Reviews with content warning for Vomit - How to Survive Your Murder

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine

9 reviews

sage_alexandra's review

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Honestly, would've rated it higher if not for the disappointing ending. It just doesn't make sense based on how the main character feels about the overall situation.

But I guess any information/evidence implicating the killer, could also be used against MC :(

Overall, it's a good Halloween read. Closest in vibes I can think of is the Netflix movie "There's Someone Inside Your House."

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meganemarshall's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was a fun YA horror thriller. I liked the homage to 90's horror, very specifically, Scream, which is my favorite horror movie. I liked the time travel aspect. However, there was a moment pretty early on in the book that stood out for me, and I was able to pick out the killer really early on. So finishing the book for me was, how do you get there and not who did it.

I didn't like the main character. She was just kinda ran around like a chicken with her head cut off, which is a normal reaction in this situation. But I like my MCs in a horror novel with a little more grit. I also really wasn't a fan of the ending.

If I recommended the book, I would say, pick it up for the horror but for not the mystery part.

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shesflippinpages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

I loved Danielle Valentine’s Two Sides to Every Murder so I was excited to read this one as well. I really enjoyed it. Love the slasher vibe with nods and mentions to all the slasher/horror movies from the 90s plus some current true crime podcasts.

I liked that there were many characters with different subplots that had you suspicious and guessing everyone at some point. I did end up guessing what happened but that’s only because I am a thriller/mystery fanatic and didn’t take away from the book at all.

I unfortunately thought the ending was abrupt and left some unexplained storylines. I was thankful for the *bonus chapter* that added a bit of clarity/confirmation of what I suspected.

Overall loved this slasher, thriller, time travel/supernatural-ish with a dash of romance type of read and would recommend it along with Two Sides to Every Murder.

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jessw17's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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bri__'s review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

It started off well, I was interested. It didn't take long for it to start going downhill. I started wanting to DNF around the 25% mark because the pop culture references, dialogue and horror movie recounts really felt quite cheap. However, I pushed through because of the change in tone around the half way point and decided that I would be able to finish the book relatively quickly anyway. Once I finished it, I was disappointed. There are so many plot holes, it feels like the author just genuinely forgot about certain characters because there was no explaination of what happened to them. The ending felt cheap too because again, nothing was explained and it was left on a cliffhanger. The main character was made out to be a very intelligent girl who loved horror movies (her only personality trait) and wanted to go into the medical field. So you'd think she'd be able to solve who the murderer is, right?
Wrong. There were so many characters being made as suspects that it was hard to keep up and yet none of them were the true killer. In the end, she didnt even end up going back to the present timeline. Instead, she had just made everything worse. So what was the point? Who knows. The Angel addition felt out of place but I didn't mind that much. I don't actually understand the motive behind Claire being the murderer for all of those girls and the other ones that were basically collateral damage. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The book is a fast paced thriller, atleast it has that going for it. I'd recommend it for that but not for anything else you want in a good book.

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snoopyfanclub's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I really wanted to like this book & the premise was interesting but omg it’s so convoluted lol like I think adding too much back and forth, both location wise and suspect wise starts to feel boring.

I think she focused on Wes for too long and then like his death just felt like you didn’t even really care because you already thought he died and Alice barely reacts./

There were definitely too many characters and I had to keep rereading to figure out who was who.

Also weird to throw in how all the girls her dad cheated with were technically above the age of consent. Like your dad is having multiple affairs with your teenage classmates that he coaches, it truly doesn’t matter what the age of consent is, it’s disgusting and abusive. Also reminded me of pretty little liars where they set up a huge dude as the killer then reveal it’s a skinny girl, like okay sure. I guess she’s tall and in a wolf costume but where tf was she keeping it in between killings because we know she had on her normal clothes and she ditched her car so? Make it make sense. I guess we just have to suspend disbelief and believe a teenage girl can commit like 50 murders and get away with it. Also, lastly, why didn’t they mention Wes as ppl Owen was accused of killing at the very end???/

I just feel unsatisfied, there was no true resolution.

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amhud1030's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

found most of the characters in this book unlikable.

The plot of the story had some great twist to it definitely kept you guessing I had a few people I suspected at the beginning and then my suspects changed midway through but never would I have guessed the ending.

There are lots of horror movie references and as in most horror movies you tend to hate the main character making stupid mistakes however the fact that the main character Alice was obsessed with horror movies and knew the mistakes that everyone always made and still did them but justified them to herself was very annoying.

Also did I mention the ending? I have so many questions!

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calamitywindpetal's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review

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adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Another HIGHLY predictable "thriller" I saw 75% of the twists coming at least an hour before they happened, most at least 2 hours.
Most of the characters were flat, and I didn't really care much when they died because we didn't know that much about them.
It did have some good quotes though. And the narrator was excellent.

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