Note: It is important to understand that, though, under the Gillian Flynn imprint, this book is separate from her and should be read and reviewed independently.

Scorched Grace is a whodunit crime novel following Sister Holiday, a queer punk nun who takes up amateur sleuthing when a series of arson attacks hit Saint Sebastian’s School.

I loved Sister Holiday. I found her character to be so intriguing and captivating. I enjoyed her backstory and reading about her relationships, both familial and romantic. The prose was beautiful, and I found the religious commentary interesting and refreshing. I heard someone suggest that they expand this book into a series with Sister Holiday solving various crimes, and I would love to read more of the character regardless of what she’s doing.

Where this book fell flat with me is that I found myself taken out of the story quite a bit with the emphasis on Sister Holiday’s story, to the point that I had to keep rewinding to figure out how things fit together. I felt I invested little in the arson cases and the sleuthing progress.

Overall, I loved Sister Holiday, but I didn’t find this novel all that impressionable. I am looking forward to upcoming releases from the imprint and the author.

P.S. Mara Wilson, the actress who played Matilda, narrated the audiobook and it was delightful.

Thank you Zando books for a copy of this audiobook.

I want to start by saying that the audiobook narrator was incredible and definitely gave the story the vibe it needed.

This story had me a Queer punk rock fully tattooed bad ass nun. Sister Holiday was a trip of a character. She has a dark past which you will get to revisit during her time trying to uncover who is behind the arson and murder of one staff member at the catholic school she teaches music.

She is determined to solve this crime and expose whoever is trying to frame her. Sister Holiday is quite the character, I couldn’t look away from Her and wanted to learn more about Her and her problematic past..

Her traumas and Loss gave her an extra dose of unhinged personality that I just loved so much. I was entertained throughout the entire novel & i can’t wait to see what else this author has planned for the future.

I liked this book because of the social norms it pushed. It was like if Sister Act was rated R, and the only gripe I have is that I didn't really connect with any of the other characters besides the protagonist. I also don't really enjoy books about religion but this was far enough away for me to put that aside and enjoy the ride.

Reading this story from the position of a Catholic raised going to church each Sunday. It’s like a throwback to my childhood. The juxtaposition between swearing, and also the Hail Mary’s is top notch.

I really enjoyed the writing style and the descriptions. Some of my fav’s:
I’m nuanced.
You’re a gorgeous disaster.
Like reciting a prayer over and over to memorize it, to metabolize it.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
I’m not going to explain each quote, but they all reached out and hit me in the feels when I heard them.

The mystery was good, but I love the world that was created in the school and in New Orleans and the history thrown in to find out how Sister Holiday got to where she is now. A Lesbian Nun. Definitely going to be checking out more from this author! Very enjoyable book!

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

The narrators voice for the main female character was amazing and seemed the most like her natural voice. I didn’t care to much for more of the cops voices that sounded to me more like a New York/Boston accent when the story takes place in New Orleans. The book is featured around a nun that is queer and has retired her bad girl rocker ways to repent for her sins. She’s only been at a Catholic school teaching music for about a year when horrible accidents start happening and she wants to figure out what’s going on. The characters were all very well developed and when it got to the part about Sister Holidays backstory, I had a lump in my throat and had to try hard not to cry. If you’re into mysteries, this one has religious overtones throughout, you should give it a try!

Who would have thought that I could enjoy this book as much as I did??
This is a very very fast paced story about a nun who does not seem to be as typical: sarcastic, quirky, tattooed and more atracted to women. She is solving a case of arson attacks. Once I got used to the religious references that come with a main character being a nun, I really enjoyed this story narrated by Mara Wilson!!
Thank you #NetGalley #Zando for this audiobook

Did you know you needed a tattooed/smoking/lesbian/detective nun with neo-noir vibes in your life? I didn't either until I read this. Now I definitely want more installments with this MC. I can't thank Zando enough for the ALC of this one, Mara Wilson's narration fit the mood of the book really well!

This is a book about a nun called sister holiday who is also an ex punk Rocker a lesbian and she has many tattoos and oh yeah she smokes a lot! Not only do we get to know sister holiday but we also get to join her while she tries to find out who is setting fire to the churches buildings as the buildings fall people are caught in the fire NL sister holiday is not only looking for an arsonist but a murderer. OK I listen to about 70% of this book because I had so many issues with the main character sister holiday. The one I could’ve really done without all the body function talk and two how could she be a nun and a lesbian? Priest and nuns take about a celibacy whether you’ve been married before or go straight into the church as a young adult so I don’t see how she could be a practicing lesbian and anon. There were other things that bothered me about this book I felt as if she just drowned on and on and we kept going back-and-forth between past and present not to mention I thought the book was way longer than it had to be. It felt like the murders and the fires were just an afterthought so needless to say I really wasn’t into this book it sounded interesting but if something doesn’t make sense to me it ruins the whole book and I don’t see how she could smoke and be a lesbian but at the same time be a holy figure. I received this book from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I was so here for this new amateur detective novel featuring Sister Holiday, a queer, chain-smoking, heavily tattooed former rock musician and new nun who tries to get to the bottom of a serial arsonist and murderer who seems intent on framing her. Set in New Orleans, this was a refreshing debut series and I can't wait for more books featuring this one of a kind character. Recommended for fans of Sister Act or Angeline by Anna Quinn. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review. This was excellent narrated by Mara Wilson!

Liked this much more than I expected to. A powerful and unexpected new voice in crime fiction, Douaihy has created a fascinating and unique lead in tattooed punk nun Sister Holiday. Holiday has started over in New Orleans as a nun who teaches guitar to Catholic school kids and smokes the cigarettes she confiscates, because waste is a sin. This is a progressive order but not all of the sisters are thrilled she's there, and she's navigating that while dealing with trauma from her old life. But her faith is genuine and earnest and displayed throughout this first person narrative. And then she's a witness to a fire at the school, saving two students, and seeing a staff member die. As the stakes increase, she's more determined than ever to find out who's setting the fires. Exceptional audio performance by Mara Wilson. I couldn't stop listening. CW: animal killed, mentions of sexual assault and abuse.

This was an interesting read! I wasn’t sure what to expect after reading the synopsis but it turned out to be a good story with an entertaining main character. I would definitely read more in this series.

Very interesting concepts that didn't work for me. I love a whodunnit, love a sleuth who isn't in law enforcement, love a mystery suspense, ESPECIALLY one with queer leads. However. This just didn't work. The stream of consciousness made things feel so incoherent and unconnected. The flashbacks were there for trauma porn and instilling the queer pain element. There was so much pain in this. There should be a lot more CWs shared for this book (I've listed as many as I could remember below.)


The arson mystery did not feel high enough stakes, and with the rambling narrative, we would get stuck in the weeds of random storylines and flashbacks. Also why were there so many discussions on sweat? We get it, New Orleans is hot, and people sweat and are moist. There's a potential romantic breadcrumb dropped between a couple potential characters, but everyone in this kind of sucked. The characters were either insufferable or had no depth, and it felt like the author put all effort into sharing their traumas instead of anything about them in the present day. Also, knowing that this book is published by Gillian Flynn made having a character called Flynn cringey, even though I bet it was meant to be kind.


There isn't much explanation into how this nun goes from 0 to "I must solve this mystery since the police are useless" until the ending, which made it very hard to care throughout the story. I didn't enjoy this; the mystery was meh, the characters were both awful and traumatized to the maximum, the romantic interest subplot was weak, the writing was difficult to keep track of with the different nuns and officers. This was tragique. I should have DNFed but was really hoping for some kind of twisted ending. (There isn't.)


I did love the cover, and the narrator was the only thing keeping the book together. To leave this on a slightly positive note.



CWs for this book: death of an animal, multiple teens raping a different teen, slut shaming & victim blaming rape survivor, substance abuse (alcohol, cocaine), self-harm (cutting), addiction (opioids, alcoholism), arson/death by suffocation from fires or burned alive, sexual harassment, police brutality, abuse of power and sexual threat by police officer, drunk driving, homomisia, parental neglect and kicking out queer teen, unhoused teens, father raping daughter and getting her pregnant, cheating (lead has relationship with married woman for eons).

My own pet peeves: too many mentions of sweating, bad breath, clipping nails.


I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All views are my own.

I was drawn to this book because Gillian Flynn liked it enough to publish it. It’s totally different than Flynn’s mysteries but I’m glad I checked it out. It’s a pretty straightforward detective story with an unconventional detective. Sister Holiday is a young sleuth with a checkered past, a nicotine habit, lots of tattoos, and an unexpected devotion to the divine.

There’s nothing eerie about this story and humor is peppered in here and there to keep things light. It’s definitely not quite “cozy”—but it delivers a cozy feeling steeped in irony. I think you’ll like this if you are a Janet Evanovich fan.

It also has all the trappings of a new series. I’m sure we’ll hear more from the Sisters of Sublime Blood in New Orleans soon.

Last thing! I listened to the audiobook and Mara Wilson is a great narrator. I’ll definitely seek out other other books she has lent her voice to.

NOLA, thriller, mystery, LGBT, arson, amateur-sleuth, hard-boiled, twisty, tattoos, convent, high-school, murder, investigations, unputdownable, private-schools, suspense, musicians, law-enforcement, snarky, framed, verbal-humor, catholic, queer, abuse, mental-health-issues, juvenile-diabetes, grief, grieving, erotica, Brooklyn,*****

Sister Holiday was born and raised in a tough part of Brooklyn and the deep problems of her life there never left her for a minute. The current story in NOLA alternates with her past life in Brooklyn. All too filled with reality. The story is wrenching yet riveting. The whodunit is intricately well done.
I definitely am hoping for more chapters in the life of Sister Holiday or whoever she becomes next.
Narrator Mara Wilson was spectacular. Perfect for this story with her excellent acting ability and ability to differentiate characters clearly and voice the emotions as they came along. But it was my choice to listen at a faster pace.
I requested and received a free temporary audio copy from Zando via NetGalley. Thank you!

I was intrigued by the plot of this, but part of me was a little worried the "queer, tattooed, smoking nun" would be tedious and annoying. I expected someone who didn't want to be there, or ... well, basically I was envisioning Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act, but with an edge. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that Holliday was very sincere in her dedication to being a nun (without being preachy or too pious). She actually believed, and it worked much better for the story.

It was an excellent mystery as well. The cover implies there may be more stories in the series, and I'd defintely be willing to check out more from Sister Holliday.

“Sister Holiday, a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun”, What more could you want? Scorched Grace was a great book, it was a really engaging mystery that I couldn’t put down. I especially enjoyed the audiobook, I feel like it added depth to the story that I really loved hearing. I can’t recommend it enough, It’s such an entertaining read!

Scorched Grace felt like a mystery novel at times, and a thriller at others. I liked learning about Sister Holiday and liked the flashbacks scenes as well. I would certainly read more from this author.