Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

68 reviews

dennytherestaurant's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

1.0

This book was really not for me. The character’s motivations made no sense despite the book being stream of consciousness. The mystery was predictable and I disliked the character from start to finish. Her actions never made sense, the flashbacks seemed to be nothing more than trauma porn, and her motivation to save herself by becoming a nun and the moment that cements her decision was just poor writing imo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, and Animal death

Moderate: Rape and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual assault

bookishbutch's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Homophobia, Animal death, Sexual assault, Medical content, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

sweet_caroline's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Homophobia

northernzephyr's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, and Addiction

Minor: Rape and Incest

katiewhocanread's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Rape, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Animal death, Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Police brutality, Alcoholism, and Suicide

onmalsshelf's review against another edition

Sadly I'll be DNFing this at 31%. 

I think the writing style in this just doesn't match my personal tastes and that the sudden drift from present time to past memories does a real disservice to the story. 

I'd be really interested in the plot of the fire and the aftermath and then boom we're to where her brother is attacked. It's just jarring and disconnected. 

This has a lot of promise, but needs tighter editing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Rape, and 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

geritisdale's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death