Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Зникнення аптекарки by Sarah Penner

67 reviews

janicesierra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, and Vomit

Minor: Death of parent

jenniferbowman's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Okay. So. Reviewing this is complicated, because throughout 90% of this book, I was very ready to rate this story 4.5/5 stars. Five stars if the ending wowed me (which I was hoping for). The majority of the book is compelling, and moves fairly quickly…for the most part, I don’t feel like any words are wasted.

HOWEVER…I was left scratching my head at the ending—from the quickly rolling pace of the climax on, I craved a surprise twist that would leave me reeling and chuckling with surprise. But…the loose ends, although tied up, did not feel complete.

When it comes to a book like this with multiple timelines, I want all of those timelines to be tied together in an inseparable way. This felt more like two separate stories that were related, BUT…I really wish they had been better connected as one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

lisa_hin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

a_bow's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

booksoversecondbreakfast's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

Overall, I loved this book, especially Caroline's (the modern character's) story. I enjoyed the fact that her story mirrored thematically the stories of the past. I also enjoyed the fact that the Nella kept her log book because she believed that women deserved to have their stories told, and I liked how this was reflected in Caroline's story in her investigation. It truly was a story of women helping other women, even if in a way that's shrouded in darkness. Everything got pulled together so neatly at the end and it was so poetic and satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide attempt

heresyourletter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

As a sucker for Kate Morton-esque books with multiple narrators set in different time periods and a strong mystery element, I enjoyed the book. I found the prose a tad repetitive, but the audiobook format meant I could zone out during the “recaps” and tune back in once the plot resumed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Blood

One character’s job is supplying women with poison to kill the men in their lives. Beetles are killed to make a poison. One minor character is an alcoholic. Infidelity is a prominent theme. An upperclass character uses her privilege to bully another character into doing her bidding. One character believes in ghosts and mentions feeling haunted by a character who died before the novel begins. Two different characters discuss trying (and failing) to have a baby.

One character miscarries after she is deliberately fed poison and grieves the loss of her unborn child throughout the book. Another minor character, who is mentioned but does not appear in the book, is a teenager who became pregnant by her employer’s husband and died in childbirth. A twelve-year old girl is groped by her employer’s husband. He also drugs her and attempts to sexually abuse her, but is stopped before this happens. One character is shown to be in a marriage with a man who tries to manipulate her and blame all his problems on her. One character is interrogated and another two are chased by police on suspected murder charges. One character is slowly dying from an unnamed illness (possibly cancer) and coughs up blood. One character plans to die by suicide, but ultimately does not go through with it. One character jumps off a bridge in a presumed suicide attempt, but is later shown to behave survived. One character drinks eucalyptus oil and is rushed to hospital, but ultimately survives.

pinetree_reads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

At first I was unsure if I should read this book. The reviews here weren't the best but I still gave it a try.
And it was a great decision.

I really like the characters and the depth that they have to them. The Author really knows how to highlight the struggle of the woman who lived in this time.

It was heartfelt and emotional.
I hope Caroline gets to live her dream. I think she and Gaynor will have a great friendship - maybe even more.

The only thing I would say was not as good as the book was the marketing. I think the description leads a lot of people into reading the book with false expectations. It's not even clear that the path of not two, but three woman interwind. I think people would not be disappointed by the book if it was made clear that it would talk about the life of these three - in different times.

I'm not sure how Eliza survived but I'm sure glad that she did. I'm also not really sure what happens to Bella and her illness, but I hope the news article Caroline finds at the means that she got to live with Eliza a bit more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Blood

eeamiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

I had seen this book around a few places and it falls squarely into a genre/story arc I enjoy - historical fiction with a dual present day storyline. I didn't listen super attentively to this book, but I listened closely enough to feel a little schadenfreude. This book is about an apothecary who uses her skills to help women off their deadbeat partners/husbands, and a present day woman (with a jerk husband) who is rediscovering who she is when their marriage starts to fall apart through her inviestigation into this apothecary's story. I didn't mind a little vigilante justice in my life. Everything wraps up with a neat little bow (at least for the women). It was enjoyable on audio because of the fully cast narration. I don't tend to like dual timeline books on audio because I can't flip around to remember who was where doing what, but the full cast narration helped that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abortion, and Murder

pinkupengu's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Incest, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Excrement

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