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A review by smart_girls_love_trashy_books
The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
-POTENTIAL SPOILERS-
Truthfully, I did not expect to like this book so much, because I'm not really one for mysteries. A lot get convoluted, others confuse me, and I can only really take them seriously if they're more comedic, ironically. But something about this book just hooked me, maybe it was the fairytale angle. The chapters were short so it was very quick and easy for me to get through this, which contributed to me finishing this in three days, because I read a part a day.
The mystery was really interesting and handled well, with every character dying in a way related to an old fairytale, and the characters realizing what's in store for them, and the fun part was figuring out who was who and who was behind everything. I really liked the modernization of the various fairytales, such as Rory's family being overprotective and sending her away because of a security threat during her first birthday, or Yuki being related to the Headmistress of the school. Every time a character showed up, I'd eagerly try to look for clues with their names or appearances to try and decipher who were they were intended to be.
Ella was definitely the most developed, receiving the most amount of chapters, and thus I found her the most interesting. She's the good girl, the quiet and nice one, but you can tell she's not passive or a pushover, she has a lot of inner strength in her that most don't see. Her relationship with Frederick was very cute and she deserved everything. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I got into Svenja and Nani having a relationship, as they started off being more associates in figuring out what was going on, but I ended up liking where their relationship was going to go.
I think my only issue is that I didn't really want to continue a series right now, so the fact the mystery is just getting started by the end disheartened me. So much of the story is just spent running around, trying to find things, not really solving anything, and then a bunch of deaths suddenly happen, and then at the very end it just kinda wraps up with them finding out who was responsible, and then being like 'well now we really can figure out what's going on' I knew it was a duology going in, but I kinda wish it had been advertised better as one? I just feel a bit left-out. I also wasn't a fan of Yuki suddenly developing magic. This story is otherwise entirely grounded in reality, in our world, and then all of a sudden Yuki can summon snow and later on, mirrors, and it just felt extremely strange and out-of-place in a story that otherwise was set in our world. I couldn't believe that aspect.
I was also surprised by how diverse it was. I went in knowing there was some LGBT rep but the amount surprised me, and same with all the disability representation.
Overall, a really solid start to a duology that I really liked, I just wished the book was a lot more upfront about the fact this book was almost entirely set-up for the next book in the series so I would've had a much better understanding of what to expect.
Truthfully, I did not expect to like this book so much, because I'm not really one for mysteries. A lot get convoluted, others confuse me, and I can only really take them seriously if they're more comedic, ironically. But something about this book just hooked me, maybe it was the fairytale angle. The chapters were short so it was very quick and easy for me to get through this, which contributed to me finishing this in three days, because I read a part a day.
The mystery was really interesting and handled well, with every character dying in a way related to an old fairytale, and the characters realizing what's in store for them, and the fun part was figuring out who was who and who was behind everything. I really liked the modernization of the various fairytales, such as Rory's family being overprotective and sending her away because of a security threat during her first birthday, or Yuki being related to the Headmistress of the school. Every time a character showed up, I'd eagerly try to look for clues with their names or appearances to try and decipher who were they were intended to be.
Ella was definitely the most developed, receiving the most amount of chapters, and thus I found her the most interesting. She's the good girl, the quiet and nice one, but you can tell she's not passive or a pushover, she has a lot of inner strength in her that most don't see. Her relationship with Frederick was very cute and she deserved everything. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I got into Svenja and Nani having a relationship, as they started off being more associates in figuring out what was going on, but I ended up liking where their relationship was going to go.
I think my only issue is that I didn't really want to continue a series right now, so the fact the mystery is just getting started by the end disheartened me. So much of the story is just spent running around, trying to find things, not really solving anything, and then a bunch of deaths suddenly happen, and then at the very end it just kinda wraps up with them finding out who was responsible, and then being like 'well now we really can figure out what's going on' I knew it was a duology going in, but I kinda wish it had been advertised better as one? I just feel a bit left-out. I also wasn't a fan of Yuki suddenly developing magic. This story is otherwise entirely grounded in reality, in our world, and then all of a sudden Yuki can summon snow and later on, mirrors, and it just felt extremely strange and out-of-place in a story that otherwise was set in our world. I couldn't believe that aspect.
I was also surprised by how diverse it was. I went in knowing there was some LGBT rep but the amount surprised me, and same with all the disability representation.
Overall, a really solid start to a duology that I really liked, I just wished the book was a lot more upfront about the fact this book was almost entirely set-up for the next book in the series so I would've had a much better understanding of what to expect.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood