Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

25 reviews

carc19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Self harm, Rape, Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, and Suicide

lydiad's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

2.0

What an absolute waste of time. The mystery was predictable at best, the spin at the end was stupid and unnecessarily dark. Way too much bible in it, even for a book with a nun MC. Hated it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Incest, Self harm, and Rape

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

skylarkblue1's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• 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

I'm torn between recommending this or not. I'm not fully sure if it's just, I'm not a regular to the crime fiction genre or if there is just something amiss about this one. I liked the characters well enough, story was ok even if fairly predictable.. It just left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Maybe it's because I'm not religious at all so the ending (which got very religious, even compared to the rest of the book) just didn't interest me whatsoever?

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 all🙃).

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Content Warnings

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:

Death of a pet cat. Quite a long scene, quite a lot of detail. Death isn't on-page but there's a lot about the aftermath and a lot about how the death happened.

yulia's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.0

I really liked the premise and author's style. There are some really hard hitting emotional parts that I loved.

However it just felt all over the place, especially closer to the end. There were some scenes that just lead nowhere.

Like Holiday's ex girlfriend appearing for a chapter out of nowhere and without particular significance to the plot/character development.

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. 

I also felt that her attitude to cops was very inconsistent considering her history. Especially her betraying John's secret to the cops without any solid reason

Not a hard read, but if you like any joy in your stories, I would pass on this one.

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Content Warnings

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

challenging mysterious 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

4.0

Over a sweltering New Orleans summer, a series of fires plagues the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their associated school, St. Sebastian’s.  Determined to catch the culprit is Sister Holiday, a queer punk Maria von Trapp, who, between playing guitar and helping kids, has broken a commandment or two.  It’s actually not that uncommon for nuns to be radical, and the sisters in Holiday’s order are no strangers to run-ins with the law.  But whose law comes first—God’s or man’s?  This women-led story highlights struggles of incarceration, queerness, poverty, and addiction, with a few lovely Easter eggs for the Catholics among us.  Sister Holiday’s love for the divine feminine, despite everything, is inspiring.

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Content Warnings

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

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

sophiebv's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Self harm, Rape, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

lambkm's review against another edition

mysterious 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Death, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death and Self harm

aliciavalenski's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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