 | Grimrose girls (Grimrose Girls) Author: Pohl, Laura | |
| Price: $9.01 | ||
Summary:
While investigating the apparent suicide of their best friend, four students at an elite boarding school uncover a series of past murders connected to ancient fairy tale curses, and they fear that their own fates are tied to the stories, dooming them to gruesome deaths unless they can forge their own paths.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: UG Reading Level: 5.10 Points: 13.0 Quiz: 516417 |
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 11/01/2021 Grimrose Academy is an elite coed boarding school in Switzerland, and the first days of the new school year are marred by the apparent suicide of Ariane, one best friend in a tightly knit group, along with Ella, Rory, and Yuki. Not convinced that Ariane committed suicide, the girls try to find out why she died. When a girl from Hawaii, Nani, is assigned to Ariane’s room, she is drawn into the search when she discovers a hidden book of darker versions of fairy tales in Ariane’s closet. A list of previously deceased students shows that some of the deaths appear to be tied to the tales. What is disconcerting is that Ella, Rory, and Yuki are also on the list. Pohl skillfully twists magic and mystery together to produce a story that slowly builds in suspense to its denouement, in which Ari’s murderer is revealed. Even so, the ending indicates that the four girls have more work to do. Readers thrilled by fairy-tale retellings will appreciate this boarding-school mystery. - Copyright 2021 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 11/01/2021 Gr 9 Up—Despite its perfect appearance, the Grimrose Académie, an elite boarding school located in a castle in the Swiss Alps, has a dark history of students dying under mysterious circumstances, most recently Ariane, whose drowning seemed to be an accident or a suicide. Yet her closest friends, Ella, Yuki, and Rory, can't shake feelings of suspicion about the nature of her death. When Nani, a recent transfer student, discovers a book of fairy tales among Ariane's possessions with a list of names that includes those of past dead students and their own, the friends begin to uncover the magical and macabre links between fairy tale stories and their own fates. The fun of Pohl's murder mystery lies in uncovering the connections between the characters and their fairy tale antecedents, as tensions rise and the killer, or curse, seems to circle closer and closer to the friends. Chapters alternate perspectives between the four girls, allowing their unique stories to develop. This series opener tackles complex issues, including domestic violence, obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety, chronic illness, and more, through an immersive world that dances between fairy tale and reality. Ella and Rory are white; Yuki is cued Japanese and Nani Native Hawaiian. The book includes bisexual, lesbian, asexual, and transgender representation. VERDICT A solid choice for libraries where dark fairy tale retellings circulate well.—Molly Saunders, Manatee County P.L., Bradenton, FL - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
