Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

10 reviews

violinknitter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

I don't often hate-finish a book, but I got too far in this one and stubbornly carried on to the bitter end. Things I hated about this book:

* 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.

*

Mother superior becomes arsonist because of childhood SA?? Don't love that, especially with it thrown in as a last minute explanation instead of a carefully explored theme.

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Incest, and Child abuse

bmbriar's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I heard "queer nun detective" and said "give it to me" but I didn't enjoy this book as much as I anticipated. The homage to Chandler-esque mysteries almost veers past homage and into parody. Sister Holiday is a character I know I would like under other circumstances, but her narration is so indulgent and over-written that I was not able to be submerged in the character and the story. 

I did enjoy Holiday's relationship with Riveaux, and the overall plotting picks up towards the end, but the ending nonetheless felt rushed, with characters' attitudes towards each other turning on a dime.

I also called the murderer/arsonist early on, not because of breadcrumbed evidence (the main case-solving clue was presented right at the end of the book), but because she was the only character that Sister Holiday didn't suspect for a moment, thus making my correct call much less satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Suicide, Rape, Pedophilia, and Incest

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

creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition

medium-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

4.25

This wasn’t your average thriller, it was dark and gritty, but slightly slower paced than many people may prefer, with some dark humour thrown in too.
I appreciated the brutal honesty of the story and the inclusion of plenty of important issues, but can see why this may not suit everyone if they expected something else.
The prose was beautiful, and full of colour and light, with the description of place and character just enough to draw me into the story. There were a few slightly repetitive parts, and loose ends that could have been tied up, but seeing as this is the start of the series, I’m assuming that they will be in the next book. I can’t wait to read it when it comes out!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Addiction, Cancer, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.0

Honestly way over-hyped :/ I really wanted to like it but within the first descriptions of the MC (and her former love life) there was an offhandedly biphobic description of her ex which basically made me hate the MC from the get go.
The mystery was easily predictable and not a single character was likeable. The story also (unsurprisingly) felt VERY white bc no non-white characters felt fully developed or interesting. There was also *no* mention about police brutality in regards to race - ONLY to queer people - which felt insane not to include given the fact that a young Black student was a suspect the entire time. I’m super disappointed in the author for not having any insight to that.
My last complaint was that the entire thing was also extremely cis-centered (as in transness wasn’t even a THOUGHT to the life of the MC which is always suspicious when the person is a ~feminist lesbian (potential terf?))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Animal death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Addiction, Sexism, Racism, Incest, Homophobia, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Drug use, Confinement, Cancer, Rape, Child death, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Outing, Murder, Drug abuse, Self harm, Alcohol, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Grief, and Alcoholism

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

brigettes's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Homophobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

Minor: Religious bigotry, Grief, and Vomit

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.25

I would read another in this series because the premise is interesting. I also appreciated the reveal. But it had a little much ultra-heavy hinting to the backstory until I wanted to scream "JUST TELL ME WHAT TO HECK HAPPENED TO YOU A FEW YEARS AGO GOD." I also felt like 7/8 of the book was kind of pressing forward and at a pretty slow pace and then the last 1/8 was really rushed and everything happened at once. Okay, and I also felt like the running themes and motifs were much farther on the smack-you-in-the-face side of the spectrum than the oh-i-could-see-that side. Also I think I wanted more fighting against god, but that's my personal issue. But I think it has potential! And I would listen to Mara Wilson read an ingredient list, and I'm not even kidding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Infidelity, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Suicide, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Incest, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Sexual content, Car accident, and Confinement

Please avoid if fire freaks you out!

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

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