Happy Friday Everyone,

Hope you’re all looking forward to the weekend. I have no plans this weekend which is nice. I was supposed to be decorating my step daughter’s bedroom however we’ve now delayed that by a week. Although I’m desperate to get her room done, I’m also happy to have a couple of chill days. My little baby puppy is in the vets today getting spayed bless her. I get to pick her up in a couple of hours so I can give her lots of love and cuddles all evening.

Book 📖

This book has been sat on my physical shelf for quite some time and I’ve never gotten around to picking it up. My best friend read it last year and told me I would enjoy it; still wasn’t enough. So I put it onto my Twenty Three in Twenty Three list to force me to read it. Then the stars aligned and @gimmebooksjoanna and I decided to buddy read it this month. So. Here it is. My review of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by @hojay92.

Description 🔖

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

General Thoughts 🤔

Do I love reading about murder? Yes. Do I consider myself to be a bit of a goody two shoes? Yes. Is that what drew me towards this book? Of course it was, yes. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the characters in it. If you’ve read any of my other reviews or follow me on bookstagram, you’ll probably know that I’m not the biggest reader of YA, so I will admit I was a bit dubious about how much I would like this. However I was pleasantly surprised by how engrossed in the story I got. I would definitely say that this is on the older side of YA as it does have some topics in it that I wouldn’t recommend for younger readers. This may be why I enjoyed it more than I usually enjoy YA.

Characters 👫👭👬

I 100% wish that I had been Pip when I was 17. Actually scrap that, I 100% wish that I was Pip now. I find the idea of investigating a true crime story so unbelievably exciting, I would love to do it. Pip was incredibly savvy and very brave. She threw herself into danger, no questions asked. I love how she was able to trust her gut and how pure her intentions were.

This is ridiculous, but I struggled with Ravi at the beginning and it’s completely my fault. I know a Ravi in real life and every time I read his name in the book, I thought of him and he is probably the complete opposite in personality to the character Ravi. Once I was able to get over myself, I fell in love with him. He suffered such heart ache that continued well after his grief for his brother but he was still able to carry on and trust in Pip to do right by Sal.

Writing Style ✍️

My absolute favourite thing about this book was all of the different ways in which the story was told and moved forward. The text message conversations, interview transcripts, drawings, production logs; they all helped to keep me engaged and it was a nice break from continuous prose. I also felt that it helped give me further insight into some of the characters.

The plot itself was very clever and I loved going on the rollercoaster that was Pip and Ravi’s investigation. The twist and turns that Holly Jackson wrote into this story were awesome and I definitely had a couple of gasp moments when the penny dropped for me.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖

I had a marvellous time with this book. I was able to take my time with it and read it at a leisurely pace but I was still excited to pick it up each day and catch up with Pip and Ravi’s adventures. Although this is a YA book, I would definitely recommend it for the older end of the YA scale as there are some heavy topics covered; albeit tastefully. I loved the way the story was told via mixed media as it kept it interesting and helped maintain a decent pace. Overall, I enjoyed this book even more than I thought I was going to and I thank @gimmebooksjoanna for the buddy read accountability.

😍😍😍😍😐