Scan barcode
charlieeee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Drug abuse
Minor: Sexual harassment, Incest, Rape, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Animal death
mrsporterreads's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Religious bigotry
Minor: Incest
epeolatri's review against another edition
1.5
It was so boring though. Most of the book was the narrator talking about sweat mixed in with retellings of her traumatic past. The main character did absolutely no “sleuthing” either.
The .5 is for the last chapter alone, in which we learn the motive and the arsonist, neither of which I guessed. I just wish it didn’t feel so rushed.
Also, I really need authors to start researching disabilities before writing about them. There’s a scene where a diabetic is given insulin for hypoglycemia, which would have probably killed him in real life. Please don’t ever do that.
Graphic: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, Mental illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia
Minor: Animal death
asporkthief's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Addiction
Minor: Self harm, Sexual harassment, and Rape
griddlemybeloved's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Drug use, Police brutality, Death of parent, Animal death, and Cancer
Minor: Suicide, Rape, and Incest
lisasilv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Rape
ecn's review against another edition
- 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
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?))
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
octopus_farmer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
maddiereadswords's review against another edition
- 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
1.5
Literally the only reason this book is higher than 1 star (which literally just means I finished it) is that every once in a while she would drop an absolute BANGER of a line about Catholicism or the intersection of religion and queerness, and as a lesbian who grew up Catholic and is still nebulously religious, I LOVED that. I wanted so much more of that!! But instead most of what I got was a shoddy, boring mystery with forgettable characters, and a whole lot of trauma right at the end. I know this is meant to be the first in a series, and I truly hope that time and practice can smooth out some of the issues I had with this book. I could see myself potentially picking up another Sister Holiday mystery in the future just to see how on earth she moves on from this book, but I'm not optimistic that I'll like it any better than this one.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, and Homophobia
lady_bountiful's review against another edition
4.75
Moderate: Murder, Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, and Animal death
Minor: Suicide, Child abuse, and Incest