A review by emchantedtomeetyou
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I liked this but didn't love it. The plot was entertaining, but I really wanted more character work. I didn't feel an emotional connection to Pippa at all and I realized it when I reached the line that features the title of the book. She talked about not being a good girl anymore and how she didn't know what to write for her personal essay, and these felt like things that the reader should have known. We don't really get an understanding of why she is a "good girl" beyond the facts that she's smart and gets her work done on time and she's a relatively good friend (the latter which we barely see). There were a couple other parts that felt out of touch too like the scene where she is using slang for weed and when she approaches Max like she's a real interrogator. The weed thing was just annoying and not on par with a teenager, and the interrogator attitude just felt so fake in comparison to what we had seen from her prior. Overall, I just thought Pippa wasn't a strong character. I also didn't really get what the whole father-she-can't-remember/stepfather thing was for; there was no payoff to that and honestly it would've been nice if the man she refers to as her father was actually just her father. There was just a lot that could have been better.