Good Girl, Bad Blood: The Sequel to a Good Girl's Guide to Murder: 2

After the brilliant A Good Girls Guide to Murder (which has one of the best YA of 2019) Pip is back with another page turning mystery.I was a little worried to see if this new instalment will live up to the first. I can say it does.This book follows straight from when the previous book left off where Pip has now shot to fame with her podcast sharing her first case to the world while also recording the events on the trail.However a new case presents itself one of her friends older brother (Jamie) has gone missing, the police are refusing to help, so its left to Pip to find him. However not all is what it seems with the brother acting strange in the weeks leading up to his disappearance which leads to a mystery girl who Jamie was talking to online.People are trying to hide there secrets however Pip is determined to discover the truth before its too late.The book has the same format as the first with narrative along with interview conversations and articles.I like how the author has developed Pip character.As with the first novel don't be put off the the word "girl" in the title all YA will enjoy is page turning thriller.The book will keep you on edge and guessing right to the very end with a great cliffhanger meaning that we will be seeing more from Pip in the future, I will be waiting patiently for the next instalmentI highly recommend this novel.

Loved A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, thought there was no way that Holly Jackson could deliver another book which was just as good, was proved wrong.This is Young Adult fiction, with late teen protagonists, but it does not make it any less of a crime novel than those aimed at adults.Holly Jackson is amazing at plotting her novels - this one went in a direction that I completely did not foresee. I genuinely thought I would not be surprised but I was so wrong because the ending just had me going 'wow, I did not see that coming'.I absolutely love Pip, our fantastic lead character from book one. This time she is not writing her EPQ and trying to solve the unsolved mystery that has plagued her hometown for years. This time she is hosting her own podcast (so perfect that this character would be doing this...of course Pip is hosting a podcast). Her podcast is designed to follow the trial of one of the 'bad guys' from book one but along the way she is approached by a friend whose brother has gone missing. Pip cannot refuse a good mystery so here we go again.This novel is so very real, the speech is authentic, the excerpts from text messages, emails, dating apps, Instagram and even photos are all absolutely fantastic devices to add depth to the novel. Holly Jackson, please never stop adding in these 'extras' as they work so well!She doesn't shy away from dealing with real issues and not everything is a happily ever after (which is sad but a true reflection of real life).I loved it so much I read it in just over a day, while also working full time from home!I have been recommending this to absolutely everyone who will listen, and that includes my pupils who laughed at how excited I was when I finished!

Good Girl, Bad Blood was a highly anticipated novel to read and I bought it as soon as I finished the first novel of the trilogy, one I absolutely loved and which even made an appearance on my end of year list. Good Girl, Bad Blood is a great sequel to the this young adult mystery murder novel titled A Good Girls Guide to Murder which I reviewed in July last year, but of course the format (with transcripts, a map, in essence lots of visual embellishments) in which Jackson’s debut novel was written, was expected now so the surprising effect wasn’t really there this time. Not that I didn’t appreciate that she used the same techniques though, I love how attractive she made it look again!In the previous novel Pip was looking for a murderer, believing the police came to the wrong conclusion, but this time she’s looking for a missing person, which meant her investigation is more about finding clues instead of suspects. She does go around interrogating several people again but I didn’t happen to feel the same thrill of sleuthing that I had in the first novel where I was more actively thinking along who the villain could be.The author raised the bar so high with her first novel and while I heard some readers say this one’s even better, I’m not sure I feel the same way. Don’t get me wrong, Good Girl, Bad Blood is a ‘bloody good novel’ but the best one so far is undoubtedly still the first one for me (I have to admit, I often feel that way). There really is no shame holding this second place though because I still very much enjoyed seeing Pip in her element again, making lots of progress throughout the novel at a steady pace (she’s really a young Veronica Mars and she does it so well) and I can only think of two small things that I would have liked to have seen differently. The first is the fact that Ravi, Pip’s wingman in novel one is taking quite a backseat in this one, and I missed this voice of reason sometimes, not to mention his positive and warm personality, and the other thing is that this novel recaps literally everything that happened in the first novel, it goes on for several pages and while I enjoyed that it jogged my memory this way, I don’t think that readers who haven’t read the first novel will appreciate this because there is no point reading the first of the series after you read this one, so do take that into account if you’re interested in reading it.Anyway to say I’m very excited to read book 3 of the series As Good As Dead is an understatement (I’ll have to wait till August/September at least though) because in this third story Pip has a stalker and there’s a man behind bars who is probably the wrong person and a real serial killer who’s running free. I’m trying to keep my expectations in check this time but it’s really hard with this series! So, if you’re used to reading detective stories but new to young adult, this is absolutely a great series to start with!

I enjoyed this book, however I do believe the first book is better. This doesn’t take away the fact that this book in its self is well written and has lots of twists and turns which are very unpredictable.I feel like the relationship between pip and (inserts boyfs name) could have been developed so much better. It seems like this was an afterthought as in the first book it was at the forefront. I felt like he became an insignificant character which I didn’t like. I feel like the mystery of the book was good but the overall character development wasn’t great.Whilst there was the reintroduction of familiar names, there was so much more potential for getting the character development of the characters you actually care about, which was lacking.Overall I would say read the book if you’ve read the first one, as it’s still a good book to read. However I feel there was missed potential with this sequel

Wow. This book was just as amazing and just as intense as the first book; I don't think my heart settled to a normal pace whilst I was reading this one. I feel like Pip's focus was geared up even more which made reading this even more intense. Jackson's writing just gets stronger and stronger in my opinion; I picked this up and barely moved until I finished it and was absolutely hooked until the last moment. There can be an issue with crime books feeling OTT but Jackson somehow navigates away from this and the plot and writing has not felt that way to me at all.I appreciate the fact that she linked back so heavily to the events of the first book; they weren't shied away from or swept under a rung, they were as much front and centre as the disappearance of Jamie. I like that we get updates on the trial and how it went on.-----SPOILER--------Oh how my heart broke when the verdict against Max was revealed; it was such a heartbreaking moment to read and for Nat and Pip. The anger and burning rage that Pip felt afterwards was so intense, I could feel it through the pages and I felt it myself. It makes me so disappointed but the verdict isn't a surprise because the burden is always on the victim.---I love Pip so much; she's such a strong and determined character but I am so worried about her by the end of this book. You can definitely see the impact that the events of this book and the last book have had upon her and she seems to be slowly unravelling. Hopefully Ravi will be there to catch her; I love that their relationship had subtlety developed but it never took away from the focus of the book.Jackson is a really good author in the way that she lays down clues for the twists but somehow convinces you out of them.-----SPOILER--------I had figured early on that Charlie and Flora must have something to do with it, but when Charlie sits with Pip and gives her advice and when they reveal about the stolen watch it honestly convinced me out of it and I didn't really consider them again... so you would consider me shocked when Charlie turned up at the warehouse, even more so when he proceeded to shoot Stanley with very little hesitation!!---I would highly highly recommend this book; Jackson plots things out so well and develops relatable and enjoyable characters. Cannot wait to see where the series goes next!