viviandang's reviews
105 reviews

the main character is annoying, unreliable, and unlikable (borderline insufferable), the friend group is messy and toxic, the plot and reveals are dramatic and ridiculous. and i loved it all 

it definitely got more and more ridiculous towards the end but i’m a sucker for trash tv dramas so if you enjoy those too, you’d like this book! however as far as murder mystery, whodunnit goes, it’s not the best and you may be disappointed if you’re not interested in the messy lives of college students

think greek the tv show but with murder! :)

liked it until the plot twist 

gave it an extra star for the taylor swift reference

i really liked shadow and bone and the fantasy/magic element to it but other than nikolai (<3333!!! heart eyes), i wasn’t attached to any of the characters.

with the crows, it’s the opposite. i couldn’t pick a favorite if my life depended on it. i love them all so much. every other found family tropes i read will forever be compared to these six

while i didn’t fully guess the plot twists, and the way each chapter ended was really confusing and entices you to keep reading, i didn’t love this book. the ending felt rushed and too many plot twists were thrown in at the very end. i know mystery books are supposed to have misdirection but some storylines just didn’t need to be there. there were also a couple scenes that were just traumatizing to read and unnecessarily detailed 

i finished this in a day and was anxious the whole time but it’s mainly bc darby was so dumb sometimes?? like girl use your brain please i beg. it did get a little ridiculous and dramatic towards the end but still entertaining from start to finish! hopefully the movie is as good 

this has been on my tbr for so long but i just had low expectations for some reason?? maybe bc it was a YA and i assumed it wouldn’t be too childish. idk but thank god i finally read it bc it was SO good. there was one part towards the end i wish didn’t happen so deducting some points for that. also this was in fact NOT a guide to murder. minus some points for false advertisement 

my first silly little cozy murder mystery. didn’t have any crazy plot twists but did end with a huge cliffhanger so i was excited to start the sequel but then kinda lost interest along the way.

overall though it was a quick and funny read that i’d recommend

my first book of 2023 and it was INSANE. thrillers are usually predictable for me but this was so fast paced, fun to read, and i had no idea what was happening at any point. it wasn’t scary but a little unsettling because i didn’t know who to believe