Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

29 reviews

philli17's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Incest, Rape, and Sexual violence

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

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

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

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

aceofknives's review

adventurous emotional 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: Animal death, Death, Homophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Hate crime, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

blewballoon's review

challenging dark sad slow-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

1.0

I struggled with this one. I really wanted to like it, I went to Catholic school and I knew some pretty cool nuns. There was a lot of potential in the premise. I thought this would be a fun time, despite being a murder mystery. It wasn't fun, it wasn't funny, and it didn't have anything new or interesting to say. It was just a series of awful people either doing awful things or having awful things done to them while the author describes how hot and humid it is every other sentence. (Do check the content warnings, there is a lot of dark stuff here.) The book is written in a stream of conscious sort of way, so I would be in a scene and then three paragraphs later the narrator was still musing, reminiscing about the past in a vague way, and talking about how hot it is, and I would have forgotten what was even happening. This was made worse by listening on audiobook and not being able to just flip back or skip over, but I do think Mara Wilson did a good job narrating the material she was given. Sister Holiday makes incredibly bad choices, is selfish and hard to root for, and doesn't really figure anything out that isn't completely obvious. The word "sleuthing" is heavily overused by her, especially considering that she doesn't actually do any. I would say the diversity is good, but because the diverse people are flat or terrible, I'm not sure the representation does anyone a service. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Pedophilia, and Self harm

madsw14's review

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Confinement, Fatphobia, Incest, Infidelity, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

marareading's review

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: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

piphux's review

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

4.0

“Holy Mary mother of God, let the afterlife have central air and hot women.” 

Sister Holiday, a lesbian punk rocker turned nun, puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test when a serial arsonist strikes the school she teaches at and lives are lost in this debut novel by Margot Douaihy. 

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this fresh take on the adult crime genre. However, while it was a crime novel at heart, the thing I found most compelling was Sister Holiday’s characterisation. Douaihy revealed her backstory at an excellent pace, maintaining my interest the whole way through. The flashbacks were well integrated and didn’t detract from the story. The description of the setting was evocative. Furthermore, the plot thickened as the story progressed, which built suspense. 

I have a few minor quibbles. Firstly, I found it unrealistic how Sister Holiday managed to find evidence that the police had missed within seconds of arriving on the scene. It felt like her reactions to events were a little disproportionate at times too. Unfortunately, I also found the big reveal easily predictable.  

That said, I always looked forward to sitting down with this book. I definitely recommend it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Suicide, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm and Mass/school shootings

misterwonders's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, and Police brutality

Moderate: Addiction, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death