Reviews with content warning for Blood - White Smoke

this was an action-packed thrill from start to finish. there were multiple plots going on at once (some more developed than others), but between all of it, i never got confused. i thought the gentrification subplot was a bit under-developed—there's only so much you can fit in 350ish words. but the main character's PTS/anxiety subplot and the main "haunting" of the book were extremely well-written, well-paced, and compelling. everything totals up to present the horrors of reality. just when you think you know what's going to happen next, you'll be surprised by this book!

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maresuju's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

*********kind of spoiler *********

Upgrading to a four after some thought. It's a good allegory for racism in the US. Would be a good book to teach in high school, if I had it my way ;-)

Felt like I was reading a version of the Korean movie Parasite. But it was a lot less creepy.

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pages_with_panda's review

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dark emotional 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

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abitbetterbooks's review

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dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

This book is like, the definition of fine? It wasn’t bad, but I also didn’t love it. The premise was interesting and I do generally enjoy YA horror, so I did really like how creepy it was from the onset and the escalation of all of the scary and unnerving things to outright danger.

I listened to the first 60% in audiobook and finished the rest in hardcopy which I definitely preferred, which meant I could skim a bit when the pacing was kind of weird, which it frequently was. The ending was so abrupt that if I hadn’t read reviews saying “what just happened??” I honestly would have thought I was missing a page in my copy.

While Marigold was a very compelling protagonist and I was rooting for her (and her brother Sammy, who I adored!) I felt like the subject matter of the book, such as her struggles with addiction and substance use, did not match how juvenile the narration felt. I’m not sure if that was in part due to the audio narrator that I didn’t love, but some editorial choices just didn’t really match up for me.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a few days in October when you’re in the mood for something creepy, but I wouldn’t say it’s a must-read.

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