NetGalley ARC Reviews [A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Scammed, and Cracked Up to Be]

All three of these published on February 4th, and I decided I was going to put all of the reviews together because it saves my sanity. I enjoyed reading all three of these books, and I highly recommend checking them out since they’re out now.

The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

YA Thriller

5 stars ⭐️

I love thrillers so much. Usually I read adult thrillers, but I’m so happy to see YA having more thrillers happening recently. They are among one of my top genres, so I can’t help but want to read all the ones I can possibly get my greedy hands on. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder has become one of my favorite thrillers I’ve read in a long time, and I hope Holly Jackson will consider also writing adult thrillers so she can get even more intense with her writing. Please.

Everyone in this book is so well written and interesting. This reminded me of like a true crime podcast and the whole Adnan Syed serif thing. So that was what was in the back of my mind the entire time. Pippa is such a strong character, trying to find the truth and do whatever it takes. She reminds me so much of a lot of the podcasters who got above and beyond to get the story, and I just couldn’t help but really love her immensely. Even the secondary characters have depth and breadth, genuinely contributing to the story and making it even better.

This is about suspense of what’s going on with Pippa looking for the truth interwoven with the crime of what really happened to Andie Bell. It’s addictive from the start and complex to the core. There’s so many pieces of the puzzle, and it just gets more shocking and interesting as time goes on. I was hooked
From the start and couldn’t put this book down. I loved this book so much. It may go down as one of my top thrillers of the year.

Thank you to Random House Childrens, Holly Jackson, and NetGalley for providing me with this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

Scammed by Kristen Simmons

YA mystery

4 stars ⭐️

Probably one of my most anticipated reads of this year. But the cover change didn’t make me happy.

Brynn is still at Vale Hall, but this time the stakes and cons are higher. I loved this book just as much as the first one, I was shocked the whole time.

It was awesome to see the other characters I hadn’t seen before in depth, and I liked them to be actual people instead of just fillers. I’m sad there wasn’t more with her friendship with Charlotte, I think the series would be stronger with a female friendship and not just a romance I’m not exactly invested in.

Simmons just writes in a way which makes me unable to put the book down. Her characters are well written and worth the page turning. I haven’t been this into a series for awhile. I’m already ready for the third book.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys boarding school stories and shocking reveals.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Teen for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own,

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

Contemporary YA

4 stars ⭐️

I honestly am unsure of how to write this review because I have never read a book like this. I saw it on NetGalley, and I knew I needed it. I pretty much sped through it because I was ready for all of the answers this book was going to give me. Still, there are still some things I’m not sure of regarding this book. But that’s okay, I think.

Courtney summers states in the introduction she writes characters dealing with trauma. Already I’m like, alright this is going to be different. I skimmed over the intro at first, but I went back to it when I was deeper into the book and I appreciated it so much more. Just read this book is all I can say definitively.

Parker isn’t doing well. She’s gone from being perfect and popular to someone being watched and told she needs to be careful. She was drinking on school property and doing dangerous things. It came down to a suicide attempt and now she’s back in school on a tentative basis, talking to the guidance counselor and being monitored by her friends and teachers.

Parker is mean. She’s honest and states she hates people. She treats her friends so harshly and doesn’t even care about the consequences of her actions. She’s told again and again, she’s a bitch. She admits she’s a liar. Parker is a lot of bad things, but there’s also some issues she’s not dealing with. There are flashbacks to a party and the mystery of what happened to her best friend. It’s just so much happening… and it’s so real. I don’t think I’ve read anything this real in a long time, but I couldn’t help devouring it.

This book deals with some heavy topics. Trigger warnings for suicide attempt, drinking, rape mention, and animal death. It’s a very real book, and I don’t think it’s for everyone. But I definitely thought it was great. The ending wasn’t phenomenal, but I think the rest of the book makes up for it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I loved all of these books a lot, and I’m so grateful to all of the kind publishers who allow me to read all of these wonderful books. You have no idea what it means to a bookworm like me. As a kid I would devour books like crazy, and now I’m lucky enough to be able to read so many early and share my thoughts with the world.

Have you read any of these books? Or maybe you would want to since reading my reviews? I’d love to know either way.

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