Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

221 reviews

lriveraf22's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Loved the book. It kept me hooked the ENTIRE time. Trying to plot out the murder as they did was so fun. The balance between revelation and character build was quite nice.

It only gets points off because of the ending. The love story between Ravi and Pippa felt rushed and weird. Age gap is old, how they developed felt odd… it felt to far-fetched for me. But maybe that’s what book #2 is all about…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Drug use, Death of parent, Animal death, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Violence, and Mental illness

sienna1508's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I really loved this book and at the end I couldn’t put it down! Don’t spoil yourself ;)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Fatphobia

sjepp's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-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

4.0

This book is bussin. Took me a minute to get into it. I haven’t been on a fiction kick in a hot minute, but I can honest to goodness tell you I was hooked after page 67. When Pip shares her four theories of the murder, I knew I’d finish the book before the day was over

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Medical trauma, Bullying, Body shaming, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

oopsie_daisyyy's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Blood

Minor: Blood, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

nikimorr's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-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

4.0

I am not a typical thriller book reader, but the hype for this book was enough to draw me in. 

This book was so fast paced, and I found myself wanting to read this every night after work. The focus of the book - the solving of a long lost murder/suicide - was interesting, specifically the details known to the public. It was a unique crime with lots of possibilities for the story to evolve. 

There are short chapters, and the plot is kept succinct to focus on revealing all of the clues to get to the grand finale. To bring it all together, there is a lot of humor thrown in to lighten up an otherwise dark story. I found it very interesting that the author is clearly British or English (the language used is often not the American version) but still chose to write with a setting in Connecticut. 

It is written very much for the younger reader - the writing is certainly not life changing.  I appreciate the book for what it was - a fast, quick murder mystery. The story was good, and the ending came together beautifully. I am not blown away, but I definitely wanted to see how it all ended and was not disappointed with the ending. 

The only part of the story I really did not like was the killing of Barney. Any sort of animal harm makes me super emotional. I understand why it was added, but wished it could have been kept out/Barney had been returned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, and Toxic relationship

sabrinahlkr's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse and Rape

Minor: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, and Stalking

fanboyriot's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

♡ Cold Case 

♡ Small Clues

♡ Murder Board

The plot was a bit cliché but entertaining enough.  It is unfortunate that the US edition had so much edited out, there are just moments that feel skipped over or some parts that seem missing general.  But in the end it was a good story.

I loved the formatting of this book, all the extra details like the schedules, text messages, were all formatted nicely.  It was an entertaining to read, it had twists and turns, an unlikely friendship, a killer hiding in plain sight, and a school project that turned into solving a murder.

Spice Level: n/a

POV: Third Person

Release Date: 05, January 2021

Rep: BIPOC (Main Character and Side Characters), Lesbian (Side Character)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Grief, Death, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, and Racism

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Body shaming, Blood, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Vomit, Child death, Car accident, Cursing, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Dementia, Suicide, and Rape

thesesusspace's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.75

OH MY GOD, THANK YOU BOOKGRAM. This book had me hook, line, and sinker (even if it took me a bit to finish) big recommendation for people who like true crime/mystery 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Animal death, Drug use, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Car accident, Kidnapping, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Self harm

redempta's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

5 🌟

It's my first murder mystery book and i loved it. The writing, the format, the intrigue were perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping

clynns's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Stalking, Drug use, Fatphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Racial slurs, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Animal death, Racism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Murder, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt