Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

28 reviews

annabulkowski's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Gore, Classism, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Cancer, Drug use, Suicide, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Eating disorder, Confinement, and Child death

meeklovestoread's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.25

The amount of times this book put me to sleep should be criminal. I'm not the type where I have to like the characters to like a book, but my goodness I found Grace to be so intolerable and always constantly overly pessimistic and judgemental of literally everyone. As someone that seems to set on murdering these privileged peoole she seems just as pretentious as they are. The twist at the end still left some unanswered as to what happens to Grace.

And the introduction of Harry felt kinda rushed. I don't know. It just felt pretty random. Him being Simon's son and having him be the one to kill Simon. I don't know how I feel about that considering throughout most of the story we were in Grace's POV.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual content, Murder, Abandonment, Stalking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Grief, and Alcoholism

Minor: Cursing, Car accident, Sexism, and Violence

simple_sock's review

dark funny medium-paced

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

4.5

I absolutely loved this book. It was so witty and anyone who reads it should love the main character: Grace. She is great. Even though she is so problematic, I love her ambition. I think that the author is extremely talented and I will be reading any fiction that she comes out with. 

So many good plot twists. Harry! My god I was not expecting that. And Kelly. 

Each death was so perfect and flawless. 

Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Cursing, and Eating disorder

neronina's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Very mad at the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, Cursing, Violence, Car accident, Sexism, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Addiction, Drug use, Suicide, and Classism

Minor: Cancer and Incest

marieke17's review

funny medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Body shaming, Hate crime, Murder, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Sexual content, Stalking, Gaslighting, Violence, and Pedophilia

ruthmoog's review

dark tense fast-paced

4.75

Grace is so mean!

I enjoyed that the reputation of being a rotter was a family trait that Grace didn't see in herself, and her lack of self-awareness really comes to a head as the story develops.

There weren't many (any) likeable characters in the book, and the subject matter was fairly grim, yet I was very invested - I wanted to  find out what happens next.

This book is described as funny; it's told in a chatty sarcastic way as if what the narrator says is funny. But it isn't actually funny. The jokes Grace makes are snarling and mean, and at the expense of others. And that is perfect for her character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Ableism, Death, Death of parent, Stalking, Body shaming, Car accident, Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Blood, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

crose683's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Violence, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Alcohol, Classism, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Cursing

moopreads's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Stalking, Abandonment, Classism, Death of parent, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content

aliciachauhan_'s review

dark funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Violence, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

jennifer1130's review

slow-paced

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

2.0

I've likely judged this book more harshly that I might otherwise because of the heavy pushing of this book to me via social media adverts by the publisher. Having said that the absolutely max it deserves is 3 stars on a good day.

What a disappointment. The premise of this book is interesting, killing your whole family for revenge but there is nothing clever nor interesting about this story. Instead it trawls laboriously through dull plot and follows the format of basic intro to, this is how I killed person 1, this is how I killed person 2, person 3 etc. With a few brief flip backs to the present day where the main character Grace is in prison and is writing her diary style story. The diary style story really irritated me with its 'need to go now' endings. Who has time to write that in a diary when there's something you actually need to go for??

I didn't really believe at any point that I was in the mind of someone capable of killing 6 people. It felt like a fictional story. A highly unlikely one. The particular low point involved an uncle in a sex club while Grace rants about feminism and the privilege of the white man. 

I have no idea how this book got such a big marketing budget. It's just cheap throwaway rubbish. Such a shame. I just expected and needed more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Eating disorder, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Terminal illness