Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

94 reviews

micaelacccc's review against another edition

funny slow-paced

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

2.5

First of all, this book is unbelievably slow. Halfway through the book and they still hadn't found any serious clues despite it being so obvious!

I guessed it literally from the beginning after the first fire that it was Sister Augustine, but you're telling me it takes 90% of the book for Holiday the "super sleuth" to remember Augustine smelled of burn cream?? Absolutely unbelievable!

and despite it being about a lesbian nun (although I did think she was funny from time to time) it really didn't do much for representation either.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Death

Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

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

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

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

clacksee's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.5

After a traumatic experience, Sister Holiday is determined  to start her life over again. But the fire follows her. And even though this time it’s not her fault, someone’s determined to pin it on her. 

This story features both a cat and a dog. One lives, one dies. The death is off-page and non-graphic, but traumatic nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, and Animal death

Minor: Child abuse

rebb003's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use

jcnstntn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Addiction

midnightcxreal's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Addiction, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, and Death

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

rockinrodriguez's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Lol 
Thought this would be a fun mystery that was about a cool lesbian nun that shows how *cool* Catholicism is but turns out religious people have and always will be a certain kind of weird 
I never knew the turns this book would take and loved how ridiculous it was. You’re telling me that she

Loses both of her moms to bizarre fire incidents? And everyone’s on drugs and cheating?  

it’s absurd and I’m into it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Suicide attempt

Minor: Homophobia and Terminal illness