This is not going to be a well-written review because this book took all my thoughts. THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD BOOK. I loved the first book, and I was so excited when I was confirmed for this. AND IT LIVED UP TO MY EXPECTATIONS. The characters were amazing, the character development was amazing, and the story was amazing. I loved this book so much and I will definitely be buying a physical copy.

This was a great follow up to The Grimrose Girls. The weaving of the different fairytales was well done and the friendships and relationships between the girls was great to see. If you enjoyed the first book then you'll enjoy this one that ties up everything.

I absolutely loved book one, so I had high expectations for book two! This one was just as exciting and twisty as the first but definitely a little softer edge to it. Overall the characters were well developed and the wrap up of the curse and story was well thought out. I really loved this duology!

The Wicked Remain is a great sequel to The Grimrose Girls that goes deeper into the four main characters and mysterious storyline without being overshadowed by the success of the first book, as many second books tend to do.

The Wicked Remain explores the world and lives of Ella, Yuki, Nani, and Rory after they have already discovered the mystery prevalent in The Grimrose Girls-- the truth behind their curses. As bringing fantasy characters into a modern world is already cliché, and it seemed difficult to follow up the first book and keep it interesting I was not sure how this book would be. However, it was a perfect follow-up and a great duology.

Pohl manages to make these characters everyone knows feel fresh and compelling-- the reader gets to see them develop and find their happy endings in their own ways. The characters themselves are wonderful: many of them being diverse and all of them being very grounded with plenty of development that made you root for them even more. The book is fast-paced in a great way, utilizing multiple POVs perfectly, with a great and shocking ending.

This book was a great follow up to book one. It was easy to flow seamlessly back into this world, and the story. I love the twist on the fairytales and will highly recommend this to readers that enjoy “once upon a time” and similar works. Great ending to the duology! Full review will be posted on my blog.

Imagine a world where teenage girls are free to be themselves and love whomever they want. At Grimrose Académie this is the reality, but there's a curse forcing the girls to live out fairy tales with unhappy endings. I loved this mash up of classic fairy tales spun in new way. A story about friendship above all else that's sure to have you turning the pages until the bitter end!

i was extremely excited for the wicked remain as the grimrose girls is one of my favourite books. this book definitely needs another couple rounds of editing as i spotted a myriad of grammatical errors and typos, but since it is an arc i don’t hold that against it. the wicked remain started off as a very disappointing sequel but it found its feet about halfway through. some parts of it felt rushed and sloppy, but overall it was a solid follow up to the grimrose girls.

<i> She belonged to no one but herself, and her home was her own heart. </i>

I came in with high expectation because I love the first book (Grimrose Girls) and this one doesn't disappoint. I love it a lot! I love all the girls, but if I have to pick a fav, it would be Yuki. I love how the author perfectly mixed dark academia and classic fairytale with magical twists. For me the middle part is a little bumpy, as in some details are too much and some too little, but I enjoyed how the story progressed toward that grand finale,

My favorite part of this book is that it's offering a new kind of "happy ending", that not every story needs to end with a prince/princess charming or any love interest to the rescue. We could, and should be able, to rescue ourselves. And to have such great friends is a blessing! That being said, I love that we don't have to depend on love interest to save the MCs, BUT I do enjoy the romance part in this book! Rory and Pippa are so cute.

It was a great duology!

Maybe leaned a bit too heavy on the Once Upon a Time but still a satisfying ending.

“The Wicked Remain” takes us back to Grimrose where a fairytale like curse still haunts the halls and our main group of heroines as they inch closer and closer to the end of their stories and for some that last page might be deadlier than that Disney promised.

Here’s the thing I worried it would happen but I hoped that this would stick to a more realistic like interpretation of the classics fairytales like book 1 and we would have a clever version of that at the climax however the closer we got the more I realized we were just going to go for it. It wasn’t a poor choice per se but it did have me sighing at it being rather dull if that makes sense? Granted this is a spoiler free review but you’ll know it when you see it.

The strongest part of this book for me is the focus on what determines one’s fate. Each of these girls know they are tied to a story and how they each work with and against that path was one of the highlights of the book and for one it was really heartwarming to see the growth and strength they developed across the series. Where book one was working through grief this sequel really focuses on who a person is at their core and recognizing both your strengths and weaknesses and being vulnerable which is hard for a lot of us on a good day let alone with a ticking clock racing towards midnight.

Overall this is a well done series with a very bumps along the way but one I would recommend if you’re a fan of the genre and missing a little Emma Swan like fun.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

'The wicked remain" is a story on complexity within the realm of friendship and magic. It is a mess in every way possible but it's the kind of book where you find yourself not caring.

I loved this, from every plot twist I never saw coming, to the gentle tangible relationships formed. This is a story about love, in all its formats: platonic, familial and romantic and all of it was done expertly.

The thing I loved most about the first novel was the characters themselves and I was so glad to watch them all grow and transform again especially after the first book's ending. I was left with so many questions and I'm so glad this answered them (even if I ended up with a few more). Each individual character was fascinating and watching them change and seeing their relationships shift was amazing.

Mixed in with the fantasy was a moral tale of friendship and the paths you have to overcome to keep these relationships. It was messy and confusing and I loved it so much. Despite all the things I usually dislike, there is a beauty within the chaos of these 4 interwoven stories.

I loved this and my messy girls!

The Wicked Remain brings back some of my favorite characters: Nani, Rory, Yuki, and Ella. This book is somehow darker and more delicious than the previous book. Each of the main characters in the book is fully fleshed out and believable and that adds to the urgency and tension in the story. I love, love modern fairy tale retellings and this is by far one of my favorites.

You know you enjoy a book when you power through no paragraph indents. There were many aspects I liked about THE WICKED REMAIN. Our main girls are back and all still easy to root for. The mystery and reveal could have been paced a bit better. It went from them not knowing to suddenly figuring things out, as well as the source of the curse not feeling foreshadowed. I loved what was done with povs.

Thank you Netgalley for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Wicked Remain is the second book in the duology of the Grimrose Girls. We are back with our four girls Ella, Rory, Yuki and Nani. And it is finally time for them to break their curse.

First things first, I absolutely loved the fact you could get back into the story of our four girls without trouble. The story just continued effortlessly and even delivered more than I have expected. The idea of bringing fairy tails into the modern time is genius.

The story has so many twists and turns. It never get boring for even one second. I just thought: What the hell?" for half of the time. Another massive plus point is the LGBTQI+ representation and the character diversity.

Overall, it was an amazing read and I absolutely enjoyed it. Laura Pohl wrapped this story perfectly up.

Publishing Date: 1st November 2022

A twisted and dark fairy tale retelling with a sapphic twist? The sequel to The Grimrose Girls was everything I needed it to be.

This book was darker and more twisted then its predecessor and at moments had me questioning everything I thought I knew about the origins of these fairytales. For moments I was worried there would be no HEA for the girls stories.

As with the first the girls were all incredibly well developed and had so much depth that even when they aired on the side of morally grey I found them relatable. Though the book featured a lot of the girls getting their happy ever afters and the stories finding their happy endings the real highlight of this book for me was the relationship between Yuki and Ella. The love they shared for each other knew no bounds, and they would each go to the ends of the world to save the other and my heart melted in its entirety for both of them.

Though I hate so see the story end and the duology come to a close I was so satisfied with how nicely this wrapped up.

Thank you to Sourebooks Fire and NetGalley for this ARC.

The Grimrose Girls duology is full of magic, darkness, and unwavering hope as four friends fight to break a curse that has plagued their school for centuries. The Wicked Remain is a strong sequel and provides many answers that the first book left unanswered. I appreciated that the author focused on revealing more about the curse and how each girl is impacted by it, forced to face their weaknesses. I wish that we would've learned more about the fairytales within the book that other characters were based on. One challenge I had was that this book is slow; it didn't really pick up until the 60% mark. There were too many repeated conversations about not knowing what to do, having no clues, and it felt like it was being dragged on. I also thought the reveal of the true villains wasn't that great. It just didn't feel adequately built upon.

I loved the ending. It was powerful and encapsulated the true meaning of the series perfectly.

The story focuses more on the curse and the remaining stories in the books, than Ari and the murders from the first book, which I enjoyed. I liked that we were introduced to more of the side characters in a deeper way, and began to learn how everyone was connected, and which story they followed. From small clues in tgg, it was easy to assign some of the girls to their stories, but I was surprised with some of the fairy tales that were chosen.

By the end of tgg, I didn't have a favourite character, and thought that they were all quite unlikeable and underdeveloped, but I think at the ned of it, it would be Nani. The more we learned about her and followed the mystery surrounding her and her father, the more I liked seeing her and reading from her pov, as she was quite withdrawn and mysterious in the first book, so it was interesting to learn more about her.

I don't think there was much character development for the other girls in the group. Rory, Ella and Yuki didn't seem to change much from being rude and bad tempered with each other, and there was still a lot of tension between them. I thought the rivals to lovers dynamic between Rory and her love interest was well written and one of my favourite relationships in the book.

Overall, I enjoyed the story a lot, and thought it was really suspenseful and original, it held my interest well, and delivered a really well rounded and inclusive fairy tale retelling. I would love to see this adapted as a movie or tv show, as it has so many twists and an eeriness to it that would work perfectly.

My full review will be posted on my goodreads account, closer to the publication date.

The Wicked Remain managed to surpass the brilliance of The Grimrose Girls, often in ways I couldn't expect. I entered this book thinking it would be a solid followup, but, without the creeping mystery of the first book, it might lack that special spark - I was happily wrong. This book takes all the pieces from the predecessor and focuses in on their emotional weight and their thematic significance. All four protagonists are compelling and manage to develop in ways that feel deeply human, and the supporting cast is perfect too. What will always surprise me is how a writing style that can initially seem quite sparse and blunt actually is a beautiful (as well as immensely readable) vehicle for this tale. And for all the risk of magic contrivance or tropey copouts, the ending is absolutely perfect at balancing fairytale ideas with modern sensibilities. A deeply intersectional duology that truly brings fairytales into the modern world in a way other texts sometimes only partly manage.

I got a free e-ARC through Netgalley, this in no way affected this review.

You guys don’t understand the scream I let out when I got approved for this ARC! I read The Grimrose Girls back in January and enjoyed it so much and now I didn’t have to wait almost an entire year to read the second and final book in this duology!

Now, I can’t say too much about the plot since this is a sequel, but the people who enjoyed the first book will be very pleased with how this sequel wraps everything up!

We arrive back at Grimrose Académie and are still following Rory, Nani, Ella and Yuki as they try to solve the mystery that’s plaguing the Académie. It was really nice to learn more about these characters and see their relationships evolve even more.

I also loved all the queer and diverse rep we got in this book, especially since it’s a fantasy/horror book!

The Wicked Remain is book 2 in the Grimrose Girls and picks up after the events of book 1. Now that Ella, Yuki, Rory, and Nani have figured out the curse they are set out to break it. The book follows each of the characters on their journey through their own POV which makes for a fast read. There is great LGBTQI+ representation, I really loved the relationships between the characters and how they protect each other. It is an excellent story with a lot of twists and turns and is quite funny at times. The world-building is top-notch as is the character growth. It is just an all-around great story.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was an amazing sequel. I absolutely love this world, these characters and the representation. I definitely don't feel let down and I'm so glad I've read this book. It had so many amazing plot twists and it was very easy to read.