Perhaps this was all just too British for me? The tone is so bizarre, and obviously I don't expect a likable main character, but she was so unlikable it was distracting. Like others have said, the humor in this book reads really juvenile and it was so distracting. For a book about murder, it also somehow managed to be boring.

Not the worst, but a pretty big let down for a book with such an iconic title.

The title was great, the book was a mess. I think we were supposed to think it was funny, clever and interesting but it just seemed mean and juvenile.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing is spectacular and the plot was interesting and engaging enough to keep me on my toes and interested the entire time throughout the read. I would highly recommend this one!

How to Kill Your Family was a fun book to read. It's about a women in prison for murder except you learn early on that she has in fact killed many members of her family except the one she is in prison for! I actually enjoyed reading about her kills and she prepared for each one but that ending had me SHOOK. I had no idea that was where the story was going to go. Highly recommend!

A fun read for those who enjoy a good murder. Grace Bernard is telling us her story from prison for a murder she did not commit. Of course, that isn’t to say she isn’t guilty of committing a host of other murders! When she discovered her wealthy father had refused to help her ailing mother she is out for revenge, she decides to kill each member of her fathers family so he can experience the pain and loss she has felt.

So much fun twisted ,campy.A great lead character when her father an extremely wealthy man refuses to help her mom his ex wife who is dying she his daughter sets out on a murderous revenge spree.Hard to put down.#netgalley #abramsbooks

This one had an interesting premise and I liked the main character and her tone. However there were large portions of the book that seemed to drag and just didn't really hold my attention. I also didn't like the ending. Just wasn't a good fit.

Bella Mackie’s debut novel tells the story of Grace Bernard, a young Britishwoman raised by a single mother and determined to exact revenge on the millionaire father who denied both Grace and her mother. Grace plots to destroy the extended family she has never known, and meticulously plans their collective downfall. Her dark quest for justice gets complicated hen she is arrested for a murder that she did not actually commit. There is a lot of dark humor in this thriller that lets Grace shine as the morally compromised anti-hero.

When you see the title of this book, you know you have to pick it up to read it!! And once you start it, you'll be shocked it is a debut novel, as it is just that good-satirically funny, charming, page-turning, one that will get you cheering for the anti-hero (Grace). who just happens to be a murderer with a knack for last minute planning and a reason, or two, to kill. As things pick up and Grace is jailed, you wonder if she will ever get out. But really, SHOULD she? Ah the age old argument that in the end is solved rather strangely, that will have you going back and rereading chapters, realizing you were conned, alongside Grace. This is one you'll be sharing with friends!

So this is a really dark book - which really shouldn't come as a shock since we know from the first few lines that the narrator, Grace, has killed 6 members of her own family. Told through a written confession while in jail for an unrelated murder, the story bounces around from her revenge plans back to her more every day life.

You aren't supposed to like Grace (or really any of the characters), and I didn't, but she was compelling and complex. And while there were times I felt that her character could have been more fleshed out, she was a unique take on the revenge killer. But overall the plot didn't convey the tension or thriller-esque pacing that I think this book needed, the murders all felt flat and there were times I just wanted to skim to move it along.

Overall a good book, and I think gives a lot to talk about. But please only read if you are fine with anti-heros and dark plotlines - don't say they didn't warn you.

I was so very interested in this book by just the title alone and then the blurb had me hooked, however it fell so short.
I actually went back and re-read a few of the chapters just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. There was a major plot hole that the author apparently did on purpose and that really just messed with the whole entirety of the book.
While I enjoyed the confession she wrote out for each individual murder she committed, the one she was actually arrested for was just so ridiculous I actually wanted to just DFN the book write there and then. I'm a reader so I pressed on, yet when I got to the end I was absolutely dumbfounded. THAT was how it ended? Seriously?
The only reason I am giving this a 3 star is because of Grace, I did like her character and the fly by the seat of her pants attitude when she was committing the murders, they were almost comical and give the girl a medal for dedication that's for sure.
I honestly think it had so much potential to be better and unless my ARC from Netgalley was missing a whole chapter or more at the end, all I can say is that was such a let down for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Overlook, and Ms. Mackie for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. AN honest review was requested but not required.

The protagonist? antihero? villain? of this story is Grace, no last name, who is currently in prison for a murder she *didn't* commit, although she did in fact kill 6 members of her family. Her case is currently under appeal and to combat boredom she is writing her life story.

Grace is a raging sociopath and a virulent snob. She is immediately difficult to like despite her sad backstory and despite the relative disgustingness of the quasi-family members she wants to murder. I guess she's meant to be sort of an antihero but even as I agreed with her that her family was repugnant I actively disliked her and was irritated by her incessant selfishness, superiority complex, and snobbery. She whined constantly about just how AWFUL everyone (but her, of course) was. Snooze. Sadly, the murders felt, I don't know, I saw another reviewer use the adjective "bloodless" and I think it's apt. For all her rage and murderous tendencies, the murders themselves felt more like puzzle pieces that fell into place than violent criminal acts.

The ending twist, I have to say, I did not like. As repellent as Grace was, I felt a little sorry for her at having her life once again completely derailed by a man. I don't know how on earth she is going to pay her legal bills, unless she sues damages due to wrongful imprisonment. And frankly, I can't think what she would do with her life, since her sole raison d'être had been offing her family members one at a time. Now that's done, so what else is there?

It was an interesting book but... it didn't fully hit the mark for me. Nonetheless, I can see its appeal to others.

Grace killed six members of her family but is currently in prision for a crime she did not commit.
Narrated in first person while she spends her days waiting to be free from jail, Grace tell us how she killed each person after discovering that her millionaire father abandoned her and her mother, to later ignore her mom's pleas for help, leaving her to die and Grace with nothing.
First of all this book is SO funny, I really liked the narration style and the main character's voice, Bella Mackie did a great job and I will be waiting for upcoming novels! It also gets an important point across: men suck !!! specially wealthy white men so of course I loved it. This book is also very gruesome since we get told, one by one, how each person was murdered so beware of that. But, to be honest, each family member was so disgusting, shitty and awful that you don't even feel That bad for them...
A chapter that deserves its own mention is what I call "the Janine chapter" or what is more accurate chapter number 12 because the build up, the tension, the way it happens and The Moment were all just so well done that it kept me so focused and alert, I couldn't read it fast enough to know every detail!!
Lastly let's talk about THAT plot twist, it was so unexpected but honestly so fitting as well; at first I've got to admit I was doubtful of it but once I thought properly about it I realized how it couldn't have been any other way considering Everything but I can still see why some people may be disappointed; I fear there's not much else I can say that won't be a spoiler so here's the end of my review!
Advanced copy received thanks to Abrams Books via NetGalley.

Well at least it was short. Lots of blathering here and then a disappointing twist of sorts. A mostly predictable story with some annoying characters.

A tough call because this is a love it or hate it novel. I fell in the just didn't like it category because, despite the effort at humor, I found Grace, who gleefully murdered six people completely awful. I was glad she was locked up for a murder- even if it was one she didn't commit. It's been a tough couple of years in the world and an anti-hero like Grace wasn't someone I wanted to read about. My bad for making the request, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I think people will either love or hate How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie, unfortunately, I did not love it. There are readers for this style, I am just not one of them.

What put me off was the long ramblings filled with commentary about the culture and society that felt like the author had a bit too much to drink at a party and didn’t have any desire to cencore any thoughts or even consider someone else’s opinion.

While I really enjoy sociopathic women going on murder sprees, the part I enjoy is the way they use their intelligence to stalk their killer and plot the murder. We do not get much details in those regards, but we do a woman who thinks she’s a feminist and yet does not support other women if they want to enhance their bodies or be in a relationship with a man that financially provides for them.

And I don’t have the energy to go into all the talk in regards to the upper class and how awful Grace finds it to be. While I may agree with Grace, I just couldn’t stomach it after reading about who the author is… if you’re trying to put shade on your friends and family in real life, perhaps doing things that help those less fortunate than you would be a better way to do so.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want a campy book that vaguely reads like YA Villanelle fanfiction that will also work your high school SAT vocabulary? Can you suspend disbelief for an entire book without getting exhausted?

Pre-reading:
I do not have the cute pink cover. I have some grandma’s wallpaper type cover.

Thick of it:
The voice is already a bit annoying. It’s just a lot of words. Like using a thesaurus and trying to make a word count on a paper versus diction that actually has a purpose.

Also, it’s giving 12-year-old girl, and I don’t think this is supposed to be a 12-year-old girl.

I don’t think 28 is all that tender.

I know nothing about cars. Are Mercedes really that nice?

They would definitely have decorative books at the very least. Also, steak is delicious, fuck off.

I haven’t finished the first chapter, and I already don’t want to read this.

Women aren’t empty shells for liking fashion and caring about their appearance.

I mean it literally will cost you. You already had to pay to get there to get to your murder target. What are you talking about?

Tell me you’re a millennial without telling me you’re a millennial. This book is awful.

She‘s had so many different drinks in one day. I would have to pee so much. Also, I would need a nap. Wine and coffee? I’d be out.

So much girl-on-girl hate. Let ladies live.

Waist chains are fun and sexy. Fuck off. Chanel made perfume that smells like ass and was a homophobe and a nazi. She’s nothing to look up to.

It’s giving more American girl than British girl. (I think this was just at the beginning. The back half of the book was definitely more British.)

How is liking older, stable men thinking little of yourself as a young woman?

Please don’t compare this to American Psycho. That’s insulting.

Not. Detritus. Sin.

Yeah, fast fashion has its flaws for sure, but also cheap cute clothes.

Sex clubs are the first time I’ve been interested in this book and now you’re telling me they won’t be involved. (And yet they go on to be involved.)

Bloody chamber sounds like a book I would like.

Obfuscate? Really? This book is so up its own ass.

It’s Liam.

No body shaming, please.

I cannot picture this jacket on a man, but it sounds like it’d be fashion worn oversized on a girl with a black slip dress. V Gucci.

I knew it was Gucci.

I completely agree with that. I value my friends’ opinions so greatly when it comes to the other people that I surround myself with.

I want zero things in common with Gwyneth Paltrow.

I have no gauge for this book’s pace because I don’t wanna read it and keep procrastinating it to the point that it feels like it’s the slowest book I’ve ever read. But I think it’s actually pretty fast cause like we’re moving at a steady clip. I’m just so bored.

I think constantly about how I want a nice clean white room to go into when I get overwhelmed to desensitize myself. With just like a comfy couch and nothing else.

Don’t knock the pink sofas. I think they’re cute.

She said she doesn’t take drugs but then literally took frog venom as a drug just a few chapters ago.

This is like the third time in recent books I’ve heard about Kerouac. I am literally actively reading one of his books because some man told me to.

Why does this book have incest and flirting with minors? None of this had to happen.

Ameliorate. Fuck off. I swear this book is just trying to use every word that was on my 10th-grade vocab list.

How could she afford that restaurant? She was just mad about café coffee.

No, he should be allowed a lock on the door.

I don’t think it’s paranoia if they’re genuinely at risk.

I like how it was barely legal, but he’s 17. He’s not legal. So she literally just saved child porn on her phone. Again, none of this is necessary for the book. It’s just creepy that this is the way the author‘s chosen to do it.

A salon is not a women-only space.

Who she dates has nothing to do with her sexuality.

I have no idea why she’s explaining the job of an influencer. We done been knew. No one old enough to not know what an influencer is or grasp the concept- is reading this book

That’s like how radium used to be used in rich beauty products despite being deadly.

I use a peach face serum. It’s bomb. Too expensive, but bomb.

Vertiginous. Fuck off. Vocab list.

Like it is a novel. I really hate when books do this. It’s like a fourth wall break sort of. Like hey did you know? That you are? Reading?

Never been one for needless stunts yet somehow managed to dip into incest and CP. K.

Do you know as much as I love fashion, I’ve never bought anything from Zara?

This outfit sounds horrendous.

Post-reading:
I don’t have much more to say than this is bad, don’t read it. It tries to be camp and fails. It tries to be the vaguest ya grab at Villanelle fanfiction and fails. The diction adds nothing and as I commented above, truly feels like someone took a high schooler’s vocabulary list and went down the line, shoving the words in anywhere they could. It’s disgustingly predictable, and the murders aren’t creative. It’s a very boring book and took me ages to finish. You have six murders to come up with and yet somehow you managed to work incest and child pornography into two of them. Gratuitous. This book asks too much of the reader to suspend disbelief for that long with zero payoff.

Who should read this:
No one?
People looking for campy YA books that can tolerate high diction

Do I want to reread this:
No.

Similar books:
* Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson-reads very young, murder mystery, campy, suspension of disbelief very necessary
* A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon-murder mystery with an annoying protagonist and voice
* Verity by Colleen Hoover-predictable mystery, exposé by writing
* Deadly Waters by Dot Hutchison-virtue signaling, annoying protagonist, revenge murders

A great idea but not something I'm excited about.

A woman feels betrayed because her dad abandoned her and mom after a fling, because men are bad and something. Like, she commits her life to revenge, but does it in the plainest, most arrogant way possible. She is writing her memoir in prison, so everything is her in her own mind, a boring narcissist with delusions of grandeur.

The ending of the book isn't much better, surprise character adds nothing to the series other than closing a loophole, even if the last paragraph of the book is funny as hell.

Not bad written, just too much rambling of a woman who was too stuck up with herself to move on from something a lot of kids deal with.

I'm wondering now if the story is a metaphor for killing capitalism. The idea of a billionaire having abandoned children and living a life of selfishness and wanting revenge against that makes sense. But a girl with daddy issues is almost as bad as every other serial killer series.

**I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was such a fun one. I love stories that can take a serious or less fun topic (ahem, murder) and put a humorus twist on it. The main character was deliciouslt unlikable yet almost easy to root for. I've seen some criticism about the "twist" ending that I agree with parts of, but if you take this book for what it is (an absolute romp) I think it's worth every minute of reading! Can't wait to see what the author does next.

I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into with this debut novel - when a book’s synopsis includes the words “outrageously funny”, I always assume it will be exactly the opposite. This was definitely humorous, though it didn’t make me laugh, and didn’t need to. It was more darkly clever, and I really dug the vibe of it. If it was “funny”, it probably would have been cheesy. As it was, it was a great thriller for those of us who have a twisted sense of humor.

As we know, this book is about how to kill your family, something our protagonist Grace knows a bit about. Her reasons are given early on, as she writes about the crimes while in prison. Usually I’m not a fan of “book within a book” books, but in this case, it worked out perfectly. The killings started with her grandparents, then led on to a cousin, an uncle, a half-sister, a stepmother, then the penultimate kill: her father. Each murder has its own style, and the creativity level was quite high! (The uncle was my favorite, without a doubt).

Not much else can be said: that’s the book. It’s simple but still complex, and has fantastic writing. The ending came completely out of left field and hit me right in the head … the creative flair in this book has me very impressed with this first-time author. It did get a bit long-winded, but I liked this a lot and definitely look forward to more if this is the level of writing to be expected. Four stars, rounded up to 4.5 for being a debut and the ending that I totally didn’t see coming. Definitely recommend this one if you’re a little on the dark side (and I assume you are if you are following me).

(Thank you to Abrams Books, Bella Mackie, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)