Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

9 reviews

atomicbritt's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Murder, Torture, Violence, Body shaming, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

m4rtt4's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The premise was very promising, and I was quite hooked on the story despite it not being as funny as it was said to be. Yes, it was funny at times, but oftentimes the 'humour' relied on (internalized) misogyny and/or fatphobia and/or belittling mental health issues and eating disorders — this is also why I found the book's feminist takes to be quite hypocritical. I hated Grace as a character, she was so insufferable, annoying, petty and too bitter over the smallest of things, but I stuck up with her because — well — you can't quite love a serial killer anyways. I liked the ending, it was justified and fit perfectly with my dislike on Grace, though I also must say that such a plot twist should have been foreshadowed better. A murder mystery is no fun if it doesn't make you feel dumb for not realising the answer earlier; it shouldn't come so out of the blue (as in this case) that it feels literally impossible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Death of parent, and Stalking

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Violence, Fatphobia, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

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

bmceleney's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? No

3.25

I loved the concept of the book and the writing and dry humour was really good. Also having the unlikable main character was a nice change from the standard books you usually read. However, at times the plot did drag on unnecessarily. And what was that plot twist at the end?! Like I know they should be surprising but it was long and there wasn’t even hints about it throughout the book so it was a plot twist that didn’t even make sense, so the ending really let what should have been a great book down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

bloopyfloopy's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual violence, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Infidelity, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Eating disorder, and Miscarriage

kellyloubishop's review

dark lighthearted 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Drug use, Incest, Murder, Torture, Abandonment, Body shaming, Car accident, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Fatphobia

lthomas's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed reading this book, and thought that the layout of the story telling was really good, it kept me hooked. The idea that she was writing about past events from a prison in the present was very interesting, and helped to make the story very fun. The main character was very funny at times, with her witty comments - some of the writing had me smiling to myself. However, after a while, I thought that her character could be a little insufferable. I was a little disappointed by the ending of the story. I felt that there was a lot of build up for not much of an outcome, however, it was a smart twist and I like how it helped some other parts of the story fall into place. Overall, I thought that the experience of reading this book was very fun, but some parts were a little disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief

sib_reads's review

dark funny 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Infidelity, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Car accident, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, and Drug use

onthelam's review

adventurous mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

I found myself rooting for a murderer.

I was unsatisfied at the end when she didnt receive the money and felt as if she has been further wronged.

Interesting but i felt it could have been more..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual content, and Stalking

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Hate crime, Sexism, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Abandonment

Minor: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Incest, and Toxic friendship