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ellieroberts's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence
staceeyt's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
"Good Me Bad Me is dark, compelling, voice-driven psychological suspense by debut author Ali Land.
How far does the apple really fall from the tree?
Milly's mother is a serial killer. Though Milly loves her mother, the only way to make her stop is to turn her in to the police. Milly is given a fresh start: a new identity, a home with an affluent foster family, and a spot at an exclusive private school.
But Milly has secrets, and life at her new home becomes complicated. As her mother's trial looms, with Milly as the star witness, Milly starts to wonder how much of her is nature, how much of her is nurture, and whether she is doomed to turn out like her mother after all.
When tensions rise and Milly feels trapped by her shiny new life, she has to decide: Will she be good? Or is she bad? She is, after all, her mother's daughter."
Good Me, Bad Me was told from the perspective of Milly, the teenage daughter of a serial killer. The short, broken sentences which gave the effect of being in Milly's mind were at times distracting but did make for a quick read.
There were a lot of scenes that could have been taken straight out of 'Mean Girls', which got a bit tedious. I was waiting for Milly to bite back but this never came.
I really enjoyed the premise of this book as it was something that I had not really seen before, but it was too predictable. I had worked out most of the plot line within the first few chapters. The details of the horrific murders were handled with grace but I would have liked to have seen more background details, although I am aware that too much emphasis on this would have made for a completely different book.
I feel Ali Land has good potential and this is a good starting block.
3.5/5*
"Good Me Bad Me is dark, compelling, voice-driven psychological suspense by debut author Ali Land.
How far does the apple really fall from the tree?
Milly's mother is a serial killer. Though Milly loves her mother, the only way to make her stop is to turn her in to the police. Milly is given a fresh start: a new identity, a home with an affluent foster family, and a spot at an exclusive private school.
But Milly has secrets, and life at her new home becomes complicated. As her mother's trial looms, with Milly as the star witness, Milly starts to wonder how much of her is nature, how much of her is nurture, and whether she is doomed to turn out like her mother after all.
When tensions rise and Milly feels trapped by her shiny new life, she has to decide: Will she be good? Or is she bad? She is, after all, her mother's daughter."
Good Me, Bad Me was told from the perspective of Milly, the teenage daughter of a serial killer. The short, broken sentences which gave the effect of being in Milly's mind were at times distracting but did make for a quick read.
There were a lot of scenes that could have been taken straight out of 'Mean Girls', which got a bit tedious. I was waiting for Milly to bite back but this never came.
I really enjoyed the premise of this book as it was something that I had not really seen before, but it was too predictable. I had worked out most of the plot line within the first few chapters. The details of the horrific murders were handled with grace but I would have liked to have seen more background details, although I am aware that too much emphasis on this would have made for a completely different book.
I feel Ali Land has good potential and this is a good starting block.
3.5/5*
georgielester's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kai_cat's review against another edition
4.0
Questo libro è stato una scoperta, che superato di gran lunga le mie aspettative. È un viaggio all'interno della mente della protagonista, un perfetto mix tra ansia, inquietudine e suspense.
sclyndes's review against another edition
4.0
I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this book. The writing itself is excellent with a real sense of Milly’s mind but some of the content is really unsettling and hard to deal with. I would love to read another of her books to experience the raw and clever style but with a different story.
geraldine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
read this for my book club, I voted against it when it came time to narrow down the list of books but it made it through anyway (twice!) so i was already biased against it when it came time to read it, but i did try very hard to give it a chance.
i've seen a lot of reviews criticize the writing style and while i didn't prefer it don't feel like it warrants a criticism as such, i feel like it does a decent job of putting you in milly's headspace where she's constantly in a state of flight or fight (or fight-flight-freeze-fawn i think it is now) and to that effect it works. i mean i didn't really enjoy it but i did understand and i think this one is just a matter of taste
however,
i really disliked the book itself. the whole time i felt like the author had definitely done research into how abused children act and think because the whole milly hates her mother/milly loves her mother/milly misses her mother/milly is terrified of her mother thing felt very true and heartbreaking, but then how the story resolves......
honestly i should have seen it coming. and by "it" i mean the author's note where the author reveals that she worked as a child psychologist and thanks her patients and says they were the basis of this book (??) and without them it wouldn't exist (!!!). i need you to know that throughout the entire book, i hated mike, the psychologist dad. i felt like it was an unbelievable conflict of interest to have him be both her psychologist AND her foster parent and was fully expecting a nasty twist with him, especially when milly finds out that he's trying to write a book about her which is both gross and exploitative. but then nothing happens because..................................... he is the stand in for the author?! unbelievable.
i had more compassion for phoebe than the author seemed to, writing her with almost no nuance at all solely to justify what happens to her at the end. girl is in a home where they desperately need family therapy but will never get it because apparently her father thinks he's all they need, where her mother had such severe post partum depression that she had to be hospitalized, where her father keeps bringing home foster children and ignoring his first daughter. not to justify the things phoebe does, but why is it when milly's older brother acts out and does awful to get away from his family, he is given compassion and understanding for what he does, but then phoebe is demonized and gets killed?
additionally i got a weird misogyny vibe that's hard to pin down as intentional and somewhat understandable in the narrative or the author's thoughts coming through. similar vibe to gillian flynn and this is NOT a complement, because i've read enough of flynn's work to know she personally genuinely hates women. i think milly having severe internalized misogyny is understandable considering what happened to her in her life, but again it's hard to say whether that's what the author intended or whether it was the author's true feelings coming out. really off vibe, especially about the foster family mother and the way milly talks about her. did not like this.
anyway this book made me realize that the british children's tv show Brum about a sentient car is named that because instead of saying cars and vehicles go "vroom vroom" in england they say "brum brum" which is pretty funny and a really late in life realization to have lmao
i've seen a lot of reviews criticize the writing style and while i didn't prefer it don't feel like it warrants a criticism as such, i feel like it does a decent job of putting you in milly's headspace where she's constantly in a state of flight or fight (or fight-flight-freeze-fawn i think it is now) and to that effect it works. i mean i didn't really enjoy it but i did understand and i think this one is just a matter of taste
however,
i really disliked the book itself. the whole time i felt like the author had definitely done research into how abused children act and think because the whole milly hates her mother/milly loves her mother/milly misses her mother/milly is terrified of her mother thing felt very true and heartbreaking, but then how the story resolves......
honestly i should have seen it coming. and by "it" i mean the author's note where the author reveals that she worked as a child psychologist and thanks her patients and says they were the basis of this book (??) and without them it wouldn't exist (!!!). i need you to know that throughout the entire book, i hated mike, the psychologist dad. i felt like it was an unbelievable conflict of interest to have him be both her psychologist AND her foster parent and was fully expecting a nasty twist with him, especially when milly finds out that he's trying to write a book about her which is both gross and exploitative. but then nothing happens because..................................... he is the stand in for the author?! unbelievable.
i had more compassion for phoebe than the author seemed to, writing her with almost no nuance at all solely to justify what happens to her at the end. girl is in a home where they desperately need family therapy but will never get it because apparently her father thinks he's all they need, where her mother had such severe post partum depression that she had to be hospitalized, where her father keeps bringing home foster children and ignoring his first daughter. not to justify the things phoebe does, but why is it when milly's older brother acts out and does awful to get away from his family, he is given compassion and understanding for what he does, but then phoebe is demonized and gets killed?
additionally i got a weird misogyny vibe that's hard to pin down as intentional and somewhat understandable in the narrative or the author's thoughts coming through. similar vibe to gillian flynn and this is NOT a complement, because i've read enough of flynn's work to know she personally genuinely hates women. i think milly having severe internalized misogyny is understandable considering what happened to her in her life, but again it's hard to say whether that's what the author intended or whether it was the author's true feelings coming out. really off vibe, especially about the foster family mother and the way milly talks about her. did not like this.
anyway this book made me realize that the british children's tv show Brum about a sentient car is named that because instead of saying cars and vehicles go "vroom vroom" in england they say "brum brum" which is pretty funny and a really late in life realization to have lmao
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Child death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Murder, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Self harm, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt
zdslade's review against another edition
dark
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
3.0
rmarcin's review
5.0
Wow! Creepy! Milly is a 15-year old girl who is a foster child of Mike and Saskia, who also have a 15-year old named Phoebe. Milly is in their care because her mother has been arrested after Milly turned her in for unspeakable crimes. Phoebe despises Milly, and makes life rough for her at the private school they attend. Mike is a psychologist, and is helping to prepare Milly for when she needs to testify against her mother. MIlly is very fragile from the abuse her mother dished out and the crimes Milly witnessed her mother doing.
Milly is fighting against the demons of her mother inside her and trying to be a good child and to be loved. It is a battle that she fights each day.
This was an intriguing look at mental illness and the effects it has on everyone.
#GoodMeBadMe #AliLand
Milly is fighting against the demons of her mother inside her and trying to be a good child and to be loved. It is a battle that she fights each day.
This was an intriguing look at mental illness and the effects it has on everyone.
#GoodMeBadMe #AliLand