Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

179 reviews

_happilyeverafter_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Car accident, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Animal death, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Murder, and Rape

jackieyvette's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.75

This book was a random read to get into the fall feels, and it did not disappoint.
The main characters were the perfect mix of serious and unserious in all the best ways, and even the secondary characters that make up the friends and family of Pippa were perfect. Ravi and Pippa are a perfect pairing, and I can't wait to see what mystery they'll solve next. 
The story itself was a great crime/thriller while still holding onto that YA feeling. I spent the whole time trying to distinguish who to trust and who could have possibly done the crime we didn't even know was actually committed. I'm happy with the ending and found it to be realistic and not super outlandish and convoluted like a lot of murder/crime-centric media usually is. 
And in the midst of reading, I found out it's getting made into a series, so I'll be on the lookout for that. Off to the next Pippa and Ravi adventure.


Crying score: ugh yes

a dog dies

P.S. read the TWs there are a lot, so it is important to be informed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Drug use, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

aaliyajaensch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

no seriously why kill the dog?? I actually just wanted to stop afterwards, great story but the dogs death was unnecessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Kidnapping

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Animal death, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Vomit

Minor: Self harm, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

katerinamckenna's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Addiction, Racism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Violence, Alcohol, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Child death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Drug use, and Rape

caitlineliza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Confinement, Bullying, Blood, Car accident, Grief, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Kidnapping, Body shaming, and Drug use

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Self harm

cortanasreadingnook's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

5.0

Honestly this book should come with a bunch of content warnings with sad and depressing in bold, block red letters. Holly Jackson has managed to create a masterpiece of a story about a case that turned cold five years ago that it would be a shame not to give this 5 ⭐️ This was insanely good! I apologize for taking so long to get into this and suffice to say I am not the same person as i was before reading this and no amount of therapy can make me forget this book ruined me. With all my love and appreciation, I hope Holly knows she should sleep with one eye open at night for what she did to me <3 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Drug use, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, and Murder

midnightbelles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed reading this. I was swept into the mystery and kept on the edge of my seat for most of the book which I liked. I also enjoyed seeing how everything panned out and discovering who was guilty along with Pip and Ravi. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Death, Grief, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

Minor: Pedophilia

dosxhime's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.0

I was a fool and jumped on the GGGTM. Tik tok has lied fo me yet again (@ Caraval series). In my heart, I hoped that it would blow me away, like the Truly Devious series. However, I just couldn't stand Pip and the romance between her and Ravi was unsatisfactory. It felt like there was hardly any development on their relationship, but I did find Ravi funny and charming. Points to him. When I think about it, Pip is 17 at the start of the book while Ravi is  20. That's kinda iffy to me.

But, anyways, I hated how Pip was jumping around and basing her thoughts on conjectures. It truly made no sense how someone so scatter brained could solve a murder. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Racism

Minor: Mental illness, Rape, and Self harm

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was a fantastic read! Holly Jackson masterfully wove in foreshadowing and red herrings into the story. Even with big twists, the characters were so well fleshed out that the twists didn't feel like they came out of nowhere.  Jackson does a great job making the characters and place feel very real. She creates a diverse cast of characters that I feel like I could meet on any street or at any high school event.

Ravi and Pip's friendship and then relationship was adorable. They're both very funny. I adore that once his brother was exonerated, he brought his parents to meet her, and that their families are close. Josh loving Ravi before he started dating Pip was a good set up to show the two getting together eventually.
Setting up Naomi's mental illness and then showing her father to be similarly unstable but to a greater degree, and him using her diaries as a way to learn information was a really interesting twist. I really wanted Mr. Ward to be innocent.
I was destroyed by Barney's death. His relationship with Pip and Josh is part of what made her so real. Her dancing with Barney and making up little songs about him was adorable and relatable.
I really thought H.H. was going to be the killer, and that it was the B&B owner's son. Maybe it'll come back up in later books, because I still don't think H.H. is Howie's House.

This book managed to embody elements from both the small town cozy genre and quintessential murder mysteries. I highly recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Drug abuse, Grief, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Dementia and Animal death

Minor: Fatphobia

mishasbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Animal death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Addiction, Mental illness, Murder, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Drug use, Rape, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Self harm, and Sexual assault