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Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Terminal illness
Minor: Infidelity
Despite the plot feeling sometimes like it's progressing a bit too slow, it was still a nice read about Margaret ‘Jet’ who was trying to solve her own murder. The protagonist of this story feels like she has to proof something, has to act and achieve the same things her sister Emily did. While I never done anything like this to impress anyone, not even my parents I could still somewhat understand that if one wasn't the favourite child and just searching for confirmation, wanting to make them proud. I think that Margaret can be a relatable character for some. Just like the author of this book said: ‘I still find myself feeling sad for Jet (and I made her up) so I’m sorry for inflicting that trauma on you too.’ Her life was truly tragic and I think everyone had at least some bit of tragedy in their life so I think it's quite easy to connect with her emotionally. Since I did that too, I was also able to enjoy the story to the fullest, truly rooting for her to achieve something big in life for the first time without self-sabotaging and actually finishing something she started without saying 'later'.
We've spend our whole lives trying to fill Emily's shoes, feeling crushed by her shadow, trying to prove to Mom and Dad that we are good enough too.
This book explored a lot of family dynamics, mostly Margaret's but also Billy's family. While it did take some time to get to know all the characters — their secrets and possible motives for killing Margaret, it also was about their relationships to eachother. How they liked or not liked eachother. And why. While I did mention above that I found the end reveal to be a bit too predictable, there were actually three major ones. Two were pretty obvious since they were connected to eachother and I think that the murderer was a prime suspect, but the family dynamic also had a secret which I did not expect as it was so cruel and heartless, I wouldn't have even imagined that someone would do something like this. It took me by surprise since I didn't expect it at all. I also wanted to mention that this book is quite tragic and just generally sad since it's about grief, loss and how relationships changed over the years by abandonment and hate. They all had their tragic story in some way.
I'm sorry that I'm not Emily. But I was never supposed to be. Took me a while to learn that, and I hope you can see it too. I spent my whole life waiting because I was trying to live a future that was never mine. And I did it because I wanted you to be proud of me. To just once say “Good Job, Jet.” I needed it, lived for it, and I don't think that was healthy, for either of us.
Despite the sad backstories and plot about a woman dying soon due to head trauma, it also had a sweet tone, like romance and showing strength when one faces a difficult time in life. Margaret had a major development at the end, acknowledging that the way she lived her life so far was wrong and made it up for the remaining days she had left to live.
As I mentioned above, the plot twist who the murderer was, was too predictable to me and made the ending disappointing. I expected something greater and I know that Holly Jackson is good in writing about a mystery/thriller, but this time it just wasn't as great as I initially hoped for it to be.
Since everything else wasn't really lacking anything I would still recommend this book to anyone who already read a Holly Jackson book in the past.
In case you haven't, don't worry, it's still worth reading despite the ending as I had fun exploring each character and their past.
My murder isn’t going to solve itself.
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse
Minor: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Abandonment, Alcohol
I also love the relationship Jet has with Billy because this poor girl needed someone in her goddamn corner.
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Terminal illness, Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Abandonment
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
5/5 stars
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Blood, Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Medical content, Alcohol
Graphic: Death, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Abandonment, Alcohol
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Even though it’s labeled as YA I’d categorize this as new adult as it is a 27 year old character and she says fuck a lot. No sexual content though.
Not Quite Dead Yet captures a lot of the brilliance that AGGGTM has and I really enjoyed this book!
Thanks Netgalley and Ballantine for providing me with an ARC for exchange of an honest review - it was a great opportunity!
Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Infidelity, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Phew, okay.
I might be a little biased because Holly is my favorite and is always an automatic five stars for me. Her stories are always so twisty and fun and devastating. I swear bestie likes to make me cry in every single book, which unforgivable!!
Jet. My funny little Jet. She only has a week to solve her own murder and she's not going to die without getting her answers - no matter what it takes. I LOVED Jet. She made her way to my number two spot in fmc created by Holly. She's funny, sarcastic and maybe a little mean.
It was a fast paced (holly's stories always are!) thriller that kept me turning page after page, needing to know the ending. But above all else, it was character driven story about fighting for your life and realizing the small things DO matter.
Honestly, I don't even know what else to say. It was perfect.
Thank you to Holly, the publisher and to netgalley for the arc!
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail