Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

8 reviews

hannahyorkey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexism

owlish1's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Sexism, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Incest and Rape

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

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

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

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

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

moreadsnrambles's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

3.0

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book. Overall I thought the book was enjoyable. The main issue for me was the pacing. I went in expecting a fast-paced mystery but that was not what I got. With the various flashbacks to Sister Holiday’s life before the order we get this really in-depth view of her life which was interesting at times but also really changed the pacing of the book. I also found myself wishing I knew a bit more of the side characters’ stories like we got Sister Holiday’s. I did love some of the commentary on the patriarchal issues of the Catholic Church and some of the MC’s comments about her perception of religion and God. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Animal death, Suicide, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexism and Homophobia