Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - How To Survive Your Murder

This is book is Scream meets Happy Death Day. If you like any 80’s or 90’s slasher than this book is going to be for you. After her sister dies, Alice is granted a wish to go back and redo that night. However, it’s not as simple as she previously thought.

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tanvi45's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

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starklinqs's review against another edition

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

2.5

Would have been a 3.5 if not for the final act, which seemed like a plot twist for the sake of being a plot twist. I guess if anything this book kind of has the feel of a Halloween special, ghost of Halloween past thing, which maybe if it were characters I cared about or in a show I was watching, might be fun as a non-canon thing, but in a book that I was trying to enjoy? Eh. I think this book tried really hard to be meta and tongue and cheek but it felt a bit forced and I don’t think it was executed (pun not intended) properly.

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jocelyn62013's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

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bekah1210's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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lyssak's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.25

Another HIGHLY predictable "thriller" I saw 75% of the twists coming at least an hour before they happened, most at least 2 hours.
Most of the characters were flat, and I didn't really care much when they died because we didn't know that much about them.
It did have some good quotes though. And the narrator was excellent.

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aliciawhatsthestory's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

2.0

A book for people who loved Scream and Happy Death Day? I thought this would basically be written FOR me. (Is anyone else declaring it Halloween already?) And, while it did not have nearly as much of the comedy/meta commentary element present in Scream or Happy Death Day, How to Survive Your Murder did keep me up until 6 am to finish it.

Then, sadly, I read the ending, which is TRASH. There is no conclusion to any of the major plot points, despite the fact that this is supposed to be a standalone. Even after sleeping on it for 7 hours, I’m still mad about about it. If there is a sequel, I would be fine with it and give a couple of stars back. But given this is advertised as a standalone, I just cannot say it was a good book. The last three pages really did not work for me so long as there is no follow up to actually create an ending instead of the biggest cop out ending since Lost (or so I’ve heard—I’ve never actually watched Lost because I’ve heard so many people complain about the ending).

This book is good for a few thrills and it does really bring the horror and gore elements of a slasher. But if you want any kind of conclusion to your stories or really any explanation of the events AT ALL, probably don’t pick this up, unfortunately. If the author had taken the time to write a real ending that actually wrapped up this story, this could have been a four star review. As things stand, I simply cannot comprehend the number of five star reviews for this book on Goodreads.

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