💥 Pub Date: 2/28/2023

⭐⭐⭐.5/5

• AGGGTM prequel novella
• murder mystery party
• nice introduction to series

I didn't find this super necessary but it was fun to revisit Pip and get a glimpse into her world before book one of the series. It's also a good intro to the author's writing style for this series. I enjoyed how it tied together to the beginning of AGGGTM!

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

What a fun prequel!! I’ve read all of Holly Jackson’s work and love how she’s always leaving you guessing. It was nice getting back into Pip’s inquisitive, investigative brain - and to the fun dynamic seeing her and her friends letting loose (or as loose as Pip can get with her senior capstone coming). Along the way, you have a feeling that Jackson is going to pull the rug out from below you and it always keeps you on your toes!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Childrens for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Net Galley and Delacorte Press for this ARC!

I loved this short novella. Pip has people over for a murder mystery party, which she's not in the mood for. As with other cases - real or make believe - Pip gets sucked in. It was fun seeing the gang all together again. I loved this series.

I received a free ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Overall this was a cute novella. It made me excited to reread the series since I had already read it. It is a good lead up with getting to know some of the characters from the series also. If only there was one more novella AFTER the series :)

I love murder mystery dinner parties. I have always loved the movie clue and playing in mystery dinner parties. This is a great book for young adults and others who love solving mysteries. First of all, let me say I absolutely love the cover of this book! It is what initially drew me in, and I must say the contents inside matched the cover. I really dislike when a book's cover does not match its content, however this one did. The cover is very fitting, and it was a quick and fast paced read. I loved playing right along with Pip, trying to figure out the clues to who murder Reginal Remy and why. It was really fun watching as Pip gathered clues and seeing how the different characters interpreted the different clues and information they were given. I really loved hearing how Pip arrived at her conclusions, and it was a great ending! I also loved that the author included a sneak peek into a good girl's guide to murder along with this copy because I had never read it but kept seeing it all over #bookstagram. It was quite a treat to be able to where it all started and learn all about Pip, who by now I love as a character. I totally love both books now and would definitely recommend them both! I now understand why a good girl's guide to murder keeps popping up all over #bookstagram. It is a must have! I will definitely be following Pip's journey, and definitely getting my hands on a physical copy of a good girl's guide to murder. I would buy both these books as a collection as a gift for myself, friend or family.

Thanks to Netgalley, Holly Jackson, and Random House Children's Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun, quick read! I liked that we got a peek into Pip's life before her senior project and what inspired it. Plus, the murder mystery party was fun to read.

A lot of times with series if there’s a lot of time between books I forget many things, including my opinion! And after reading this new prequel and reading my reviews for the first 3 books, apparently I said for the last (book #3) that I wouldn’t read another in the series…well here I am after reading the prequel and I’m so glad I did!

I love a good Novella (not sure if that’s technically what this is or not!) but this was so fun! I’m now amped and ready for someone to host a murder mystery party.

I loved that because I read the first 3 books in the series first, we know the characters so we get more from them playing their murder mystery roles, since we know their personalities!

I loved how little tidbits of info alluded to things that happened in the other books. I got sad about some mentions but loved how the detail tied the series together calling out to the other books and characters!

I enjoyed how modern it is; talking to Alexa as they play and having that one friend who can’t live without her phone 🙄. And lastly I found it very humorous at times.

I missed Pip and Ravi together that I loved in the series, but it wouldn’t have made sense to have him there for the overall series storyline.

Overall, exciting, keep you on your toes, put you in Pip’s shoes mystery solving fun! Definitely recommend for people who enjoy mystery’s and/or this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Books/Delacorte Press for the free eARC in return for my honest review!

Kill Joy (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #0.5) by Holly Jackson, 117 pages. Delacorte Press (Random House), 2023. $13.
Language: R (30 swears, 12 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
This group of friends is celebrating the end of finals and kicking off their summer with a murder mystery party. Pip takes this challenge as seriously as she takes her schooling and dives in to win – but not all is as it seems.
In this short novella, Jackson gives background for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Readers gain insight about Pip and her friends and into what led Pip to decide she wanted to look further into the murder of Andie Bell five years before. While a cute story, I don’t think it would have been as fun to read if I didn’t already love Pip.
Pip, Cara, Lauren, Connor, and Ant are all either implicitly or explicitly White. Zach is implied to be at least part Asian, and Pip’s stepdad, Victor, is Nigerian. The mature content rating is for underage drinking, mention of drugs, and innuendo. The violence rating is for mentions of murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a longtime fan of the Good Girl's Guide to Murder series and was so excited for this prequel!
And honestly, I really loved this book! It was amazing to see what makes Pip tick and how she got to picking her senior capstone project which is where A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder begins with. The story isn’t something heavy that weighs on you but still captivating enough to make you want to keep reading and turning the page. We don’t get much focus on Pip’s group of friends in the Good Girl’s books and it was nice to see Pip’s circle and their interactions. It was enjoyable to read a novella that focused on a friend group having a fun night together without any deep rifts/ secrets while also getting to understand our dear Pip before she began her capstone project investigation and what led her to choosing that in the first place. We also get to meet some characters that play a pivotal role in the Good Girl’s books and hear about situations that (once you know the main book's ending) shed a whole new light on the character’s behaviors and actions. Those little easter eggs were such a thrill to pick up on .

I also love the visual elements by the author and I loved it in the original good girl’s series as well. I loved seeing visual elements of the evidence Pip gathered in her Good Girl’s investigations and the feeling persists here.

All in all, I definitely recommend this to fans of the good girl’s series! It was a quick, enjoyable read and was a fantastic prequel to A good girl’s guide to murder. I think it wouldn't change the experience too much if you read this before the main series but I think it was more fun to read this after because of the little clues you pick up on once you know more.

This is the prequel novella to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. It takes place the summer before the start of book 1 at a murder mystery dinner party with her friends. Pip hasn’t decided on her senior capstone project yet and that stresses her out even though school just ended. Pip dives head first into figuring out “who done it” at the 1920’s themed murder mystery party.

Reading this makes me want to reread the series and also throw my own murder mystery party.



Thank you publishers , @hojay92 and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

this was a super fun novella/prequel to the agggtm series!! it gave me some knives out/glass onion vibes with the murder mystery party and the island and the will. it was also nice to see where pip got the idea for senior project.

giving it only a 4 stars because it didn’t feel totally necessary and didn’t make a huge addition to the overall story, but it’s a fun and quick read (i personally read it in one sitting) for someone like me who loves this series so much!

📖My Thoughts📖

Have you ever done a murder mystery dinner? I never have, but it sounds like fun after reading this book. This was a fun novella that brought us back to the characters we know from the other books in the series A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. It also gives us a look into Pip’s passion for solving mysteries, as well as learn how Pip came to decide what she was doing for her capstone project. Overall, it was a fun, quick and easy to read book and the quintessential prequel to the series! If you enjoyed the rest of the series, I would recommend giving this a whirl.
Thank you Netgalley, Holly Jackson and Random House Children’s for the opportunity to read and review this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#netgalleyarc This was a fun, quick read. It’s a prequel to the “Good Girls Guide to Murder” series and really sets up how the series starts. I really enjoy this author and this prequel was another great work from her.

I was a little bummed to realize this was a prequel. While I enjoyed being back with Pip, I didn’t need this prequel.

When I saw that there was a new book that had my girl Pip in it, I had to read it (the chokehold the Good Girls Guide to Murder series had on me was serious) and it was just as fun as I imagined it would be.

A prequel to the Good Girls Guide to Murder series, we get to join Pip, Cara, Zach, Connor, Lauren, Ant, and Jamie as they answer the question, of who killed Reginal Remy.

Fans of Pip and A Good Girls Guide to Murder will enjoy this super short, fast-paced read! (I literally read it in one sitting). While it wasn’t my typical thriller, I still enjoyed the murder mystery. As I was reading, I felt like it was part of the investigation and had fun using the clues to solve the murder with the crew. Now that I’ve solved the case, can one of my friends please host a Murder Mystery Party? Pretty please?

I thought that this prequel to a good girl’s guide to murder was a cute addition to learning how Pip came to choose her Senior capstone project. I of course enjoyed most of the characters and it was fun to see them have fun and act as if they were in a murder mystery without actually being in one. I liked the idea of Pip realizing she was enjoying solving this fake murder. I also thought it was nice that we saw a glimpse of Ravi at the end I think that was a nice detail. Overall, it was short and sweet, and fun to read this novella. Thank you to Random House Children’s and Netgalley for providing this eARC in exchange for our honest review.

This was......ok.
Maybe it felt a little too much of a grab for more book sales? It was ok - I just don't know that it was necessary.

Maybe if you havent already read the series, this would be such a great lead up to the first book.

I devoured this novella just like I devoured the whole A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series!

Pip is invited to Connor's murder mystery theme party, but she is just not excited about it with the amount of work that she still has to attend to at home. Putting on her boa and red lipstick, Pip steps into her character who arrives at the Remy manor on a private island in the year 1924. As the clues are discovered and the secrets unveiled, the spooky atmosphere makes the game more real than it seems. Maybe something about this game is pointing Pip towards questioning her town's famous murder case.

Even though this book is centered on a game, Holly Jackson still made the mystery enticing and fun. I loved reading the clues and the information that is revealed about Pip's character, Celia, during each round. If you're missing Pip and all her friends after that ending, then this is a perfect fix. We also get to see Pip's motivations for doing her project on the Andie Bell case, and I just love it when everything ties in seamlessly. Kill Joy is an immersive, quick, short read that transports everyone back into Pip's world!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Holley Jackson, and publisher for the ARC!

I have really enjoyed reading books from this series and loved the murder mystery dinner party theme. Quick read!

I was elated to get to read an early copy of Kill Joy, the novella companion to The Good Girls Guide to Murder trilogy! I loved the series and the characters are so well developed that I feel like I really understand how they will respond in situations. This novella ends up being a prequel before the stories introduced in the trilogy. It took me a little bit to confirm the timeline as I was reading and wondering why certain characters were excluded and how others could be included. The friend group gathers for a murder mystery party-let’s just interject to say any tv show/movie/book where this theme is introduced is almost sure to be a winner (I’m looking at you Golden Girls murder mystery dinner episode)!! So then there’s a story within a story as the fictional murder plays out at the party. I really enjoy the authors style of presenting information in unique ways: in the trilogy we get narratives of interviews for the podcast while in this novella we get notes and clues that the characters have to read to solve the murder mystery. With those details in mind, I wonder how much would be lost via an audio version since the different graphic and text of the ways the aforementioned information is presented clearly delineate that we have moved beyond the dialogue of the characters. Ultimately, I devoured this novella in one night and it was a delight to be back in Pip’s mind. This is a great addition for fans of Holly Jackson.