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Reviews tagging 'Death'

Lief meisje, kwaad bloed by Holly Jackson

684 reviews

vikaf's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

A nice continuation of the first book. I liked a lot that it definitely had the same atmosphere in the beginning, but slowly changed as we got to see Pip change as well. I was happy to see her expressing her emotions in a more violent way maybe, because it felt real, it fit the story. Her anger was written almost beautifully.
I can't give whole five stars even though I really want to, but I have to look at this with a critical eye and for me the start was very slow. It makes sense though for the story, but it felt like it was dragging out the beginning a little bit. Also I didn't understand the mention of Harry, the guy from the library as he didn't really add anything to the story. Maybe he's important for the third book, but as of now, I don't know that and feel like the plot line of Hillary Wiseman's grave was disappointing. 

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turidt's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


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bookishly_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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paradoxchild's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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kelly_e's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Title: Good Girl, Bad Blood
Author: Holly Jackson
Series: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #2
Genre: YA Mystery
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: April 30, 2020

T H R E E • W O R D S

Brisk • Idealistic • Entertaining

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Pip is not a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.
But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?

💭 T H O U G H T S

After reading book one in this series, I knew I wanted to continue with Good Girl, Bad Blood, even though I didn't know where the storyline would go. I was looking for a fast read that would be relaxing and wouldn't require too much additional thought and reflection, and this one fits the bill perfectly.

The way Holly Jackson combines multimedia elements - interviews, podcasts, texts, emails, etc. - creates an engaging and immersive experience. It helps moves the plot along at a quick pace and the full cast audio makes tandem reading the ideal solution for consuming this entire series. The unique style mirrors true-crime, but in a fictional story.

Much like the first book, it is easy digestible. Pip's character arc continues to evolve from book one and Jackson didn't hold back from killing off characters. It does require the suspension of belief at times, yet it's well written enough that you get invested in the mystery. I didn't figure out what was going to happen until close to it happening.

Good Girl, Bad Blood is an entertaining and fast-paced sequel that is highly engaging. While targeting the YA crowd, it is the type of book that adults will also enjoy because of the artistic style it is written in. Looking forward to reading the third book in this series in the next couple of months and would definitely recommend this series to the younger readers in my life.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• amateur sleuths
• missing person cases
• true crime

⚠️ CW: murder, violence, gun violence, death, child death, rape, sexual assault, grief, kidnapping, fire/fire injury, injury/injury detail, blood, drug use, child abuse, cursing, stalking, cancer, suicide, car accident, animal death, alcohol, confinement, misogyny, toxic relationship

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"But sometimes my mouth starts saying words without checking with my brain first."

"Time is in charge here, not me, and that's terrifying." 

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elina_st's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The end (no spoilers) made me cry. And that guys means the story is touching in ways you can´t escape. 

I read this book as an audiobook, and I would like to give the team behind the production som credit for why this book was so touching. It felt so real, like you were rigth there trying to solve the missing people mystery along with the characters. I think it is brilliant the way the producers chose to make it a kind of theatrical experience. We got the intro-music to the podcast, and the times where Pip interviewed people (and the recordings would eventually make it to the podcast, but there was no point in us hearing it multible times) it was fantastic to hear the shaking voices of the other actors and background sound we would not experience in a written reading experience. There may be things in this book that are better experienced written than in audio, but me, myself and I am happy that I chose this approach for this book!

Lastly, thank you Holly Jackson for becomming my favorite author at the moment. This is my third book written by you I have read this year (AGGGTM & The Reappearance Of Reachel Price being the to other ones). I am looking forvard to finish the series and the other works you have done. Allways inspiring new authors ❤️

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emariesi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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alice_in_bookland9's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0


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hazychapters's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

✩ 3,5 stars
✩ young-adult, murder mystery, thriller
✩ 417 pages

Sequel to AGGGTM, "Good Girl, Bad Blood" follows Pip in a new investigation after the disappearance of her friend’s brother, Jamie; while learning how to manage the growing hype around her true-crime podcast. 

I found the pace of this second book a bit unbalanced. It started really well, but the investigation slowed down, hence the end feeling rushed. The mystery in itself felt a bit far-fetched sometimes. I had my own theories as I was approaching the last chapters (I was wrong, of course), but I felt a bit underwhelmed. 

The first book was so busy I could feel the suffocation of crippling anxiety as I was diving into the pages. I didn’t feel the same with this sequel, at least for the first half. But I have to admit, I was taken by surprise by the "Child Brunswick" subplot, even though I’d have appreciated to hear about it earlier in the book so it didn’t appear out of the blue. The same goes for some characters. 

The characters and their writing is the strongest aspect of this book. You can really feel connected to them as they are all going through difficulties in their lives: Pip, Ravi, Cara and Connor. They are a very interesting quartet. I’d have liked to see a bit more of Cara and Ravi and how they coped with the events of AGGGTM, so I can’t wait to read more about them in the next book. 

However, I have mixed opinions about Pip in this book and honestly, I’m quite scared of what she’s going to do/become in the third book. I was here for her character’s development after the events of AGGGTM, and if I understood her at the very beginning regarding conducting a new investigation or not, I didn’t really feel connected to her by the end. Yes, she’s traumatised by past events and battles her insecurities, but she also has this flaw to never ask for help. I think this is an interesting situation to discuss, but at some point your character should evolve out their flaws. And I don’t know why, I’m pretty sure it won’t be the case in the last book. 

In conclusion, mixed feelings for this sequel. It was good, but didn’t meet the expectations I had after the end of the first book. It felt to me like a filler sequel, while waiting for the third and last book of the trilogy (as it is for a lot of second books). I’ll take care to lower my expectations for the finale, even if I heard it was the best of the trilogy. 


📌 Content/Trigger warnings:
arson, blood, catfishing, child abuse, death of a child, death of a sibling (past, recounted), drug dealing, drugging (non-consensual), grief, gun violence, kidnapping, murder, rape (past, recounted), violence. 

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spazzcats's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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