Good Girl, Bad Blood – Holly Jackson

Oh my god. This series just keeps getting better and better. I’m literally sitting here fully shocked at the outcome of Pip’s most recent mystery. 

Plot

Good Girl, Bad Blood takes place not long after the first book in the series, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and starts with Andie and Sal’s memorial service where the majority of Fairview shows up to pay their respects to the two teens. The morning after, Pip is greeted with a frantic knock on her door, her friend Conner begging her to help him find his brother who hasn’t been seen since the memorial service the night before. 

Pip fights with herself on whether the case is worth taking on considering the dangers she put herself and her family in throughout her last investigation, but Conner’s brother, Jamie, is not being looked for from the police, so she has no choice. 

Can Pip unravel more of the mysteries of her small town and find Jamie before it’s too late? 

Characters

Like the last book, Pip was a genuinely enjoyable main character. She was detail-oriented, motivated, and continued to hope throughout the investigation. Despite all of this, clearly she took on a lot more than she could handle. Her personality completely shifted and the process of looking for Jamie was something that became her own responsibility, when it was never her responsibility to begin with. She puts so much pressure on herself, and don’t get me wrong, it’s obviously important and it’s a life or death situation, but she also looses her entire being and puts all of her head into the case, disregarding everything else in her life which is clearly unhealthy. I can’t say I blame her though, I was sucked into this book for a good four hours and literally didn’t want to put the book down!

“When the police won’t do anything, I guess you’ve gotta turn to high schoolers instead.”

Ravi, god I love him. While this case wasn’t about him or his brother or family, he deserved this chance at redemption. He needed this for his own wellbeing and I can understand that. In fact, I respect it. He has nothing but kindness in his heart and I love him for taking care of Pip when she gets consumed in the case. I love him for being there constantly and being someone who is unwavering throughout difficult discoveries. 

Conner is more of a new character in this book considering he wasn’t super present in the last one. Obviously he plays a bigger role here since it’s brother that has gone missing, but I feel like his character was pretty cool. He had good intentions throughout the entire book, and while his desperate times did cause his personality to shift into more of a pain than a help, he was a pretty good side character overall. 

Ant and Lauren bugged me. Seriously. Their infatuation with each other, their complete disregard for their friends. It was annoying and it made me want to throw the book at the wall. 

“It was in nightmares, and crashing pans, and heavy breaths, and dropped pencils, and thunderstorms, and closing doors, and too loud, and too quiet, and alone and not, and the ruffle of pages, and the tapping of keys and every click and every creak. The gun was always there. It lived inside her now.”

Stanley Forbes. I knew there were going to be some secrets being uncovered when it came to Stan but I had no idea they were this big, and man oh man do I love it. 

Setting

I have to be honest, this town is trouble. It’s creepy and weird and the fact that everyone knows everyone makes it so much worse. I feel like it’s accusing everyone that we can possibly come across as a potential murder. Don’t get me wrong, I love that we’re uncovering millions of secrets and discovering tons of things about each person in this tiny town, but it’s freaky!! 

Writing

I was sucked into this book in the best way possible. The writing style is so easy to read and kept me wanting more and I love how short these chapters are too! It’s one of those books that you can get through in one sitting because of how captivating the story and writing is. 

In conclusion…

While my bank account is crying, I literally just placed an order for the third book – it had to be done. I am obsessed with this series so far and Pip and Ravi have not let me down yet! I can’t wait to read the third book and become completely immersed in another creepy and haunting mystery! 

Rating: 4.75/5⭐