Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

73 reviews

suhani_paliwal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Animal death

Minor: Cursing, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

jackietanori's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

This book was a random read to get into the fall feels, and it did not disappoint.
The main characters were the perfect mix of serious and unserious in all the best ways, and even the secondary characters that make up the friends and family of Pippa were perfect. Ravi and Pippa are a perfect pairing, and I can't wait to see what mystery they'll solve next. 
The story itself was a great crime/thriller while still holding onto that YA feeling. I spent the whole time trying to distinguish who to trust and who could have possibly done the crime we didn't even know was actually committed. I'm happy with the ending and found it to be realistic and not super outlandish and convoluted like a lot of murder/crime-centric media usually is. 
And in the midst of reading, I found out it's getting made into a series, so I'll be on the lookout for that. Off to the next Pippa and Ravi adventure.


Crying score: ugh yes

Spoiler

a dog dies

P.S. read the TWs there are a lot, so it is important to be informed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Drug use, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

aely's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Grief, Death, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Violence, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Dementia, and Child death

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Body shaming, Sexism, Rape, Sexual assault, Self harm, Racism, Misogyny, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Blood, Sexual content, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug abuse

seagullsaga's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.5

I probably liked this book less than I normally would because I picked it up expecting horror and not a mystery. It was a good book, and enjoyable, just not to my taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Bullying, Drug use, Death, Alcohol, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Grief, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

lunar_witch'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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Car accident, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Stalking, Bullying, Body shaming, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

msteinhaus's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.0

I appreciated the difficulty level of this mystery--as an adult reader I was typically one step ahead of Pippa, which made the experience more enjoyable and less tense. It was hard to see a teenage girl take on such immense risk and would have been nicer, in my opinion, for Pippa to more openly learn/acknowledge that relying on others is critical and that she doesn't need to always be the strong, independent one. Major content warning for adult/teen predation and many other triggers, see tags below. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Drug use, Rape, Murder, Bullying, Death of parent, Animal death, and Sexual assault

hiraethtales's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Definitely a five star read. I loved every second of the book. The plot had me so invested and the characters were just ahhh. You won’t regret reading this.
Also Cara is just the best character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Death of parent, Bullying, Body shaming, Animal death, Racism, Gaslighting, Drug use, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Suicide, Stalking, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Cancer, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Self harm, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical trauma

juliaaaaaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I LOVED THIS BOOK. i wanted to read it as soon i found out they were going to make it a series, im just mad i read it this late.
anyway, the suspense is so good that you cant put the book down and i cried when her dog died

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Suicide, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Rape, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Stalking

Moderate: Dementia

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a fantastic read! Holly Jackson masterfully wove in foreshadowing and red herrings into the story. Even with big twists, the characters were so well fleshed out that the twists didn't feel like they came out of nowhere.  Jackson does a great job making the characters and place feel very real. She creates a diverse cast of characters that I feel like I could meet on any street or at any high school event.

Spoiler

Ravi and Pip's friendship and then relationship was adorable. They're both very funny. I adore that once his brother was exonerated, he brought his parents to meet her, and that their families are close. Josh loving Ravi before he started dating Pip was a good set up to show the two getting together eventually.
Setting up Naomi's mental illness and then showing her father to be similarly unstable but to a greater degree, and him using her diaries as a way to learn information was a really interesting twist. I really wanted Mr. Ward to be innocent.
I was destroyed by Barney's death. His relationship with Pip and Josh is part of what made her so real. Her dancing with Barney and making up little songs about him was adorable and relatable.
I really thought H.H. was going to be the killer, and that it was the B&B owner's son. Maybe it'll come back up in later books, because I still don't think H.H. is Howie's House.

This book managed to embody elements from both the small town cozy genre and quintessential murder mysteries. I highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Drug abuse, Grief, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Dementia and Animal death

Minor: Fatphobia

mishasbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Animal death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Addiction, Mental illness, Murder, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Drug use, Rape, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Self harm, and Sexual assault