Reviews

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

vanessamariebooks's review against another edition

Content warnings: teen addiction & recovery, talks of overdose, mental health illness (severe anxiety), broken family system due to prison system/laws, & brief mentions of child sexual abuse.

If you want to hear my actual thoughts on the book, check out the Diversity is Lit bookclub discussion: https://youtu.be/SiuZAwm2y5M

theobscureboleyngirl's review against another edition

3.0

White Smoke is described as The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out and that feels right on point.

I love a good haunted house story and this one was one of them, right up until that ending. This was also a case of, I should have read the trigger warnings before proceeding but that is hardly the books fault.

I really enjoyed Jackson’s writing style so I will definitely be picking up another book of hers in the future.

TW⚠️ Anxiety, mention of beg bugs, house fire (on and off page) drug misuse (including overdose – flashback).

bearsfilter's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

4.0

this scared me so bad idk if it was bc it was the middle of the night when i was reading most of this or what but i was shaking in my boots. mari’s fear of bed bugs and extreme ocd really hit close for me we’re kinda like this 🤞. i wish the ending was not as abrupt and that the last twist wasn’t the twist but it was still fun overall. 

bobbij94's review against another edition

3.0

Good book for a YA. Struggled to sympathize with main character sometimes due to age and obsessions.
Good rep. of anxiety and also did not see quite a few twists, but it also left me without resolve.

petrock28's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

shelvedbyamanda's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

booksonawire's review against another edition

5.0

I really, REALLY wanted to give this five stars and it got so close, but there are still so many unanswered questions that I can't commit to five stars. Does this mean we are getting a sequel? Because I need one. I think there is enough to write more in this world.

After almost 30 books this month from the likes of Stephen King, Scott Thomas, Ania Ahlborn, Sergio Gomez, and Chuck Wendig, this YA snuck up and creeped me out the most. It was amazing, had me itching, so freaking creepy. And confirmed for me that Jackson is one of my favorite authors and I just need everything she has ever written!...4.5 stars

thatsoneforthebooks's review against another edition

4.0

3.75

The bed bug obsession was the most horrifying part of this for me

dejuavu's review against another edition

3.0

Idk, this just didn’t hit for me. Pacing was all over the place and Marigold is unlikable (in a bad way). If you want to know more about bedbugs than you ever planned to, this is for you.

stephaniebookish's review against another edition

3.0

2.5/3 I really didn’t like so much about this book and I’m sad. There was a lot of potential, but there were too many plot lines that never came together or were explored adequately enough. Had we stuck to one of these plot lines, for example the criminalization of weed, I think the book would have been better for it. I personally didn’t like that Mari was often vilified for her use of weed to combat her anxiety and felt like her parents should have focused less on her actually smoking weed and more on the why because ol’ girl really needed help with her anxiety. I think this book falls flat in many ways, BUT that being said I’d still be interested to read another horror book from Tiffany D. Jackson! There’s a lot of potential there and I’d be excited to see her dive more into this genre.

Also, this book has a haunted house trope that I kindaaaa hate but it’s very common so