Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

14 reviews

mikathereviewer's review against another edition

funny mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

"‘Don’t worry, Annie, I’m not going to murder you.’
‘I appreciate that, Saxon,’ I reply. ‘I’m not going to murder you either.’ And then we both smile, because this is such a strange thing to say ten minutes after meeting someone for the first time."

There is no way that this book actually had over 500 pages. I started it yesterday and already finished and no I wasn't addicted to it. But I was addicted to some quotes in this book. 

+ Funny scenes and interesting plot (I mean, a woman getting more and more crazy about her fortune telling? Sign me up!)

+ Really nice and cool quotes (or maybe I'm biased since one is about chess)

+ Alice in Wonderland reference (one can never do anything wrong with this, I'm a huge fan)

+ Toxic relationships (I have a soft spot for drama and yes — I like to torture myself by reading sad stories)

+ The main character WAS NOT stupid! (Can you believe it?!!)

+ Relatable moments (‘I can’t face Mum’s basement again without backup. Last week when I was cleaning it out there were spiders. Huge ones.’

- Mostly flat characters (more murder mystery and plot than anything else)

- No explanation for things or stuff that was confusing. Example; We get told that Frances isn't the forgiving kind, but in her diary entries we see something different. And also the way another person confirmed it too by saying she is quite forgiving while others wouldn't in the same situation. What is she now??

- Boring ending (wasn't hard to find out who the murderer was and the ending was kinda meh)

- Too many repetitions (we get it who your prime suspect is and we don't need a re-telling of the diaries about one hundred times, just try to advance the plot!)

- Sometimes felt too slow (see above for reasoning)

- Even though the idea was good it felt like nothing special. Average the most. There just wasn't anything that made the book feel special. While reading I had the feeling (except the fortune stuff) that it wasn't anything new from most thriller and mystery books. 

- Sometimes we get new info, just for it to be superficial and not go into depth than it could be. There were so many other things that were interesting too while our MC tried to find out who the murderer is but unfortunately they are left again as fast as they were discovered. Why didn't we get to see more of the alphabetical sorted files and the bad stuff each person did. And we never got an explanation for Sam Arlington. The MC just decided it's not important and that she doesn't need to see other files or in general explore deeper. 

Only 2 stars as it didn't feel as exciting as I hoped for it to be and it's less than average for me as most things were superficial and we got flat characters which is quite dislike. The ending was predictable too which made me bored for the last 15% to 20% that were left. 

If you don't have high expectations for thrillers or in general don't think much about who the murderer might be this might be fun to read. For me who seeks books that are standing out from the rest and really hates it when the murderer is some obvious person I couldn't quite enjoy it as much as I hoped to. 

02. September 2024

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Grief, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, and Alcohol

karlin0336's review

lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A nice, quick read that is addicting from start to finish!  I think I thought pretty much all the characters were the killer at some point in the story, lol.  The book had plenty of plot twists and a tense ending that did not disappoint.  I wasn't the biggest fan of Frances's POV (she and her friends were pretty unlikable as teens), but I get that her chapters were important since they had major implications for Annie's story in the present and were helpful in solving the mystery.
 I am definitely going to be reading the sequel that comes out next year!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

    The book was enjoyable, however, I enjoyed the flashbacks/diary entries more than the present-day portions of the book. I felt like the things that happened in the 1960s were more interesting and easier to get into than what was otherwise happening.

     Frances was much more interesting than Annie who was a bit boring, and whose story you didn't get into as much. I hope in future books we learn more about Annie and I start to care more about her & her character. Laura, Annie's mom just seemed awful for most of the book. 

    The characters were a mix of likable and unlikable. Not just the villains were unlikable, it was more like a 30/70 split of likable and unlikable for me. 

   I wasn't able to easily figure out the mystery. I do look forward to the next book.

Narrators' Rating: 4 stars

    I'd give Annie's narrator about 2.75 stars and Frances' narrator a 4-star rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Dementia

pial's review

mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

sinslashcos's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

A wholesome Saltburn-esque murder mystery x2.

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I rather enjoyed this book! I didn't have high expectations going into it but was pleasantly entertained by all of the twists and mystery of this town's community. Whimsical and fast-moving, featuring a mysterious manor, mysterious men, and mysterious deaths. At points, the plot was spoon-fed to you but my post-work tired brain was here for that.

the weird relationship (?) between Emily and Ford was veryyy strange and uncomfy, not a fan of the age gap/grooming

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy

emilywemily6's review

mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

This was a solid whodunit with an interesting premise involving two timelines. I enjoyed seeing the journal entries being relevant in the present day timeline and found both timelines engaging. However, there were too many characters to keep track of, which made the ending/conclusion felt a bit rushed since the characters weren’t flushed out as well as I would have liked. And while I enjoyed the protagonist, some parts of their behavior and dialogue were stilted and obviously intended to just move the plot along- like how Annie called her best friend to talk about evidence and draw conclusions. I would really like to read another book by this author and with these characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

agathajanemaud1908's review

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I found the first few chapters a bit clunky, but then I got wrapped up in the mystery and finished this book in three days. A bit more tension in the climax and more details and background about the main character would have made this book even better. I also found some developments/theories of the mystery hard to follow.
Looks like this is book one of a series, so I’m looking forward to more mysteries involving Great Aunt Frances’ files! There’s a lot of potential for a great series involving the village of Castle Knoll.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Infertility, Blood, Vomit, and Car accident

Minor: Abandonment

chelbelle122's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

goldenlake's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, and Alcohol

m_a_j's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pregnancy