Reviews with content warning for Death - Scorched Grace

i really really thought i’d be the perfect reader for this book. a queer nun who solves mysteries? sign me up! unfortunately, it just didn’t hit. i think the concept, the setting, and even the characters had so much potential, but Douaihy’s writing style was just not for me. it’s very jumpy and poetic, which makes sense since she is a poetry author. i just think that this was too big of a story for her to tell for her first foray into narrative story telling. the way she writes about religion and queerness make me feel like she’s never experienced either, which i know isn’t true. she brings up a topic that you think is going to be a big point but ends up never being mentioned again (i mean who just slides past children who are self harming?) . i don’t know, this just ended up being really disappointing which sucks because i was so looking forward to a new voice in crime mystery

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ahallen's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

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raineydayreads's review

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

im gonna start going round saying god told me to do it

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cattheteawitchfairy's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

If you’re looking for a well written novel, I wouldn’t exactly say that this is it but it is a fairly quick, funny read with some inspiring quotes.

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aseel_reads's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

Overall, I loved the atmosphere and vibe of this story. The plot was entertaining and the characters had rich back stories. The pacing was a little off and we got odd moments of random exposition of how holiday needed to solve the case, which seemed a bit too intense for the moment. I did guess the perpetrator right, just not the exact reason. But just generally, a fun read

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wilharmonic's review

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adventurous 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

The twist at the end of this was quite a classic and predictable twist. I think this book had a lot of potential, in exploring the dialogue between being catholic and being queer, and the idea of developing and moving past your flawed past self. However, I do not feel it delivers on this. Our main character finds no conflict between her faith, her chain-smoking, her swearing and her sexuality, and despite the fact that becoming a nun should challenge someone to give up vices such as cigarettes, she just keeps smoking. We get a lot of flashbacks to her before joining the convent, showing how traumatic her youth was, but also how flawed she was. However, I don’t feel she develops past the impulsive and harmful person she was before, she just doesn’t do drugs or drink anymore. She literally assaults one of her students and takes no issue with it- that’s absurd! There are a lot of different strands in this book that are introduced and then left woefully to the side, and I think all the bad stuff that happens in the characters’ past is borderline torture porn. Having said all this, it is very gripping and I was kept very interested. But the book was fundamentally lacking substance.

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scaredykatbooks's review

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dark emotional mysterious 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

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itsy719's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book and the author’s writing style. There was one scene involving administering insulin to a diabetic experiencing hypoglycemia which I was quite disappointed in. With all of the research the author and her team presumably did prior to publication, this felt like a big miss. A minor detail in an otherwise classic “whodunnit.”

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