Reviews tagging 'Murder'

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

27 reviews

thatenbyisisreads's review

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

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Child death

solenekeleroux's review

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Blood, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Murder

bookcheshirecat's review

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

“Yusef, ‘I have anxiety’ is a full and complete statement. I don’t have to explain the what and why to you!” 

➽ White Smoke was my first Tiffany D. Jackson book and it really gripped me! The story follows Marigold, a young black girl who moves into a new house with her annoying younger stepsister, her stepfather and mother. Right from the get-go, something is strange about the house and Marigold begins to fear something might be haunting them. It doesn't help that their new town has a ton of secrets and Marigold herself struggles with her past. She has a phobia of bedbugs because of a past incident and also gets anxiety and panic attacks. I liked how her mental health was discussed, though if bedbugs gross you out, I'd definitely skip this, as Marigold has a lot of intrusive thoughts connected to them. I liked how the whole 'haunting' storyline was resolved and I felt for Marigold, as it's easy to brush her off as 'hysterical' with her history, yet she knows something is off!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Police brutality

Minor: Death and Murder

bookish_ann's review

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

blackcatkai's review

dark 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

3.5/5☆~

CW: addiction, mental illness, anxiety/panic attacks, ableism (casual and otherwise, use of words like st*pid & j*nkie), drug use mentioned, blood, violence, death, classism

I really liked this one, the ending twist is one of my favourites, and I really liked Mari as a character. a lot of this book reminded me of growing up just outside Detroit, with the mentions of things like coney dogs, devils night, and pop. makes me miss my hometown just a smidge. honestly, my only real issue is how abrupt the ending feels. but overall I'd definitely recommend this one for the spooky season!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Gun violence and Medical content

booknerderika's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was good. I liked the character development from Marigold. I didn't like the ending. It felt like it needed an epilogue at the least. There were also some parts that felt rushed, but overall the pacing wasn't too bad. I was hooked on this story and had to keep reading to find out what was going on and what was going to happen. I just want to know what happened after all the chaos. I need some type of closure.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

Creepy. Upsetting. Real. This book is about a haunted house in a community that has been destroyed by greed, power, classism and racism. My heart was in my throat several times. Great YA horror story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

Maybe I’m a sucker for spooky/ghost stories, but this book was SO good. The twists were interesting and gave me what I wanted out of a story - to the point where I didn’t even mind the predictable parts

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

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

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

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.

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, and Blood

Minor: Sexual violence