Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

43 reviews

ong's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

those last few chapters? i was there with her. that was fucking scary. incredible. never wanna go through something like that again.
 happy i was able to guess who they are 191 pages in. never fully trust people who are kind for no reason. they also just groomed her to do bad things and just fully let her anger out. did pip go to therapy after the last book? she def should go now.
i hope max dies next. or go to jail forever, then immediately die bcs they beat him to death.
wish i could tag the cw for betrayal bcs fuck ant & lauren.

the beginning of the book was not as catchy as agggtm. found it kinda hard to pick up, but i'm glad i pushed through, because once i hit the 20%-something mark i really couldn't stop. especially the last 40% of the book. holy shit. she's done it again. completely blew me away by the last few chapters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Death, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Bullying, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Eating disorder, Car accident, Cursing, and Self harm

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

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

5.0

This novel is a fantastic continuation of the series. The main story line wraps up very neatly in A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, but Holly Jackson did such a fantastic job planting the seeds of future mysteries to be unraveled as the plot developed, that Good Girl, Bad Blood felt like a natural progression of the story. Just now, after finishing the book, it's hit me how short the timeline of the story is. Pip is still a high school student in this second book.

She discovers her best friend's dad (a second dad to her) is the man who murdered his oldest daughter's best friend, solving a five year mystery that the rest of the town had believed to be solved, and nearly dying in the process. In this novel, during the same school year, Pip is forced to reckon with who she has become, beyond the good student she's always been, while searching for her friend's missing brother in a town that thinks he just ran away.

In the prequel novella Kill Joy, Jackson plants the seeds for Ant to show his true colors. He's an asshole, poking fun at the murder of Andie Bell multiple times throughout the murder mystery birthday party they're attending and prank scaring his friends, disregarding his friends' feelings when they ask him to stop. In this novel, he is so wrapped up in his relationship with Lauren and he believes online comments, that he disregards Connor's pain, as does Lauren. He mocks Pip the day Max Hastings is pronounced not guilty, provoking her into attacking him by joking that she's hidden Jamie for more internet clout, calling his disappearance "convenient". I hope they're dropped from the friend group in the next novel.

This sets the stage really well for Ant's dad to be one of the people who protest the funeral. Jackson does a fantastic job depicting the negatives of small towns - the bigotry, and the closing of ranks. Ravi is the blueprint boyfriend, and his willingness to be there for Pip, supporting her through everything, is really beautiful. He understands what she's going through more than most. I'm also glad Pip was able to repair her relationship with Nat DeSilva.

I guessed the killer was Pip's neighbor, about 3/4 of the way through the book, but it was a feature of the clues peppered through the writing, and I'm not disappointed that I was able to guess it. The twist was still satisfying to read. Pip's suffering because of Charlie's actions, killing a man in cold blood, in front of her, is thoughtfully written. Her tenderness for a man she barely knew, and who most would say didn't deserve it, whether it be for his past and apologized for racism, or his part in his father's crimes as a child, juxtapose greatly with the reactions of the townsfolk who new and loved Stanley before his identity was revealed. Pip cares about the truth and the preservation of life, and her coming to terms with her new perception of right and wrong, and who she is as a person make for a very compelling subplot to this novel.

I'm excited for the next book, but I'm sad I have so little time left with these characters.

Great story if you love to read about feminine rage. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Stalking, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cancer and Confinement

Minor: Drug use

princess_of_genovia's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicide, Alcoholism, and Rape

bekiethebanished's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Rape, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident

maddison20's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Drug use, and Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Stalking, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Medical content, Rape, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Blood, and Child death

Minor: Kidnapping, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Blood, Cursing, Medical content, Mental illness, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Murder

ericius's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape and Gun violence

Minor: Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

mollymoo1234's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

This book like the first is very good and the plot just twists and turns , it may be triggering for some but definitely recommend as it is very gripping 
Enjoy xx 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Child death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape and Panic attacks/disorders

katharina90's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Took me a while to get into and left me feeling underwhelmed. Maybe a case of middle book syndrome? 

Was also caught off guard by how sad and depressing the ending was, especially because I found the first book quite wholesome. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Violence, and Cursing

kyrstin_p1989's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I don’t care how inept a police department is, they’re not going to sit around and let an 18 year old girl and her high school friends traipse through potential crime scenes, create search parties, and investigate a possible missing person/murder. It’s wildly unbelievable and yet, somehow, you forget all of that and just pay attention to the fact that Pip has an uncanny way of reading the clues to solve big puzzles no one else can. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Rape, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood