User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
this book was honestly me when i’m struggling to reach the word count on an essay.
i don’t have the energy to write out a full rant review, so here’s some ranty bullet points:
• the book had a strong premise and good start, which is what made me purchase the £15(!!!) hardback bc i read the sample of the first chapter and enjoyed it, but unfortunately from then on it went completely off track
• the entire book was FAR too long-winded, full of so many unnecessary details/stories of the protagonist rambling on. i wanted to print out the manuscript and cross out paragraphs/pages with a red pen.
• it was trying too hard to sound funny/witty - mostly with a lot of millennial humour, and constant snipes at influencers and internet-obsessed young people (ok boomer)
• i thought it was going to follow the protagonist plotting all the different murders - but that was barely focused on at all. instead of focusing on the story/plot, the protagonist goes on irrelevant rants about social/cultural observations which were clearly made by the author e.g. there was a big passage about the dangers of smart devices and smart homes. if the author wanted to write about these observations, why didn’t she just write an essay collection???
• it was trying too hard to come across as feminist - but then it also wasn’t very feminist at the same time?? it had an air of a circa 2010 ‘pick me’ feminist who particularly hates women who get lip fillers
• one of the main themes of the book was about class, but it wasn’t really discussed in any profound way, and it actually became quite trite after a while. basically the whole book involved snipes at the rich/the upper classes (which i’m usually all here for) but THEN i discovered that the author of this book is alan rusbridger’s daughter and her grandfather is a baron….so she clearly moves in some privileged social circles herself, not exactly a working class hero. after that little discovery, the constant digs at privileged white people prompted a few eye rolls from me.
• i was attracted to this book bc of the anti-heroine promise as i love an unlikeable, morally grey female character - but grace as a character was far too muddled, and it was clear that the author still hadn’t fully fleshed her out. she was clearly meant to be a character in the vein of villanelle from ‘killing eve’, but she was nowhere near as interesting or compelling
• the ‘twist’ ending was disappointing to me, and basically rendered the whole book pointless.
Rating: really liked it
- The beginning was intriguing, but it quickly deteriorated and never recovered.
Rating: really liked it
Me reading this in the living room:
My family: O_O
Rating: really liked it
groups that this hideous main character hates
- fat people
- women - bonus points for plastic surgery
- asian people
- old people
- people with dementia
- gay people
- people with eating disorders
- mentally ill people
- people who like frogs
- rich people
- also poor people
- teenagers
- people who struggle with addiction
- stupid people
- pret
- middle aged women
- people who take baths
- pansexual people
-people with chronic illnesses
-people who care about social issues
-influencers of any kind
- her mum
- one direction
- the reader
Rating: really liked it
hell hath no fury like an overrated book
Rating: really liked it
A bodaciously bonkers book!Can you imagine being locked up for a murder you didn’t commit? Just the thought brings me anxiety, and that’s the situation Grace Bernard is in.
That doesn’t mean she’s innocent.
Dear Grace has actually murdered six people...and she’s gotten away with it.
How unfair that she finds herself as a prisoner when nobody knows the crimes she
actually committed...and why she killed those folks.
How To Kill Your Family is a dark, sometimes brutal, delight of a novel that had me giggling one moment and cringing the next. This is not a cozy story, but there is PLENTY of dark humor and snark, which I adore. Grace is not an angel, and this may sound terrible, but I really liked her and rooted for her the whole time.
This book was trending at 3.5 stars, but the ending is so deliciously wicked, twisted, and unexpected...that I just had to bump it up!
I highly recommend it if you’re looking for an original and sometimes outrageously entertaining story, but be advised this is definitely an ‘R’-rated read.
Shoutout to Ceecee for putting this book on my radar. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it after reading her enticing review. Another shoutout to my local library, who ordered a copy for me to devour after I suggested the title.
Now available.
Review also posted at: https://bonkersforthebooks.wordpress.com
Rating: really liked it
For a book about a ‘sharp’ young woman who murders multiple people in a calculated act of revenge, this book is disappointingly flat. Grace is in prison for a murder she did not commit, writing her life story about all the ones she did. As per the title, she’s been killing off her family.
I think we’re supposed to find Grace funny; something of a witty anti-hero. She’s just really, really unlikeable. Shallow, self-indulged; a mean snob- it’s hard to listen to 9 hours (audiobook) of someone you fundamentally dislike.
Her raison d’être is uninspired and although there’s a shoulder-shrug of a twist, the ending was anticlimactic. It’s neither a thriller nor really a domestic drama, but the diary of one very churlish individual littered with judgemental stereotypes. Unfortunately I’d hoped for a lot more from this book.
Rating: really liked it
Grace Bernard is in Limehouse Prison serving a sentence for a crime she didn’t commit but that doesn’t mean to say she hasn’t committed some! To relieve the boredom and the inane chatter of cell mate Kelly she decides to write her astonishing story. This tell all explains exactly what she is guilty of! This is a novel about rejection and betrayal, revenge and retribution.
First of all, let’s deal with Grace. She’s definitely an awful person, she’s vengeful, superior, a snob and has her own very specific belief system which she doesn’t hesitate to share with us and her narrative is peppered with her judgements from the highest to the low! And yet, and yet .... I can’t help liking her and I know I shouldn’t as she’s done some truly awful things to some truly awful people. She’s very funny (it’s black humour of course) and I confess to liking her wry dark style and admiring her superb put down lines and wish I’d thought of them! What she tells you in her confession makes your jaw drop with her audacity. It’s devilishly delicious and deviously dastardly. The characterisation is extremely good and there’s a good mix of some to like, some to make your fists and teeth clench and some are so odiously unlikeable they deserve all they get. There are occasions in the narrative where you burst out laughing but it’s one of those laughs you know you shouldn’t release and so you check over your shoulder to check no one’s heard!!! The tell all journal works well although there’s a bit of repetition in some places and the occasional dip in pace. There are some good plot twists that you don’t see coming and some instances of irresistible irony.
Overall, this is very easy to read, it’s well written, I love the darkly wry style of the author who has acquired a new fan!
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins, Harper Fiction, The Borough Press for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
a woman doing all the hard and dirty work herself and a white cishet man swooping in last second, claiming all the fruits of her labor, belittling her and boasting about "his" achievements - a classic
this was a 3-star read (entertaining but forgettable) until the third to last chapter that introduced a man i found even more unlikeable than Grace's initial rich family members and who managed to make everything about himself and was exuding so much male entitlement and audacity that it just ruined the entire book for me
Rating: really liked it
I want the last two days of my life back ban millennials propped up by generational wealth from writing books I swear to GOD
Rating: really liked it
Bella Mackie's novel is a blackly humorous, witty and wildly entertaining read that just might have you rooting for a serial killer! An unhappy Grace Bernard is in Limehouse Prison after having been convicted for murder, and she has every reason to be upset, she is an innocent woman. The only thing is Grace is guilty, guilty of killing 6 members of her estranged family, murders she has got clean away with. Her wealthy father's rejection of her mother and her goes on to fuel an obsession for revenge that has her engaging in-depth meticulous research, identifying her targets, carefully planning and carrying out each murder, using a different method for each of her victims. With so much time on her hands in prison, Grace writes up a candid account of her murderous exploits in her journal, and if you are expecting her to express any sense of remorse, you are going to be disappointed.
This was a fabulously fun crime read, I just could not help liking Grace, my only gripe was with the final twists which come out of the blue and not how I would preferred to see the book end.
Rating: really liked it
When Grace Bernard discovered that her absentee millionaire father had rejected her dying mother’s pleas for help, she vows revenge and sets about killing every member of his family.
She is quite proud of the fact that she got away with it-so when she ends up in jail, accused of a murder she didn’t commit-she decides to brag about the ones she is guilty of committing-by writing about them in a journal that she hopes someone will find locked in a safe, one day after she is dead and buried.
This is that story!
I expected to enjoy this one more than I did, but found there to be too much back story which seemed like unnecessary filler that slowed the pace down to a crawl! 400 pages was just too long.
I wanted the MURDERS to occur more rapidly than they did!!! 🙄
Still, Grace had to be the FUNNIEST, SNARKIEST most SARCASTIC character that I have EVER met, and I enjoyed her dark humor! I was laughing out loud, something I rarely do!! 🤪
Not sure what that says about me!
AVAILABLE NOW!
Rating: really liked it
4.5/5
i reeeally enjoyed this! thought it was so funny and clever.
i love me some true crime comedy podcasts, so this was right up my street :))
Rating: really liked it
Needless to say, this isn’t a cozy mystery. Not with that title. Grace is a psychopath. She may be in jail for a murder she didn’t commit, but that’s not to say she’s innocent. As she’s happy to recount to the reader in all the gory detail, she plotted and executed the murders of her father’s family.
Kudos to Mackie. Grace may not be a sympathetic character, but she was oddly relatable and I was happy to go along for the ride as she dispatched one victim after another. There’s a great dark, snarky humor to Grace that I loved.
The plot was a tad uneven and there were times I felt a better editing job might have helped. But that said, I desperately wanted to see how it would all play out. There was a great twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. This is great entertainment for those that aren’t squeamish.
Charlie Clive did a super job as Grace. She made the character come alive for me.
Rating: really liked it
When Grace discovers her bio dad, a millionaire, rejected her and her dying mother, she decides to enact her revenge by killing the entire family. Yet, in a strange twist of fate, she is convicted and sent to prison for the one murder she DIDN’T commit.
From prison she regales us with her story, and what a story it is. Filled with dark humor, snark (my fave!), and the juicy details of her life along with the creative offing of six members of her family, she had me laughing out loud. Kudos to the author for writing such an engaging villain.
If you like snark, irony, and dark humor, and are willing to not take the book too seriously this is fun and fresh. If you liked Dexter, and/or the humor of Joe in You, or Paul in Best Day Ever, then you will love Grace. The twist toward the end was the icing on the cake.
*The audiobook is narrated by Charly Clive, Paul Panting, who were excellent!
* A caveat: there is a political jab made early in the book, so I set it aside, but the positive reviews of Goodreads friends (Ceecee, Michael, and Jayne) led me to pick it up again. Thankfully, it was just the one instance. To be clear, I read to escape, and don’t want to see ANY political jabs from either side of aisle, even if their beliefs align with my own.
