Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

25 reviews

cascadienne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Police brutality, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cdundes's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I wanted to stop listening to this book about halfway in but I couldn’t find out who the culprit was from the internet so I did indeed finish. 

This book glorifies trauma with, IMO, little to no payoff. I was so intrigued by the concept but so so disappointed in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Hate crime, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Fire/Fire injury

ahallen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, and Homophobia

Minor: Incest and Pedophilia

scaredykatbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Incest, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

itsy719's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book and the author’s writing style. There was one scene involving administering insulin to a diabetic experiencing hypoglycemia which I was quite disappointed in. With all of the research the author and her team presumably did prior to publication, this felt like a big miss. A minor detail in an otherwise classic “whodunnit.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, and Pregnancy

chemeducator's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury

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: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Self harm, Suicide, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

grunbean's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

The first half of this book would’ve been a two and half stars for me. The second half was closer to three and a half stars. But the ending was like reading something that had a deadline, and the author realised it was due the night before. 

The idea of a queer nun detective is fresh, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. I think the religious trauma and exploration of what it’s like to grow up queer in these communities was interesting. But these didn’t really have much to do with the story of THIS book. A lot of the book didn’t have much to do with the story and mystery. I don’t know whether I’m not smart enough and I didn’t pick up on all the clues, or whether the answer to the mystery was shoe horned in at the end.

I found myself questioning the choices of the characters a lot. Not because they’re bad, but because their choices just didn’t make sense to me in the context. 

Given that this is a series I feel like more time was spent on building up this world and characters for the series than on the story. It sort of felt like the author remembered there was a mystery to answer at the very end. It gave me whiplash, but not in the ‘oh my gosh I don’t know how I didn’t see this coming’ way. It was more of like ‘was I meant to see this coming’ way. If that makes sense. 

There’s a lot of promise and the writing is beautiful in places. The author definitely has a flair for description. There’s a lot of promise, but it doesn’t deliver here. I will be picking up the next book in the series out of curiosity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lyshbish's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I think I liked this book more in concept than in execution. Sister Holiday was an interesting character, but I was more interested in her history than her present... including the mystery. I found it fairly easy to solve, which was an ego boost, but ultimately... it didn't leave a huge impression. I would potentially read a sequel, though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Religious bigotry, and Murder

sapphicbookfae's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

okay this book really surprised me because i expected something more explicitly messy in the sense of LESBIAN RELATIONSHIPS for Sister Holiday. WITH THAT SAID, the book has good commentary on the harm several powerful institutions have on society and the religious devotion also seems over glorified on purpose. i love/hate Sister Holiday for what she ends up doing. i need to see more of Holiday x Riveau... everyone is messy af and i love it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Alcohol