Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

63 reviews

trisarahtopps06's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Abortion, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse and Rape

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

idun_aurora's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This took me a while to finish, but despite the feeling of swimming in syrup at times, I also found myself raging passionately at the story at times, which was a good sign. I loved the portrayal of female friendship, and having gotten out of a toxic relationship myself, this book hit spots and gave courage. All in all, it was okay.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

allycat21's review against another edition

emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

msbarnesela'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? No

2.5

The concept of historical women using knowledge that men ignored to take charge of their own lives is a cool idea. But this book didn’t live up to that.  I didn’t find the characters compelling because none of them were developed enough for me to care. Their backstories were almost immediately revealed through exposition—there wasn’t enough effort in the unraveling of it for it to be satisfying. The plot felt too convenient; the modern main character’s research process was too easy. The author seemed to intend a big twist for in one place that I was totally unsurprised by. I read the whole thing in an afternoon, so at least it wasn’t a slog, but it just didn’t achieve what I hoped it would be.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Gaslighting

jeaniedew's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I picked this up because it was marked as fantasy… I suppose some might consider it such, but because of the way that it’s written and the time period that it’s in and how vague everything is, it’s more like science that they just didn’t understand at the time so they called it magic. I personally would not consider this fantasy at all.

Aside from that, there wasn’t really much character development or plot development… A pretty dry, boring story, all told. Pretty sure people like this for the pretty cover more than anything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting

ambb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

juliaximena's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Alcohol

booksbyantheia's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

AMAMOS.

Tres mujeres, secretos, salvación a través de la historia y PLANTITAS.

(Reseña en construcción)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Mentions of poisoning.

readwithria's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

The Lost Apothecary kept me reading, but didn’t keep me guessing.

I read this book pretty quickly, and while I thought the concept was executed well I don’t think it was the book for me.

Things I Liked
- I really enjoyed the 1791 timeline. I think that Nella and Eliza were an unlikely pair, and their relationship was weird and lovely. 
- Caroline’s growth throughout the book was quite refreshing! I wasn’t surprised by her decision at the end of the book at all, but I was very glad she made them!
- it was so easy to dislike James! Very much fit with the men-are-trash theme

Things I Wosh Were Different
- I think the present day timeline was a bit cheesy at times, which made it difficult to connect with Caroline. 
- Again in the present day timeline, the secondary characters lacked depth that I wish had been there. I know it’s a short timeline, but it easily could have been extended by a day or two to make some of the relationships deeper. 
- Caroline was a little too in her head about her secrets. I know it was a theme of the book, but her internal struggle was a bit heavy handed for my taste. 

Overall, this was a good book that I would recommend to folks who I’m enjoy historical fiction and mystery novels. 3.75 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit