Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Brave ragazze, cattivo sangue by Holly Jackson

53 reviews

sheebsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.0


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kelly_e's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

Title: Good Girl, Bad Blood
Author: Holly Jackson
Series: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #2
Genre: YA Mystery
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: April 30, 2020

T H R E E • W O R D S

Brisk • Idealistic • Entertaining

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Pip is not a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.
But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?

💭 T H O U G H T S

After reading book one in this series, I knew I wanted to continue with Good Girl, Bad Blood, even though I didn't know where the storyline would go. I was looking for a fast read that would be relaxing and wouldn't require too much additional thought and reflection, and this one fits the bill perfectly.

The way Holly Jackson combines multimedia elements - interviews, podcasts, texts, emails, etc. - creates an engaging and immersive experience. It helps moves the plot along at a quick pace and the full cast audio makes tandem reading the ideal solution for consuming this entire series. The unique style mirrors true-crime, but in a fictional story.

Much like the first book, it is easy digestible. Pip's character arc continues to evolve from book one and Jackson didn't hold back from killing off characters. It does require the suspension of belief at times, yet it's well written enough that you get invested in the mystery. I didn't figure out what was going to happen until close to it happening.

Good Girl, Bad Blood is an entertaining and fast-paced sequel that is highly engaging. While targeting the YA crowd, it is the type of book that adults will also enjoy because of the artistic style it is written in. Looking forward to reading the third book in this series in the next couple of months and would definitely recommend this series to the younger readers in my life.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• amateur sleuths
• missing person cases
• true crime

⚠️ CW: murder, violence, gun violence, death, child death, rape, sexual assault, grief, kidnapping, fire/fire injury, injury/injury detail, blood, drug use, child abuse, cursing, stalking, cancer, suicide, car accident, animal death, alcohol, confinement, misogyny, toxic relationship

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"But sometimes my mouth starts saying words without checking with my brain first."

"Time is in charge here, not me, and that's terrifying." 

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dkamada's review against another edition

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funny mysterious reflective tense
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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barocap001's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5


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bookishperseus's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5


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spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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


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november22's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall I liked the book. The story didn't grab me as quick as aggtm. I felt like the first chapters were purely written to link book 1 and book 2. Which is fine. Nothing wrong with. I actually enjoyed that because it answered the questions that I had after book 1. That said, it didn't feel like something new. New as in a new book. A new plot. That came after
40
pages or so. Again, I did enjoy reading those pages but it was not what I expected when I picked this book up.

The book wasn't bad at all. The characters are well written, the plot has unexpected twists and turns and the ending shocked me. It is an easy to read fast-paced book, just like aggtm.

[I will say that - if you haven't read a good girl's guide to murder or if it's been a while since you have - you don't have to worry about remembering all the details from the 1st book. Yes. If you read the first book you'd recognize the names and you'd have a bit more context. But - and this is something that I really like - you don't have to read book 1 before this book. There are some references but they are briefly explained. I'm currently in the process of reading the books back-to-back but you definitely don't have to do this. You could pick this book up a year after reading book 1 and you'll be fine. ]

The ending did feel a bit rushed. Nonetheless, it did surprise me. It was thought out well. It's quite difficult to write a series. Especially if the first book was written as a stand-alone. This book, the 2nd book in the series, surprised me a lot. To me it's a good sequel to the first. The development of the different characters is well-written and basically no loose threads were left. Though, I do have some nosy question. I guess that those will be answered in the next book🤔

I also missed ravi a bit. He was absent for a reason but it felt a bit off as pip solved the andir bell case with him. It seems like he was often used to dismiss, engage or calm pip (feelings) down. I wish that he was more his own character like in book 1. He was written really well though. It just seemed like he existed for her in this book and that was a bit of a bummer.

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sarahangeline's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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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bellaq's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

Amazing couldn't put the book down couldn't stop reading 

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m_kwhite's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0


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