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A review by wortfluesterin
Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
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
3.5
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for an honest review!
Scorched Grace is a nun murder mystery. These are certainly words I didn’t expect to say in a sentence, but needless to say, I loved the concept.
The main character, Sister Holiday, might not be the typical nun (tattooed from head to toe and queer) but I was still able to see her love for religion clearly.
The book jumps back between Holiday’s past life, turbulent and tragic, to the present in which someone is setting fires to the church she works in, and the school attached.
The thing I love most about murder mysteries is not knowing who did it and being pleasantly surprised by the reveal in the end. Sadly, I was able to guess the correct person about halfway through the book and the actual reveal was pretty anticlimactic as well.
Mostly I enjoyed the past of Sister Holiday more than the present scenes, they just felt filled with more emotion whereas in some of the present the story seemed to fall a little flat.
I’m not catholic so I can’t comment on how realistic the portrayal of the religion was, but I thought the way it was written into the story was beautiful. Especially, because a lot of it revolves around religious hate and intolerance (especially homophobia) but still shows how Holiday was able to find peace in the very same religion that brought her so much pain.
I understand that the murder mystery was the driving force of the book, but during bits of the story, it seemed to be a side plot that was pushed into the story to give the book a driving factor.
The book is a tragic portrayal of life (definitely a dark one as well CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS!) interwoven with a fun murder mystery and many lovable (or at least realistic) characters.
Definitely pick this one up if it sounds interesting to you!!
(Small addition I’m not yet 100% sure how I feel about: Nina was the only bi rep in this book and is only shown to cheat on her husband in order to be with Holiday. While this can obviously happen regardless of sexuality, I think it’s essential to think about if and how this representation of bi-woman is necessary.)
Scorched Grace is a nun murder mystery. These are certainly words I didn’t expect to say in a sentence, but needless to say, I loved the concept.
The main character, Sister Holiday, might not be the typical nun (tattooed from head to toe and queer) but I was still able to see her love for religion clearly.
The book jumps back between Holiday’s past life, turbulent and tragic, to the present in which someone is setting fires to the church she works in, and the school attached.
The thing I love most about murder mysteries is not knowing who did it and being pleasantly surprised by the reveal in the end. Sadly, I was able to guess the correct person about halfway through the book and the actual reveal was pretty anticlimactic as well.
Mostly I enjoyed the past of Sister Holiday more than the present scenes, they just felt filled with more emotion whereas in some of the present the story seemed to fall a little flat.
I’m not catholic so I can’t comment on how realistic the portrayal of the religion was, but I thought the way it was written into the story was beautiful. Especially, because a lot of it revolves around religious hate and intolerance (especially homophobia) but still shows how Holiday was able to find peace in the very same religion that brought her so much pain.
I understand that the murder mystery was the driving force of the book, but during bits of the story, it seemed to be a side plot that was pushed into the story to give the book a driving factor.
The book is a tragic portrayal of life (definitely a dark one as well CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS!) interwoven with a fun murder mystery and many lovable (or at least realistic) characters.
Definitely pick this one up if it sounds interesting to you!!
(Small addition I’m not yet 100% sure how I feel about: Nina was the only bi rep in this book and is only shown to cheat on her husband in order to be with Holiday. While this can obviously happen regardless of sexuality, I think it’s essential to think about if and how this representation of bi-woman is necessary.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and Rape