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tucker68511's review against another edition
dark
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Gore
caseythereader's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
- I've seen a lot of reviews call WHITE SMOKE the YA version of WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING, and I do think that's mostly accurate, but it's also more than that. For one, it was way more creepy and terrifying!
- I loved that Mari wasn't a picture-perfect protagonist (you know I love prickly women and girls), but also that at the same time she was kind of just misunderstood by the adults in her life.
- I don't want to spoil anything, but the way Jackson incorporated real life injustices into the plot was masterful. I hope it gets young kids to read more about it and get involved in righting those wrongs.
- I loved that Mari wasn't a picture-perfect protagonist (you know I love prickly women and girls), but also that at the same time she was kind of just misunderstood by the adults in her life.
- I don't want to spoil anything, but the way Jackson incorporated real life injustices into the plot was masterful. I hope it gets young kids to read more about it and get involved in righting those wrongs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pedophilia
cbbyles07's review against another edition
dark
informative
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
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
alyrayj's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, and Racism
rorikae's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
'White Smoke' by Tiffany D. Jackson is an eerie haunted house story that delves into the mental health of its main character.
Marigold is dragged along to the Midwest after her mother receives a writing fellowship. Still dealing with the fall out from a traumatic experience last year, she is dealing with the ghosts of her past and the frustrations that come along with having to deal with her stepsister. But then eerie things start happening in their house. On top of her increasing panic attacks, Marigold starts to suspect that something else is going on in their neighborhood and she has to balance wanting to be heard while not giving her family ammunition to question her mental health.
Jackson creates a haunting story that deals with mental health, the broken past of a neighborhood, and the struggles of being a teenager trying to stitch your life back together. Marigold is a deeply flawed but also deeply relatable character that it is easy to root for. Jackson perfectly writes the annoying stepsister, whose presence and actions add another layer to the eeriness of the story. We get hints of what is going on with each encounter that Marigold has and it slowly and deftly builds the tension. There were many moments in this story that freaked me out and I think it is a great October read. I will add that it has very visceral descriptions of panic attacks that are hard to experience but add a lot to how the reader understands Marigold.
I don't know how to feel about the ending. It happened very quickly and I do think there are some pieces that weren't wrapped up. There is one character present throughout the novel that I thought was going to have a larger part to play though his presence did a lot to heighten the off feeling of the world. Even with this hiccup, I still think this is a great read, especially for the fall season, and I recommend the audiobook.
Marigold is dragged along to the Midwest after her mother receives a writing fellowship. Still dealing with the fall out from a traumatic experience last year, she is dealing with the ghosts of her past and the frustrations that come along with having to deal with her stepsister. But then eerie things start happening in their house. On top of her increasing panic attacks, Marigold starts to suspect that something else is going on in their neighborhood and she has to balance wanting to be heard while not giving her family ammunition to question her mental health.
Jackson creates a haunting story that deals with mental health, the broken past of a neighborhood, and the struggles of being a teenager trying to stitch your life back together. Marigold is a deeply flawed but also deeply relatable character that it is easy to root for. Jackson perfectly writes the annoying stepsister, whose presence and actions add another layer to the eeriness of the story. We get hints of what is going on with each encounter that Marigold has and it slowly and deftly builds the tension. There were many moments in this story that freaked me out and I think it is a great October read. I will add that it has very visceral descriptions of panic attacks that are hard to experience but add a lot to how the reader understands Marigold.
I don't know how to feel about the ending. It happened very quickly and I do think there are some pieces that weren't wrapped up. There is one character present throughout the novel that I thought was going to have a larger part to play though his presence did a lot to heighten the off feeling of the world. Even with this hiccup, I still think this is a great read, especially for the fall season, and I recommend the audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, and Racism
tinytrashqueen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Gore, Racism, and Kidnapping
olivialandryxo's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
4.0
I’ve literally never read a horror book in my life; the only one I picked up prior to this ended up being too scary for me and I never finished reading it. I only picked this one up because I mistakenly thought it was a thriller. It took a few chapters for me to realize what I’d done, but at that point, I was already intrigued and didn’t want to stop reading. So I decided, even though I didn’t know exactly what I was in for, to push through.
I’m glad I did. I’m not about to read Stephen King or anything, but maybe some of the tamer horror books could be fun to try. As long as I didn’t read this too late at night, I actually enjoyed it. I already love psychological thrillers, so this wasn’t too far off, just more physically creepy as well.
As for this book specifically, I think Jackson did a great job across the board. I really liked the protagonist Mari and her younger brother Sammy, and I found all of the characters to be well-written and developed. Their mom was a decent parent as well, which was nice to see, even though it was quite frustrating to see her take her new husband’s side over her daughter’s. Said husband was also frustrating but even more so, and for a different reason: even when presented with evidence that his bratty daughter did something wrong, he did absolutely nothing about it. He’s quite possibly the most spineless father. Massive facepalm.
And then there’s Piper, the bratty daughter in question. I don’t think I’ve ever found a child so insufferable. I just— *muffled screeching* Ahem. Anyway, despite my sizable list of reasons why I despised this child—which I can’t share because spoilers—her involvement in the story wasn’t what I’d expected it would be. She took the story in a unique direction and I liked it. And, shocking as this was…. I even ended up kind of liking her?? Who knew that was possible??
And the house? That’s one big, overflowing bucket of NOPE. Creaky floors, slamming doors, awful stenches, objects moving after they were set down or disappearing entirely, disembodied voices…. I would like to say again: NOPE. Add in the psychological thriller aspect, where Mari’s family doesn’t believe her and we don’t actually know if any of this is happening, and it’s quite a tumultuous, unsettling time.
As if that wasn’t creepy enough, the neighborhood the house is in isn’t right either. Everyone is suspiciously happy until things start going wrong, and plenty of things go wrong. Cedarville isn’t as idyllic as they’d like you to believe, and the residents have a bit of a mob mentality….
The only good people in town are Erika and Yusef, Mari’s new friends. Yusef was super sweet, and Erika was hilarious. I was really glad that Mari had at least a bit of something resembling normalcy in the midst of all this paranormal chaos. I was also glad that there was no romance, despite both of her friends being single. While I’m sure I could’ve been convinced to ship either couple, it felt right to focus solely on the horror aspects of the novel.
I think my one complaint would be the ending. At the very least, I wish we’d gotten an epilogue, if not another chapter or two talking about what happened next. As it is, I feel that the book ended kind of abruptly. I turned the last page, saw the acknowledgments, and was like, “Wait… what? There’s gotta be more.” Turns out, there was no more, unfortunately. The end. Curtains.
All in all, slightly disappointing ending aside, I was surprisingly impressed by my first horror novel. Dare I say, this won’t be my last…? We’ll see. But I definitely recommend this book, both to seasoned horror lovers and those looking for a little something different this spooky season.
Representation
I’m glad I did. I’m not about to read Stephen King or anything, but maybe some of the tamer horror books could be fun to try. As long as I didn’t read this too late at night, I actually enjoyed it. I already love psychological thrillers, so this wasn’t too far off, just more physically creepy as well.
As for this book specifically, I think Jackson did a great job across the board. I really liked the protagonist Mari and her younger brother Sammy, and I found all of the characters to be well-written and developed. Their mom was a decent parent as well, which was nice to see, even though it was quite frustrating to see her take her new husband’s side over her daughter’s. Said husband was also frustrating but even more so, and for a different reason: even when presented with evidence that his bratty daughter did something wrong, he did absolutely nothing about it. He’s quite possibly the most spineless father. Massive facepalm.
And then there’s Piper, the bratty daughter in question. I don’t think I’ve ever found a child so insufferable. I just— *muffled screeching* Ahem. Anyway, despite my sizable list of reasons why I despised this child—which I can’t share because spoilers—her involvement in the story wasn’t what I’d expected it would be. She took the story in a unique direction and I liked it. And, shocking as this was…. I even ended up kind of liking her?? Who knew that was possible??
And the house? That’s one big, overflowing bucket of NOPE. Creaky floors, slamming doors, awful stenches, objects moving after they were set down or disappearing entirely, disembodied voices…. I would like to say again: NOPE. Add in the psychological thriller aspect, where Mari’s family doesn’t believe her and we don’t actually know if any of this is happening, and it’s quite a tumultuous, unsettling time.
As if that wasn’t creepy enough, the neighborhood the house is in isn’t right either. Everyone is suspiciously happy until things start going wrong, and plenty of things go wrong. Cedarville isn’t as idyllic as they’d like you to believe, and the residents have a bit of a mob mentality….
The only good people in town are Erika and Yusef, Mari’s new friends. Yusef was super sweet, and Erika was hilarious. I was really glad that Mari had at least a bit of something resembling normalcy in the midst of all this paranormal chaos. I was also glad that there was no romance, despite both of her friends being single. While I’m sure I could’ve been convinced to ship either couple, it felt right to focus solely on the horror aspects of the novel.
I think my one complaint would be the ending. At the very least, I wish we’d gotten an epilogue, if not another chapter or two talking about what happened next. As it is, I feel that the book ended kind of abruptly. I turned the last page, saw the acknowledgments, and was like, “Wait… what? There’s gotta be more.” Turns out, there was no more, unfortunately. The end. Curtains.
All in all, slightly disappointing ending aside, I was surprisingly impressed by my first horror novel. Dare I say, this won’t be my last…? We’ll see. But I definitely recommend this book, both to seasoned horror lovers and those looking for a little something different this spooky season.
Representation
- Black bisexual protagonist
- Black side characters
- sapphic side character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
The protagonist has anxiety. And though there’s no tag for this, it seemed important to mention that there’s frequent mentions of bedbugs; after an infestation in her family’s old house, Mari is paranoid she’ll find them in their new house.amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail