The Grimrose Girls: Dark Academia Fairytale (The Grimrose Girls, 1)

It started off slow, slightly confusing but I kept reading. It got better from page to page, I fell in love with all of them.

„That‘s just a think to stop you from becoming who you‘re meant to be, because the world is scared of girls who know what they want.“

Ein echt gutes Buch mit dark academia, pretty little liars und einem ungelösten Fluch vibes. Auch die Charaktere haben sehr viel Tiefgang und lassen die Story noch weiter wachsen! ☺️

Tropes: – murder-mystery – sapphic rep – 4 girls, 4 PoVs – found family-friendship – Fantasy elements

The book does not start so strong in the first 1/3, and there is one part of the story that doesn’t wholly make sense…there being several “accidents“ (how anyone can thing they are accidents is beyond me) at the boarding school and NO ONE but the main characters really caring about them and/or connecting the dots. I think the second book may explain that (there was something being said at the end of this book that hinted at that), but until that that‘s something that confuses me. Like, why aren‘t the parents or friends of the dead students (aside from the 4 of them) more adamant that those can‘t be accidents? However the 2/3 and 3/3 of the book managed to hook me, and include some great character development regarding the four leads. My favorite is without any doubt Yuki – her journey from being this silent perfectionist to a force to be reckoned with – and more importantly, to being herself, that‘s so well done. And I love this murder mystery x fantasy elements mix. The romances are very sweet too – especially Nani’s – though the mystery is definitely on the forefront of the story. 3.5/5⭐️ 0/5🌶️

Hmmm I don't know how to rate it, to be honest. I was totally hyped for the book and it sadly let me down. However, will I read the second one as soon as it's out? Definitely. The girly-tatter, the high school drama, the plot, all already read somewhere. +1 for the magic/fairytale thing going on, I hope that will be more in focus in the upcoming books. +1 for the setting (castle, Switzerland/German border) BUT where are the guys all the time? Did I miss something? Was this planned as an all-girls-boarding-school? But why are there guys on the schoolground? And like hundred more open questions I had during reading which I forgot because I'm pretty late with the review.

I liked guessing which Character could fit to which Fairy Tale and the mix between Magic and Murder was good. However story and suspension wise it didn't really have interesting up and downs it was relatively straight forward. All in one a good read but didn't quite catch me.