The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl
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Web ID: 14717397The GrimRose Girls
This book is amazing. Honestly at first it’s kinda a slow paced book and then it picks up the pace in like chapter 3. There is a lot of representation between sexuality and ethnicity. Very excited for the sequel.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Strong Story!
the story blew my mind in the end! definitely worth a read!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Amazing fairy tale retelling with magical realism
The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl blew me away! A magical dark academia novel set in Switzerland at the boarding school Grimrose Academie. We follow Ella, Yuki and Rory after the mysterious death of the best friend on campus. Soon Nani joins their group and the four of them slowly come together to figure out the mysterious death of their friend and soon more deaths start occurring. Nani is sleeping where Ariane used to and she discovers a book of fairy tales that used to belong to her, which set the group off on a year of adventures that parallel a fairy tale retelling in such a beautiful, haunting way. I loved Pohl's style of writing and the atmosphere that she was able to create! I'm so excited for the sequel coming out this fall, The Wicked Remain, expected 11/1/2022.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
amazing read!
disclaimer: i’m not a “professional” reviewer, i just here for a good time haha. i loved the amount of representation in this book and i felt really connected to the characters. it is narrated in four different point of views and i know some people struggle with multiple povs but i thought it worked really well. the characters are very likeable and the story itself is amazing. i loved reading this book and i cant wait for the second one!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Dark academia fairytale murder mystery
Ella, Yuki, and Rory attend an elite, exclusive Swiss boarding school called Grimrose Academy, in a huge castle beside a lake. They are all grieving after their best friend, Ariane, drowns in the lake, apparently a suicide. When Nani arrives as their newest roommate, the girls investigate Ariane's death, as they cannot believe she committed suicide. They discover secrets about themselves, the other students, their school, and Ariane's last days. I love the characters (major and minor), the multiple POV narrative structure, and the queer and mental health rep. The old, secret-filled, European castle made for a very atmospheric setting. This book will appeal to those who are into dark fairytale retellings and dark academia murder mysteries. I found it compelling, could not put it down and need the sequel now. Thank you to the Sourcebooks Early Reads program for a complimentary copy.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
In my top 3
I recently got into reading and brought this about a month ago. And let me tell you, this is one of my top 3 favorite book I have read this year. (Out of 24.) I could not put this down for a second. It’s really fast pace and easy to get into. I will ever stop recommending this book. (But make sure to check the TW before reading.)
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Jumbled Fairytale Retelling
Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review. So I REALLY wanted to love this one, but I think THE GRIMROSE GIRLS fell victim to just too many players and too many things happening on top of each other. I appreciated the representation (both of gender, sexual orientation and nationality) and also that one character has OCD and another has fibromyalgia. But overall for me the writing and the dialogue was a bit stilted and forced, it didn't fit the scene. With a novel told from 4 points of view things can get a bit muddled, especially when the focus seems to be forced onto the least interesting of the 4 students. There are A LOT of loose ends, and while I understand this is a series, Nani's entire storyline is abandoned half way through and seems to be utterly forgotten about by the end. While I'm all for retellings, and it was fun in the beginning to try and figure out which fairytale each student represented, I think Pohl tried to do too much so the end result is a bit jumbled. I'm not sure if I'll read the next book in the series, but I'm hoping the kinks get worked out as this series continues.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Brilliant and unique
Thank you so much, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire, for the chance to read and review this book in exchange of an honest review. TW: murder, emotional and physical abuse, chronic pain When their best friend Ariane dies, everyone is convinced she killed herself, but Ella, Yuki and Rory refuse to believe that and they are determined to find out what really happened, above all when they discover a mysterious book and note among Ariane's things. When Nani Eszes arrives as their new roomate, the four girls start to investigate and retrace Ariane's final days, until they discover a dark secret surrounding their boarding school: Ariane's death wasn't the first. They soon learn a connection between these deaths and ancient fairytales curses and how their fates are connected to them too. To stop others from dying, they will do anything they can. The Grimrose girls is a brilliant and unique fairytales retelling, with a wonderful and complex queer female cast, a murder investigation, a boarding school mystery and so much more. Ella, Yuki, Rory and Nani are four reimagined fairytale heroines, the story is told by their POVs and they are intricate and well rounded, each of them with their pasts, traumas, desires, hopes and dreams. Ella, determined to help anyone, but with an abusive situation at home, Yuki, willing to protect her friends, but struggling to be herself, Rory, fighting with chronic pain, her parents' desires and her own and Nani, trying to understand where she can fit and what happened to her father. Their own personal stories and struggles intertwine with their determined investigation to understand what exactly happened to Ariane, questioning the school's past and its deaths (ruled as accidents now and in the past), secret passageway, curses and fairytales, crushes and new and old friends. The characterization is fantastic, each character is complex and skillfully written, layered and realistic and their interactions are genuine, relatable, with their fights, banters and flirts. The setting is fascinating, a boarding school in Switzerland, an elite school, a nearby picturesque small town, balls and intrigues. The murder investigation, the fairytale curses intrigued me right away and I was so invested in this story, full of twists, each POV intriguing and captivating, because I really loved every single character. The characters are female, except for Frederick and there's a lovely queer rep, there are aro, ace, demi, lesbian, trans and bi characters. I loved how the author dealt with complex themes, like emotional and physical abuse, chronic pain, grief, writing relatable and wonderful characters, impossible not to love, in this empowering and feminist retelling. I can't wait to know more about the curse and these characters!
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com