This book has so many elements that I love—fairy tale characters, murder, sweet romances, boarding school vibes, dark twists and turns—but I had a hard time connecting with the characters, and the mystery aspects, while interesting, didn’t grip me like I had expected.

I was hoping I could follow along with the main girls as they tried to figure out what was happening, but the reveal seemed to come out of nowhere (all of a sudden three of the four girls KNEW who the murderer was) and I felt as if I had missed something while reading. It also takes a long time for things to start rolling after the initial opening, and even then there are a lot of elements thrown into the story that never get explained as thoroughly as I wanted. The ending left me wanting a more solid reasoning for what was happening and more explanation as to why it was happening. The book as a whole comes across as a set-up for something much bigger, which I look forward to reading in the sequel.

The fairy tale retelling aspects are so cool, though, and it was fun to guess which girl was which fairy tale princess. I love the concept a lot, and the atmosphere of the book definitely captures that dark fairy tale vibe I was hoping for.

This book will appeal to readers who like murder mysteries, a variety of diverse representation, and dark fairy tale retellings.

I am such a fan of dark academia and the setting of The Grimrose Girls is catnip to my little kitty soul! Set in a Swiss castle, aptly named Grimrose Académie, it starts with the mysterious death of Ariane and the friends she left behind to grieve. Ella, Yuki, and Rory all know that Ari would never kill herself despite what the police investigation rules. When new student Nani arrives, taking Ari’s place as Rory and Yuki’s roommate, the girls begin to work together to unmask the truth of what happened to Ari. More death and destruction occur and a mysterious book may hold the answer to the curse that the girls are looking for.

Full of fairytale magic and curses, the girls struggle to change what fate may bring. There’s an overwhelmingly dark and sinister atmosphere that I loved and I think the combining of well-known fairytales is so clever and entertaining.

Thank you, Sourcebooks Fire, for this gifted copy.

This review is from the author, LOL. I really loved writing this book, and glad to see every reader enjoyin these fairytales, and having as much fun as I had writing it.

While reading this, I felt like I was walking the corridors of Grimrose Académie with these girls. The writing is vibrant and intoxicating. I just finished this one and I already need more!

Mourning the death of their best friend Ariane, Ella, Yuki and Rory cannot allow themselves to believe that she killed herself like the police have concluded. And, with the arrival of a new student (and their new roommate, taking Ariane’s bed) Nani, they are forced to face the fact that she is never coming back.

But, the secrets and deceptions run deep in this all girls elite boarding school. And upon finding a book that Ariane had, those secrets begin spilling out, creating fear and tumultuous ground between the friends.

They all must work together to figure out what happened to their friend while students begin to die around them. Something wicked is cursing the girls and as they dig deeper, they discover history repeating, leaving them to be the ones to break the cycle.

This book was addictive and I couldn’t put it down. I am such a sucker for retellings especially when they are combined with dark academia, queer girls and great writing. This book has it all.

Whoo, was this a fun read! I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and drama of this narrative. I'm a huge fan of retellings, so the connection to fairytales was really interesting to me.

It was difficult to keep track of the different characters as we follow 4 different girls at the same time. The chapters were short, so it was continuously jumping around from girl to girl but once the story picked up the flow was easier to keep up with. The relationship of the girls and their personalities were fun and relatable, lots of unique traits that kept them separate but is also what brought them together. I'm excited for the next one, I'm hoping we get to see more behind the scenes of the girls' lives now that we have a baseline of their school life... I'm particularly interested in Rory's secrets and eager to know more about Yuki's new trait!!

A highly recommended read for those who like fairytales (and not the happily ever after ones), aren't afraid of a little bloody details, and enjoy thriving friendships.

I love fairytale retellings and Pretty Little Liars so when I read the premise of this book, I knew I had to read it. I liked this book but I wish it had leaned more into the fairytale element (which will probably happen in the next book). I didn't realize this is going to be a series so I was a bit disappointed that things didn't completely wrap up.

I loved the characters of the book and just wanted to know more about them. Rory is a fencer who is tired of her parents treating her like she's fragile, Ella loves making clothes and has anxiety, Nani is trying to reunite with her father (who works at the school), and Yuki is sick of trying to be perfect. I couldn't figure out for the life of me which fairytale character Nani was supposed to be until she basically figured it out herself. After the halfway point of the book, I was also having too much fun reading about the fairytale-inspired murders happening at the school.

The Grimrose Girls was definitely better than your run-of-the-mill high school drama book but I was hoping for more fairytale elements.

Three girls at an elite boarding school want to solve the death of their friend. Each girl is unique and goes about their loss in different ways. Spinning in fairy tale elements, this blends a bit of real-life with the magical. There is a character for everyone in The Grimrose Girls, someone for each of us to relate to. Even Yuki, who is a tough character to like, has her charm. She wants no part in any of this and is rude in how she goes about making her stance. Personally, her reasons don't fit her actions, and I know there must be more to it.

The ultimate question is, why is a school that is riddled with girls dying still open? I hope that is answered in future books because no parent who pays as much as these parents do for tuition will be okay with their children dying left and right. But, as with Yuki, the book has its charm. It's fun watching the girls piece together what is happening. It's an enjoyable mystery that hooks readers from the start.

When I request a book from Netgalley, especially one that falls under Fantasy, I usually check to see if it's part of a series because authors and publishers have a way of making a series a serial. Sadly, I requested this before it was labeled a book one, and I realized it wasn't a standalone. I also understand that ARCs still have another round of editing to go through before they hit the market, but wow, my copy is filled with poor spelling and grammar, and that's pretty rare for me. I think with a final edit, the book will hold so much more appeal. Thank you, Sourcebooks Fire, for sending this along.

The Grimrose Girls Arc Review 


Thank you Netgalley for the arc! This however does not affect my honest review at all.


The students of the famous Grimrose Academie are the best of the best. They're rich, perfect, beautiful and just like the princesses and princes that belong in fairytales.

But that is the problem isn't it? The fates of the students are inexplicably tied to stories that belong in a children's book but there's a twist. None of these endings

are happy.

_____________________________________

 After the death of their best friend Ariane, Ella,Yuki and Rory have banded up to solve the mystery of her death. Everything seems bleak since even the police have ruled

it as a suicide but when they discover a book of fairytales with the help of Nani, the equally mysterious new girl, it changes everything. 
_____________________________________

One word that I have for this book is: Disappointing. It had everything in it to be the best book of 2021 except well a plausible plot.

Let's start with the characters, we have 4 pov characters Ella,Yuki,Rory and Nani. All four of them have different motives, voices and personalities but at the end, they all become one dimensional and remain without any character development.

There's a huge cast excluding the main 4, there's multiple students at the academy who have a role, there's the love interests and the friends, siblings, families, many more characters that I cannot name. At the end, it all became a one big mess.

The characters were one big caricature and not fleshed out at all, their backstories were huge infodumps and why Ariane, Yuki, Ella and Rory were friends wasn't even understandable to me because they all had nothing in common. And all they did on page was fight and bicker among each other.

Next up the setting, I love boarding school settings and they immensely please the dark academia fan in me but one thing that bugged me was these kids just never study. I mean you're at an extremely expensive school but you don't have to study at all??

The pacing of this book was fast and that's the only good thing about this and also the only thing that kept me from dnf-ing.

The main problem for the failure of an idea with such potential was it's too short chapters. The chapters are barely 2 pages and its extremely annoying to keep jumping from pov to pov. If the scenes were longer then atleats it wouldn't feel like I was reading an anthology of stories about characters I barely care about.

And the ending was very very anti climatic with a plot twist sprung out of the blue.

All in all 1.5 stars for keeping me entertained through the weekend and the amazing concept. Recommended if you want to read a fast paced spooky book this fall.

This was a tad more Disney-ish than I was expecting. And tumblr-ish. Very simplistic writing, very, um, teenagery teenagers. Lots of references to the Disney versions of fairytales. I’m struggling on how to describe it nicely because it really was not for me, but I do think teens and young adults who like Once Upon a Time, Marvel’s Runaways, and E K Johnston’s books will be into it. It is not really like Pretty Little Liars, the characters are far too nice.

Also, fair warning that it sets up for a sequel, so the ending is not really satisfying. It’s not technically a cliffhanger but basically no questions are answered except the super obvious one.

Also there is some excessively over the top gruesomeness (I do not recall any version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears involving Goldilocks’s brains being smashed out and mixed into a bowl of porridge for no reason other than theatrics).

The Grimrose Girls is a blooming rose amongst its dark and dangerous thorns. This is a story that captures the essence of its original tales and weaves something entirely new and wonderful out of it.

I adored that dramatic and emotional opening. It just pulled me into the heart of the story straight away and from there Pohl did not let me go. The pacing of this book is superb, with plenty of juicy twists and turns in store. There is no shortage of suspense and drama, with real stakes driving the pace faster and faster. I liked how Pohl really dug into the fairytales to create these Grimm inspired deaths, with a touch of Final Destination to the occasionally outlandish stylings. It’s that mismash of whimsical and horrendously brutal that really sets a chill on your spine.
As you may have gathered, I adored the way Pohl blended murder mystery and fairytales. She just taps into the darkly beating heart of the originals and harnesses it into a new story fit for our generation. Similarly, she ensures that both the mythology and world building gradually layer up into this rich, cohesive world. It has this timeless feel to it, being both modern and old at the same time. The plot and pacing perfectly matches this tone, creating a cohesive and incredibly bingeable book.

I cannot review this book without mentioning the fantastic characters. Even though we follow them from a slightly removed third person voice, I still found myself falling in love with each of them. For lack of a better phrase, they just jumped off the page. They’re all on their own journeys of self-discovery and acceptance in various forms that felt so empowering to read. It also was interesting to see how they dealt with their own issues through Pohl’s modern reinterpretation of the original tales.

The Grimrose Girls flips the script on what you may expect from fairy tale retellings with a dash of murder, mystery and the power of female friendships.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book but I definitely liked what I got! I am such a huge fan of dark academia and I fell completely in love with this setting. A castle located in the Swiss Alps transformed into an elite boarding school full of hidden rooms, passage ways and mystery. The characters were fantastic and the mix of Disney fairy tale stories with a twist made the book that much better. I read this in a day and cannot wait for the rest of the series!

Thank you Netgalley so much for this incredible arc!

This gave me everything I wanted! LGBTQ+, a boarding school that's actually a huge castle in Switzerland, so many fairytale retellings and a mystery! Yes, I was all there for this!

Ella, Yuki and Rory are devastated by the death of their friend Arianne. They do not believe it was suicide, which is the main rumor, so they are on a quest to find real answers. Around this time Nani shows up and becomes a new member of the group with new insights. This tale is full of twists and turns and surprises (some romantic surprises that made me squeal with happiness).

I loved this gorgeous and atmospheric tale from start to finish! Definitely give this a shot and get swept away into this amazing world!

2.5 rounded up. This felt really basic, to be honest, and the writing felt kind of childish even though it's supposed to be older YA. it just doesn't match up to books the genre is producing these days - the voice was amateur and it didn't feel like anything new. I appreciated the queer rep, even though it felt quite flat.

Grimrose Girls is like finding a fine chocolate laced with arsenic. It's decadent and beautiful, and filled with the threat of death. The novel is laced with foreboding from the start even while we laugh at the girls' banter and their "normal" teenage lives, and Pohl's words create a rich and heavy atmosphere that suck unwary bystanders in and threaten violence. This is a gruesome novel, with ample death and despair. Adults stand unhelpfully in the shadows, and in some cases are as vile as the wickedness threatening the girls. Despite all of that, the easy banter between the girls and the ample slivers of hope in the form of love interests and gentle kindnesses keeps the novel from plunging into misery.

While I think this is an all-around excellent book, my only critique is that some things were not clear to the reader, but written as being clear to the characters. Obviously this is a literary device and some of these cases made sense in light of the coming sequel, but in other cases the reader was clearly supposed to know what had happened as well, but for whatever reason it wasn't written clearly. These cases were minor and I would attribute them solely to Pohl having to switch between four characters constantly, which can be confusing for the reader when trying to explain a complex event.

Ultimately, I would suggest this book to anyone, especially for the month of Halloween, and I thank NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Grimrose Girls is unlike any dark academia or fairytale retelling I've ever read. This book definitely feels like a nod to Pretty Little Liars, though without the creepy student/teacher relationship we all want to pretend didn't happen.

Yuki, Rory, and Ella return to their boarding school for the uber-rich after their friend Ariane has died. They aren't, or at least aren't willing to believe, that her death was suicide. And then they find a magic fairytale book stashed in her old nightstand.

With the help of the new girl, Nani, they discover that this book contains darker endings to the classic tales that Grimrose students are cursed to repeat, unless they can find a way to stop it.

I loved the concept of this book, though I found it a tiny bit hard to believe that some of the girls wouldn't have drawn parallels from their lives to the fairytales before--they are at an elite boarding school after all. Grimrose is supposed to be under a curse and we don't really know to much about it so who knows maybe this will get explained in the sequel?

The book cycles through Nani, Yuki, Rory, and Ella's perspectives and I loved that they were each so different. The representation and diversity overall was pretty thoughtful. The Grimrose Girls stands out for me in the genre of retellings for representing so many original takes on fairytales.

Thank you to @netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for providing me with this advancing copy in exchange for an honest review. The Grimrose Girls is out on October 26th!

Last year I read a book by Laura Pohl (The Last 8) and while I had some issues with it, I decided to give this authors books another shot. „The Grimrose Girls“ ended up being quite different, for better or worse.

The story follows a group of girls – Ella, Yuki, and Rorry – who are coming to terms with the fact that they have just lost their friend Ariane. A suicide, an accident or something else entirely, the death doesn‘t leave their minds as easily as it seems to everyone else's. Subtle details that do not fit together and the strange happenings in their elite boarding school, Grimrose Académie, lead girls to question what really happened to their friend. They are joined on this search by a new girl, Nani, who has questions and worries of her own...

„The Grimrose Girls“ is a retelling of well known and beloved fairy tales, based on their darker, older counterparts (think Grimms' tales instead of Disney). While the modern spin on certain details from the stories were interesting and well thought out, some of the ‚clues‘ to which girl corresponds to what story felt a bit too on the nose (Yuki‘s name, for example). The representation was for the most part by a margin better than what I usually find in books. It was amazing to see such different characters, just as we‘d expect in real life, with a variety of physical and psychological health issues, sexualities and cultures. This was not done without a fault, of course, but I feel like the author did a lot of research and genuinely cared about what she was including.

Perhaps my biggest problem laid with the characters, specifically Yuki, and it‘s hard for me to explain why coherently or without spoiling things. I just felt that she was hypocritical and dishonest to everyone including herself with very little reason. I suppose one could assume this to come from the way she was raised, how she was taught to behave and to think, but it nevertheless made me dislike her.

All in all, I read the book in two days (which is quite a feat for me, considering my schedule, so you know I was invested) and liked the representation and how it was interwoven into the contemporary fantasy (if I can call it that?) without overshadowing the story or becoming just random tidbits of additional information. I am looking forward to the conclusion of this story.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Grimrose Girls was a great read for October. It wasn't too spooky, but the deaths were a bit gruesome.

Grimrose is an elite boarding school in Switzerland. There are four points of view for this. We get Ella, Rory, Yuki, and Nani. Nani is new, taking the place of the other's best friend, Ari. Ari drowned her first day back at school. The school believes it was either an accident or suicide, but Ella doesn't believe it. When Nani finds a book hidden in Ari's part of the room, the group realizes there is something more going on. The book seems like it's just fairy tales, but Ari wrote notes throughout the book. Ari also got a note from someone saying they would tell the truth. Ari's death reminded them of The Little Mermaid's tale. There is a list of names and Ari wrote that she was one of them on it. When other students start to die, the deaths follow other fairy tales from the book. Ella is determined to find out what happened to Ari and what curse must be on the school or the book before the rest of them end up dead.

I really enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It's a quick paced book full of diversity.

There is a content warning page in the beginning of the book. Please make sure you read that first. There is obviously talk of death and suicide, but other things as well.

I gave this book 4 stars. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc.

Like Ever After High, but make it dark and queer. THE GRIMROSE GIRLS is strangely addictive, a twisted story that challenges the classic fairytales.
At first glance, the story may not seem like much: four girls attending a prestigious boarding school, each of them burdened with their own struggles but banding together to uncover the mystery behind the death of their friend. The beginning read as generic and amateur. Little did I know. Through a writing technique that I've seen rarely before, the lines of the story become infinitely more tangled and convoluted as the book progresses. I could scarcely put it down, even when the events were menial and boring. What presents itself as plain and innocent is mangled and bloody underneath. Dark motives. A captivating mystery. And girls who are capable of so much more than what is expected of them.
The representation in this book-- *chef's kiss*--there's a disabled main character (fibromyalgia) who's literally such a bad bleep. There's an aroace main character. A fat main character. A main character who suffers from OCD and anxiety. The list goes on. These girls are so, so lovable.
My main complaints are that the POV's were hard to distinguish from one another most of the time, so I would've liked to see each character's voice explored further. Also, the mental illness of the aforementioned character seemed almost like an afterthought? There were random mentions of her counting things and fidgeting, but that's it; that's barely scratching the surface of what severe anxiety and OCD really look like, and that bothered me. The romances were enjoyable, but seemed very surface-level. There wasn't enough time for me to see any of them bond significantly enough for me to ship them too hard. There is definitely potential, but not swoon-worthy *yet*.
Overall, its faults were enough for me to dock a star, but I still enjoyed it. Beware, though--THE GRIMROSE GIRLS is not a standalone!! I had hoped it would be, but was still pleased with the ending and am eagerly awaiting the sequel.

This modern-day reimagining of classic fairytales was such a delight to read. The Grimrose Girls is a story about a group of friends who try to solve the death of their best friend Ariane.

Set in Switzerland, The Grimrose Académie for Elite Students accepts students primarily of wealthy and privileged backgrounds. When one of the most-beloved students is found dead in the lake on the school’s property, it sends shock waves throughout the school. When the police rule it a suicide, Ella, Yuki, and Rory refuse to believe it, and, together, they make it their mission to uncover the truth.

When Nani Eszes, a reluctant new student of Grimrose, replaces Ariane as the roommate of Yuki and Rory, she soon joins the girls’ investigation. Their desire to find answers sets off a chain of events involving more death, magic, and a mysterious curse.

This book effortlessly incorporates many familiar fairytales, including Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and many more. The reimaginings more closely resemble the original fairytales by Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm rather than the sugar-coated Disney versions.

The chapters are short and alternate between the four girls. They all have very distinct voices.

Ella is a people-pleaser and just trying to keep her head down until she’s of age to move out of her abusive home.

Rory is a strong young woman who has led a very sheltered and private life.

Yuki is an outwardly perfect girl, but inwardly is brimming with ice-cold anger.

Nani is a lonely girl trying to connect with her father.

There is plenty of LGBTQ representation, and it didn’t seem like it was only a checkbox for diversity. There’s also disability rep without any of the cliche inspirational messaging.

I noticed after reading this that the students did almost no schoolwork and hardly mentioned their classes. I still have some questions about the curse and Rory’s background, so hopefully, the sequel will provide more answers.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for the arc provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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