This book had me hooked from the start, really engaged. It felt like a 5-star read for sure. But then it bogged down about a third of the way in. It was so slow I dreaded picking the book up again. But I did, and finally finished it. Overall, it is no better than a 3-star book. Not great; but certainly not terrible.

The book was full of unnecessary elevated language, just for the author to prove she could. After a while, we get it, you are smart, message received. But in using this type of language, you are sabotaging your own book in order to drill that message into the reader’s head. This was a serious distraction from the story.

The book contained too many characters. Every minor character with only a single appearance was named. I counted about 70 characters in the book. Way too many. The author also used too many flashbacks to fill in Sister Holiday’s past. Many of the flashbacks came without any warning, right in the middle of a paragraph about the present, which became confusing after a while. Less flashbacks would have been better.

Finally, the ending was rushed and ridiculous. Sister Holiday who had spent 300 pages finding the arsonist, then helps her escape? That was totally out of character as was Sister Augustine’s final actions.

The author has written a sequel, which I will read, but at least, based upon this book, I am not expecting much. ( )

4 / 5 ⭐️‘s

“Scorched Grace" by Margot Douaihy

I was worried at first that this one would be too much about religion and God for me. I mean its about a nun, so of course its going to cover some religion and does throw out a few bible verses but it wasn’t the main focus.

I found the concept to be unique and fun. I mean how can you go wrong with a chain-smoking, crime solving queer nun!

The ending provided a good twist and it was ( )

Truly dreadful. Not a mystery. Not Catholic. Lousy writing. Nothing that should entice you to read this book. ( )

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy is an unusual mystery because the sleuthing nun protaganist is a tattooed lesbia who loves using four letter words. Otherwise this is standard mystery writing with the usual red herrings and a predictable ending. ( )

This debut mystery starring a lesbian punk nun didn’t live up to its promise (nor justify its long spot on my hold list). Read my full review here. ( )