Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

33 reviews

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is about Caroline in present times finding a remnant of an apothecary from two hundred years ago. She pieces together the history during her stay in London, while her own life is being turned upside down. 
The second POV is of the apothecary, Nella, in 1791 and how she is running her shop and how a 12-year-old girl changes everything.

It was slow to get into but once it did, I was hooked. I loved to learn what really happened in 1791 vs. what Caroline thinks has happened. 
I think I know why so many people didn’t like it because it’s focused on a rather unpopular trope for a while. 
The audiobook was lovely to listen to. The different characters and timelines were easily distinguished. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Vomit, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

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

tanyafrey's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Minor: Medical trauma, Grief, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Death, and Sexual assault

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

idun_aurora's review

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

usually_sleep_deprived's review

dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abortion, Medical content, and Infertility

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, and Self harm

hearth_and_homereviews's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

b_silver's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Intrigued from the moment I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. By the end I was sobbing, a mix of grief and joy.  Sometimes the character’s motivations were not exactly clear, but I still found them very likable and relatable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Suicide, Murder, Vomit, Abortion, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Death, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

becca_w_'s review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Child death, Classism, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Violence, Medical trauma, Police brutality, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment

amberinpieces's review against another edition

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Blood

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Emotional abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness