Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

9 reviews

lilgriff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Cursing, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Violence, Rape, Self harm, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Murder, Alcohol, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Medical content, Addiction, and Drug abuse

tarasoraptor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Tl;dr version: This reads as trauma porn disguised as a mystery. The plot twist was predictable, the concl sion was hurried, poorly structured, and unsatisfying. If I wasn't finishing the book at midnight, in bed next to my partner, I would have thrown it across the room in frustration.

Will come back to review in more detail if I can.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Alcohol, Classism, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Incest, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Drug use, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexism, Self harm, Terminal illness, Cursing, Death, Police brutality, Murder, Rape, and Sexual harassment

lyshbish's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I think I liked this book more in concept than in execution. Sister Holiday was an interesting character, but I was more interested in her history than her present... including the mystery. I found it fairly easy to solve, which was an ego boost, but ultimately... it didn't leave a huge impression. I would potentially read a sequel, though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Homophobia, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Murder, and Religious bigotry

evadaisy's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

So unnecessarily traumatising. Maybe it's a good book if you don't mind that sort of thing, but please take care of yourself and check the content warnings. This book is so much darker than I expected and I wouldn't have read it if I'd known.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Homophobia, Cursing, Grief, Incest, Sexual content, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Rape, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Murder, Drug use, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Outing, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence

rafritz1's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Addiction, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Rape, and Incest

Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Bullying, Cancer, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Lesbophobia

This book made me laugh out loud several times. I really wish I would have known

the fire investigator was high on pain meds through the entire book

because that would have made her dialogue style make a lot more sense. Besides that, I loved this twist on a murder mystery and I will definitely be checking out more Sister Holiday books if the author writes more.

epeolatri's review against another edition

1.5

This had SO MUCH potential. I mean a queer crime solving nun?? 

It was so boring though. Most of the book was the narrator talking about sweat mixed in with retellings of her traumatic past. The main character did absolutely no “sleuthing” either. 

The .5 is for the last chapter alone, in which we learn the motive and the arsonist, neither of which I guessed. I just wish it didn’t feel so rushed. 

Also, I really need authors to start researching disabilities before writing about them. There’s a scene where a diabetic is given insulin for hypoglycemia, which would have probably killed him in real life. Please don’t ever do that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, Mental illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

Minor: Animal death

oliverreeds's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Cursing, Incest, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicide

blewballoon's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• 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

1.0

I struggled with this one. I really wanted to like it, I went to Catholic school and I knew some pretty cool nuns. There was a lot of potential in the premise. I thought this would be a fun time, despite being a murder mystery. It wasn't fun, it wasn't funny, and it didn't have anything new or interesting to say. It was just a series of awful people either doing awful things or having awful things done to them while the author describes how hot and humid it is every other sentence. (Do check the content warnings, there is a lot of dark stuff here.) The book is written in a stream of conscious sort of way, so I would be in a scene and then three paragraphs later the narrator was still musing, reminiscing about the past in a vague way, and talking about how hot it is, and I would have forgotten what was even happening. This was made worse by listening on audiobook and not being able to just flip back or skip over, but I do think Mara Wilson did a good job narrating the material she was given. Sister Holiday makes incredibly bad choices, is selfish and hard to root for, and doesn't really figure anything out that isn't completely obvious. The word "sleuthing" is heavily overused by her, especially considering that she doesn't actually do any. I would say the diversity is good, but because the diverse people are flat or terrible, I'm not sure the representation does anyone a service. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Drug use, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Cancer, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Incest, and Self harm

mothie_girlie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

• 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

4.5

"Holy Mary, Mother of God. Let the afterlife have central air and hot women"


I was immediately hooked from the premise, a queer nun solving crimes?? Sign me up!! As one of my most anticipated reads of the year, I went int0 Scorched Grace with high expectations and I was certainly not disappointed. I loved the way that Sister Holiday was written, especially how she defies traditional nun and religious standards people have. As a lesbian that also hates the church and religious authority but still loves christian elements such as rosaries and calling upon the saints, this book felt so cathartic. I will definitely be continuing to read whatever Margot Douaihy writes next. I will also gladly be picking up a physical copy so I can annotate and show this book all the love i have for it! 

Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving the opportunity to read one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 in exchange for an honest review. Margot Douaihy, your writing is so eloquent and gorgeous, you are truly a genius.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, and Confinement