Reviews tagging 'Child death'

White smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

18 reviews

mzgeee53's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Vomit

midnightgremlin's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense 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

This is not your average haunted house story, it tackles so much more than simply the fear of living within the walls of home belonging to someone or something else. 
I enjoyed the mental health representation of anxiety, panic attacks and obsessive compulsive behaviours attached to anxiety. The way that addiction is portrayed as well, the fact that there is a toll on both the addict/recovering addict and their close friends and family members. 
My least favourite characters happened to be Alec and Piper though they both do end up somewhat redeeming themselves by the end of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Hate crime

diannasbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The narration in this book was amazing!!! The story was amazing! This story had so many layers to it! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Racism, Murder, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, and Child death

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Torture, Murder, Death, Vomit, Abandonment, Addiction, Stalking, Gun violence, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Medical content, Drug abuse, Cursing, Police brutality, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

emzhay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

She can’t keep getting away with this. 

Extra content warning since storygraphy still doesn’t have a specific tag for this:

insects/insect horror. The main character has a phobia of bedbugs and discusses them in graphic detail very often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Gaslighting, and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia and Kidnapping

insect horror, bed bugs

thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense 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? No

4.0

This book had a bit of a slow start for me, but it picked up eventually. I made the grave mistake of reading this at night and I had to double check that I was alone in my room.. Don't be like me unless you like scaring yourself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Child death

catsandbookstacks's review against another edition

4.0

Do you have a fear of bed bugs? If the answer is yes, skip this book.

White Smoke is a YA haunted house horror with a lens focused on addiction, gentrification, blended families and the criminalization of marijuana.

I love a haunted house story, asking yourself whether it's paranormal, just in your head or some other explanation. The author blends social commentary into the horror, which is what I typically expect within the genre these days. I'm upset at myself for sleeping on Tiffany D. Jackson until now and look forward to reading more!

Jackson set the ominous scene of Cedarville and Maple Street through the dilapidated neighbourhood, construction workers leaving the site as soon as 5pm hits and odd things happening around the house.

The steady build of peculiar occurrences are balanced by Marcella Cox's vivid narration. I felt anxiety each time Marigold spiraled over her fear of bed bugs. I admit, I checked my bed halfway through this book.

Marigold struggles to find her footing within her family and in a new town. The relationship she has with her brother is heartwarming, though she holds a lot of guilt over him finding her overdosing. Stepsister Piper is just as annoying as you'd expect a ten year old to be from the eyes of an older sibling.

The ending was somewhat abrupt and I could have used an epilogue to provide a little more closure for the characters and town. Perhaps a sequel?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Racism, and Addiction

Moderate: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, and Police brutality

Minor: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

My biggest gripe is the ending. I would have liked to see what happened directly after the events of the last chapter,  when

The Foundation is finally exposed

. Maybe the author left it ambiguous because in real life, those with money, power and privilege usually win.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, and Pedophilia

bookish_ann's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Classism, Child death, Violence, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Addiction, Murder, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Fire/Fire injury

emily_mh's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I could not put this book down! It was so gripping and fast-paced. Jackson did a superb job at crafting a super tense, atmospheric storyline that was rooted in and explored systemic racism. The MC of the story, Mari, was so dynamic and undergoes really meaningful development. I also liked the focus on sibling relationships. I cannot wait to read more of Jackson’s backlog because this has just solidified to me how much I enjoy her writing. 

I docked a half star because at first the plot is a little directionless, and the ending could have done with a bit more resolution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Racism, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Gore, Classism, Violence, Cursing, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Colonisation, Excrement, Sexism, Transphobia, Vomit, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Medical content, Death, Car accident, Murder, Physical abuse, Animal death, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Rape, Child abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Child death, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Gun violence, and Confinement

Graphic warnings for insects, gentrification, imprisonment, anaphylactic shock, divorce Moderate warnings for eye trauma, sleep paralysis, self injury, blackmail, missing loved one Minor warnings for loss of a loved one, bomb, menstruation, theft Use of the ableist s-slur. It is my understanding there is a different culture around this word in the US? But I don't know why it was not edited out in the UK/Commonwealth copy.