I wanted to like this. It had everything it needed to pique my interest and keep me invested but in the end - it just didn’t do it for me.

I received the audio through NetGalley and I thank them for the opportunity to listen to it. The narrator was great, but this just ended up not being for me.

2.5⭐️

Sister Holiday is a nun like no other! Heavily tattooed, queer, with a gold tooth, she enjoys contraband cigarettes she takes from her students and swears a lot. She teaches music at Saint Sebastian's school after having recently moved to New Orleans to take her vows. While having a sneaky cigarette one night, she realises the school is on fire and her friend Jack, a janitor from the school falls from a window and is killed. Sister Holiday returns to the school to check all the students are out and saves two, narrowly escaping with her life.
I was thrilled to find out that Scorched Grace is the first in a series of Sister Holiday books. She is a fantastic character, fiery, cool and doesn't suffer fools gladly. She is keen to help solve the mystery of the fire and is frustrated by the efforts of the police, especially when it appears someone is trying to set her up as the arsonist. Her investigations lead her to suspect everyone including students and even the nuns! As she narrates the book and tells us the story, I really got a feel for her as a character and loved her. The story weaves between her investigation and her past, and it is one of sex, drugs and rock n roll but also one that is terribly sad.
I was lucky enough to listen the audio of Scorched Grace on Netgalley which was narrated by the amazing Mara Wilson and it was a brilliant listen. I thoroughly enjoyed this and can't wait for the next instalment.

3.5 stars for the audiobook version narrated by Mara Wilson.

I enjoyed this audiobook about a crime-solving nun with a checkered past. However, the book seemed to be more about Sister Holiday and her past than it was about solving the mystery at hand.

If you are in it for the mystery and the crime solving, you might be disappointed in this book. However, if you are interested in a unique new crime-solving character who is heavily tattooed, a punk-rock musician, queer, and also a nun, you are in for a fun surprise.

I like following audio book narrators and I'll definitely be looking for more books narrated by Mara Wilson. She brought the characters to life and I think I enjoyed the book more due to the care she brought to each character.

Personally, I like mystery and crime -- so I was thrown off by the flashbacks into Sister Holiday's past. However, by the end of the book you realize this is book one of a set up for a character we hope will be with us for a long time. I have a feeling we will be reading more Sister Holiday mysteries in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Zando for an audiobook in return for my honest review.


#ScorchedGrace #NetGalley

I can’t stop gushing about this book. It’s by far one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I’ve had in a long time. Sister Holiday is a character unlike any I’ve met before and I can’t wait to spend more time with her. What a fresh, irreverent, enjoyable book.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60610668
Nuns gone wild!
You will love this liberal smoking tattooed lesbian Nun who puts on her detective hat to help police try and catch an arsonist who is burning down buildings on her catholic school grounds that results in several of her colleagues demise. It’s a refreshing take on the cliche catholic nun stereotype. The story leads you through clues and red herrings before finding out who and why. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator Mara Wilson is good. Some of the sarcasm I envision of the nun was lost in the audio, she was more gritty in my mind! This is a very slow burn but still a quick read. Three and half stars for me, I just wanted a bit more shock and awe from this first publication coming from Gillian Flynn’s company. A Good rollicking fun mystery but absolutely not a Gone Girl! Worth the read!
Thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of the audiobook for my review!

2.5 stars

Scorched Grace follows Sister Holiday, a heavily-tattooed, lesbian nun with a history of sex, drugs and punk rock. When a fire erupts at St. Sebastian’s School, Sister Holiday witnesses a custodian’s death and manages to save two students from the blaze. Later, when Sister Holiday comes under suspicion of having started the fire herself, she puts her sleuthing skills to good use.

I really wanted to like Scorched Grace. The concept was awesome and the cover is *chef’s kiss*.

I generally hate a mystery in which the protagonist, who is already under suspicion, inserts themselves into the investigation to “clear their name,” and this was no different. Sister Holiday does very little actual sleuthing. Instead she stumbles upon evidence and mishandles or outright tampers with it, all while recounting her life before joining the convent. It all fell flat for me—won’t be picking up future books in this series.

The audiobook narrator, Mara Wilson, was amazing. Five stars for her performance.

Thank you to NetGalley, Zando, and Gillian Flynn Books for an Advance Listener Copy!

I enjoyed reading a mystery novel from a distinctive female protagonist. I loved the idea of a queer, liberal nun, although my experience with the Catholic church made it hard for me to believe such an individual exists.

Since her current life is in the sisterhood, a lot of the story involves flashbacks to her more risqué, sexualy active past. I thought these parts were necessary for fleshing out the character and understanding who she is as a person.

As for the mystery, it was a compelling setup but it didn't fully hold my interest all the way to the end of the story. I think this novel would have benefited from being a bit shorter.

I would recommend this to readers looking for a diverse mystery with a particularly unique amatuer detective.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio arc of Scorched Grace.

I wanted to like Scorched Grace so badly. I highly tattooed, lesbian, smoking nun sounds like a character I could get behind, but it wasn't meant to be. In fact, I almost DNF'd this book at 45%. We'll get to that in a bit. There will be spoilers after the summary!

Summary:
Scorched Grace is told from the perspective of Sister Holiday, a new member of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood puts her sleuthing skills to the test when it appears an arsonist and murderer is targeting the order's school. While she tries to unravel the mystery, she walks us through her life at the convent as well as what lead her to taking holy orders in the first place. With a lack of face in the police, a questionably stable fire investigator, and her own intuition, Sister Holiday does what she must to protect her school and the new life she's created for herself.

What I Liked:
The first quarter of this book, I thought I was going to have a new favorite. The first chapter reads like a love letter to the city of New Orleans, and the main character, Sister Holiday seems to be truly interesting. I was excited to see her backstory unfold over the course of the mystery. The general dislike of the Catholic diocese leaders was entertaining since I have my own dislike of them, and this might be the first book I've read in a long time that paints Christianity in a generally positive light.... sort of anyway. Unfortunately, that's about all the positives I have for this book.

What I Didn't Like:
It didn't take long for me to find the main character grating and arrogant. She claims to be the school sleuth but then does virtually no sleuthing on the case? She stumbles across the answer on accident.
Teacher uses violence against a student. Details: I don't care how much a kid mouths off. As a teacher and as a religious figure, you don't lay hands on one of your students, 18 or otherwise. And to beat him with a ruler? Absolutely not. And then no consequences! This was what caused me to almost DNF at 45%.
The author doesn't appear to really know anything about Catholic schools in New Orleans. I have no idea why she'd say schools are closing down given that this is set in what seems to be our time, post Hurricane Katrina. At the time of this review, there are still 23 Catholic schools open, at least half of them being high schools. This doesn't even count the Catholic schools located across the bridge in Metairie, Mandeville, Covington, and other cities within an hour drive of New Orleans.
The one that bugged me the most: the author appears to have no understanding of how diabetes works and didn't bother to research it? Details: One of the students, the same one Sister Holiday beats as a matter of fact, is a Type 1 Diabetic. The arsonist says that they underdosed him on his insulin, and yet he had a low blood sugar episode. Underdoing it on insulin would lead to a high blood sugar and wouldn't cause the drunk-like symptoms the character experiences. On top of this, Sister Holiday grabs his emergency supplies and injects the kid having a low blood sugar episode with INSULIN. This would more than likely have sent him into seizures or a coma, potentially even killing him. I get that the author might not know a diabetic, but this is easy research.
I'm very concerned that Nina's character plays into the predatory bisexual stereotype, and it made me very uncomfortable to read about her and Holiday's relationship throughout the book.

Other Thoughts:
I don't feel like the brother's story was really relevant. I don't understand why Nina <spoiler> shows back up at the end of the story. We never get the answer to many questions like <spoiler> how she ends up with the ruler in her guitar case or what ultimately happened with the coworker she pointed a finger at that didn't do it?

I left this book feeling let down and frustrated. I'm sure there's an audience out there for this book, but not someone who has a knowledge of diabetes or Catholic schools in Louisiana.

CW: religion, child abuse, rape, police brutality, homophobia, incest, fire injury, arson

TLDR: The Maltese Falcon in New Orleans with sublime soliloquies on faith.

Before reading, I watched an interview with Gillian Flynn and Margot Douaihy. Amongst other topics, they point out that this book is hardboiled. It is a splendid one at that! Margot Douaihy wanted to leave behind the sexism of the genre, no small feat, but she pulled it off. That's not to say there are no femmes fatales or gal Fridays in this book, nor is there sexism. It wouldn't be hardboiled without corruption, violence, and an antihero for the ages, either. Scorched Grace is hardboiled for the modern reader, one that still drips with noir yet doesn't need a separate preface explaining the context of the story, history of the genre, and enumerating trigger warnings.

Let me take a moment to rave about Mara Wilson's narration. This smoky voice belongs to the little girl from Mrs. Doubtfire? Once you wrap your head around that, let her velvet tone carry you through the story. It was divine. I could listen to grown-up Mara Wilson read me food labels and find it relaxing. There are a few moments where little Nattie Hillard is audible, and they are perfect. Whenever Holiday screams, it is the scream of a little girl, a scared, broken, little girl. It is a childish scream, and every time the story called for it, it was a shock. How can the husk turn to heartache so quickly? It gives you such insight into Holiday's soul. I hope Scorched Grace is at least nominated for an Audie or spoken word Grammy.

What I loved most about Scorched Grace were Sister Holiday's monologues on faith. Margot Douaihy attended Catholic school. I don't know her personal faith, but what she has written in Scorched Grace on spirituality was more powerful to me than much of what I read in Catholic school. These passages are luminous. If Sister Holiday were a real nun, I would seek her out for spiritual counsel. As it stands, I would love to have a printed copy of the book, highlighted with Post-it® flags for the different sections to read in times of quiet, times of darkness, times when you need spiritual counsel. I don't know if Margot Douaihy intended readers to have this reaction or not, but I did, and I thank her for it.

I would like to thank Zando & Dreamscape Media for allowing me to experience this NetGalley audiobook.

Scorched Grace is the debut book of author Margot Douaihy. I look forward to other works by this author.

The book follows Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun who is a bit of an amateur sleuth living in New Orlean’s with the Sisters of Sublime Blood. When Saint Sebastian’s School, where she teaches, is the target of arson, Sister Holiday jumps to action.

While the book was a bit slow for me, and I set it aside a few times, I eventually returned just because of Sister Holiday. Margot made Sister Holiday completely relatable. Who of us nowadays is not flawed in some way or another?

Sister Holiday must unravel the mystery behind a series of arson attacks and clear her name because the arson seems very intent on framing her. The closer Sister Holiday comes to finding the truth, a new clue emerges, and you scramble to find the next suspect in this diverse character cast. Margot kept me guessing the entire book until the shocking end.

I can’t wait to see what mysteries await Sister Holiday! The title suggests it may be a series!

Mara Wilson, the narrator, did a great job giving a voice not only to Sister Holiday, but to dozen other characters. She brought them to life and I was impressed with how unique they all sounded.

Thank you to Netgalley, Margot Douaihy, and Zando for this ARC audiobook (ALC) in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Incredibly atmospheric--you can feel the New Orleans humidity. This mystery is very character driven and ultimately I would have liked a little bit more of the arson rather than backstory, but I suppose this is first in a series. Would definitely try the next book.

This one started out as such a fun read! A tattooed, punk rock nun named Sister Holiday moonlights as a detective to try to solve the mystery of a string of arsons affecting a convent in New Orleans. But what started as fun and novel quickly became repetitive, boring and so so slow (even at 1.5 speed!). There was so much promise in the premise, but for me, the execution fell flat. I won't be picking up the next book in the series. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an Advanced Listener Copy of this book. The narration appropriately matched the tempo of the novel.

I wouldn't normally consider hard-boiled detective novels to be my thing, but I enjoyed this one. It was interesting and the story moved along at a good pace. I think I'll be checking out the rest of the series as it comes.

I absolutely loved this book! It just scratched every itch I have when I am reading. A queer punk nun who solves mysteries in New Orleans, what more could I want? Sister Holliday was my favorite kind of protagonist: grumpy, heart of gold, complicated, and really good at her job. I also loved the reference to Judith. My favorite Biblical story.

I discovered this one through Gillian Flynn's publishing imprint. I was looking for something with Flynn sensibilities, a little edgy, dark, and unimpressed with normal, while also addressing societal inequalities, hypocrisy, and faith. It was such a welcome surprise and I sped through it. Can't wait to read a second one!!

A news article alerted me to a Today Show segment where Gillian Flynn talked about Gillian Flynn Books, an imprint of Zando Projects, and the first book to be published by the imprint, is Scorched Grace by Margo Douaihy.

I instantly pre-ordered Scorched Grace, and with the book hand, (after the publication date), I requested the audio on NetGalley; it was a long shot on getting approved, but I was desperate to read this book, and this audio would give me the added push I needed to bump it up my TBR and make it a priority! Let me say, my plan worked perfectly!

My first thought: the sentences are short and succinct, but instead of coming across choppy, they are very poetic. I've since learned that Douaihy has a background in poetry, so of course this comes across in her writing! The writing alone is stunningly perfected. The dazzle is how there seem to be no extra words, no fluff or filler. It's exquisite.

I love Sister Holiday as character, but even more so as a female character - she's simply a badass. She's gritty, queer and tattooed. She has a shocking past that will live rent-free in my mind for awhile. She's arrogant and strong-willed. She's imperfect and has a mind of her own. She's exactly the type of character I love for all of these reasons.

The writing, the story, the characters (Sister Holiday in particular), it's all very cutting edge, and I think that's what Flynn saw in this book. I think that's the similarities that I see, and what connects this novel to Flynn. It's the noir type of book that I love; that I crave. It makes me question the good, the bad, the wrong and the right.

The audiobook narrator was perfect for her role as Sister Holiday; Mara Wilson (of Matilda fame) worked so well on so many levels. And when I googled her, I found out she's an atheist, which I find quit ironic (and yes, the internet tells us way too much)!

I can't wait to see where Douaihy takes Sister Holiday, as it appears this is going to continue as a mystery series! I will also be patiently waiting for the next release from Gillian Flynn Books!

PS I think this title change to Scorched Grace (from Scorched Cross) is so much more fitting!

Thank you Zando for the complimentary copy to listen to and review.

The whole concept of this books is just delightful. The way that queerness and religion and so many other factors intersect is so interesting and honestly confusing to my brain.

Lesbian, punk rock, smoking/drinking nun is an incredible character to be a protagonist....but unfortunately I don't have very many other things to pinpoint which I liked. While I loved the character and idea, I just didn't love this one.

Sister Holliday is one of the most memorable protagonists of a mystery I've met in a long long time. Singular, with a unique voice and point of view, and a plot that just keeps twisting and turning, I couldn't stop listening to this until its harrowing conclusion. Mara Wilson narrates the cast of characters perfectly, and kept me engaged the whole time.

This is Margot Douaihy’s first novel, and I think she has the potential to write some great books in the future. However, I felt that the book had both major and minor issues.

I really wanted to like this book. I thought the cover was cool and I liked the beginning of the book’s description. But the premise of the book turned out to be unbelievable, and something very different from what I thought it was going to be.

Holiday, a young, openly queer woman who had so far lived an uninhibited life of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll decides to become a Catholic nun. No reason is given to explain how or why Holiday made the decision until near the end of the book. Even after learning about the event that pushed her to become a nun, it still doesn’t make sense to me.

After reading the description of the book I assumed that it would have to be science fiction of some sort. Either it would be set in the future in a time when Holiday’s beliefs had been accepted by the Catholic Church, or I thought it would be set in an alternate world where those things were sanctioned. If this had been the case, I think it would have been a much better book.

Throughout the beginning of the book I kept waiting for the sci-fi element, but it didn’t come. However, there wasn’t an explanation for how Holiday could be who she was and believe all of the things she believed while submitting to the rule of intolerant men who run the Catholic Church. It was very disorienting to try and understand what the author was trying to do and try to find some way in my mind for the book to make sense. For me, that feeling never went away.

It turns out that this book is set in our actual world and in the present day. And this is not a cheesy, conservative Christian redemption story (nor would I want it to be). She doesn’t convert and give up her old ways and beliefs and become a traditional Christian of any sort. Holiday subscribes to almost no Catholic teachings. To her, God is “They”, not a person, and is “all of us”. She is proudly queer. She is a feminist who hates the patriarchy. Given all of that, it is inconceivable (in today’s society) that such a person would become a nun.

So those are my problems with the premise. I also couldn’t support the main character, Holiday. The author clearly meant the book to be a modern noir mystery. In those books, the detectives aren’t necessarily supposed to be likable or “good”, so the fact Holiday is a very flawed character isn’t a problem. But noirs are generally nihilistic. In them, there is no good or evil, there is no God, the world is just a terrible place where everyone has to look after number one. The detectives are usually bad people who occasionally do some good things. However, in this book, I think the author intended Holiday to be a good person who has done some bad things. Holiday believes in God and wants to be a force for good in the world. But Holiday not only did some terrible stuff in the past, she continues to do some pretty terrible things in the present, and feels little to no remorse about it.

She is a teacher at a Catholic School, and she physically assaults one of her students. She suffers no consequences for this, and only feels a little bad about it. Holiday was not acting in self-defense, the student was just saying some terrible things. The student is 18 and a pretty bad person, but that is no excuse for what she did. She pushed him hard and he hit his head hard on an iron railing, then she started hitting him with a metal ruler.

Holiday rats on her friends to the police any time she can. Her excuse is that she has to suspect everyone, even though no one asked her to help with the investigation and she is always wrong and just causes hurt to the people she cares about. Spoiler – For example, a history teacher at the school has a disabled wife and so he needs his job to financially support them both. Holiday finds out accidentally that he drinks on the job, but no one had ever noticed it before. Obviously he shouldn’t be doing that, but instead of privately confronting him about it, Holiday immediately tells the police. The police take him away and it is clear that he will lose his job, and he won’t be able to support his disabled wife. (And he is not the eventual culprit.)

Holiday wasn’t a great person in the past, but there was one thing in particular that pushed me over the edge. Up until that part, I wasn’t loving the book, but I was doing my utmost to like it. But what Holiday did was so atrocious that it forfeited any good will that I had left for the book. SPOILER - Her mother was dying of cancer. She wanted Holiday to take her out to see New York City at night one last time. Holiday drives her Mom to a bar in an beat-up old van in winter. Her mom doesn’t want to go into the bar, so Holiday goes in to have one drink. Holiday left the van running. Holiday gets drunk and forgets her mom in the van. While Holiday is drunkenly hooking up with the bartender, the van catches on fire and her mother burns alive. That was too horrible for me to handle. And that turns out to be the reason Holiday decided to become a nun. That could almost make sense if Holiday became really conservative in her views after that event, some people do react to horrible events by becoming super conservative. However, she doesn’t change her mind about anything.

LESSER THINGS I THINK COULD HAVE BEEN IMPROVED

1. One of the police officers actually says the word “question mark” at the end of asking questions near the beginning of the book. There is no explanation for why she does that, and later on in the book the police officer stops doing that without explanation.

2. The other nuns in the book don’t seem to speak like Catholics. I could be wrong about this because I didn’t grow up Catholic, but I don’t think Catholics usually say “praise Jesus”. I think that is more common in some Protestant groups.

In summary, I think this book has a lot of problems, but I would not be at all surprised if Margot Douaihy improves with more experience.

I listened to the audio version of this book and Mara Wilson was an excellent narrator.

This mystery started off really strong. I was enjoying all the characters, the depictions of new orleans, and of course the tatted, smoking, nun protagonist :) But the middle dragged a bit and I didn’t enjoy the flashbacks to Holiday’s life before the convent.

While I appreciated the insights into her character that I got from those flashbacks, it was hard to follow on audio and slowed down the pacing quite a bit.

This really does follow the format of a traditional or cozy mystery (with a bit more cursing and sex), so if you like a slower whodunnit with interesting characters and an atmospheric setting, you should try this one out.

This book did not work for me, it was too unrealistic with the characterisation being over-the-top and Sister Holiday did not work well as a main character for me. I felt the characters were annoying and the writing didn't flow for me. I did think the idea of a dark punk queer nun having a dark past and being mixed into a mystery and murder investigation - I had really high hopes for this as it sounded really fun and interesting but it just did not work.