Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

59 reviews

lakea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Suicide

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Vomit, Terminal illness, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Chronic illness

Minor: Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

emilylovesgoodbooks's review

emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Death

inconsistantly_sarah's review

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

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

allycat21's review

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, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Murder, and Misogyny

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

lauramcc7's review

dark informative slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Infidelity

Moderate: Chronic illness

selenatothemax's review

dark emotional hopeful informative sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Infertility, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Grief, Abortion, and Child abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Classism

Minor: Vomit

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

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

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

kitkatkick's review

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

The premise of this book was certainly interesting, but the execution was a lot less exciting than I had hoped. The story bounces between three points of view: Nella, the murderous apothecary herself; Eliza, a 12-year-old girl who has suddenly found herself in Nella’s company; and Caroline, a soon-to-be-divorcee on a soul searching trip in present-day London.

Having all three points of view felt unnecessary. The story could have better been told with either Nella and Eliza’s different views on the actual apothecary shop, or with a contrast between Nella’s view and Caroline’s discovery of her. Having only two viewpoints would have probably given a lot more room for the characters to become likable, as well. I started reading this book because I was interested in the apothecary premise, but Nella and Eliza’s story is so rushed and plot driven that I ended up more interested in Caroline’s story, which wasn’t even mentioned in the summaries I read beforehand.

My last qualm is that it’s yet another book that projects itself as telling a woman’s story but ends up only telling the story of how a man affected said woman. Both Nella and Caroline’s storylines revolve around how men did them wrong and how those wrongdoings changed their lives. Nella’s apothecary shop is revealed not to be her way of rebelling and helping fellow women, but moreso a long game of revenge against her former lover. And through most of it, she comes off as scornful of most of the other women she interacts with. What could have been a new twist on women helping women simply became another story of “a woman scorned.” 

Overall, I wouldn’t call this a bad book. I can tell there are some people who will probably love it. But it wasn’t quite what I expected, and not what I was looking for, either.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Infertility

One of the main characters is tricked into a forced miscarriage

buckaroo97's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Graphic: Abortion, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Infertility, and Vomit