story of the modern-day character, Caroline, with the older one, but I really would have been much happier without her perspective. (Her story also really, really heavily revolves around marital infidelity/an unhappy marriage, and I just didn't like reading it. It's also extremely convenient, and I really struggled to think that it was very plausible.)

Further, a substantial number of the plot points in the book fundamentally resulted from misunderstandings that could so easilyhave been cleared up with a one-sentence explanation. This was definitely true of some pretty major plot points in the 1700s timeline, and I also deeply don't understand why Caroline decided to be secretive about her actions in the modern-day timeline.

With all that being said, though, I am definitely aware that this is a debut book, and I still want to underscore that the premise of this book was and still is really fascinating. While the plot didn't deliver for me, I do think that it might work for some people.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Medical content, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

herbivorereader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, and Suicide attempt