Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - A Good Girl's Guide to Murder

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

67 reviews

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Rating: 3/5 stars

Pip decides to investigate the closed murder case of local teenager Andie Bell as part of her senior capstone project.

This isn’t a bad book. It probably doesn’t bode well that I have to preface my review that way, but so be it. I have a lot of friends who have really enjoyed this one, and I think the positives are there: it’s pretty fast-paced with short chapters, there are some fun twists, and the signposting for readers to figure out the mystery is mostly there. It’s predictable, but *mostly* the fun kind of predictable where you can guess what’s coming and feel like a detective.

That said, there’s a major incident about two-thirds of the way through that lost me entirely because of how unnecessarily gruesome, cruel, and triggering it was, and to be honest it ruined the book for me. I also felt like towards the ending there was a lot of emotional manipulation—the book got VERY dark (particularly for a YA thriller!) and not in a way that served the plot (in my opinion).

Finally, I’ll be honest: I didn’t like the FMC, Pip, and honestly found her pretty insufferable throughout. I did love Ravi, but he was pretty much the only good character, and didn’t get nearly enough page time.

Overall, I’ll probably continue the series because of who I am as a person, but this book was, as I believe the kids say, mid.

CW: Murder/death/violence; animal death; sexual assault/statutory rape; death of parent; emotional abuse; mentions of suicide; drug use; racism

Content Warnings

itsmemiana's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

absolutely loved it!!!!

I kept going back and forth between the physical copy and the audiobook (second audiobook I've ever listened to) and I loved it so much!!

I love Pip, she's so relatable. and Raviiiiii omg 🥹

I loved that I was basically trying to solve this mystery with them and tried to even solve it before them but I figured it out basically at the same time as them 😭 even tho I did have my suspicions about one of the characters that I was correct about but I wasn't fully sure (until I was).

this is honestly so good and I can't wait to continue this series!!

and now specifically about the audiobook, i loved it. the only thing I wish was different was Ravi's voice, I wish they had cast him. but it honestly didn't bother me that much because the story was so good.

there were also a few slight differences between the audiobook and my physical copy, like the name of the town. I'm pretty sure the audiobook was set in the US and my physical copy was set in the UK. but then again, it didn't take away from my experience reading.

can't wait for more 🤭❤️

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esv_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

dorogayaworks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

5.0

it was a reread but still love xoxo

Content Warnings

saumyagupta's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

This is my third time re-reading this book and looking back, I can't believe that the audiobook of this book was supposed to be a background noise for me while I complete my studies. Reading it again is so sad when you know what's about to happen next. Pip and Ravi are amazing characters and Holly Jackson is a mastermind considering how she connects the triology so well.

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robbi22's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

Content Warnings

maddamn's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.0

I’ve read too many mysteries so it was predictable to me. What I enjoyed was the way the FMC solved the mystery. It’s from the perspective of a high schooler and it shows, but in a very palatable way. I don’t love the romance they tossed in, but it felt organic even tho it’s slightly weird. I didn’t think it needed a romance at all. It feels like a modern mystery because it utilizes modern media to show how a mystery could (in theory) be pieced together and solved. I won’t be finishing the series, but this book was good.

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