Title: How to Kill Your Family
Author: Bella Mackie
Genre: Thriller, Contemporary, Crime
My Review Rating: ★★★
Goodreads Description:
I have killed several people (some brutally, others calmly) and yet I currently languish in jail for a murder I did not commit.
When I think about what I actually did, I feel somewhat sad that nobody will ever know about the complex operation that I undertook. Getting away with it is highly preferable, of course, but perhaps when I’m long gone, someone will open an old safe and find this confession. The public would reel. After all, almost nobody else in the world can possibly understand how someone, by the tender age of 28, can have calmly killed six members of her family. And then happily got on with the rest of her life, never to regret a thing.
When Grace Bernard discovers her absentee millionaire father has rejected her dying mother’s pleas for help, she vows revenge, and sets about to kill every member of his family. Readers have a front row seat as Grace picks off the family one by one – and the result is as and gruesome as it is entertaining in this wickedly dark romp about class, family, love… and murder.
But then Grace is imprisoned for a murder she didn’t commit.
How To Kill Your Family was actually out of my radar until I (or the group, rather) had an issue with one of the “pasabuy” groups in Facebook. I ordered three or four books I was very excited to have a copy of, but I ended up with a whole different set of books and Mackie’s being one of them. I wasn’t angry though, cos I expect issues when you’re participating in a pasabuy, but a little bit disappointed cos my list was my very “I really want to have this” list and gUuUrLLL…
Anyways, I was out for a weekend staycation with the fam so I gotta pick whatever book I can pick plus my Kindle which I always bring for when in case I don’t like my physical book vibes, I still have a whole library to choose another book from.
Of, course, I wasn’t able to finish the book in two nights, but I read a decent number of chapters. Funny thing is, I carried this around wherever I go, so people were like confused and probably thinking, was this a step by step guide or whatevs. Anyways, yes, its basically a step by step story of the main character doing her business and a bit of a POV of her brother (is this a spoiler??) casually observing her without her knowledge because idk maybe killing her family is just another task that’s normal to her she didn’t even think anybody would notice.
Even I don’t understand how I enjoyed reading this, but a looooot of this book did not make sense. Cringey, annoying, they say it’s humorous but I didn’t feel it that much to agree with the “outrageous” description.
view my staycation vlog where i read how to kill your family!
I am using the CAWPILE rating system, though please remember a reader’s taste may change from time to time, so I’m not sure if you can trust me here unless this was a recent read. Leaving my ratings anyways because this was totally how I felt the time I read this book. *winks*
Every time I go out, I try to bring my Kindle and one physical book (or two) just in case I get bored. Though I am fully aware boredom doesn’t happen if you’re travelling or if you’re with your kid. But hey, I gave three stars (2.5 pwede din) to this book because I enjoyed reading it and I enjoyed people’s reaction seeing me holding such a controversial title.
here are other reads if you liked How To Kill Your Family:
In I’m Glad My Mom Died , Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
The last person who called me ‘Sweetpea’ ended up dead…
I haven’t killed anyone for three years and I thought that when it happened again I’d feel bad. Like an alcholic taking a sip of whisky. But no. Nothing. I had a blissful night’s sleep. Didn’t wake up at all. And for once, no bad dream either. This morning I feel balanced. Almost sane, for once.
Rhiannon is your average girl next door, settled with her boyfriend and little dog…but she’s got a killer secret.
Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhinannon’s life is normal now that her celebrity has dwindled. By day her job as an editorial assistant is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend’s plans for marriage and babies whilst secretly making a list.
A kill list.
Scarlett Clark is an exceptional English professor. But she’s even better at getting away with murder.
Every year, Dr. Clark searches for the worst man at Gorman University—professor, student, or otherwise—and plots his well-deserved demise. Thanks to her meticulous planning, she’s avoided drawing attention to herself…but as she’s preparing for her biggest kill yet, the school starts probing into the growing body count on campus. Determined to keep her enemies close, Dr. Clark insinuates herself into the investigation and charms the woman in charge. Everything’s going according to her master plan…until she loses control with her latest victim, putting her secret life at risk of exposure.
Meanwhile, Gorman student Carly Schiller is just trying to survive her freshman year. Finally free of her emotionally abusive father, all Carly wants is to focus on her studies and fade into the background. Her new roommate has other ideas. Allison Hadley is cool and confident—everything Carly wishes she could be—and the two girls quickly form an intense friendship. So when Allison is sexually assaulted at a party, Carly becomes obsessed with making the attacker pay…and turning her fantasies about revenge into a reality.