Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - The Lost Apothecary

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

24 reviews

singingshooter's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Okay, had a hard time loving/rooting for these characters

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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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abigailhaagen's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This book felt like it couldn't decide what tone it wanted to go with, so it threw in a bit of everything. Sad, dark, lighthearted, contemporary, historical... and the characters didn't seem particularly fleshed out either. I didn't root for anyone except Eliza. And nobody had a strong moral code in this book; characters seemed to switch between being ok with crime and not ok with it, without any particular reason. The writing was also mid; lots of telling instead of showing. And I don't think this book is particularly historically accurate, based on other readings about the 18th century I've done. But it wasn't awful to read, and I liked the premise of the poisonous apothecary. So not a bad book, but not a great one either.

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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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jkohls's review

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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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phantomgecko's review

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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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sea_tea_books's review

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense

5.0

I could not put this down. Ironically, the author wrote of one of the main characters, "she wasn't a witch, and this wasn't Harry Potter," but I disagree. According to the author, this story was about "embracing magic" (or "magick" as spelled in ye olde times). There were whisperings of a hidden, magical world—similar to the wizarding world with Snape's potions class, as well as the more shadowy realm of Dark Arts, Knockturn Alley, and Borgin and Burke's. And that is precisely what drew me into this story and kept me captivated.

All that aside, this story had a mystery that slowly unraveled between past and present perspectives. Loved the twist at the end! I've already reserved the author's next story from my library/Libby.

5 ⭐

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