2.49
i had high expectations for this and they were not met AT ALL. its a disgrace to pretty little liars that this book is compared it, because not only is it NOT SIMILAR TO PRETTY LITTLE LIARS AT ALL (it literally takes a fantasy turn ( )

If I had to choose a character from The Grimrose Girls I most resemble, I’d have to choose Ella, because I spent so much time trying to match up all the characters in the book with their fairytales, I failed to see what was right in front of me.

The Grimrose Girls is the perfect read for folks who like light mysteries entwined with light fantasy, boarding schools, and fairytales come to life. It’s a little dark – it’s a little like Pretty Little Liars. And I’m okay with that! Ella, Rory, Nani, and Yuki are far more likable than the PLL crew. I chose this book because I wanted a dark fairytale retelling, and I got something in that range. It’s not focused on a single fairytale – it’s focused on a little bit of a lot of them. It’s interesting and fun to predict, and the rotating POVs kept things fresh.

I am a little disappointed Pohl focused primarily on commonly known fairytales. I get it – as a writer, it’s important to engage the reader. Internationally familiar fairytales (read: the ones turned into Disney movies) are an easy choice. With the exception of “The Juniper Tree“, all referenced fairytales will be very familiar to a diverse audience. I generally enjoyed Pohl’s writing, but there were certain characters I wished had been more tied to their stories. Some, like Ella, were very close. I would have liked more consistency across the board.

There is a lot of diversity and representation in The Grimrose Girls and I’m undecided how I feel about it. Typically I’m very excited for a breadth of diversity and I still am… but it also felt a bit contrived. Each character had a different race and a different sexuality. So, on the one hand, there is a lot of representation. On the other, I’m just cautious about the intense variety of it. There were a couple other little things that bugged me as well, including the whole “scholarships for employee’s children” angle that got Nani into the school in the first place. Some things lined up a little too perfectly without sensible in-world explanations.

As a whole, I really liked the book. Despite my uncertainty about the wealth of representation, I do want to nod to Pohl for taking the time to let Nani express frustration about Hawaii’s colonialism. It was a brief moment, but it stood out to me.

This was a good nighttime read, a good “what’s next” and “whodunnit” read. I’m a big fan of books that keep me analyzing and thinking – The Grimrose Girls did an amazing job of that. ( )

Predictable. I just looked at the title here and realized it's a series?? I guess I should have paid more attention to the ending than I did. ( )

Take four girls who have formed a tight group at an exclusive private boarding school located in a Swiss castle. They have secrets, so does the school, not to mention hidden passages and an equally hidden series of deaths. When one of the four becomes the next dead girl, the official word is that she killed herself, but the other three don't believe it. When they begin to dig for answers, more tragedy occurs and they're joined by a new girl whose presence they resent at first, until she begins to make them see her usefulness. Slowly, ever so slowly, the intrigue builds while more about their friend's death, and the secrets surrounding the school, are revealed. Readers are left with answers that just may create even more questions, leading to a sequel. ( )

Review of Advance Reader’s eBook

A mysterious book of fairytales found hidden in Ariane Van Amstel’s closet shortly after her supposedly-suicide-drowning, stuns her friends at Grimrose Académie, an elite Swiss boarding school. Did Ariane commit suicide or was her death the result of something far more sinister? Her best friends, Ella Ashworth, Yuki Miyashiro, and Rory Derosiers, joined by new student Nani Eszes, set out on a search for the truth.

But what do the fairytales have to do with Ariane’s death? And what do they mean to the other girls?

With another death at the school, the girls’ investigation takes on even greater importance and leads to some unexpected dark secrets. Will the girls discover the secret of Grimrose Académie before another student meets her death?

This Young Adult tale, the first in a series and set in an elite boarding school in a castle in Switzerland, reimagines several classic fairytales. Told in alternating points of view by the four girls [Ella, Yuki, Rory, and Nani], each of the girls brings something unique to the telling of the tale. The angst of teenager-dom is well done and there’s a strong representation for LGBTQIA characters, but it sometimes felt as if it was lesbian [check], pansexual [check], transgender [check], asexual aromantic [check] . . . a bit like having a checklist of sexual identities to be certain to include . . . and the result was that, instead of feeling natural, it all came across as being rather heavy-handed.

While readers may feel that there’s far more exposition than action, the plot is interesting and takes several unexpected twists as the girls attempt to solve the mystery tied to their friend’s death. The story is dark and occasionally grim, but the interweaving of the various aspects of several familiar fairytales gives the narrative a distinctiveness that only adds to the mysterious aura.

But many of the fairytales are dark and end in death . . . certainly not fairytales of the Disneyesque variety . . . and most of the girls are thoroughly unlikeable, making it difficult for the reader to truly connect with them and care about them. For being best friends, there often seemed to be a great deal of tension between the girls; some background specific to the coming together of this small group might have helped clarify the relationships for the reader.

Astute readers may identify the culprit long before the surprising reveal, but the breaking of the curse and the saving of the Grimrose girls is left unresolved [for the next book?].

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley
#thegrimrosegirls #NetGalley ( )