Tag Archives: reading

Review: Wrong Place Wrong Time

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Another book review? No way!

I want to preface this review by saying the blurb of this book sold me immediately, and I showed my friend – who had no prior interest to thriller/mystery types of novels – said blurb and she was like “Wow! That’s a good blurb! Now I want to read it!” And then I ended up buying the book after declaring that I ‘wasn’t going to buy anything; I just wanted to browse’.

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister tells the story of Jen Brotherhood, a loving wife to Kelly and mother of Todd, who one days looks out her window and witnesses her sweet and innocent son murder a complete stranger on their street. After going through the terror of accompanying their son to the police station, Jen wakes up and finds that it now the day before the murder. With her new passive time-travelling ability, Jen decides to find out the reason why her seemingly innocuous son could take someone’s life like that.

I hope I did that iconic blurb justice.

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This book was very well written with a gripping and refreshing storyline, and I managed to finish this book within 48 hours of buying it. I really struggled to put it down because the story was so gripping, and the twists and turns in the narrative were so intriguing that it didn’t bother me that I was going to be up until 2am reading it.

And then, the most unsatisfying ending happened.

I won’t get into too much detail as to why I found it so unsatisfying; whether it was a good ending or a bad ending because every reader is different. But from such a huge build up with an interesting time travelling storyline just to finish the way it did, it left me with a rather bitter taste in my mouth. The ending felt a little rushed, to the point where I felt like Gillian was rushing to tie up the narrative with a little bow.

For what it’s worth, the storyline was impeccable for the first 95% of the book. Gillian writes with easy to understand language that also makes it very easy to imagine in your head as you experience the narrative being laid out for you.

I wouldn’t say that the characters are really well fleshed out to the point of being complex and layered, but a few of the main characters are written with enough depth that the more you learn about them, the more you realise you were wrong about them when you initially judged them, and that was something I quite enjoyed about this book.

Wid-o-meter
Storyline: 6.5/10
Style of writing: 8/10
Overall: 7.25/10

Again, if you’re a fan of the thriller mystery vibe (especially with a time travelling aspect) then I would recommend you pick this one up and read it. Just don’t have high hopes for the ending.

Oh well. It is what it is.

– by The Black Widow

Review: As Good As Dead

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The finale to what has been a fantastic series!

RELATED LINKS: Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Review: Good Girl, Bad Blood

If you have followed along with the adventures of Pippa Fitz-Amobi with me, you will know that As Good As Dead is the finale in the series. This poor girl has been through enough, after all, so it’s only fitting that the series ends here.

As Good As Dead picks up where Good Girl, Bad Blood finished. Pippa is left reeling from the dramatic events of the second book, and to make matters worse, someone is leaving anonymous threats to her: “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?” As expected, Pippa’s life is turned upside down, and she has to race against the clock to protect herself.

These book covers are so iconic. Like they have literally all serrrved.

If you haven’t read my reviews for the previous two books, I’ll summarise it in saying that this series is so well written and the plots have been so great; these have truly been some of my favourite bloody books.

Unfortunately, As Good As Dead was very noticeably the worst book of the trio.

To start this review off sweet, Holly Jackson’s writing is still as phenomenal as it’s always been. Every part of the book was very easy to picture in my head due to the words and language that Holly used, and to me it was very easy to follow the narrative in the story.

One thing that I think Holly is really good at is writing well-rounded characters, but not just the main characters; even the supporting characters are well written and easy to imagine. That’s an incredible feat to accomplish in my books.

This is where the tone of the review will change. Without dipping too much into spoiler territory, the plot of this novel was so unbelievable to me, and this really damaged my view of this book.

There’s a twist at around the middle point of the book which I clocked very early on, yet we’re led to believe that Pippa – the very bright, switched on and intelligent murder mystery solver – had no idea about this.

And then the rest of the plot unfolds, and the young girl who seemingly had no idea about the plot twist suddenly becomes a forensic and scheming mastermind. While I’m sure that some of the science behind the rest of the plot is legitimate, I just think how the second half of the book unfolds is extremely unbelievable to the point that I stopped taking the book seriously.

Wid-o-meter
Storyline: 5.5/10
Style of writing: 8/10
Overall: 6.75/10

I have to be honest; I was let down by this book, and that’s mainly because the second half of the plot was just so ridiculous. What I liked about the first two books was, despite the fact that it was a teenage girl investigating a murder and a disappearance, it was written in a way that it was believable. However, the unbelievability of this book really dragged it down tbh.

Despite this, please still pick this one up and read it. You do need to get the ending of Pippa’s story. She didn’t go through all of this for nothing!

– by The Black Widow

Review: Good Girl, Bad Blood

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This title’s lowkey describing me.

RELATED LINKS: Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Welcome back to another opinionated book review! This time, we are returning back to the world of Pippa Fitz-Amobi, the teenager who managed to solve a murder mystery case by herself and acquit sweet Sal Singh for the murder of Andie Bell, all the while putting herself in danger. 

The sequel to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, this book picks up right where the first book left off. Feeling the weight of Andie Bell’s case, Pippa has decided to give up her murder solving ways to try and live a normal life of a teenager in high school. But when her friend Connor tells her that his brother Jamie is missing, and the police refuse to look into it, Pippa has no choice but to investigate the missing person’s case which will lead her down another dangerous path.

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Holly Jackson is really just an incredible writer and I believe she’s truly found her niche in writing this genre. If you’re a fan of a mystery-thriller, I highly recommend you pick this book up to read (after reading A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder obviously).

I believe I finished this book within a 48 hour period because I struggled to put it down, even at the expense of my sleep. At no point was there ever a lull in the action or suspense, and even when I thought I’d found a point in the book where it was okay to put my bookmark in and go to sleep, something wild happened, so I had no choice but to continue.

Good Girl, Bad Blood goes down a different path to the first book, this time looking into a potential missing person’s case as opposed to a case closed murder mystery; something that I really enjoyed. It keeps it fresh and unpredictable in the best sense, and it doesn’t get to the point like the Death in Paradise TV show where a bunch of murders happen in a small location and you’re questioning the believability of it. 

There are quite a few twists and turns in this book, almost to the point that you forget the initial plot of this book is to find Jamie, and I absolutely loved that about Good Girl, Bad Blood. Once you think you’ve solved the case, the game is changed, and as a reader you’re left wondering where this is going and how it will end.

Once again, I found myself really adoring the character of Pippa, and her relationship with sweet angel Ravi. Her methodical investigative manner was once again highly detailed, but not in a way where it wasn’t believable for a switched-on high schooler to achieve. This made her seem like a real character, which is something a few authors struggle to achieve.

Wid-o-meter
Storyline: 9/10
Style of writing: 8.5/10
Overall: 8.75/10

A very successful sequel to an amazing first novel, Good Girl, Bad Blood is fantastically written with a gripping storyline from start to finish. With very little to fault, I highly recommend you pick this book up for a very enthralling read – again, after finishing A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder of course.

– by The Black Widow

Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

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Can you tell I’ve been reading a lot lately?

My dear friend Sarah’s Dymocks gift card really came in handy and went a lot further than I had expected, so this is the second book purchased in my “oh no, I better use this before it expires” panic rush.

In today’s episode of ‘What Has Nikki Been Reading?’ comes A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. This book came with a highly recommended sticker from my local Dymocks, and all of the reviews I saw of it were glowing, like Naomi Campbell strutting her ish down the runway glowing.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a young adult mystery novel telling the story of Pippa Fitz-Amobi, an ambitious high school girl who takes on an extra project for school. The topic of her project? Investigating the murder of Andie Bell who was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh. Except Pippa doesn’t believe that Sal actually did it, and the more she uncovers about what happened that night, the more danger she puts herself in for those who want to keep the events of that night hidden.


The first thing I would like to mention is that I heavily prefer to read books in first person. It makes it easier for me to delve into the world the author has created if I can imagine that I am the protagonist, and thus makes it easier for me to absorb the narrative the story is sharing.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is written completely in the third person, and my first reaction upon seeing this was “Oh no”. However, Holly wrote it in such a way that you could still empathise with Pippa and feel what she was going through, while leaving the reader in the safe position as a third party observer, so I personally want to commend Holly for doing such a great job at this.

As with all mystery thriller type stories with a twist, it’s the storyline that keeps you glued to the book, and this story never missed a beat. The constant twists and turns kept you on your toes, thinking of new and different possible outcomes for this murder mystery investigation, and when you think you’ve seen all the twists, Holly surprises you with another one.

The characters were very well written and, most importantly, likeable. Pippa was written to be quirky, which is something that I think is overdone to the point that I find quirky characters to be highly irritating, but Pippa was believably quirky and witty and brilliant and very relatable. And my god, I just adored her entire family, especially her father. Authors should take notes from Holly on how to make female leads not be insufferable pick me’s.

Wid-o-meter
Storyline: 9/10
Style of writing: 8/10
Overall: 8.5/10

All in all, an outstanding novel to read that I definitely recommend everyone to read, not just the mystery thriller aficionados as well. Holly does a great job of creating suspense on every page, and like me, you’ll find it very hard to put it down. And I’m very excited to get into the rest of the series to read more of Pippa’s investigative adventures!

Happy reading, lovebugs!

– by The Black Widow