Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - White Smoke

I sadly did not enjoy this one as much as I was hoping. I do have to say that the discussions in this are good and very important and I enjoyed those. I did enjoy the plot of this book and the family dynamics I do have to say nothing really creepy started happening until about 60% of the way through so that was kind of a bummer I didn’t see something coming so that was cool and I do have to say the last 15% I really liked. I just found this to be boring at first and I know she’s an addict and I know weed helped her with her anxiety but hearing about it every other sentence was driving me crazy. I really liked Sammy as a character as well. He was probably my favorite part of the book. I think I also didn’t like this because the main character was very unlikable at times and that was hard like I understood her side of things but it was just too much of at times.

Content Warnings

jennay's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

Audiobook was beautifully read. However...

Almost DNF. Wouldn't have been missing much if I didn't. Not really a thriller - needs genre changed. Too many political/ real world issues repeated in the story... felt like there were so many things unanswered/ not clarified. Ending left me disappointed.

Content Warnings

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.0

Content Warnings

directorpurry's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

3.5

Content Warnings

peachani's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Spoiler

The Foundation is finally exposed

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

Content Warnings

danaslitlist's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

Never in my life have I wanted to kick a child more than I wanted to kick Piper.

This is my second book by Tiffany D Jackson after reading The Weight of Blood and I think that did this one a disservice. Because I absolutely loved TWoB so much it was going to be hard for any book by her to be as good. It’s not that White Smoke isn’t entertaining, it’s just that TWoB was so great this one pales a bit in comparison.

However! I highly recommend this one as well. This is the tension and gaslighting of Rebecca meets the eeriness and unsettling atmosphere of Get Out. There were plenty of moments that had the hairs standing up on the back of neck and me shaking my head saying “nope nope nope”, in the best way. Marigold is unreliable, unlikable character (for the first half) who gets you on her side due to the behavior of the majority of her family. I think this works really well to allow the reader to feel isolated and trapped within the events just like Mari.

I think the ending was a bit sudden and wish there was more of a dedicated conclusion but for those who don’t mind that type of conclusion there won’t be a problem.

Content Warnings

More...