Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

20 reviews

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: 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

grunbean's review

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

lyshbish's review

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

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

sapphicbookfae's review

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

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

simkei's review

adventurous emotional funny informative mysterious tense fast-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: Death, Addiction, Police brutality, Grief, Animal death, Classism, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Hate crime, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Rape, Biphobia, Abandonment, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Suicide, Pregnancy, Drug use, Drug abuse, Lesbophobia, and Incest

creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition

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

4.25

This wasn’t your average thriller, it was dark and gritty, but slightly slower paced than many people may prefer, with some dark humour thrown in too.
I appreciated the brutal honesty of the story and the inclusion of plenty of important issues, but can see why this may not suit everyone if they expected something else.
The prose was beautiful, and full of colour and light, with the description of place and character just enough to draw me into the story. There were a few slightly repetitive parts, and loose ends that could have been tied up, but seeing as this is the start of the series, I’m assuming that they will be in the next book. I can’t wait to read it when it comes out!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Addiction, Cancer, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia

laketwentytwo's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Rape, Incest, and Pregnancy

erosabsens's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Incest