Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

126 reviews

gottbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book. This story gave me Eat, Pray, Love vibes with the current day main character taking some time away after a fight with her husband. Additionally, there are mystery thriller vibes from the events in the late 1700s. Kept me engaged and interested through its entirety. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

brennacathleen's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicide, Medical content, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, and Blood

stormeno's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Classism

enlamont's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.75

“You are not searching for a thing so much as you are searching for an inconsistency of things, or an absence”.

A gorgeously written feminist tale set in two different eras; 1871 and 2021, and I truly found myself in love with both eras of the story. 

Starting with 1871, the characters are so rich, you want to know more about them and I was sat at the edge of my seat throughout the latter half of their story.

Then we have 2021, which I struggled to get into at first, but as soon as Caroline found herself enamoured with the lost apothecary I was sold, and I kept wanting to tell her everything I knew about the past events to aid her discoveries.

Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed this book. It warmed my heart, and it was wonderful seeing how two stories, set decades apart, intertwined…and I’m not ashamed to say I shed a tear when I finished this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

freetobme's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

Enjoyable, quick read. I had no issue following the stories from the 3 characters. I didn’t appreciate that magic potions were glorified, nor the making and disguising of poisons. 

However, in the end the apothecary has a change of heart and stops making and dispensing poisons.

I did find several sentences and paragraphs to record and reflect on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Blood

asanders88's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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? No

5.0

I'm not sure why I let this book sit on a shelf for so long! The twists and turns at the end had me captivated!
The story follows a centuries ago apothecary full of poisons and secrets and the clues she left behind for a present-day woman, going through her own struggles, to find.
While I did find the book a little slow in the middle, the ending more than made up for it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

julbel's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Pedophilia

amcginger's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

abigailhaagen's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

This book felt like it couldn't decide what tone it wanted to go with, so it threw in a bit of everything. Sad, dark, lighthearted, contemporary, historical... and the characters didn't seem particularly fleshed out either. I didn't root for anyone except Eliza. And nobody had a strong moral code in this book; characters seemed to switch between being ok with crime and not ok with it, without any particular reason. The writing was also mid; lots of telling instead of showing. And I don't think this book is particularly historically accurate, based on other readings about the 18th century I've done. But it wasn't awful to read, and I liked the premise of the poisonous apothecary. So not a bad book, but not a great one either.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Blood