Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

23 reviews

evadaisy's review

dark medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

So unnecessarily traumatising. Maybe it's a good book if you don't mind that sort of thing, but please take care of yourself and check the content warnings. This book is so much darker than I expected and I wouldn't have read it if I'd known.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Homophobia, Cursing, Grief, Incest, Sexual content, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Rape, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Murder, Drug use, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Outing, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence

ellenigrace's review

slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Homophobia

Minor: Self harm, Child abuse, and Rape

rafritz1's review

adventurous funny mysterious fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Addiction, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Rape, and Incest

Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Bullying, Cancer, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Lesbophobia

This book made me laugh out loud several times. I really wish I would have known

the fire investigator was high on pain meds through the entire book

because that would have made her dialogue style make a lot more sense. Besides that, I loved this twist on a murder mystery and I will definitely be checking out more Sister Holiday books if the author writes more.

epeolatri's review against another edition

1.5

This had SO MUCH potential. I mean a queer crime solving nun?? 

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

lady_bountiful's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, and Animal death

Minor: Suicide, Child abuse, and Incest

oliverreeds's review

dark funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Cursing, Incest, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicide

kyliereads341's review

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Animal death, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Addiction

Moderate: Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Racism, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Minor: Terminal illness, Child abuse, Death of parent, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

brigettes's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Homophobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use

Minor: Religious bigotry, Grief, and Vomit

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.25

I would read another in this series because the premise is interesting. I also appreciated the reveal. But it had a little much ultra-heavy hinting to the backstory until I wanted to scream "JUST TELL ME WHAT TO HECK HAPPENED TO YOU A FEW YEARS AGO GOD." I also felt like 7/8 of the book was kind of pressing forward and at a pretty slow pace and then the last 1/8 was really rushed and everything happened at once. Okay, and I also felt like the running themes and motifs were much farther on the smack-you-in-the-face side of the spectrum than the oh-i-could-see-that side. Also I think I wanted more fighting against god, but that's my personal issue. But I think it has potential! And I would listen to Mara Wilson read an ingredient list, and I'm not even kidding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Infidelity, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Suicide, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Incest, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Child abuse, Sexual content, Car accident, and Confinement

Please avoid if fire freaks you out!

egmamaril's review

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