Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

184 reviews

lilawsahar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I could not put it down. I loved the budding romance between Ravi and Pippa (I kind of wish the age gap was a little closer just because she’s in high school). I loved the complexity of how the murders occurred especially since  Andie knew/had a lot of secrets. 

Spoiler

I knew that Mr.Ward was the secret boyfriend and that Becca was involved in the murder. However, I thought the reporter and drug dealer were involved on it too. I can’t believe Becca killed her dog/she tried to kill Pippa. That’s fucked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Murder

Minor: Drug use, Kidnapping, Racism, Rape, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship

charlotte113's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

I LOVED IT!!! i think finishing the book in 2 days says enough, it was incredible! The plot twists Jackson manages to wiggle in were incredible, each stage of the book had an unexpected turn with unexpected outcomes, and somehow it all wound up to a lovely ending, cant recommend enough!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Drug use

Moderate: Death, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

Minor: Car accident, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, and Eating disorder

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

Ever since I started reading again, I've seen this book everywhere, and after putting it off for so long I finally decided to give it a read, and my goodness, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not really one to label books as "fast-paced", most books are medium to me, however, THIS BOOK was most definitely fast-paced; there was always something going on in every chapter (I really liked that). I also admire the amount of imagery and creativity in terms of format that the book provided. We got maps, a people of interest list, her capstone entries, her phone calls and emails with other people

Spoiler

lowkey wished we got to see the murder board

. Overall, I had a great time reading this book and as an avid adult thriller reader, I really liked it for the genre that it was in. But because I read a lot of thrillers, the ending/twists didn't shock me, but it was still a fun read nonetheless. 

Spoiler

I'm so glad Max got what he deserved in the end. But as for Naomi, I'm still a bit salty that she wasn't charged, but Cara is innocent, and ripping her last known family member away would be awful so I'm going to let it slide. Especially considering I know Naomi probably feels guilty enough, indirectly causing her best friend's death and all.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

claire_leibovitz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Addiction, Murder, Cancer, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Self harm, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Terminal illness

chronicloser's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

a fun, quick read with lovable main characters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Confinement, and Dementia

missy20's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

Really enjoyed this! super easy read and interesting plot to keep you hooked.

The Plot in itself is excellent, super interesting and keeps you captivated and wanting to come back for more!

The only reason it isn’t a 4/4.5 star book for me is the writing. The writing is very basic, a 10 year old could read it(for the most part) and whilst also keeping in mind it is Y/A so language and everything isn’t going to be too complex but i think it still could have been greatly improved.

The writing particularly became a problem for me with the characterisation of Pippa, I really wanted to like her and i can see how to some people she would be a very likeable character but she just annoyed me.

Overall a really easy fun read, just would’ve liked something written a tad better :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Stalking

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Animal cruelty, and Kidnapping

Minor: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

autumne0218's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Addiction, Bullying, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Confinement, Drug use, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder, and Stalking

beyourbestshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Animal death

wet_towlette's review against another edition

medium-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? No

3.75

The beginning is really good and the ending is really good. Other than that, the pacing in the middle was definitely off for me. It took me waaaay too long to finish this 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

rebeccabryson21's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? No

5.0

I absolutely loved this book, I could not put it down. I needed to know what happened next. It was so well written that when you thought you’d figured it out at twist happened and you realised you hadn’t had a clue what really was going on. It was just so fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Suicide, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Bullying, Stalking, Drug abuse, Death, Rape, and Mental illness