Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

87 reviews

bellsdixon's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Car accident, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

katbotelho's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

5.0

this book was captivating it was interesting reading from graces pov. thought it was very ironic how shes going around killing ppl bc theyre bad people while also being a super negative, narcissist and judgemental person herself. i feel like this book is comparable to yellowface in that both narrators in each novel are meant to be unlikeable/terrible people but the difference is in this book I didn’t want to gouge my eyeballs out every time the main character spoke.

i’ve seen a lot of people complain abt the ending but i kinda liked it and felt like there was something to be said abt

grace going thru all the trouble of killing her family to get back at an awful terrible privileged white man only to be screwed over in her ultimate goal by another privleged but slightly less awful white man

also i think its an acceptable ending bc did we expect a happy ending for someone who killed six people ?? no not really. 

i could maybe talk abt this book for hours but i’ll leave it there anyway would recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer and Infidelity

sadiaa's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

thebookaddict's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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? No

4.0

Dit boek was niet wat ik had verwacht. Je leest het verhaal van Grace en hoe zij haar moorden heeft gepleegd en hoe ze uiteindelijk in de gevangenis beland. Ik vond het jammer dat je al wist dat ze al deze moorden gepleegd had, zo ging er toch iets van verhaallijn verloren. De moorden zelf waren heel goed uitgedacht en origineel. Ik heb ook nog niet eerder zoiets gelezen. Het is eng om te bedenken dat zoiets uit het brein van een auteur komt, de moorden paste zo goed bij de slachtoffers. De manier van schrijven was echt alsof je het dagboek las van iemand. Wel vond ik dat het einde nog ietsjes langer had gekund. Ik had haar reactie op "de brief" wel willen lezen en ik had willen weten hoe haar leven was na de gevangenis. De brief op het einde was ook een mooi origineel plot dat precies hij het verhaal paste. De puzzelstukjes vielen op hun plaats.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

2.0

I could only finish this book because I continued reading it through audiobook. The Main character was okay, her motive for killing her family was if you see it from her point of few understandable. No one in this book is likable, that is okay a good book doesn’t need likable characters. At the End I had to read it with 2 x speed because I wanted to get it over with. I usually like these kind of books, but this didn’t do anything for me. Well the MC was funny at times. 


Even if I didn’t enjoy this book that much. I think it would be enjoyable for other readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

that_awkwardbook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective

4.5

This is a book about a young woman killing her family, so you absolutely get what the title states.

There  are  heavy and dark topics spoken about and in depth detailed murder. But it's done In a lovely way, there is a lightness to the book that makes it a very enjoyable read and makes you root for the murderer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

stindex's review against another edition

lighthearted 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? It's complicated

1.0

The author makes me sad. They’ve apparently tried to push all the things they hate into this book and it just makes this feel like a boomer whining about basically everything. For a ”feminist” main character the mc sure spent a lot of time hating on women in a very pick me -girlish style. Body shaming was also very present whenever describing anyone else but the mc or their love interest. The premise was great but the book is an absolute train wreck from the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Grief, Car accident, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

esv_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

valegbecerra's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

1.25

The protagonist is painfully millennial. I think she was meant to be cynical but ended up being a dull hater
 
Things I found highly unlikely:
-A filthy rich sex club member like her uncle would think chocking is a hardcore sex kink. He strikes me as the type the type of man to find it vanilla.
-That she was able to get so close to all of them in multiple countries and no one ever recognized her. Maybe they did not but their security and staff(?) unlikely. Same thing with her brother
-That her brother writes in such a similar tone to her even tho they do not know each other, I think the autor forgot to change voices to reflect different characters. The only noticiable difference was he was just less bitter. 
-That the techy teen never looked her up.

Overall a hard one to finish

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Abandonment

nplunkie's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

There are elements of this book I really loved but there are parts that really took away from my overall enjoyment of the book. The protagonist not being particularly likeable and really a bit of a “pick-me” was something I just accepted as the book went on. I didn’t love how the chapters were structured, often very long but then with the real event of the chapter only taking up a handful of pages. 
The ending was what really took away from the story for me.

The whole long lost half brother who had managed to infiltrate the family is the one that ruins her plan (but also means Simon is dead without her struggling to figure out a way) just feels like a way out of coming up with an ending. It is mentioned that she feels as though she’s being watched but that is quickly brushed off and she goes about another 3 killings - hard to believe she could get away with all of those without leaving evidence but not notice a man following her

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Overall it feels like the book had real potential but just fell a bit flat especially in the last 50 pages or so for me - interested to read more books from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use, Terminal illness, Grief, Stalking, and Car accident