Reviews tagging Child death

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, by Holly Jackson

100 reviews

nv0101's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Self harm, Infidelity, Body shaming, and Child death

Minor: Abandonment and Body horror

katherinek's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This was really giving me Pretty Little Liars vibes! The plot was well done and there was so much depth to it, but I wish the author would've devoted just as much energy to shaping the main characters. Most of them lacked depth for me, including Pip who just seemed like another "I'm not like other girls" type of character--that is, until the last 50 pages or so, where she became a lot more dynamic for me. The college application part of the plot fell pretty flat for me personally, as well as the "threats" she was getting, which never really seemed that important until

Spoiler

Barney died...which, in my opinion, wasn't necessary.

When it comes to the writing, there were definitely some cheesy parts but also some really pretty lines

Spoiler

For instance, Pip getting drugged was written so well, I felt like I was really experiencing it!

. There is a LOT of information given to you in this book, and the author helps you keep track of it with the reports and suspect list that Pip has at the end of all of them. I really appreciated the map at the beginning and I wish we could've had more visual aids like that one

Spoiler

I really wanted to see the murder board that Pip and Ravi made in part three, for example

. All of this information really started to pile up for me and got so messy to the point where I kept forgetting things and getting confused, and because of that, the ending was pretty underwhelming because I was learning so much at one time and I just couldn't keep up with everything at that point.

Spoiler

Also, why did Pip magically realize that it was Elliot and that he was keeping Andie in the house? In my opinion she didn't have nearly enough evidence for this and jumped to that conclusion VERY fast

Despite being kind of unrealistic, the ending was written pretty well. I liked how Pip called out the press for making Andie seem like a good person, when she was actually pretty awful.

Spoiler

Also, am I the only one who was convinced that Andie was still alive and behind all of this for like 90% of the book?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Drug abuse, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, and Rape

samanthamurk's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

WOW i’m in total shock from the ending. such a good read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Grief, Drug use, Death, Child death, Injury/injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Murder, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying and Misogyny

roniiweasley's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, Bullying, Drug use, Racial slurs, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Child death

bahlamber's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content and Child death

abbyycadabbyy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

 MY Rating criteria

-          5 stars: The book must be absolutely amazing and leave me thinking about the book. I also have to love the book start to finish. Loveable characters. 1,000,000% Recommend! 

 

-          4.5 stars: The book was amazing. Left me thinking about it. Loved characters. But it fell short in some ways. 100% Recommend. 

 

-          4 stars: Really good. An overall well-rounded book. Just wasn’t amazing. Likeable characters. Strong/good plot. 75% Recommend. 

 

-          3.5 stars: Fell a little short of being a really good book. Still good. Maybe a character really got on my nerves. Or there was something in the story line I just didn’t like. 65% Recommend. 

 

-          3 stars: Fell a little short of being a really good book. An alright book. Maybe a few characters really got on my nerves. Or there was stuff in the story line I just didn’t like. 50% Recommend. 

 

-          2.5 stars: The book is bad… not horrible but still bad. There was something about the book I did like something that saved it. But overall, I didn’t like the book. 25% Recommend. 

 

-          2 stars: Bad. Something big that had to do with the story I didn’t like. Something about the book I couldn’t get over. But stuff I did like. 15% Recommend. 

 

-          1.5 stars: extremely disliked the book. Didn’t like the plot. Didn’t like the characters. There was something about the book I did like. 10% Recommend. 

 

-          1 star: Absolutely hated the book. Didn’t like any characters. Hated the story. Hated everything about the book. 100% would never Recommend. STAY AWAY! 

Written review

     This book had me experiencing so many different emotions. At times I couldn't wait to pick up the book and read it again, other times all I wanted to do was put the book down because I was so bored.  I loved how every little bit of information that was found led to solving the case. It made me feel like nothing I read was useless. 

     I have never had a book actually make me feel like throwing up and this one did when they were talking about

Spoiler

Andie's body in the septic tank

. I couldn't stop thinking about that even hours after I finished the book. A lot of things don't creep/gross me out like that, but there was something about how

Spoiler

Becca tried to write an article to try and not get the house sold so Andie's body would not be found

.

     It took me a while to be able to understand the third person writing style because I have never read a book in third person before. With that being said, I HATED Pip as a main character. She was supposed to be this like super smart girl, yet she did reckless stuff and didn't seem to care if it got her in trouble or killed. There are so many times that she could have gotten killed. I was always thinking 'GIRL YOU ARE CONFRONTING ANDIES POSSIBLE KILLERS WHAT MAKE YOU THINK THEY WON'T KILL YOU.' Yeah, I get it Pip saved the day but if this book were told in Ravi's POV I think it would have been a 5/5 for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Animal death, Drug use, and Suicide

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

hamstersinmypantsters's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Cursing

holliesatchell's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Vomit, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Murder, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, and Death of parent

amanda_reads13's review

emotional lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Drug use, Rape, and Stalking

beckyyreadss's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I wanted to read this book as I’m on a mission to discover new author this year. I have seen this book around for years and one of my friends kept pushing me and pushing me to read this series.  So, I bought the series and I understand why she would recommend this book, I really enjoyed it. Please check trigger warnings before reading the book and some triggers are briefly mentioned below.

This book is based on a young girl named Pippa Fitz-Amobi who is known as Pip. Pip lives in a small town where a schoolgirl, Andie Bell, was murdered by her boyfriend Sal Singh five years ago. The case is closed, the police know he did. Everyone in the town knows he did it. Expect Pip, so when her final year project comes up, she chooses the case as her topic. As she dives into this case, she uncovers secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip hidden from the truth? This is a young adult mystery novel.

I really enjoyed this novel, I wished I had read it sooner, it was so good. The storyline managed to hook up in right from the beginning. This book lived up to its hype. I love Pippa and how she isn’t afraid of anything and her determination to get the answers. I didn’t expect the plot twist that had come out of it, and I am usually quite good at guessing the killer or the culprit before the answer comes out but this one did stump me. I enjoyed seeing the diagrams and her report as it grows, it kept you intrigued. My only sort of criticism is that Pippa is sixteen maybe seventeen and even though it was under as young adult she was saying holy smokes and things like that whilst asking a guy whether he rape someone was just a bit weird. I think they could have also held off the romance until the next book and build it up from there. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I am intrigued to see how the series is going to carry on as this book was giving stand-a-lone vibes, but we will see. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Drug use, Bullying, Alcohol, and Death