Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

78 reviews

leahkarge's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Suicide, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Murder, Violence, and Vomit

michaela_reads_books's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book hooked me from the first paragraph… no lie. I was originally going to start another book but got this on an Amazon sale and was just curious what it was about. Opened to the first page for a quick glimpse before starting the other book and literally could not stop reading!
The way that Penner weaves together the 3 different POVs and 2 different centuries is amazing and slowly piecing together all of what happened with this Apothecary in the 1790s. 

This is just a beautiful fun book about unraveling a mystery in history, about self discovery, and friendship. And you get to read about some women taking down some bad men while you’re at it. I also thought I could see how this was going to end, but I was wrong! It was very exciting and kept me hooked from the first page to the last. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infertility, Medical content, and Miscarriage

Minor: Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent

lemonwrlds's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Child abuse, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Suicide

xandra_lyn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.0

Really great read, I couldn't put it down!! I definitely enjoyed the Eliza/Nella storylines better than Caroline's. In fact, Caroline bothered me a lot. I liked her ending, but she didn't act like a real woman...to the point I actually checked to see if the author was actually a man (for examples, see spoiler). I also wish the ending had been a little clearer on what happened to Eliza/Nella.

 Examples of Caroline not acting like a real woman:
1. Planning her 10 year anniversary trip when her period is due. Like, women know these things...they'd plan NOT to be on their period then. Also, she then eluded to wanting to make a baby on the honeymoon, and even IF a woman wanted to have sex on her period, she definitely wouldn't be making a baby. That's not how women's bodies work. I'm wondering if she wasn't expecting her period at first and then the author changed it...but that should have caught that in editing.

2. Not taking a pregnancy test. I get the author wanted to build suspense, but a normal woman would just take it. even if it was negative, the author could still have built suspense with a late period, because until you get the period or get a positive test, there IS a slight chance you might be pregnant. (For those who don't know, positive tests are like 100% accurate, but negatives have some wiggle room).

3. Keeping Eliza a secret at the end. No one - especially woman, who are so often invisible - deserves to be erased from history. As a woman AND a historian, I would never have kept a story of an interesting woman to myself. I don't think any woman would.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

Minor: Pedophilia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Emotional abuse: Caroline's husband Blood: a character struggles with an illness and spits clots of blood Pedophilia: Eliza's employer comes into her (she's 12) and begins to touch her stomach, legs, and thighs before a commotion interrupts him. It doesn't seem he raped her, but it's implied he did so with a previous maid. As awful and scarring as this would be, it was not detailed in graphic ways and so I put it low on the list. Medical trauma/content: it's about poison, so there's a fair amount of medical issues that happen Miscarriage: memory of a character, not graphic. *Not on other users' reviews: idk why people put body horror. Other than possibly the effects of the poisons, but it's not graphic

lillythebluepaladin's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

“History doesn’t record the intricacies of women’s relationships with one another; they’re not to be uncovered”

I am so happy I started out 2023 with this book! I had a great time reading it, and I will absolutely give it a secure 4⭐️ review.

I really enjoyed all of our 3 main women. They were all really interesting, and I was rooting for all of them throughout the entire plot.

And the touch of having poison and food recipes at the end was really cute! I loved that a lot, especially as a gardener student 🌔

My only con of this book was the ending. Really hate being that type of person, but I think that there should have been a sadder ending for one of the characters, not gonna say who, but I am still really happy about the entire thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Misogyny, and Medical content

Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexism

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? No

5.0

Every time I read historical fiction I’m tempted to say “usually I don’t like HF but…” but at this point I think that’s a lie, and I actually love it. This is SO good! It certainly helps that we are following two storylines: one of Nella and her secret business that exclusively caters to women and dispensing with their shit husbands in the late 1700s (absolute queen), and one of Caroline and her shit husband in the current day, uncovering the secrets of the ~*lost apothecary*~. And then there’s Eliza, the absolutely precious 12 year old who inserts herself into Nella’s life and unknowingly puts many tragic pieces into motion. The two storylines unfold beautifully, poetically, tragically; individually and together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

vanesst's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, Death, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, and Grief

Moderate: Infertility, Classism, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Child death, and Chronic illness

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Medical content

franticfreya's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child death, Murder, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Miscarriage, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

inconsistantly_sarah's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

erikalv97's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I was really excited to read this book, so I had high hopes for it, while it wasn’t exactly what I expected, it was not a bad read.

I don’t particularly enjoyed the “present” story, but I enjoyed the eighteenth century one. 

Overall, it’s a book with a great concept and it had some plot twists that surprised me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship