Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

12 reviews

bellsdixon's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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shaleen64's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The mixed reviews of this book are understandable and I agree the ending could have been better, however I was still surprised by it and felt it delivered. 

I enjoyed the cynicism of the main character, the way the book pokes fun at modern society delivering a few laughs and feel it’s a worthwhile easy read.

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theelliad's review against another edition

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3.5

How to Kill Your Family is the account of serial murders told from the perspective of the killer as she serves jail time for a murder she didn’t commit.

The narrative voice of this novel is hilarious and sarcastic and truly kept me engaged, alongside this the dual timeline of the story is handled well and it was structurally enjoyable and followable. That said, I was disappointed by the ending, the twist was not the best but I thought fitted the story well, it was rather the transformation in Grace (the protagonist) in the final chapters. The self sufficient, powerful and somewhat narcissistic personality she has established falls victim to the writers need for a conclusion becoming submissive, easily forgiving and a bit boring as the final events of her life are recounted; it was this, more so than the plot twist, which didn’t feel right to me. However, that said I did enjoy this book enough to speed through it in a matter of days and so I cannot judge it too harshly! 


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sorcha's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced

3.5


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emperorluzco's review against another edition

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

3.0

The murders are interesting.
The twist at the end came out of nowhere.

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annabulkowski's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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blackbeeomalley's review against another edition

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

2.0

So much potential. The plot dragged, page long paragraphs of inane detail, no character development, and lack of tension with the murders. 

The ending felt rushed and was out of the blue no matter how much Mackie tried to pepper in hints.

Main character, Grace, was written to be unlikeable but I believe Mackie forgot that you can add complexities to unlikeable characters. As others had said disdain is not a personality. I really didn’t care about her character - I didn’t want her to succeed or fail I just didn’t care. 

In all, it felt that Mackie had a great idea and half way gave up - wasn’t sure how to pull this off. I really struggled to get to the end of this.

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mucky_puddler's review against another edition

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

3.0


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fairy_internet's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0


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clairew97's review against another edition

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2.0


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