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aimeejane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Rape
skylarkblue1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The characters where not the worst, the detective was very cliche and 2d feeling, the other cops where kinda feeling like cardboard stand-ins that did not much at all. Sister Holiday first started as a "not like other girls" kinda vibe but I grew to actually kinda like her. The rest of the sisters where ok, but I did absolutely keep confusing who was who even at the end aha.. The kids where fun though, Prince was cliche but not the worst character at all, the other kids didn't appear enough to feel like they where actually important which was weird as their storylines felt very important overall? I think there was just way too many characters and the author only wanted to mainly write about Sister Holiday and Riveaux and what they did together.
The story felt pretty standard and predictable, the reveal at the end wasn't shocking at all to me. The "mysterious" events that happen throughout either have throwaway answers or uh, don't really get answered at all? How on earth did no one realise who the shadow was going through the school in the first fire? Like genuinely, they got spotted multiple times. But it also meant it was a very easy read that didn't take much thinking or brain power so I did kinda like that.
Idk, maybe this book just caught me on a good mood where I just wanted something to zone out to but it wasn't the worst book I've read. The writing was pretty good, and the way the dialogue was written also wasn't that bad. I don't know if I agree with the "cozy" tag this keeps getting, there's a hell of a lot of heavy topics discussed and it's not exactly what I'd call "cozy" (especially with the animal death part.... would have been nice if storygraph had that as a content warning on graphic or like... at allđŸ™ƒ).
Graphic: Animal death, Addiction, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Homophobia
Minor: Rape, Incest, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Self harm
Animal Death:yulia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
However it just felt all over the place, especially closer to the end. There were some scenes that just lead nowhere.
I had mixed feeling on the main character, but there were barely any likeable characters in the book so by comparison she wasn't so bad.
Not a hard read, but if you like any joy in your stories, I would pass on this one.
Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, Violence, Police brutality, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death
Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Self harm, and Medical content
marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Grief, Cancer, Homophobia, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Self harm, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Incest, and Medical content
violinknitter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
* Protagonist is supposed to have some sort of experience with investigation, yet makes really amateurish mistakes with evidence handling and communication with firefighters/cops.
* Protagonist has supposedly found a home at the convent where she is now, but dislikes most of the people there. Why does she supposedly love this place?
* I know "incompetent/corrupt officials" is a trope for a good reason, but you still should SHOW it on the page, instead of expecting your readers to assume it because of the genre of the book.
*
And, on a personal note (haha), the presentation of music and especially music education was laughably bad. Just, no. But so few authors get that even close to right.
NB: Though I think there are significant missteps by the author, I do think there are some strengths to the writing. I think Douaihy does a beautiful job of writing atmospherically about the convent and New Orleans, and characterization & dialogue were also strong. It wasn't enough to save the book for me, but other readers may have a different experience.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Minor: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Incest, and Child abuse
clacksee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This story features both a cat and a dog. One lives, one dies. The death is off-page and non-graphic, but traumatic nonetheless.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, and Animal death
Minor: Child abuse
rebb003's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use
alisonclane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Homophobia
sophie_63's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Hate crime and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Sexual assault and Child abuse
aliciavalenski's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Incest, Rape, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Child abuse