A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. Going in, this one felt too familiar, like maybe I had read it and DNF before? But I couldn’t find proof of that, so I figured it just seemed similar to other YA true crime/cold case/podcast type books. I stuck with it and got completely obsessed. I thought one of the murderers was incredibly obvious and was surprised they weren’t a suspect all along, but the other took me by surprise. The ending was perfect and definitely made me eager to read the rest of the series.

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson. Second books usually feel like a placeholder between the first and third of a trilogy but this one held its own. I thought it was a really good mystery and I love how it pulled in some details from the first book that hadn’t even registered for me. For a teenager solving crimes the police can’t (or won’t), I feel like this is realistically written, especially considering emotions Pip feels after all she’s been through.

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson. I thought this was a really satisfying end. The first third or even half maybe was VERY repetitive with what Pip was thinking and feeling regarding her trauma. I get that what happened is major and will change a person but for the sake of fiction, I think it could have been cut and handled better. It felt like Jackson was trying to meet word count with those sections. However, how Pip evolved feels really natural and I think the ending was just right.

The show was a slog for me to get through. I'll be honest and say movies are really hard for me to focus on. I usually wander away, either physically or mentally, about 30 minutes in. But shows, somehow, are easier for me to focus on. That wasn't the case here, though. Maybe because I'd already read the book and really enjoyed it, so I knew the story and the suspense didn't work on me?

Also, while I thought all the actors were just-right picks for the characters, Pip seemed a bit young in her actions on the show. In many scenes, it seemed like she was just bumbling along, stumbling upon things rather than following clues and leads like she did in the book.