Reviews tagging 'Death'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

41 reviews

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

egmamaril's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

I rated this higher because I really appreciated seeing the social-justicr Catholic church (and nuns) I know represented, but the actual prose and mystery were not my cup of tea. However, it is setting up an interesting duo and I love Sister Holiday as a queer version of the troubled noir detective. I will remain optimistic for the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Infidelity

Moderate: Homophobia and Rape

Minor: Child abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexism

madsw14's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Cancer, Drug use, Death, Rape, Animal death, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Murder, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Addiction

Minor: Infidelity, Incest, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Fatphobia, Self harm, Confinement, and Sexual harassment

chloebrown13's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

marareading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

3.5

A punk, queer, tattooed, sleuthing nun who is trying to solve crime in her New Orleans convent. I HAD to read this. It was definitely a fun read. HEAVY on the triggers, so please read with care and awareness. It is a slow burn on the mystery. Some very interesting, and heavily traumatized characters. Certain characters felt like they relief heavily on some stereotypes, which felt a little disingenuous. However, it was the first book of this kind and was unique, and jarring. So, overall after checking TW, I'd recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Death, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, and Drug abuse

piphux's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

“Holy Mary mother of God, let the afterlife have central air and hot women.” 

Sister Holiday, a lesbian punk rocker turned nun, puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test when a serial arsonist strikes the school she teaches at and lives are lost in this debut novel by Margot Douaihy. 

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this fresh take on the adult crime genre. However, while it was a crime novel at heart, the thing I found most compelling was Sister Holiday’s characterisation. Douaihy revealed her backstory at an excellent pace, maintaining my interest the whole way through. The flashbacks were well integrated and didn’t detract from the story. The description of the setting was evocative. Furthermore, the plot thickened as the story progressed, which built suspense. 

I have a few minor quibbles. Firstly, I found it unrealistic how Sister Holiday managed to find evidence that the police had missed within seconds of arriving on the scene. It felt like her reactions to events were a little disproportionate at times too. Unfortunately, I also found the big reveal easily predictable.  

That said, I always looked forward to sitting down with this book. I definitely recommend it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Blood

Minor: Mass/school shootings and Self harm

eloise_bradbooks's review against another edition

mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

This book is about a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed queer nun, Sister Holiday, who tries to understand who set the school she teaches at on fire... Especially as more and more fires are appearing, and someone seems to be framing Sister Holiday... We also get to learn about who she was before becoming a nun, living a very queer and ver punk life.

Although some elements of this story are quite difficult to read about (please check trigger warnings), I did want to keep reading more about Sister Holiday and what was going on.

I'll admit I felt like I could have cared a bit more... There was a little something that felt distant, like i couldn't quite connect.
I'm not a huge fan of going back into the past to find out more about how people got to be who they are today. I'm always wanting to just get back to the present story, which is a shame because I actually feel like the backstory here, is actually much more interesting than the present one ... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Murder, Infidelity, Homophobia, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Grief

Minor: Addiction

littlelili1320's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It took a bit for me to get into this. It could be due to my biases against Christianity caused by my upbringing. I'm also bisexual. I just found it hard to believe that such a queer, "punk" girl would be so religious. I can understand wanting to escape & become a nun after the trauma, but even before that she had a bunch of Christian tattoos & spoke scripture while fooling around with a girl. I found myself rolling my eyes at both her & the nuns. 

Thankfully, more of her ideas about God come forth & it's far more believable. The book also picked up pace. I did guess the cuplrit but that's fine. An animal does die, which seemed unecessarry. I did overall enjoy the book. I look forward to reading the next one. If she does decide to take her vows & she doesn't secretly act on her sexuality I might get pissed lol. I really don't think it would be believable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia

Moderate: Rape, Incest, and Infidelity

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Cancer, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

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

solarpqwer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Thanks to NetGalley and Zando Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was honestly unlike anything I've ever read before! I'm a sucker for a mystery and this crime fiction debut was certainly something I thought would be right up my alley and I was absolutely right about it. Sister Holiday is a flawed but intriguing main character, made all the better by the way she acknowledges and pushes through her past. Every character felt so purposefully placed in their roles and felt fleshed out so well, no matter what their purpose was, and even more than that, they were all equally unreliable to me (which I absolutely loved). My only (small) drawback with this book was the pacing. While it wasn't too bad, there were some moments that felt like they dragged and then it almost felt like we were thrust too fast into the ending, leaving me wanting more of what comes next. Though I believe this will be a series if I remember correctly so it's likely that will be resolved in the next book! Overall, this is a crazy, twisting and turning debut and I'm excited to have it officially on my bookshelf! (Don't forget to check content warnings!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Homophobia, Police brutality, and Animal death

Moderate: Rape, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail