Kill Joy: The YA mystery thriller prequel and companion novella to the bestselling A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy. TikTok made me buy it! Paperback – 4 Aug. 2022

If you've had a scroll through my previous reviews you'll see that I loved A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. It was my first experience of reading a YA Mystery and I was so enthralled by it that I binge read it. I have the sequel Good Girl, Bad Blood on my bookshelf waiting for me to pick it up and the final(?) book As Good as Dead on preorder. That's how good A Good Girl's Guide to Murder was for me. I'm committed to the series and the main character Pip.So you can imagine, when I saw that for World Book Day, Holly Jackson had wrote a short prequel, Kill Joy, that takes place quite literally just before AGGGTM. That I had to have it and it didn't disappoint.This book is a tiny 124, so really quite to read. It's packed with Holly's signature engaging writing style and gives us the Pip we all know and love. Holly has also written it, in a way that the trilogy won't be ruined by reading it. So you can read this first, get a taster for some of the characters and go into the series without spoilers. Which I love.In so few pages, Holly has also done a great job of introducing Pip and her friends, clearly showing their personalities and connections. It feels exactly like a teenagers murder mystery party. The murder mystery aspect is quite engaging and I can't fault the way it all penned out. Having read AGGGTM, I sat there thinking "Yes, this is how it would be".I don't want to say to much on this one, as it is such a short book. It's so definitely worth the read. It's fun, light and brings you into Pip's world and draws you into the series, which everyone needs to read btw.I'm conscious this isn't much of a review, but I really don't want to spoil it. There's nothing I didn't like. I love Holly's writing style, it's impossible not to love Pip and just back her. The characters are well thought out and formed. It's an all round winner for me.

This was the first book I have ever read by Holly Jackson and Kill Joy definitely had the snowball affect for reading the rest of the series. Kill Joy is the prequel in the Good Girl’s Guide To Murder series. I picked it up for £1 on Amazon as it was a release for world book day which I thought was pretty good going and worse case scenario, I lost a pound.I didn’t lose a pound, I got hooked on a storyline.As it is only 124 pages long this is a relative quick read and I finished it within a day. Kill Joy definitely grips you enough to want to carry on with the rest of the series. Especially, if like me, you haven’t read them yet.I quite enjoyed trying to play along with the murder mystery trying to work out which character had committed the murder which was the main basis of the plot.I often find that an author’s writing style puts me off of a book however I found that I really enjoyed Holly Jackson’s writing style. Plus I really liked seeing the images of the clues from the murder mystery throughout the book!I would defintiely recommend this book if you like young adult books, especially something that is a quick easy read.www.staceylipowski.com

I wish, I wish I read this before starting AGGGTM As it would have set the scene perfectly, but I still absolutely loved this series overall and if I could go back in time and read them again I honestly would!

I really enjoyed this!This was a great segue into the trilogy. I was conflicted at when to read this, cause there’s mixed opinions whether to read it first or last but I’m really glad I read it first.It got me excited to start reading ‘AGGGTM’ and I feel like I understand the characters so should be able to enjoy reading about them.

Wow 👏👏👏 she does it again. I’ve read all the authors previous books and have been blown away by them but I wasn’t expecting much as this was only a short story but wow I was impressed she wrote such a fun read that read like her full length books. I loved how we got Pips origin story and I also loved the witty banter of the characters and found the book funny too. I enjoyed how at the beginning of the chapters you get clues explaining who the character is pretending to be, what there alibi is, etc just like in a real murder mystery it was so exciting!!!I also enjoyed the little details the author included like the person who was acting like the “dead body” laughing,- as it made it seem more believable and just what teens would do in the situation.I really want to do a murder mystery dinner now after reading this book

Good

This Novella will have you gripped from page one right to the very end. It sets it up for the rest of the series so be sure to read this one first!Great Novella and done so perfectly.

Must buy the whole set, the author is talented in writing mysteries and I've loved reading this story so much!!