Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - White Smoke

I was so underwhelmed by this book. The spooky aspect was ruined by the plot twist and the horror elements felt almost cartoonish. The characters were two-dimensional, the writing was lazy and the plot was weak.

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pages_with_panda's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

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thescenery's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

A book that is marketed as "The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out" had everything to be a disappointment. Like, nothing could be that good, right?

Except this book was right about the marketing, and it was, indeed, very good. I only now came to realise I read from Tiffany D. Jackson before, and I liked this format and genre way better. Her writing here is good, it glowed under the horror genre and the scary atmosphere (I got chills!), it just fit really perfectly with the story and the characters, and I even if I usually have a hard time following teenagers, Marigold captivated me and I was rooting for her all the way through.

Her brother and little Piper were also good, and I loved reading about them and their relationship with Marigold. However, her relationship with her mother and stepfather made me angry in a way I couldn't get past, and that's why I coulnd't give it 5 stars (sorry I'm rancorous)

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abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

This book is like, the definition of fine? It wasn’t bad, but I also didn’t love it. The premise was interesting and I do generally enjoy YA horror, so I did really like how creepy it was from the onset and the escalation of all of the scary and unnerving things to outright danger.

I listened to the first 60% in audiobook and finished the rest in hardcopy which I definitely preferred, which meant I could skim a bit when the pacing was kind of weird, which it frequently was. The ending was so abrupt that if I hadn’t read reviews saying “what just happened??” I honestly would have thought I was missing a page in my copy.

While Marigold was a very compelling protagonist and I was rooting for her (and her brother Sammy, who I adored!) I felt like the subject matter of the book, such as her struggles with addiction and substance use, did not match how juvenile the narration felt. I’m not sure if that was in part due to the audio narrator that I didn’t love, but some editorial choices just didn’t really match up for me.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a few days in October when you’re in the mood for something creepy, but I wouldn’t say it’s a must-read.

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