Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Lost Apothecary

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

55 reviews

nicjmorrow's review

informative sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This is a book with a female lead who is so smart and we are told just how smart she is all the time who does make a lot of pretty fun decisions which I find kinda annoying. The past and present timeliness are done pretty well tho. The past plot is much better than the present tho.

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slars12's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.75

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amyrose16's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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dani__gomezz's review

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adventurous emotional 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

3.75

I enjoyed this read! It’s fun and thought provoking, yet still a relatively light read. I loved the characters, especially Nella and Caroline. The parallels between timelines were really fun. I did not love the dialogue because it was kind of clunky, but the prose was light and very enjoyable and engaging.

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avie_j's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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freetobme's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

Enjoyable, quick read. I had no issue following the stories from the 3 characters. I didn’t appreciate that magic potions were glorified, nor the making and disguising of poisons.

However, in the end the apothecary has a change of heart and stops making and dispensing poisons.

I did find several sentences and paragraphs to record and reflect on.

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wizardingwisteria's review against another edition

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dark inspiring 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

4.75

This was my first audio book and I'm glad it was. I loved the fact that each character had their own dedicated narrator. The narrators were fantastic. Each voice fit each character perfectly.

As someone with a BA in history and conflicted feelings about grad school I related to Caroline quite a bit, especially during and after her historical investigation. I found all three women to be compelling in their own ways. The relationships that blossom in this book are fantastic. The side characters are also great. (I had a massive crush on Gainer the entire time).

I took the .25 off because, while the ending was overall satisfying, I didn't totally love it. There is a moment where it seems like

Caroline is going to get back together with her (dumbass) husband. Thankfully they didn't, but I didn't like how close that call was.

Aside from her relationship,

I didn't understand why Caroline threw the glass bottle back into the river. If she planned on writing her dissertation on the apothecary, then that bottle is an incredibly valuable artifact that would greatly help her research. She had pieced the story together. She understood the significance of that bottle. And she tossed it?

I feel like the author sacrificed an authentic moment for a plot point that served as symbolic representation for Caroline in the end.

Overall a great read with a mostly satisfying ending. I could see myself listening to this one more time.

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hrewannabe's review

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dark emotional informative 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

4.75

I ended up reading this in one sitting on a car ride and was utterly entranced. As a historian who has done a rather alarming amount of research for the time period that half the book is set in it was a wonderful read! The work that the main character goes through is exhilarating and I love her growth. The mystery aspect was very engaging and you really feel like your rediscovering your own passion with the her. You can really tell that the author took her time with researching and trying to make the story feel like it could have slotted neatly into our own world as something real.

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ambarnes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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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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