Reviews

Dead Girls Talking by Megan Cooley Peterson

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nisforneville's review

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mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Bettina’s father is known as the Smiley Faced Killer. She testified to help convict him of killing her mother when she was younger. Ten years later, she finds a body in the woods with the same carvings as in her mother’s case. Now she wonders, was she wrong about her father and he’s innocent like he’s always claimed, or is this a copycat murder?

This is a young adult murder mystery. I like the investigative plot of the book. I really like the character Eugenia. The chapters aren’t too long, which is always a plus for me. It’s an easy read and kept my attention. I liked the ending.

1kelsey_jw's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-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

3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and Holiday House for an early release copy.

After I read The Liar’s Daughter, I was very much interested in other books written by Megan Cooley Petersen. Dead Girls Talking is a mid level young adult and reminds me of something I would have read in high school. Or even late middle school. The story opens with Bett, a young girl left behind rehashing the events of her childhood, when her father murdered her mother and left her alive. In prison, she’s haunted by the start of new killings, leaving her wondering, did he actually do it?

The book was just okay to me, pacing and development felt very even. I just wished Bett had been written a less like a bully and a mean girl. I don’t know if I fully believe in the story; we unfortunately live in a society of mass murder so it was harder to believe the story of a man who killed two people would get so much attention that the attention affected the MC so much. What I liked was the growing friendship and dynamic between Bett and Eugenia, with Eugenia definitely being the stronger character. The story played out as I thought it would but the writing style and flow still made it an enjoyable and easy read. A good young adult option if you like true crime podcasts.

If you’re looking to get into this author’s work, I would suggest starting with The Liar’s Daughter first.

dlrosebyh's review

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mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

First of all, I would like to thank Holiday House and NetGalley for providing me with a free e-ARC of Dead Girls Talking.

In all honesty, when I requested this book, I was in a Heathers: The Musical high (Dead Girl Walking…Get it?). By any means, I had no expectations for this book whatsoever. And one of my goals this year is to read more mysteries.

For someone who doesn’t read a lot of mysteries, it all comes down to one reason: I’m picky with them. A lot of mysteries have disappointed me because the twist isn’t good or it’s just not believable at all. Dead Girls Talking didn’t really disappoint me, but it did not wow me either. I’ve read better, and I’ve read worse. However, one thing I liked about this book was the pacing. Even though the mystery itself wasn’t that interesting for me, I could not put this book down because it was so easy to read.

Dead Girls Talking is about Bettina’s father who has been arrested for killing her mom. However, lately, there have been numerous killings in the town of Wolf Ridge similar to the killing of her mom. It all comes down to one question: Did her father really kill her mom?

In this novel, we follow two characters: Bett, the daughter of the serial killer, and Eugenia, the mortician’s daughter. Together, they try to solve the town’s mystery.

One issue I had with this book is that the characters are so undeveloped. They felt so one-dimensional. Even Bett herself was one-dimensioned. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves in mysteries because you’re trying to find out who the killer is. The ‘twist would be unbelievable’ if your characters are one-dimensional. Because if so, you just wrote the killer for the shock and not because of the plot.

The plot twists were poorly done. The theories were thrown around just as it is and weren’t dug into as deep as I wanted them to be. There were extreme guesses and there were no real backup sources for them. Like, I guess it’s good to expect the unknown, but it kind of went down to: there’s no source, just trust me, bro.

I hate comparing books to other books, but it felt like the book was trying to be somehow like ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’. It seems uncanny that some of the plot points are similar.

Now, onto the things that I liked, I really like plot, and it felt like the plot was really well thought of. Everything was there for a reason, which I really loved. As I mentioned earlier, I really liked the pacing of the novel. It’s what every mystery book should be. Quick, gritty, and unputdownable.

In short, if you love mysteries, I think that this is still worth a read. And if you really loved ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ and want something similar, then why not give it a shot?

Content Warnings

minjeongie101's review against another edition

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4.0

Thank you Holiday House and Netgalley for providing this arc!

The first thing that draws me to this book is the cover! I really love the art is gorgeous!

Now to the plot. Bettina's father killed her mother years ago and currently in jail. But there has been mutiple killings around the town that is similar to her mother's

That leaves the question, is her father the real killer?

I quite like the pacing and the character development of Bett and Euginia. I really like Euginia ngl!

Overall i enjoyed this book!

yandichih's review

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2.0

But a woman has been murdered. Melissa's face crowds my dreams, the taunting words the killer left on her face carved deep. Sometimes, she's my mother, and she looks up at me and asks me to help her. But no matter how hard I try, I can't stop the blood that floods the forest floor, carrying me away in a surging wave.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up this book mainly because I was drawn to its cover. And being a cozy mystery fan, the storyline seemed right up my alley. With it being a short read, I figured it would zip along at a good pace, which it pretty much did.

But honestly, despite the promising premise, the story just didn't grab me like I hoped. There were a few things that left me feeling meh, starting with the characters. Let's talk about the characters first. Bettina, the daughter of the infamous Smiley Face Killer, who's locked up for offing her mom and another woman, should be someone you feel for. Besides being a puke machine, her character feels kinda flat, and being a jerk for the sake of it. And it's not just her – most of the characters, including her own grandparents, feel underdeveloped. Even Eugenia, who could've been a badass character, ends up just being labeled as the weirdo. Instead of diving deep into their personalities, we're stuck with descriptions of their hair and hairstyles. With all the trauma the MC went through as a kid, there was so much potential for depth and development there.

Then there's the plot. I couldn't help but notice some similarities to another book I read recently, "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder." But here they felt a bit too obvious. Some things happen out of the blue without much explanation, like Bettina suddenly becoming friends with Eugenia after bullying her before and believing she ranks lower than her in the social hierarchy. It just doesn't add up. Plot twists were either missing or poorly done, and I saw the killer reveal coming from a mile away, which kinda spoiled the fun. It's like the story tries too hard to throw you off the scent, but it's too obvious. The theories thrown around feel half-baked, and the characters make wild guesses without much to back them up.

Overall, it's an okay read, but it falls flat. I think there's potential here, but it needs a major revamp. The characters need more depth, and the plot could use some fine-tuning for consistency and subtlety. Sure, some parts are well-written, showing the author's talent, but it's not consistent throughout.

⚠️ Content Warnings
Murder - Vomit - Drinking

✨ 2/5 stars

Content Warnings

thefantaysbookdragon's review

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4.0

thank you netgalley for an early arc copy, all my thoughts are my opinion

This was a good time. I was so excited for this book and when I saw that netgallery had an arc registration open I signed up as soon as I could. And I got it! I really liked reading this book. I loved this book because it reminded me of criminal minds. And if you know me, I am obsessed with that series. It only reminded me of that show because of the vibes, and solving a mystery. but that was enough for me. This plot has a murder set when bettina was still a child, and at time her mother is murdered in a very brutal way. They all said that her father had done it and she was a key witness in the conviction of her father. but till this day she doesn’t know for sure if she saw what she said she saw. it makes her question herself till this day. especially when a new murder started happening that looks identical to her mother murder. we have one: we do have a copycat or two: the murder is still out there. in the end there is a big plot twist and if you are a thriller reader you probably see it coming, I did way before the ending. Our characters are fun to follow. Bettina is very complexed. She of course went through so much. and you see her make mistakes in the beginning, but in the end she tries to do what is right. there was one part in the book when they are asking questions and looking back on the transcripts that it was a lot of info dumping by the author I know that the info was necessary but it could have been done with a few more pages in the book, i would have not mind if the book was 50 pages longer. The writing style is good, especially for a debut novel. it made reading this book easy to follow and the pacing was good.

so overall I had a really good time with this book. It was very fast paced and thrilling with a good plot twist at the end.

alysbookclub's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

One for the angry girls - I really enjoyed the female friendship and the imperfect main character. I feel like the twist made sense but I didn't get the payoff I was looking for. Overall a solid YA mystery/thriller/light horror!