The Grimrose Girls

might dock this rating more in a minute

i had a lot of issues with the writing, the pacing, characterization, and much more. this book had so much potential to do good YA dark academia but failed to really wow me in any manner.

the representation in this book... doesn't really matter? ok nani is native hawaiian but you mention plumerias and her tūtū calls her mo'o and that's it? same thing with the queer rep, although relationships, sexuality and feelings are addressed which was kind of nice. super pointless tho

the mystery picks up after the halfway mark, and i can't honestly tell you what the point was of a lot of the first half of the book besides establishing that these girls are a grieving their friend's death.

the murder mystery plot was also poor. didn't really make a ton of sense even after the big reveal and villain monologue, and i get that this is the first book in a series setting a precedent for the rest of the books but damn was that lackluster.

overall very disappointing especially given the potential of a dark academia/fairy tales urban fantasy

The initial story was engaging, I'd thought that the fairytales they were supposed to be wouldn't be real in this world. When I learned that everything kinda went sideways. 

The dialogue was horrible and went immensely unrealistic. The story was heading so much towards an ending that the characters made assumptions and giant leaps in logic that no one would ever make in that situation, which made it had to empathise with the characters. 

Not to mention that the ending explained literally nothing of the magic or the curse or the book or anything. Like there is a curse but it's also just a normal person killing people? Pick one and stick to it. 

Besides the diaglogue being shitty the book in general was also just badly written. Many things were repeated multiple times which also just made parts boring. Not a fan

Heerlijk verhaal. Ik vind het heel goed opgesteld, naarmate het verhaal vordert kom je meer en meer over de meisjes te weten. Heel fijn hoe je in dit heel verassende verhaal steeds heel herkenbare zaken tegen komt. Tot de laatste pagina's onwetend over hoe het zou eindigen, en wie de villain is. Heel benieuwd naar deel 2.

I'm going to start by saying that I am a huge fan of Pretty Little Liars and Once Upon a Time and this book says that it's a mix of the two. And honestly, I saw that. There was drama, mystery, some murders, and a curse with storybook characters. I'm ALSO a huge fan of those OG fairy tales that aren't surrounded by princes and princesses and happy endings. And that's what this story is all about. So the premise is great and imaginative and had me hooked. However, I was slightly disappointed, but I feel like this is book 1 in what will be a series and I am very excited about that (if it isn't I am going to be incredibly disappointed and would change this review drastically).

The characters made me like and hate the book (in a good way). Some of the characters here were the worst. I won't give any spoilers but a main character that I was expecting to love, I loathed. She was mean for the sake of mean with no backstory that warranted it. I'm all for the villains of stories, but it's their stories that made them interesting. But maybe, if there are more books we'll get to learn more about this particular character. There were also some characters that were so sweet and earnest. And all said and done I think this perfectly highlighted the different personalities and moods teenagers have/go through.

Also, I loved the visibility. I love a book that is diverse and highlights different backgrounds, religions, sexualities, and cultures. All of the main characters are a plethora of sexualities and it's a boarding school in Switzerland that accommodates kids from all over the world. There was a lack of different races, however, that was noted in the book and I think will be touched on more (again, hoping for some more in a series).

This would have been a 4 star read other than the fact that I never felt excited. I never had the drive to learn what happens next. I don't know if that's due to my mood while reading or the writing, but I would definitely reread later to see and DEFINITELY read any other books related to this one to see how the story continues to unfold.

I recommend those to love fairytales (especially the twisted ones), boarding school dramas, and a bit of magic.