Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

183 reviews

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Writing: 3⭐️/5 

The writing was fine, adequate, presentable. A few times Penner had some really stunning lines, but mostly the writing did what needed to be done without too much flare or finesse. A lot of sections for backstory were lengthy, giving us a bit of information by flashback and then overexplaining the emotions of the situation. But overall the writing did enough to not get in the way.

Characters: 3.5⭐️/5

I think the characters in the historical sections were much more fascinating than our modern-day protagonist. While I appreciated that Caroline had a lot going on, I also felt like her half-telling of the story made me lose a bit of interest in what was going on. I loved her research-heavy mind, but it felt stunningly unbelievable the way in which she pursued her research so easily after so long. And, while the characters were interesting, they felt a bit surface at times, almost as though we never got a true glimpse of their whole beings.

Plot: 3⭐️/5 

Okay, so the concept? Super cool. The execution? Maybe that’s where I got lost. I loved everything about the apothecary. I even loved the slow unravelling of clues from Caroline’s side, but I also felt like that was the only thing that felt super fleshed out. All the details in the novel felt muddled, as though they were unclear and unformed. I also think that the end kind of undid some of the feminist points made throughout the novel, leaving kind of a sour taste in my mouth at the end.

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of historical books that have a split POV with modern perspective
• Someone looking for a cool concept over everything else
• Fans of witchy history who are looking for an easy read

Content Warnings? 

• Pregnancy, adultery, murder, sexism, misogyny, rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, violence, abuse, child abuse, child death, death, death of parent, self-harm, suicide, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, terminal illness, poison, gun violence, medical trauma, classism, injury, injury detail, fire, pedophilia, incest, infertility 

Post-Reading Rating:  2.75⭐️/5

I just… wanted more? I liked the concept so much but I think everything else fell pretty flat.

Final Rating: 3⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Infertility, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Self harm, Child death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

jkohls's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

I think this was a very easy read. I found the book grabbed my interest very early. I sometimes struggle with the flashback books but I got into the grove with this one quickly.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Murder, Grief, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Chronic illness, Incest, Infidelity, Child abuse, Violence, Child death, Medical content, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Rape

aimeemg155's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, Murder, Drug use, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

cowahbull's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Not my cup of tea.  I'm personally not a fan of multiple pov in first person.
 The story was interesting but rather slow paced and I didn't find that I liked any of the characters very much. Eliza was the only person I was rooting for.
The bond and relationships between women was lovely to see but it went a bit too far. It had almost no male characters and almost all of them were evil; hurting the female charcters for their own gain or pleasure and manipulating them. It's possible to tell a positive story about women empowering women without becoming anti-men, this book didn't quite manage that.

I may have listed a dozen reasons I didn't like this book but overall I had a good time reading it. The audio book had different readers for each chapter/charcter so it was more immersive.  Good story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

annorabrady's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

2.5

The story was intriguing, but still left a lot to be desired. Especially when it came to Caroline's POV. I found a lot of her actions to be incredibly dumb, especially in regards to how she took notes. I also didn't understand a lot of her thought processes. I also felt that her husband's presence didn't add to the story except to show the extent to which he was willing and capable of abusing her. But memories alone showed most of that. 

I wish the story had focused more on Eliza. Her part of the story was the most compelling by far. 

Upon further reflection, I have to say that Caroline's story doesn't fit with the themes of the other stories. The others focus on seizing what little control they have over their situations as women of their time by means of harming the people who harmed them. 

Caroline learned almost nothing from her "research" that lent itself to her situation. And she didn't even intend to hurt her husband. If he hadn't attempted to force her to stay married to him by way of poisoning himself (a move that he also intended to use as means to frame her for his death should he not live), nothing about her story would have been different despite the attempt at drawing a parallel between the various stories. 

Also, on the bit about him poisoning himself. Are we really supposed to believe that her husband's history of toxic behaviors was limited to "being pragmatic and convincing her to give up her dreams until the right time" and then cheating on her? One doesn't go from infidelity and "risk aversion" to extreme manipulation via self harm and attempts at suicide without there being other attempts at similar methods of control. That level of escalation, especially after 10 years of marriage and however long of dating is unrealistic. Abusers use tactics they know are likely to work based on past acceptance of similar behaviors.

Also also am I really supposed to believe that someone who goes so far as to poison themself as an act of manipulation is going to just accept that it didn't work and leave calmly? Someone willing to go that far is someone who is dangerous. The kind of dangerous where the person leaving shouldn't be alone with their abuser. At all. 

To have that storyline end with a hug and understanding is alarming. This is the kind of storyline that could encourage an abuse victim to stay in an abusive relationship because "well it's not always bad." Or, worse, could encourage someone to attempt a similar "conscious uncoupling" with someone who could seriously hurt them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Murder, Grief, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

suchallie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? No

3.0

Good easy read, less magical vibes than I thought it would be and more dark and dusty Bridgerton-esque historical vibes 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Chronic illness, Murder, Drug use, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Blood

Specific trigger content re: abortion/miscarriage/pregnancy:

there is content of a forced abortion without consent

Also lots of content about infidelity and marriage troubles

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

This was an interesting story and I enjoyed listening to it. I definitely prefered the story of the apothecary and found myself wanting to skip the modern part of the story. The twist at the end was interesting and I definitely did not expect it.

Because it's two interconnected stories you pretty much already knew what happened with the Apothecary though. As soon as its clear that it still exists today you also know it was never found out. Because of that I didn't feel the anxieties of being found out. But it was a good story and especially if you're dealing with a cheating husband I think you'd really enjoy this story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

theimposter's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Murder, and Grief

phantomgecko's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Caroline is frustratingly naive. (Maybe that's the point?) But naive to the point of unbelievability.  Like, yeah, trespassing is a crime, but so is jaywalking. It's not that big of a deal.

And then the whole scene with trying to look at her trespassing pictures on her phone...... Girl. Guess what. If you're on your phone in the same room as another person.... they probably cannot see what you're seeing. And if they do....it's blurry pictures of a book. If they ask about it....lie.

Naive and stupid tbh.

I'm glad she left her controlling husband though. Piece of garbage man.

The narrative with Nella and Eliza was definitely more interesting. (Though I still have complaints about believability.) The unfolding of the narrative was well done, at least.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity

blueyogi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Murder, Miscarriage, Grief, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Infertility, and Death

Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual harassment, and Violence