Four girls are trying to break a curse, but they face obstacles at every turn. Yuki is trying to figure out her powers. But as of right now, she’s downright dangerous. Poor Ella is in an abusive situation and feels stuck as she waits things out. Her relationship with Freddie feels superficial, but it actually works here, considering what she’s going through. Nani is figuring out how to relate to others and to let her guard down. And Rory? Even though she can be quick to lash out at others, she’s the one I relate to most.

While I can’t pretend to understand what Rory goes through with Fibromyalgia, I do suffer from multiple polyarthritis. And being in pain, some days you start the day with most of your spoons used up. When you’re in pain, sometimes you lash out because it’s all you can do. So her bursts of anger are understandable.

I appreciate the story being told from all the girls’ points of view and that the characters are inclusive. Pohl does fairy tales reimagined really well by putting her own spin on each of them. Tack on a bit of romance and mystery to the twisted tales, and you get a very enjoyable read. Thank you, Sourcebooks Fire, for sending this along!

The Wicked Remain is the second book in the Grimrose Girls series. The girls - Nani, Yuki, Ella, and Rory - know about the curse sentencing fellow students to fairytale-esque deaths and now they have to figure out how to stop it. The friendship between the girls was truly showcased in this installment, and I'm so here for that!

“It’s what friendship meant. That they would do things together, and no matter how hard it became, they would still be there. It was not about proving a point that you could do it on your own - that was just stupid. Besides, it wasn’t about accepting help. Friends didn’t help you because you needed it or out of charity or pity. They helped because they loved you. They helped because that’s what friends did. So no one would take the journey alone. Friends cared, and they chose to care.”

I enjoyed the fast facing, growing relationships, twists, multiple POV, diversity, and worldbuilding. An outstanding sequel.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

The Wicked Remain is the second installment and conclusion of the Grimrose Girls duology, and it’s just as good, if not better than the first one.

The characters in particular feel richer and more developed, especially as they’ve each become disillusioned with the academy upon the revelations of the truth. It’s interesting to explore how their stories and the possible dark endings parallel the original fairy tales, and how that inspires fear in them. And I continue to love the queer rep in the books, and the romance in this one is more prominent, coming in places I didn’t expect, although I was happy to see it all the same.

While this installment is quite a bit longer than its predecessor, it does not sacrifice brisk pacing for the longer length. It might possibly be translated a bit into some uneven pacing in places, but it’s otherwise fairly solid throughout.

This series is incredibly enjoyable, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys dark fairy tale retellings.

Content warning: physical abuse of a minor, suicide, mind control

Looking back to my review of the first book in this series, I mentioned that I thought there were too many moving parts and that I hoped the kinks would be worked out for the second book. I'm happy to say that most of the things that I didn't feel worked in the first book were fixed for this one and that overall, THE WICKED REMAIN is a satisfying conclusion to this duology.

I found the plot twists interesting and enjoyed seeing Yuki lean in to her powers more. The four main characters felt more fleshed out than they did in the first book - though I kept waiting (and hoping) for a certain library cat to play a bigger role within the plot. The subtle nods to the iconic details from the fairytale stories so many of us know so well thanks to Disney movies were a nice touch. I did feel like the climax and resolution of the curse was a bit of a letdown - I'm not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn't it.

All in all, I'm glad I gave THE WICKED REMAIN a chance after not loving THE GRIMROSE GIRLS and combined together, I feel like they make for a decent read and are an interesting take on reimaging fairytales into the modern world. I do wonder what happens next.

As a note, at least in the e-galley, there are "blank" chapters towards the end of the book based on things happening within the plot that I found a little odd. Not sure if the ARC is missing something or if that's how they'll look in the published copy, but it was awkward to come upon them even though I see what their implications mean.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.

With incredible twists and a combo of all my favorite fairy tales, The Wicked Remain is the incredible sequel and conclusion to The Grimrose Girls. I love the character development throughout these two books & the ending OMG fantastic! I did not see it coming!

Laura Pohl does an amazing job of showing how powerful young women can be if they just believe -- in themselves and in their friendship.

Often times in book series that start out strong, the sequel won’t live up to the first book. This book avoided that fate by continuing to spin a can’t-put-down plot as well as powerful female friendships. The alternating perspectives and storylines of the book are well-balanced and humanize the characters in addition to raising the stakes for the reader. This book helps highlight how the fairytale endings we as girls are told to emulate may not be what’s right for us, and that when we take ownership of our stories, we can be our own heroes.

As the sequel to The Grimrose Girls it didn't disappoint. What I especially loved about this was the writing style - when we have books with multi POVs it can be a tricky game of how much do we really get to know the characters before they feel watered down and Pohl nails it. Each of the characters felt developed and fleshed out and the writing!! was just so beautiful. Yuki's arc??? I'm emotional.

Thank you to Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unique retelling; urban fantasy; secret identity; royal; orphan; found family; FF; first love; cursed; disability rep; LBGTQIA rep

I liked this more than the first book as many answers start to come together. This is a very unique take on fairy tales and bringing them all into the real world. Having this from multiple POVs I think allows any reader to find a character they would identify with and get a “lesson” or find a happy ending that isn’t what you would normally envision as a happy ending.

I think the conclusion dragged a little bit and the explanation of the curse could have been more clear. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves fairy tales or any YA readers that don’t want a book focusing on the romance but that’s about 15% romance(which does add to the plot)

Following the same four girls from the previous book, this one starts with another year at Grimrose Académie. They know so much more but have MANY questions, still.

Girls continue to die at the school and they are determined to break the curse or they will surely be among them. But, they are each holding something back from the world and slowly, they have to discover things about themselves in order to change their fate.

This was a great sequel. I enjoyed the relationships and the growth of each of them. I loved how this played out and how it ended.

Grimrose Académie is cursed, but only Ella, Yuki, Nani, and Rory know about it. Everyone else is oblivious to the facts that they’re living out fairy tales, up until the moment of their death. But what is worse, not knowing that death is coming for you, or having the knowledge that this next semester will be your last?

Now that they know that their time is running out, Ella, Yuki, Nani, and Rory need to find a way to break the curse and save all the people in the school, and mostly, themselves. Unfortunately, the events of last semester have changed them. Yuki is unable to tear herself away from the darkest part of herself, the magic that creeps from her fingers. Ella used to dream about her eighteenth birthday, but now she knows that with it comes the end to her story. Nani is no closer to finding her father, but even more desperate than before to find out what happened to him. And Rory is being held captive by her parents, a true princess in a tower. Will they find a way to come together to break the curse plaguing the school, or will their individual stories break them?

I received an advanced reading copy of The Wicked Remain in exchange for an honest review.

The Wicked Remain is a young adult fantasy by Laura Pohl. It’s the sequel to The Grimrose Girls, which I read and reviewed last year, and is the final novel to this duology. If you read my review for The Grimrose Girls, you’ll know that I fell in love with the concept of the different characters embodying different fairy tales in the book, and that I had a great time trying to guess whose fairy tale was whose. But before I continue, I should probably warn you that there may be spoilers for The Grimrose Girls in the following review, so be cautious as you proceed!

Speaking of the first book, I should also mention that it had been a while since I’d read The Grimrose Girls, and it worked against me in the beginning of the sequel, as there were many characters and it took me a while to refamiliarize myself with who was whom. In general, I don’t recommend reading sequels without first reading the first book, and in this case, I was lucky I remembered the fairy tales the four main girls embodied, as that helped me finish placing the other many characters in the story.

But once I was reminded of whom everyone was, The Wicked Remain was such a blur, but in a good way! I just rushed through this book, and it helped that it read very quickly. There was so much going on in the lives of the individual girls, but also, Pohl doesn’t shy away from the gruesome and occasionally the gory, making me actually fear for the main characters, wondering if all of them would get their happily ever afters. In fact, I was so invested in this story, that while I was on the train to work, my Kindle glitched in the middle of a tense scene about 80 percent through the book, and I almost threw my Kindle across the train car, because I couldn’t believe it would pick that moment to glitch. Also, you should know that I nearly missed my stop back from work later that same day, because I was reading the end of the book. Yes, I did cry. Yes, the other passengers thought I was weird. What else is new?

I think my favorite part of the story was that, while each of the girls has their own lives and personal problems to deal with, in the end, they’re all friends and are always there for each other when they need it. I won’t spoil the ending, but I’ll mention that I thought that it was particularly perfect in how it brought the characters together. Also, I especially loved the relationship between Yuki and Ella, two characters who are complete opposites, with Yuki being cold, both physically and emotionally, and Ella being caring and comforting, but they’re really the best of friends, and the closest in the group. I kind of wish we’d gotten more of the two of them together, as it was such a good friendship in the book. I feel like friendship all too often gets overshadowed by romantic relationships in books, but here, it’s the friendship between all four girls that shines the brightest.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t some romance in here too! I won’t say too much about it, for fear of spoilers, but the romances do carry over from the first book, and I had a great time reading about how they developed in the sequel, especially as the main characters now knew all too well what was coming for them at the end of the school year. It added a layer of desperation to everything, knowing that every moment could be their last.

The Wicked Remain was a very satisfying ending to a magical duology. This is one I think a fan of fairy tale retellings and adaptations, or magical boarding school stories with a tinge of darkness would enjoy. I had fun reading these books, and trying to figure out the mystery for myself.

The Wicked Remain will be released on November 1. You can pre-order your copy from Sourcebooks Fire here.

When we first start this book, a little time passed since the events of Grimrose Girls. The girls are just coming back from Christmas break, and while they are all looking forward to seeing each other again they don't want to have to deal with what they know is coming. The first half to probably three-quarters of the way through the story is on the slower side. Especially in the very beginning when the most interesting thing that happens in a rescue mission and we get to see Yuki's powers really shine. The rest of the time the girls are trying to figure out their next steps in stopping the curse, but it seems like every time they have an idea it ends up leading to a dead end, then they have to start their investigation all over again

However, once we start getting all the puzzle pieces coming together everything starts to pick up and becomes much more interesting. I loved the friendships, and how in the end Ellie stood up for herself. She was one of my favorites and even though she didn't get the HEA I was expecting I enjoyed how the story ended for her especially.

I was really hoping this book would be better than the first one, but it was disappointing. I love the concept of having all of these fairytale characters at a school together and giving each of their stories a darker twist. The details and descriptions are so atmospheric and this book does a great job letting each of the four main characters have their own story. Some of the ways the author used the elements of the original fairy tales to give them a twist were so fun and interesting.

But this book was also so slow. Nothing happens for ages. The girls are attempting to figure out a way to break the curse and while they do, in the end, I couldn’t follow their thought process. A lot of the reveals about what was going on behind the curse seemed to come out of nowhere without much build up. I wish there had been foreshadowing leading up to the different reveals.

Near the end of the story one of the characters mentions they have “so many questions still about the curse, about magic, about how all of it had started, and how the ending still felt so raw, so abrupt” while another mentions that she “didn’t understand like, one third of what was going on” and that’s exactly how I felt while reading. I wanted to be able to follow along with the girls as they figured things out, but it just didn’t pan out that way. The characters themselves didn’t even understand everything that happened, which I feel like is a big indicator that this story needed more editing.

Overall, this book disappointed me because of pacing and how things ended. There are elements I did like, such as the messages and themes and the darker aesthetics with the retelling twist, but it just didn’t capture me enough.

3.5⭐️

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

Overall, I thought this was a really solid ending to this fun, dark fairytale fantasy. There were elements that I completely adored, but some things that left me wanting a little more.

So let's start with what I liked -

I loved how a "HEA" was different for each other girls. And it didn't automatically mean that they each ended up in a committed romantic relationship - especially considering these characters are teens and just graduating high school.

I loved the emphasis and friendships and platonic love. Yuki and Ella's relationship is so fierce and unending and I was living for it.

The last quarter of this book is a RIDE. I never wanted to put this book down once things were being revealed. Definitely make sure you have time to spare once you get to the last 100 pages. Because you won't be able to put this down.

However that leads into some of the things that didn't quite work for me.

While the ending was action packed, the first half was quite slow. It felt like almost nothing happened for the first 30-50% of the book. It was just the main characters having the exact conversations over and over. Which left me feeling like this book did not need to be nearly 500 pages long. So much of that could have been cut without loosing any development or plot.

I also felt that while the ending was action filled and fast paced, I was left feeling underwhelmed by the final reveals. I didn't feel like there was good foreshadowing done throughout the story to lead to the conclusion and reveal. The people behind the plot felt sudden and odd and I wasn't a huge fan.

And the way the curse broke... didn't make a ton of sense to me. Especially considering all the searching and clues our heroines found throughout the book. I don't entirely understand how they got to that conclusion or why it worked.

So in the end I'm left feeling a little torn. I felt like this book had amazing messages and discussions about love and loyalty and friendships. But I thought the wrap up of the mystery could have been handled better.

This is definitely still a book I recommend for anyone who loves fairytales and wants a dark, queer take on those tales. And I'm excited to see what Laura Pohl does next!

I absolutely adored the first book. I gobbled it up in less than a day and couldn't put it down. The second book however dragged, especially in the first half. Once I made it to chapter 37 or so the pacing picked up and it became a much more enjoyable read. Would I deam this my all time favorite book, no, but it also wouldn't be my all time worst. Thank you so much for to Netgalley and Sourcebook Fire for an advanced copy of the Wicked Remain.

thank you netgalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC!

a pretty much perfect fairytale ending.
i saw a video saying that the girls from pretty little liars don't... act as friends, but as colleagues, same with the avengers. although i don't fully agree with that statement, i can draw a parallel of how much the girls from grimrose truly feel like best friends.

grimrose girls is a perfect spiritual sucessor to pretty little liars and once upon a time, with a dash of dark academia. it's been a while since i read the first book so i forgot which characters were supposed to be which fairytale conterpart, so the experience of relearning all of this at the beginning was awesome. do you remember the first season of once upon a time, and every episode you're like "omg she's the red hiding hood!! wow the mad hatter!! snow white's huntsman!!"? it's the same feeling.

in "the wicked remains" all the loose ends are tied in an almost flawless way. i didn't fully enjoy the reveal of who was behind the curse, but i didn't care either way. just being with the characters trying to solve the mystery was enough. also... there was one couple who broke up that i wish would stay together.

all our main characters are great, and their loved ones also. you know when you're watching a movie or a tv show and you think "well, this one main character had nothing to do with the main story"? that doesn't happen here, and all the little quirks, the personalities of our main girls are useful to the ending without making it feel forced. yuki, ella, nani, rory, i can't even rank my favorite.

i would recommend this duology to all who like pretty little liars, once upon a time, fairytale retellings, dark academia and soft mysteries. definitely gonna read the authors next books!! she's also translating one of my favorite books (if we were villains) to portuguese, so i guess Laura Pohl's my newest "auto-reads".

Thanks Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I really loved this book! I enjoyed The Grimrose Girls so I was excited to get the second book! Ella, Nani, Rory, and Yuki are determined to stop the curse but with no leads and no information can they do it? I enjoy the dark look at fairytales that these books have! I enjoy all for girls and I love that each one of them brings something different! I enjoy their strengths as well! I love the found family, friendship, and love that they all have for one another! I enjoyed the tale of the curse as well not what I was expecting! I’m excited to add this book to my collection! If you enjoyed the first book you will not be disappointed by this one! Highly recommend!

The second book in this series was just as engaging and imaginative as the first. I was immediately enraptured with the magical storytelling, the amazing cast of characters, and the drama of it all! so much drama! just loved reading this twist on the classic fairytales.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e arc of this book. I was hesitant to read this after feeling slightly underwhelmed with the first book in this series. However as the books progressed I realised that I had nothing to be worried about. This sequel follows Ella, Yuki, Rory and Nani after the dramatic incidents of last year that have emotionally impacted them all (especially Yuki). Despite the four of them feeling very disillusioned towards the academy they have no choice but to keep on going as the curse on them is intrinsically linked to the academy.

My main problem with the first book was the lack of character development. All throughout the first book I felt as if I didn't know who the characters were despite following individual perspectives. This was remedied by the fact that in this book the characters felt much more fleshed out and they all had individual and distinguishable voices. This allowed me to feel more connected to the characters and thus actually care about what was happening in this book.

Prior to reading this I did not reread The Grimrose Girls but this did not detract from the reading experience, the author recapped the ending of the last book in a concise and in a not too forceful way which meant as a reader we were easily placed in the storyline and the action could kick off almost instantly!

The pacing of this book was good especially towards the end with twists and turns preventing the plot pace from dropping off entirely. Although there were some plot points that I didn't really see the significance of and in some cases it felt like a filler episode of tv I would still recommend this book if you enjoyed the first book or if you felt a bit uncertain on the first book.

Okay, okay, okay. Everybody stay calm. Everybody stay f**** calm!

I want to thank SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley so much. Because this book? My favorite of this month. It has everything.

So after a messy and bloody winter ball, and some holidays, the four girls are back together and have one goal: break the curse. But it may not be that easy, and maybe not what it seems.

I loved the first volume; this was my most anticipated book of the year. So when I was reached to read an e-arc I HAD to say yes. And you know what? I don’t regret it. Our characters have significant development, and the mystery and thriller sides are fantastic. I loved the focus on Yuki’s power. Because our girl deserves to be badass and morally grey. I was scared for them all along. Also when I thought “I know what’s happening”... Well no, I did not actually.

The fact that I loved all the girls equally just proves how great Laura Pohl is for writing characters. She’s great at writing mysteries, action, touching, and sad scene. There’s a bit of romance, but what is a fairy tale without a bit of romance? Also, one of them may surprise you.

But what I loved more? The relationships between all the characters. It evolves with good and bad. They are real relationships, and that makes the characters even more real.

So, yes, I loved this book, as I planned to. Thank you Laura Pohl for it.
Also, I annotated it so much…

I liked this even more than the first one! I definitely reccomend picking this up if you loved the first book.