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booklover2468's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Book kept a good theme of “murder mystery,” but lacked in a more diverse character display and overall interest. However, the plot twist at the end was very satisfying as well as surprising!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Gore
jamiee_f's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
This was an interesting time travel twist on the final girl trope. If you like horror tropes and movies, it might be worth a read. However, the ending kind of fucked it for me, the sister was SO evil for kind of no reason? I felt like the end merited maybe a sequel or an epilogue, but it was not a very satisfying ending for you. I get that her dad was being a sleazeball, but to turn into a chainsaw murderer?? There were a lot of plot holes but this was still a dramatic romp that kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn't expect the ultimate reveal of the murderer on my first read through, but in hindsight I guess it is the only explanation. Meh, unfortunately.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gore, and Blood
michellec13'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, and Violence
nooripoori'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Violence
jessw17's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Gore, Blood, Child death, Death, Body horror, and Car accident
Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Grief, and Infidelity
bri__'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
Wrong. There were so many characters being made as suspects that it was hard to keep up and yet none of them were the true killer. In the end, she didnt even end up going back to the present timeline. Instead, she had just made everything worse. So what was the point? Who knows. The Angel addition felt out of place but I didn't mind that much. I don't actually understand the motive behind Claire being the murderer for all of those girls and the other ones that were basically collateral damage. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The book is a fast paced thriller, atleast it has that going for it. I'd recommend it for that but not for anything else you want in a good book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Car accident, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Vomit
behindherpages's review against another edition
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
besides this being overall horrible, plotholes automatically ruin a book for me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Infidelity, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Self harm
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Alcohol and Body shaming
phoricho's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Now, to be honest, I was in a sad mood when I bought this book. I saw the cover and title and just bought it. Because that’s what you do when you’re sad, you buy more books. So I didn’t read the blurb or anything before buying.
After reading the blurb, I was slightly deterred by the time travelling aspect. To me, it felt gimmicky, and I wasn’t used to such a thing in a thriller/mystery. But I gave it a go anyways.
This book was a rollercoaster ride of liking and not liking it.
Thriller fans will love the references towards classic thriller films such as Scream, Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Alice is a fan of horror films, so the mentions and references are laid on quite thick in the beginning but level out as the book goes on.
I immensely enjoyed the thriller aspect. It really felt like I was reading a slasher film, which was overwhelmingly my favourite part of this book. Most other books I read tend to focus more on the mystery, with some close calls with the killer, usually towards the end. The continuous high stakes made the pacing feel quite fast — which was good.
The only times the pacing seemed off was in the beginning, as it took a while from the introduction of the time frame (solving the mystery by midnight) to the reader getting a time check. So for a while, I was unsure how much time had passed. I found this annoying but easy to get over.
The other issue I found with the pacing was the time travel aspect and Sidney Prescott look-alike character. These scenes often felt like they were interrupting the story instead of moving it forward.
I was also disappointed with the lack of involvement and storylines for the side characters. It felt as though they were mentioned in the beginning and then barely seen or heard from again until the end.
The ending left me a little unsatisfied, as there’s no official update for a few characters that I liked. The end felt like a movie or TV series leaving things open for a sequel or second season. If Danielle Valentine (AKA Danielle Vega) were to write a sequel focusing on the aftermath of the first book, this would work well and solve those issues (my issues) with the ending.
“If you don’t come with me, I might die. Those were the last words my sister ever said to me.” — Alice Lawrence.
It may not sound like it from all my above nit-picking, but I did enjoy this book. Like I said earlier, many of my nit-pickings are things I can get over.
The thriller aspect was hands-down the absolute best. I’m so impressed with how much it felt like I was reading a slasher film. I hope Danielle Valentine (AKA Danielle Vega) writes a sequel.
I give How to Survive Your Murder 3 out of 5 stars.
If you enjoyed Happy Death Day and the Scream movies, this book is right up your alley.
After reading the blurb, I was slightly deterred by the time travelling aspect. To me, it felt gimmicky, and I wasn’t used to such a thing in a thriller/mystery. But I gave it a go anyways.
This book was a rollercoaster ride of liking and not liking it.
Thriller fans will love the references towards classic thriller films such as Scream, Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Alice is a fan of horror films, so the mentions and references are laid on quite thick in the beginning but level out as the book goes on.
I immensely enjoyed the thriller aspect. It really felt like I was reading a slasher film, which was overwhelmingly my favourite part of this book. Most other books I read tend to focus more on the mystery, with some close calls with the killer, usually towards the end. The continuous high stakes made the pacing feel quite fast — which was good.
The only times the pacing seemed off was in the beginning, as it took a while from the introduction of the time frame (solving the mystery by midnight) to the reader getting a time check. So for a while, I was unsure how much time had passed. I found this annoying but easy to get over.
The other issue I found with the pacing was the time travel aspect and Sidney Prescott look-alike character. These scenes often felt like they were interrupting the story instead of moving it forward.
I was also disappointed with the lack of involvement and storylines for the side characters. It felt as though they were mentioned in the beginning and then barely seen or heard from again until the end.
The ending left me a little unsatisfied, as there’s no official update for a few characters that I liked. The end felt like a movie or TV series leaving things open for a sequel or second season. If Danielle Valentine (AKA Danielle Vega) were to write a sequel focusing on the aftermath of the first book, this would work well and solve those issues (my issues) with the ending.
“If you don’t come with me, I might die. Those were the last words my sister ever said to me.” — Alice Lawrence.
It may not sound like it from all my above nit-picking, but I did enjoy this book. Like I said earlier, many of my nit-pickings are things I can get over.
The thriller aspect was hands-down the absolute best. I’m so impressed with how much it felt like I was reading a slasher film. I hope Danielle Valentine (AKA Danielle Vega) writes a sequel.
I give How to Survive Your Murder 3 out of 5 stars.
If you enjoyed Happy Death Day and the Scream movies, this book is right up your alley.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity
reedcodes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Minor: Car accident and Infidelity
hayleybeeler's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
I'm sorry but using the word "cheugy" completely ripped me out of the story. I understand trying to accomodate a younger audience, but this book was published in 2022 and the term has already fallen completely out of style by 2023. Essentially guaranteed that a lot of the terms will be outdated in the near future. Also, the final twist made no sense given the prior 50 pages. Alice is certain her father is the killer, and says that now she understands why Claire's phone was in the neighborhood when her dad had it. Ok cool, that's a solid connection. But Claire was the killer, so why was the phone there? And she said she picked up her phone at home, but they talked on the phone before Claire went home, so how did that happen? And I refuse to believe that Alice, a character who's singular driving goal is the fact that she loves her sister, couldn't tell that the person in the costume was her teenage sister and not her grown ass father. There's just no way they had the same build, or even close enough for that to be a possibility. There were about 20 plot points that never get explained, and never will. It feels like the author realized they were about to reach 300 hundred pages so they just panic ended the story without any resolution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Infidelity